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These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Your cat probably thinks that you are a cat yourself -- albeit a much larger one. That's according to British biologist John Bradshaw, who says the way furry felines greet us (with their tails up) and rub on our legs is similar to how the animals communicate affection to other cats. "In cat society, this sequence is usually performed by a smaller cat towards a larger one -- a kitten or young cat towards its mother or an older relative, a female towards a male," Bradshaw, who is foundation director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol, told The Huffington Post via email this week. "[I]t seems to be a way that smaller cats have of indicating to larger ones that they want to remain friends. When cats started becoming friendly towards us, maybe 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, they just adapted this piece of behavior to show that they like us, too," he continued. Author of the 2013 book Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet (which has been attracting a resurgence of interest on social media this week), Bradshaw has been studying the history and behavior of cats for decades. He argues that to live happily with our cats, we must first come to understand their behavior and their eccentricities. For instance, knowing that cats carry out this tail-up/rub ritual as a form of friendly greeting should influence the way cat owners interact with their pets, Bradshaw says. "Research has shown that when people interact with their cats, the interactions tend to go on for longer if they're started by the cat -- many cats seem to need to go through the tail-up/rub ritual in order to feel comfortable, and may not have time to do it if it's the person who makes the first move. So the advice would be, take your time when approaching your cat, and wait for it to at least put its tail up before making actual contact," he told HuffPost. Bradshaw has also advised cat lovers to keep their ears peeled for purring. Purring, he says, isn't just a way that cats express contentment, but -- as he explained to NPR's Terry Gross last year -- it can also be a sort of signal for help. "What we think cats are doing here is just trying to reassure their person — or [another] cat — who is hearing the purr that they are no threat, and ideally they'd like them to stand still and help them do something," Bradshaw told Gross. "So it starts off with kittens purring to get their mother to lie still while they're suckling, and it goes on into adulthood... It's a signal to the animals, [and] the people around them to pay attention and try to help them." As for whether or not your cat likes you, Bradshaw says there are a handful of tell-tale signs of a cat's affection. "Cats show they're fond of other cats in three ways," he told HuffPost. "The tail-up/rub ritual; by resting in contact; and by grooming one another. So if your cat is doing any one of these, then it likes you! It doesn't have to be all three -- for example, some cats (in my experience, especially the long-haired) don't much like sitting on people's laps, but if they're reliably doing the tail-up/rub, then everything's okay." To find out more about John Bradshaw's book, visit the publication's website.

– Cats aren't dogs, and they'd like us to remember that, an animal behavior expert tells the Telegraph. We stress them out by expecting them to be as sociable as our canine friends, happy to be petted and hang out in the same space as other cats. But that just doesn't fit with how cats think, says Dr. John Bradshaw. "Dogs were sociable before they were domesticated," he says. "Unlike dogs, the cat is still halfway between a domestic and a wild animal, and it’s not enjoying 21st-century living." And when a cat is stressed, it can develop dermatitis and cystitis, he notes. In the past, "with cats, all we wanted was for them to keep our houses and farms and food stores free of rats and mice, and they got on with that," Bradshaw says. “It’s only in the last few decades that we have wanted them to be something else." That's not to say your cat doesn't love you, he adds. It's just that they "have their own lives" and interests. (And, as he told the Huffington Post earlier this year, your cat probably also thinks you are a very large cat; that's why, he theorizes, they communicate affection with humans the same way they do with other cats.) Some tips: Cats are likely to spend more time with you if they approach you, rather than if you approach them first, according to research, he notes. And if you're planning to get a second cat, you might want to bring its smell home first on a handkerchief: "It’s the cat equivalent of exchanging photos before a blind date." (Read about a cat who lived secret lives with two families.)

Mother and Daughter Reunited After Nearly 40 Years at InfoCision Boardman! Akron, OH , April 16, 2015 - Page Content ​InfoCision employees enjoy the company’s family like atmosphere and family-friendly culture. But imagine not realizing you are working in the midst of family members for years. That’s the amazing story unfolding recently for three InfoCision employees in Boardman! Since finding out she was adopted, Boardman Media Communicator La-Sonya Mitchell-Clark, 38, of Youngstown has always wanted to know who her biological mother was. Recently the Ohio Department of Health released prior birth records and Mitchell-Clark finally got her answer in the mail on Monday. Her birth records included her mother’s name, Francine Simmons. So, she looked her up on Facebook and found out she worked at InfoCision in Boardman. So does Mitchell-Clark. Then, it clicked – there was a Francine at InfoCision she knew. A day later, she got the long-awaited phone call from her birth mother, Boardman Volunteer Recruitment Communicator Francine Simmons! They had plenty to talk about, but started with tears of joy. “I’m still in shock. It’s amazing,” Simmons said. She said she always wanted to reconnect with her daughter, but never knew how. And the story doesn’t end there. It turns out Mitchell-Clark has three other sisters she didn’t even know about, including another coworker Boardman Volunteer Recruitment Communicator Kamala Cummings! “It’s just amazing that all this time we’re thinking about her and trying to find her and she was trying to find us, too,” said sister Maisha Cummings. To top it all off, mom and daughter live just 6 minutes from each other in Youngstown. “Now, we’ve got a bigger extended family where we can just be together,” said Francine Simmons. Click here to view the news video and read full story covered locally in Youngstown and nationally via ABC news. ||||| YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WYTV) – Birth records and family medical history soon will become available for more then 400,000 people. Starting Friday, the Ohio Department of Health will open birth records for those adopted in Ohio between Jan. 1, 1964, and Sept. 18, 1996. “It is an opportunity to find out about past family medical history, maybe possibly reconnect with some siblings or their birth parents that they never had the opportunity to find out,” Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu said. “Most people want the original birth certificate because that has the birth parents name on it and that is what they want to know.” Catholic Charities in Youngstown has helped with thousands of adoptions. “We have been getting phone calls already, people calling with questions,” Catholic Charities Regional Agency Executive Director Nancy Voitus said. She said those calls are being referred to the Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics in Columbus, which is handling the records requests. But, Voitus wants people to know that each outcome is different. “I have seen success stories where people do connect and you can’t believe how wonderful it is for them, to other situations where people put that past in their life and have dealt with it and really don’t want to re-open that,” Voitus said. Toni Amey of Canfield was born and adopted in California. “Found the contact information for my biological mother and was able to make contact with her. That was probably less than desired. You know, you spend 30 years thinking that mom misses you every day and you find out that she dreaded this day,” Amey said. But, Amey said she has gained a sense of freedom by trying to piece together her past. “You can fill in the blanks and then you realize those were not the blanks you really needed, that you had the answers all along and you are going to create your own story,” she said. The Ohio Department of Health’s website offers detailed information on the forms required for requesting records. ||||| A woman in Ohio reunited with her biological mother who has worked at the same company for the past four years, unbeknown to either of them. La-Sonya Mitchell-Clark, 38, of Youngstown, learned her mother's identity after the Ohio Department of Health released birth records last month for those born between Jan. 1, 1964 and Sept. 18, 1996. “Ever since I found out that I was adopted, I wanted to know who my biological mother was,” Mitchell-Clark told ABC affiliate station WYTV. She received her birth record in the mail Monday from the Department of Health in Columbus. That included her mother’s name, Francine Simmons. She searched for the name on and found out they worked at the same company, InfoCision, a privately held teleservices firm in Boardman, just south of Youngstown. “There’s a Francine that works at my job. She works in VR and she works at the front desk,” Mitchell-Clark told WYTV, referring to volunteer recruitment, a nonprofit fundraising program that asks supporters to recruit friends and family. Mitchell-Clark contacted friends through social media and, then, a day later, she received a call from her birth mother. Mitchell-Clark has worked for InfoCision for four years, while her mother has been there for 10 years, a company spokeswoman told ABC News. "They would come in contact around the building and during events such as our corporate summer cookouts, parties, and using the facilities or in the hallway," said Samantha Wells, an InfoCision spokeswoman who called the reunion "wonderful." “She called me and I said, ‘Is this Ms. Francine?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I think I’m your daughter,’” Mitchell-Clark told WYTV, adding that there were tears of joy. The duo learned they live just six minutes from each other. “I’m still in shock. It’s amazing,” Simmons told WYTV, adding that she had always wanted to meet her daughter but didn't know how to do so. “I got pregnant when I was 14. I had her when I was 15. I was put in a home, a girl’s home. Had her. Got to hold her. Didn’t get to name her, but I named her myself in my heart all these years,” Simmons said. Mitchell-Clark learned she has three sisters, with one of whom she works. “I feel a sense of relief for my mother,” her sister, Kamala Cummings, told WYTV. She's worked at InfoCision for 10 years and in the same division as her mother, but separate from that of Mitchell-Clark. Another sister, Maisha Cummings, told the station, “It’s just amazing that all this time we’re thinking about her and trying to find her and she was trying to find us, too.” Mitchell-Clark and Simmons did not respond to requests for comment. Mitchell-Clark told the TV station her adoptive parents support the reunion. “My mom and dad have always been supportive of me," she said. "[They’ve] always encouraged me to look for them. They’re going to be a part of this, too." Simmons told WYTV, “Now, we’ve got a bigger extended family where we can just be together.”

– When Ohio's health department released birth records last month for those adopted over a period of more than three decades, a spokesman called it a chance for people to "possibly reconnect with some siblings or their birth parents," WYTV reported at the time. For one Youngstown woman, both her birth mom and sister were much closer than anyone could have guessed. La-Sonya Mitchell-Clark, 38, had been working with her mother for four years before the two found out about it, ABC News reports. Her sister—one of three Mitchell-Clark learned she has—works at the same company, InfoCision. The path to discovery began on Monday, when Mitchell-Clark's birth record arrived in the mail. She learned that her mother's name was Francine Simmons, and she looked up Simmons' Facebook profile, which revealed her place of employment. "There's a Francine that works at my job. She works in (volunteer recruitment) and she works at the front desk," she tells WYTV. It was the same Francine, and the two shared a tearful phone call soon afterward. "They would come in contact around the building and during events such as our corporate summer cookouts," says a rep for the company, which has put out an exclamation point-filled press release about the news. Simmons had always wanted to meet her daughter, whom she gave up at age 15. "Had her. Got to hold her. Didn't get to name her, but I named her myself in my heart all these years," Simmons tells ABC. The two women live only six minutes apart. (Another incredible reunion saw a mother reconnect with the daughter she heard had died 50 years ago.)

In Henan Province, in central China, millions of people have been tuning in every week to watch an extraordinary talk show called Interviews Before Execution, in which a reporter interviews murderers condemned to death. The show ran for just over five years, until it was taken off air on Friday. Every Monday morning, reporter Ding Yu and her team scoured court reports to find cases to cover on their programme. They had to move quickly, as prisoners in China can be executed seven days after they are sentenced. To Western eyes the show's format may seem exploitative, but Ding disagrees. "Some viewers may consider it cruel to ask a criminal to do an interview when they are about to be executed. "On the contrary, they want to be heard," she says. "Some criminals I interviewed told me: 'I'm really very glad. I said so many things in my heart to you at this time. In prison, there was never a person I was willing to talk to about past events.'" I witness the transition from life to death Ding Yu Interviews Before Execution was first broadcast on 18 November 2006 on Henan Legal Channel, one of 3,000 state-owned TV stations in China. Ding interviewed a prisoner every week until the programme was taken off air. The move follows a handful of reports about the show in foreign media, which were triggered by a documentary to be screened on the BBC tonight and on PBS International in the near future. The aim of Interviews Before Execution, the programme-makers say, was to find cases that would serve as a warning to others. The slogan at the top of every programme called for human nature to awaken and "perceive the value of life". In China, 55 crimes carry the death penalty, from murder, treason and armed rebellion to bribery and smuggling. Thirteen other crimes, including VAT fraud, smuggling relics and credit fraud, were only recently removed from the list of capital offences. Interviews Before Execution, however, focused exclusively on cases of violent murder. Bullet or injection There are thought to be more executions than in any other country, although the exact number is a state secret There is no presumption of innocence in Chinese law and confessions are sometimes taken before the suspect has had access to a lawyer Convicted prisoners are killed by a single shot to the back of the head or by lethal injection inside a mobile execution truck It never interviewed political prisoners or cases where the crime was in question, and the team received the Henan high court's consent in every case. "Without their consent, our programme would end immediately," Ding told the BBC documentary team. Broadcast every Saturday night, the programme was frequently rated one of Henan's top 10 shows, with nearly 40 million viewers out of the 100 million who live in the province. It made Ding Yu a star, known to many as "Beauty with the Beasts". If people failed to heed the warnings the programme offered, she says, then it was right that they should face the consequences. "I feel sorry and regretful for them. But I don't sympathise with them, for they should pay a heavy price for their wrongdoing. They deserve it." Many of the cases featured in the programme were motivated by money and one case in particular stands out for Ding. The perpetrators were boyfriend and girlfriend - young, educated college graduates. Image caption Bao Ronting was the first openly gay man Ding Yu ever met The couple planned to rob her grandparents but it went wrong and the young man, 27-year-old Zhang Peng, ended up killing them both. "They are so young. They never had the chance to see this world, or to enjoy life, a career, work, and the love of family. "They've made the wrong choice, and the price is their lives," Ding says. But after more than 200 interviews, little surprises her. "I've interviewed criminals even younger than that young student, some just 18 years old. That is the minimum age you can be sentenced to death." Homosexuality is still a huge taboo in China, and when in 2008 the show covered the case of Bao Ronting, a gay man who murdered his mother, ratings soared. It was the first time Ding had ever met an openly gay man. "I had never come close to a gay man, so I really couldn't accept some of his practices, words and deeds. "Though he was a man, he asked me in a very feminine tone, 'Do you feel awkward speaking to me?' Actually I felt very awkward," she recalls. Find out more Interviews Before Execution is part of the latest This World series, broadcast on Monday 12 March at 23:20 GMT on BBC Two. Watch againon iPlayer (UK only) using the link. She and her team made a further three episodes on the case of Bao Ronting and followed him until the day he was executed in November 2008. During one of these meetings, Bao asked Ding: "Will I go to heaven?" Remembering these words, she reflects: "I witness the transition from life to death." Bao Ronting was paraded in an open top truck on the way to his execution with a placard around his neck, detailing his crime. The practice is illegal in modern China - but the law is not always observed. Judge Lui Wenling, who worked closely with the programme-makers, says things are changing in the Chinese legal system. "The present criminal policies in China are 'To kill less and cautiously' and 'Combining lenience and strictness'. "It means, 'If the case is fit for lenient treatment, give it lenience,' and, 'If the case should be strictly treated, give it a strict punishment,'" he says. Ding recently covered the case of Wu Yanyan, a young mother who murdered her husband after allegedly suffering years of abuse. Since the death sentence for criminals is itself a violent act, then we should abolish it Judge Pan She was initially sentenced to death for the murder. But since 2007, every execution verdict in China has to be approved by the Supreme Court, and in this case it took the view that the abuse provided mitigating circumstances. The higher court kept returning the case to the local court until the death sentence was suspended. Ding visited the prison with Wu Yanyan's daughter for an emotional reunion. If the young mother continues to behave well in prison, after two years she could ultimately be released - a small sign of changing attitudes in China. Some senior figures in the justice system foresee more far-reaching reforms in the future, including Judge Pan, another judge who has worked closely with the programme. "A life could end in the twinkling of an eye after a trial. I'd say this is also very cruel," she says. "It's also a means of getting rid of evil deeds through an evil deed. "Should we abolish the death penalty? Since the death sentence for criminals is itself a violent act, then we should abolish it. However, I don't think our country is ready yet. "But in the future, it would be good to abolish it." ||||| ABC The 40-million fans who have been faithfully tuning into China's death row reality show, "Interviews Before Execution" may have watched the last episode without knowing it. Legal TV Channel, the station in central China's Henan province that produced and broadcast the show for the last five years, confirmed to ABC News it has been abruptly canceled due to "internal problems" and will not be seen again. A spokesman at the station said that a new program on legal affairs will be broadcast in its place but could provide no further details. Requests for an interview with the host of "Interviews Before Execution" Ding Yu, were denied. The cancellation comes at the end of a week in which the show made international headlines for the first time. Both the BBC and PBS International own the rights to a documentary film, "Dead Men Talking," produced by a film company in China which goes behind the scenes for an up close look at how the show is made. BBC2 has plans to air the show next week. Articles in the Daily Mail, New York Times, ABC News and numerous other outlets described the show as a one of a kind reality series on a dark topic: death row inmates just before they die. The host, journalist Ding Yu, interviewed more than 200 Chinese men and women, sometimes just hours before they were put to death. The majority of convictions were for murder under often gruesome circumstances. In clips found online (many of which were taken down this week) Ding interviews a child-killer and a man who stabbed his ex-wife in front of her parents. Another killed a mother and child with an ax. At times she promises to convey final messages to family members. At other times she is harsh, telling one subject that he deserves to die. According to the Daily Mail, the show was approved by the government as a deterrent to would-be criminals. Convicts were chosen by a judiciary committee for Ding for being "suitable subjects to educate the public." Ding herself is a subject in the documentary and for the first time she speaks about the toll her work takes on her and describes the haunting images she lives with as a result of spending so much time with the men and women she interviews. The show was not broadcast nationwide. Few people know of it outside of Henan province in central China. In China, 55 crimes are punishable by death. China is the only country that does not release the number of people executed each year, despite international calls to do so by groups such as Amnesty International. It is estimated that about a thousand people are put to death each year. That number cannot be confirmed but puts China well ahead of any other country by far. Fan Bing contributed to this report.

– Hit Chinese TV program Interviews Before Execution has been abruptly canceled—after five years on the air and just about a week of attention from the West. The show, which reached 40 million viewers every Saturday night, featured glamorous host Ding Yu speaking to condemned criminals days, hours, or even just minutes before their execution. Officials at China's Legal TV say the show, which just started popping up in Western press for the first time in advance of a BBC documentary on the show that aired last night, has been axed because of "internal problems," ABC reports. Some 55 crimes carry the death penalty in China, but Interviews focused only on murderers. In an interview with the BBC, Ding denied that the program was exploitative. "Some viewers may consider it cruel to ask a criminal to do an interview when they are about to be executed. On the contrary, they want to be heard," she said. "Some criminals I interviewed told me: 'I'm really very glad. I said so many things in my heart to you at this time. In prison, there was never a person I was willing to talk to about past events.'"

President Trump said Friday "I think you know the answer to that" when a reporter asked him in Bedminster, New Jersey whether the U.S. is going to war with North Korea. "When you say 'bad solution' are you talking about war? Is the U.S. going to go to war?" the reporter asked Mr. Trump, after the president floated the possibility of a "bad solution" in North Korea. Mr. Trump, flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, said his Cabinet is "very much in agreement" on the North Korea crisis, although his Cabinet members have toned down his rhetoric. Earlier in the week, Tillerson said Americans should be able to rest easy, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. is pursuing diplomatic solutions. "We're very much in agreement," Mr. Trump said. "I think we're very unified and we have been right from the very beginning. This is something that has to stop. We all feel that very strongly." Tillerson also said handling North Korea requires a "combined" message, and the president has "made it clear" he prefers a "diplomatic solution." But that might be difficult to tell from the president's recent comments. After Mr. Trump was criticized for his saying North Korea would be met with "fire and fury" unlike the world had ever seen, he later doubled down on his remarks a day later, saying perhaps they weren't tough enough. Mr. Trump on Friday promised "big, big trouble" if North Korea targets the U.S. territory of Guam, and said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will "regret it fast" if that happens. Earlier Friday, Mr. Trump dismissed critics who wonder if he is escalating tensions with North Korea. "Well you know my critics are only saying that because it's me," Mr. Trump told reporters. "If somebody else uttered the exact same words that I uttered, they'd say 'what a great statement, what a wonderful statement.' They're only doing it but I will tell you, we have tens of millions of people in this country that are so happy with what I'm saying because they're saying finally we have a president that's sticking up for our nation and frankly sticking up for friends and our allies." Earlier this week, North Korea announced it is planning to launch rockets that would fly over the islands of Japan and into the ocean, and could land 18 to 25 miles away from the U.S. airbase on Guam. North Korean state television said the launch would be a warning to the U.S. ||||| President Trump on Friday refused to rule out a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, where civil strife has turned violent. "I'm not going to rule out a military option," he told reporters at his New Jersey golf club. “Venezuela is not very far away, and the people are suffering and they’re dying,” he said. “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possibile military option if necessary.” Trump declined to say whether American troops would lead a possible military effort in Venezuela, saying: “We don’t talk about it.” ADVERTISEMENT “But a military operation, a military option is certainly something that we could pursue,” he said. Tensions in Venezuela have boiled over in recent months, with widespread protests against the increasingly autocratic government of President Nicolas Maduro. According to a statement by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders late Friday night, Maduro called and requested a call with Trump on Friday, but the White House refused. "Since the start of this Administration, President Trump has asked that Maduro respect Venezuela’s constitution, hold free and fair elections, release political prisoners, cease all human rights violations, and stop oppressing Venezuela’s great people," Sanders said in a statement. "The Maduro regime has refused to heed this call, which has been echoed around the region and the world. Instead Maduro has chosen the path of dictatorship." "The United States stands with the people of Venezuela in the face of their continued oppression by the Maduro regime," the statement continued. "President Trump will gladly speak with the leader of Venezuela as soon as democracy is restored in that country." The Trump administration imposed fresh sanctions on Maduro in late July after questions about the legitimacy of an election to rewrite the country’s constitution. The vote was boycotted by the opposition, who accused Maduro of using the vote to consolidate power. Maduro went ahead with the vote, which created a new pro-government assembly that will rewrite the country’s constitution. Venezuela has also been roiled by shortages of food and medicine, intensifying the unrest. Ahead of the election last month, the State Department ordered the families of U.S. diplomats out of Venezuela’s capital Caracas amid concerns about “social unrest, violent crime, and pervasive food and medicine shortages.” Updated 9:50 p.m. ||||| CARACAS/LIMA (Reuters) - After months of attacking Venezuela’s unpopular President Nicolas Maduro, Latin America came out strongly against U.S. threats of military action against the crisis-hit nation. U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise comments on Friday may bring the beleaguered Maduro some respite in the region, just as Venezuela was on verge of becoming a pariah over its recent installation of a legislative superbody, widely condemned as a power grab by the ruling Socialists. Following Trump’s assertion that military intervention in Venezuela was an option, Maduro’s critics are caught between backing the idea of a foreign invasion of Venezuela or supporting a president they call a dictator. The sudden escalation of Washington’s response to Venezuela’s crisis preceded U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the region beginning Sunday. He is set to visit Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Panama. Trump did not specify what type of options he had in mind. Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino on Friday disparaged Trump’s warning as “craziness” and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Saturday Venezuela rejected “hostile” threats, calling on Latin America to unite against Washington. “We want to express gratitude for all the expressions ofsolidarity and rejection of the use of force from governments around the world, including Latin America,” said Arreaza, in a short speech on Saturday. “Some of these countries have recently taken positions absolutely contrary to our sovereignty and independence but still have rejected the declarations of the U.S. president.” It was one of Maduro’s fiercest critics, Peru, that led the charge in criticizing Trump’s threat, saying it was against United Nations principles. Mexico and Colombia joined in with statements of their own. Regional alliance Mercosur added that it rejected the use of force against Venezuela, despite having indefinitely suspended the country last week amid international condemnation of Maduro’s new, all-powerful “constituent Assembly”. After four months of deadly protests against his government, Maduro says the assembly is Venezuela’s only hope of obtaining peace by locking in the socialist policies of his mentor and predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. Critics say the assembly is a bald maneuver by Maduro to cling to power as his popularity slumps under the weight of the country’s economic crisis. Peru expelled Venezuela’s ambassador in Lima on Friday, but that did not stop it from criticizing Trump’s threat. Venezuela's Presidente Nicolas Maduro gestures as he speaks during a session of the National Constituent Assembly at Palacio Federal Legislativo in Caracas, Venezuela August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino “All foreign or domestic threats to resort to force undermine the goal of reinstating democratic governance in Venezuela, as well as the principles enshrined in the U.N. charter,” said Peru’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Luna. Peru under President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had taken the toughest stance yet toward Venezuela’s socialist government, and has openly called Maduro a “dictator”. RESCHEDULED ELECTION The new legislative superbody, which made waves last weekend by firing a dissident chief prosecutor, took new action on Saturday on the country’s election timetable. It unanimously passed a resolution to move the country’s Dec. 10 governors’ election up to October. Assembly members said the decision was made in part because the election had been delayed due to “opposition-led violence.” More than 120 people have died in unrest and anti-government protests since April. The National Electoral Council (CNE) was asked by the assembly to set the exact date for the governors’ election. Venezuela is undergoing a crisis in which millions are suffering from food and medicine shortages and high inflation. Slideshow (5 Images) The ruling Socialist Party has for years accused the United States of plotting an invasion as a way of controlling its oil reserves, the world’s largest, through a military intervention similar to the Iraq war. Previous U.S. administrations had brushed this off as politicized rhetoric meant to distract from Venezuela’s domestic problems. Under former President Barack Obama, the State Department in 2015 made quiet diplomatic overtures that led to several high-level meetings. The effort ultimately foundered as Maduro hardened his stance against opposition critics. Venezuela’s Information Minister Vladimir Villegas on Saturday tweeted a picture of the Statue of Liberty holding a machine gun instead of a torch, and a link to an article describing, “A Chronology of U.S. ‘Military Options’ in Latam and the Caribbean.”

– As many fret over the increasingly tense relationship between the US and North Korea, President Trump threw another country into the mix Friday: Venezuela. Speaking to reporters Friday from his New Jersey golf club, flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, and National Security Adviser HR McMaster, Trump offered what Reuters calls a "surprise escalation" on the US response to Venezuela's current political upheaval, in which more than 120 people have been killed and thousands arrested over the past four months. "Venezuela is not very far away, and the people are suffering and they are dying," Trump told reporters, per the Hill. "We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary." When pressed by reporters on whether that meant the US would lead an operation in the South American country, Trump replied, "We don't talk about it, but a military operation—a military option—is certainly something that we could pursue." The US just hit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with financial sanctions in late July, with a statement from Trump noting: "Maduro is not just a bad leader. He is now a dictator." The Pentagon told Reuters it has yet to receive any instructions from the president regarding Venezuela. Meanwhile, one reporter circled back to North Korea during Trump's appearance, asking, "Is the US going to go to war?" after Trump mentioned a possible "bad solution" to the Korea problem, per CBS News. "I think you know the answer to that," the president replied.

Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign advisor and personal friend of the president, says if Congress votes to impeach President Donald Trump, there will be all-out Civil War in the U.S. "The people who are calling for impeachment are the people who didn't vote for him. They need to get over it," Stone said to TMZ in an airport baggage claim on Wednesday this week. "They lost. Their candidate had every advantage: They spent two billion dollars, we spent $275 million. Sorry, we whipped their ass. It is over. You lost," he said. He added, warning: "Try to impeach him. Just try it. You will have a spasm of violence --an insurrection-- in this country like you have never seen before... Both sides are heavily armed, my friend." "This is not 1974," Stone, who worked in the White House during Nixon's resignation, added. "People will not stand for [the impeachment of President Trump]. Any politician who votes for it would be endangering their own life." He explained: "There will be violence on both sides. Let me make this clear: "I'm not advocating violence, I am predicting [violence]." Asked if he is saying that Trump's removal from office would lead to a Civil War, Stone said: "Yes, that is what I think will happen." ||||| President Trump's former campaign adviser Roger Stone told TMZ that any politician who votes to impeach Trump “would be endangering their own life.” “Try to impeach him. Just try it,” Stone said. “You will have a spasm of violence, an insurrection in this country like you have never seen before. Both sides are heavily armed, my friend.” Stone said members of Congress who are advocating for Trump’s impeachment need to “get over it.” ADVERTISEMENT “The people who are calling for impeachment are the people who didn’t vote for him,” Stone said. “They lose. Their candidate had every advantage.” “Sorry, we whipped their ass,” he continued. “It’s over. You lost.” A small coalition of House Democrats has led the charge in pushing to impeach Trump. In July, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) formally introduced articles of impeachment against Trump over his firing of former FBI Director James Comey, arguing the move amounted to obstruction of justice. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) announced last week that he would introduce articles of impeachment against Trump over his comments following the violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia. Democratic leadership have pushed back on the impeachment efforts. House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement that Congress should set up an independent commission to investigate Trump’s potential ties to Russia. “Leader Pelosi has repeatedly called for an outside, independent commission to get to the bottom of Trump’s connection to Russia’s interference in our election and to examine ways to protect the integrity of our democracy from foreign meddling in the future,” Ashley Etienne, a spokeswoman for Pelosi, said in a statement.

– Roger Stone did little to calm America's overheated political climate with remarks to TMZ this week: The veteran GOP strategist said any attempt to impeach President Trump would cause violence like America has never seen before—and any politician who voted for it would "endanger their own life. "The people who are calling for impeachment are the people who didn't vote for him. They need to get over it," said Stone, a personal friend of Trump who advised his campaign in its early days. "They lost. Their candidate had every advantage: They spent two billion dollars, we spent $275 million. Sorry, we whipped their a--. It is over. You lost." "This is not 1974," warned Stone, who served in the Nixon administration, RealClearPolitics reports. "Try to impeach him. Just try it," he said. "You will have a spasm of violence—an insurrection—in this country like you have never seen before... Both sides are heavily armed, my friend." Stone said he wasn't advocating violence, only predicting it. Some House Democrats have been pushing for impeachment, though Democrat leaders have been more cautious, calling for an independent commission to investigate Trump's Russia ties instead, the Hill reports. (Stone has denied accusations that he colluded with Russian agents to help Trump.)

You might think a world-famous filmmaker and author would be above petty crime. But you would be wrong! Miranda July, the twee mind behind the film “You And Me And Everyone We Know,” has confessed in this week’s issue of The New Yorker to a sordid history of shoplifting. Her first time stealing was during her freshman year of college when she nabbed a package of Neosporin. The minute a guard apprehended her, she wet her pants. And if you think that an incident of public peeing might have put the woman off from shoplifting, you would be wrong again! July continued to shoplift at the grocery store and even at Goodwill. (Yes, this woman stole from charity. Oof.) If you ever go to one of Miranda July’s book signings, watch your purse. [New Yorker] Alas, Miranda July isn’t the only celeb with sticky fingers. Here are 10 more female celebs who have (allegedly) given themselves a five finger discount. ||||| I don’t remember the first time I did it, but I remember the first time I got caught. I was a freshman at U.C. Santa Cruz, the store was called Zanotto’s, the item was Neosporin. I took it out of its packaging, bent down as if to scratch my ankle, and then wedged the tube of triple-antibiotic ointment into my white ankle sock. When the guard grabbed my arm, I was so scared I peed on the floor. As we waited for the police to come, I had to watch a janitor clean up my pee with a mop. I was taken down to the station and formally arrested: fingerprints, mug shot—they really wanted to teach this nineteen-year-old, transparent-dress-wearing punk a lesson. The lesson I learned was that I was now legally an adult, so I didn’t have to worry that my parents would be called. I was free—even my crimes belonged to me alone. In time, I improved. I discovered that stealing required a loose, casual energy, a sort of oneness with the environment, like surfing or horse-whispering. And once I knew I could do it I felt strangely obliged to. I remember feeling guilty for not stealing, as though I were wasting money. After I dropped out of college and moved to Portland, Oregon, it became part of my livelihood. I stared at my shopping list like a stressed housewife, deliberating over which items to steal and which to buy with food stamps. My preferred purse was gigantic and discreetly rigid, like a suitcase. I packed it with blocks of cheese, loaves of bread, and lots of soy products, because I was a vegetarian. But it wasn’t just about the supermarket—the whole world was one giant heist. It goes without saying that I used magnets to reset the Kinko’s copy counters to zero, and carried scissors to cut alarm tags out of clothes. Everyone I knew did these things. I say this not to excuse myself but just so you can visualize a legion of energetic, intelligent young lady criminals. Anytime anyone we knew flew into Portland, we urged her to buy luggage insurance and allow us to steal her bag from the baggage carrousel. The visiting friend then had to perform the role of the frantic claims reporter and was given a cut of the insurance money. Some friends were up for this; others thought it was an inhospitable thing to ask. My first employer in Portland was Goodwill, which, yes, is a charitable organization, and, no, I did not have any qualms about slipping books and clothes and knickknacks into my bag. Because what is money, anyway? It’s just a concept some asshole made up. I also put red “Sold” tags on large appliances and entire living-room sets, and felt magnanimous as my friends gleefully loaded up their vans. One day, a co-worker was admiring a pink blouse that had just come in. I encouraged her to take it, and when she wouldn’t I put the blouse in a Goodwill bag and ran out of the store calling, “Sir! Sir! You forgot your bag!” Then I stuffed it in the bushes. At closing time, I fished it out with a halfhearted “What’s this?” and handed it to my prim co-worker. Prim and ungrateful, as it turned out. I was called into the boss’s office the next morning; the pink shirt was on her desk. “The good news is we’re not going to press charges,” she said. I wept as I walked over the river to the place where my girlfriend worked as a dog groomer. I’d never been fired before. It was a lot like dropping out of school or being arrested. All of these institutions, in their crude, clumsy way, seemed to be saying, You don’t need us, we’ll never understand you, and it’s important for you not to want us to. I took the message to heart. I labored obsessively over creative pursuits they would never recognize, hurtling through systems and hierarchies as if nothing that already existed were relevant to me. I performed at colleges and scanned the room for what I could take. Even a box of chalk slipped into my pocket reassured me that I still had my freedom—the freedom to steal, to self-destruct, to ruin everything. There was an exact moment when I decided to quit. I was sitting on a man’s lap and we had just determined that I was “his girl.” As we kissed, I thought, Well, I guess I have to stop stealing now. As if the idea of having a boyfriend, of being straight, required straightening out in other ways. I may have been looking for an excuse; I may have realized that I didn’t need to be a criminal to be an artist. Art itself could be the crime—could be scary and dangerous enough to shoulder my rebellion. After a while, I also stopped getting into physical fights, working in peepshows, bleaching my hair white, and wearing my tights over my shoes. Still, for a long time I thought my biggest heist was fooling everyone into believing that I was an upstanding citizen, a sweet girl. Then, just a few years ago, I realized that everyone feels secretly fraudulent. It’s the feeling of being an adult. ♦

– Despite their fame and (sometimes) fortune, even celebrities occasionally turn to crime. The Frisky rounds up 11 (alleged!) celebrity thieves: Miranda July: The indie filmmaker admitted in the New Yorker that she stole some Neosporin as a college freshman—then peed her pants when apprehended. Even so, she says she kept on shoplifting, even from Goodwill. Farrah Fawcett: She took clothes from a boutique and was charged with shoplifting in 1970, but she called it "vigilante behavior"—citing the store's unfair return policy. Courtney Love: The troubled rocker has been sued for not returning $114,000 worth of borrowed jewelry. Megan Fox: After taking some lip gloss as a child, the future star was banned from Walmart for life. Angelina Pivarnick: The former Jersey Shore star was accused of never returning a gown she borrowed from a designer for the MTV Movie Awards. Click for the full list, which includes a tennis star and a former Miss USA.

Volunteers stop to look at debris as they walk to their work site on Thursday, May 26, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. A tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing at least 123 people. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) UPDATED at 5:58 p.m. with new death toll and with Red Cross saying at least nine of unaccounted for are dead. JOPLIN, MO. • As emergency workers in Joplin searched Thursday for more than 230 people listed as missing after a tornado tore through the city, one was sitting on a wooden chair outside the wreckage of her home, cuddling her cat. Sally Adams, 75, said neighbors rescued her Sunday after the storm destroyed her house and took her to a friend's home. When The Associated Press told her she was on the missing list, Adams laughed and said "Get me off of there!" Missouri officials had said they believed many of the missing were alive and safe but simply hadn't been in touch with friends and family, in part because cell phone service has been spotty. The AP found that was the case with at least a dozen of the 232 still unaccounted for Thursday. They included two survivors staying at a hotel, six that a relative said were staying with friends and one that a former employee said had been moved from his nursing home. Stephen Whitehead, of the Red Cross' Safe and Well registry, which keeps track of the accounted-for, said that since the missing list came out earlier Thursday, he has learned that at least nine are people who are dead. Whitehead said he did not know whether those nine were among the known fatalities. Adams said she lost her cell phone in the storm and had no way of contacting her family to let them know she was OK. She was placed on the missing list after relatives called a hot line and posted Facebook messages saying she was missing. Her son, Bill Adams, said he told authorities his mother was alive after he learned she was safe, yet she remained on their unaccounted-for list Thursday afternoon. Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said he wouldn't call Adams' listing a mistake and finding her is "a good thing." He urged other survivors to check the list and call if they see their names. The AP found Mike and Betty Salzer at a hotel being used by visiting journalists. "Well, for Heaven's sakes," Betty Salzer, 74, said when the AP showed her the list. The couple have been staying at the hotel since their home was destroyed Sunday. Betty Salzer said their names might have come from a Facebook message her daughter posted before they reached her Monday morning. Not all of the stories of the missing will end so well. Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr announced Thursday that the death toll had risen to 126. Some of their families waited Thursday for their remains to be released. One victim's funeral was scheduled for Friday morning in Galena, Kan., and other services were scheduled for the weekend. But some of the bodies have yet to be identified. Andrea Spillars, deputy director and general counsel of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said officials know some of the people unaccounted for are dead, but she wouldn't say how many or when the names of the deceased would be released. Chris Haddock, 23, said his father was one of the deceased on the missing list. A commercial truck driver found 62-year-old Paul Haddock's body in his pickup truck behind a flattened Walmart. "They found his wallet and his cell phone in his pocket," Chris Haddock said. "That's how they know it's him." In another example of potential overlap, 12 residents of the Greenbriar nursing home are on the missing list. But nursing home administrators reported earlier that 11 people died in the tornado; only one was known missing. One of the 12 is Dorothy Hartman, an Alzheimer's patient. Pamela McBroom, 49, who lives near the nursing home, said one of her daughters used to work there, developed a soft spot for Hartman and introduced them. Hartman was frail "but very positive and full of life," she said. McBroom said she and her 16-year-old daughter were hiding in a closet when the tornado tore their walls and roof away. Her walls gone, McBroom could see the mayhem at Greenbriar. "I could see people flying out of the nursing home by my house," McBroom said. "I could hear them screaming. Just screaming. It was horrible." Nursing home officials haven't said whether Hartman was one of the 11 killed. Identification of the deceased has been slow because officials have taken extra precautions since a woman misidentified one victim as her son in the chaotic hours after the tornado hit, Newton County coroner Mark Bridges said. "That's the reason why we didn't release anybody else until we at least had dental records," Bridges said. A federal forensics team of 50 to 75 disaster mortuary specialists has been at work in six refrigerated trucks, collecting DNA samples for testing, taking fingerprints and looking for tattoos, body piercings, moles and other distinctive marks. Bridges expected as many as 19 bodies would be released Thursday. He said he's been explaining the reason for the delays to grieving families "all day long." "It breaks my heart," he said. ____ Associated Press writer Alan Scher Zagier contributed to this report. ||||| The first person on the missing list from a Missouri tornado is very much alive. A car passes tornado-destroyed buildings and trees as clouds roll in on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. A tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing at... (Associated Press) Storm clouds pass over the devastated Greenbriar Nursing Home in Joplin, Mo. Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Eleven residents of the facility died when an EF-5 tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, damaging... (Associated Press) Cars drive down debris-lined streets on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. A tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing at least 123 people. (AP Photo/Mark... (Associated Press) The Associated Press found 75-year-old Sally Adams sitting on a wooden chair and cuddling her pet cat Thursday. When AP told Adams she was listed as missing, she laughed and said "Get me off of there!" Neighbors rescued Adams on Sunday after the storm destroyed her house and took her to a home nearby. Her relatives had called a hot line and posted Facebook messages saying Adams was missing. Adams says she lost her cell phone in the storm and had no way to reassure family. Her son Bill Adams says he told authorities his mother was alive after he learned she was safe, yet she remained on their unaccounted-for list at midday Thursday.

– Joplin officials have released a list of 232 people still unaccounted for in the wake of the deadliest tornado ever recorded in the US. Search and rescue teams haven’t found any new survivors of the disaster since Tuesday, but Joplin officials tell the AP that they don’t think everyone on the list is dead—they suspect many have simply been cut off from communicating with their families because of still-spotty cell phone reception. Indeed, the AP tracked down the first person on the list—75-year-old Sally Adams—and found her alive and well, sitting on a wooden chair and petting her cat. Neighbors rescued Adams after her home was destroyed, but she’s lost her cell phone and had no way to contact her family. Told she was on the missing list, Adams replied, “Get me off of there!”

"The Road" is a road you'll wish hadn't been taken. Not because anything's been badly done, but because there's a serious imbalance in the complicated equation between what the film forces us to endure and what we end up receiving in return.Given that it's based on Cormac McCarthy's somber novel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for a devastating report from the end of the world witnessed by a man who's been there, it's no surprise that the film is for the most part profoundly depressing.What is disappointing is that despite numerous strong areas, including fine acting by Viggo Mortensen and young Kodi Smit-McPhee as father-and-son survivors of an unnamed apocalypse, what we've been given is no more than a reasonable facsimile, an honorable attempt at filming an unfilmable book.As adapted by British playwright Joe Penhall and directed by John Hillcoat, best known for the slickly violent "The Proposition," "The Road" turns out to be good at shocking and upsetting us, but it lacks the compensating emotional heft that would make absorbing those shocks worth our while.For while Chris Kennedy's formidable production design places us in an uncomfortably real space, absent McCarthy's haunting language, "The Road" for the most part is not so good at transcendence, at making us feel, as the book definitely does, that there is reason for us to endure its pitiless descriptions of what Joseph Conrad described in "Heart of Darkness" as "the horror, the horror."What Conrad was likely talking about, and what "The Road" devotes considerable time to on the screen and on the page, is the terrors that humans inflict on each other. One of the provocative questions this story asks is whether staying alive is worth the savagely inhuman actions necessary to make survival possible.Unwilling to begin on a totally downbeat note, "The Road" opens with what turns out to be a dream flashback to a time just before the unspecified catastrophe happens, a time when Mortensen's unnamed man is married to Charlize Theron's unnamed woman and their first child is on the way.Ten years into the post-apocalypse, the mother is gone, the unborn child is a young boy (Australian actor Smit-McPhee) and the world has changed. It's a blasted, blighted, ashen and slowly dying Earth, shaken by quakes, lighted by out-of-control fires and filled with dead cars, empty buildings, deserted bridges and very few people.To stay alive in this world, you have to keep moving, wearing the most utilitarian rags you can find (Margot Wilson did the excellent costume design) and pushing the shopping cart that contains all your possessions. It's a vision of a world largely without us that completely chills the soul.The casting of Mortensen and Smit-McPhee is one of the film's strengths. With straggly hair and a great wild look, Mortensen is convincing as a harried survivor, and the rapport he has with the more innocent and soulful child played by Smit-McPhee is excellent."I've never had a better acting partner," Mortensen has said, "someone I knew had my back, and he knew I had his."One of the great fears of those few survivors is cannibalism, something the strong inflict on the weak, and scenes that hint at that are among "The Road's" hardest to take.The man's greatest fear is that he will die before his son is old enough to protect himself, and the son's greatest fear, paradoxically, is that he and his father will somehow lose the essence of their humanity in the drive to stay alive. "Are we still the good guys?" he asks his father plaintively. "Are we carrying the fire?"This pair have their affecting moments, as does Robert Duvall as a kind of barely alive human lump, but absent McCarthy's transformative prose, which has a power even images can't improve on, what we are left with is more endurance test than anything more elevated.If it is to do more than horrify and depress us, "The Road" is in need of a finer sensibility, and that is simply not on offer. ||||| The Road November 24, 2009 Cast & Credits The Man Viggo Mortensen The Boy Kodi Smit-McPhee Wife Charlize Theron Old Man Robert Duvall The Veteran Guy Pearce Dimension Films presents a film directed by John Hillcoat. Written by Joe Penhall, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Running time: 119 minutes. Rated R. Printer-friendly » E-mail this to a friend » Note: I first saw "The Road" in September at the Toronto Film Festival, as one of eight films I saw in three days. I wrote a draft of a review at the time and sent it. That review accidentally found its way into sight in October, long before the film was scheduled to open. I yanked it offline as quickly as I could. I saw the movie a second time at a press screening on Oct. 27 in Chicago. I see festival films again whenever I have the chance. I find the second viewing makes the good ones better, and the bad ones worse. Such is the case with "The Road." "The Road" evokes the images and the characters of Cormac McCarthy's novel. It is powerful, but for me lacks the same core of emotional feeling. I'm not sure this is any fault of the filmmakers. The novel itself would not be successful if it were limited to its characters and images. Its effect comes above all through McCarthy's prose. It is the same with all of McCarthy's work, but especially this one, because his dialogue is so restrained, less baroque than usual. The story is straightforward: America has been devastated. Habitations have been destroyed or abandoned, vegetation is dying, crops have failed, the infrastructure of civilization has disappeared. This has happened in such recent memory that even The Boy, so young, was born into a healthy world. No reason is given for this destruction, perhaps because no reason would be adequate. McCarthy evokes the general apprehension of post-9/11. The Boy and The Man make their way toward the sea, perhaps for no better reason than that sea has always been the direction of hope in this country. The surviving population has been reduced to savage survivalists, making slaves of the weaker, possibly using them as food. We've always done that, employing beef cattle, for example, to do the grazing on acres of pasture so we can consume the concentrated calories of their labor. In a land where food is scarce, wanderers seek out canned goods and fear their own bodies will perform this work for the cannibals. Although we read of those who stockpile guns and ammunition for an apocalypse, weapon stores on the Road have dwindled down. The Man has a gun with two remaining bullets. He is a wary traveler, suspecting everyone he sees. He and The Boy are transporting a few possessions in a grocery cart. He encourages his son to keep walking, but holds out little hope for the end of their journey. I am not sure the characters could be played better, or differently. Viggo Mortensen portrays The Man as dogged and stubborn, determined to protect his boy. Kodi Smit-McPhee is convincing as a child stunned by destruction, depending on his father in a world where it must be clear to him that any man can die in an instant. The movie resists any tendency toward making the child cute, or the two of them heartwarming. Flashback scenes star Charlize Theron as the wife and mother of the two in earlier, sunnier days. These sequences show the marriage as failing, and these memories haunt The Man. I'm not sure what relevance this subplot has to the film as a whole; a marriage happy or sad -- isn't it much the same in this new world? It has a lot of relevance, however, to The Man and The Boy. In times of utter devastation, memories are what we cling to. The external events of the novel have been boldly solved, and this is an awesome production. But McCarthy's prose has the uncanny ability to convey more than dialogue and incident. It's as dense as poetry. It is more spare in The Road than in a more ornate work like Suttree; in The Road, it is as evocative in the way Samuel Beckett is. If it were not, "The Road" might be just another film of sci-fi apocalypse. It's all too easy to imagine how this material could be vulgarized, as Richard Matheson's novel was in the 2007 version of "I Am Legend." How could the director and writer, John Hillcoat and Joe Penhall, have summoned the strength of McCarthy's writing? Could they have used more stylized visuals, instead of relentless realism? A grainy black-and-white look to suggest severely limited resources? I have no idea. Perhaps McCarthy, like Faulkner, is all but unfilmable. The one great film of his work is the Coens' "No Country for Old Men," but it began with an extraordinary character and surrounded him with others. The Road is not fertile soil, providing a world with life draining from it. McCarthy's greatest novels are Suttree and Blood Meridian. The second, set in the Old West, is about a fearsome, bald, skeletal man named Judge Holden, who is implacable in his desire to inflict suffering and death. ("Blood Meridian" is being prepared by Todd Field, director of "In the Bedroom.") Hillcoat's earlier film, "The Proposition" (2005), written by Nick Cave, seems almost McCarthy-like. Something in McCarthy's work draws Hillcoat to it, and you must be a brave director to let that happen. Writing this, I realize few audience members can be expected to have read The Road, even though it was a selection of Oprah's Book Club. Fewer still will have read McCarthy's other works. I've been saying for years that a film critic must review the film before him, and not how "faithful" the film is to the book -- as if we're married to the book, and somehow screen adaptation is adultery. I realize my own fault is in being so very familiar with Cormac McCarthy. That may affect my ability to view any film adaptation of his work afresh. When I know a novel is bring filmed, I make it a point to not read the book. Yet I am grateful for having read McCarthy's. ||||| In “The Road,’’ the world has ended with a bang and a whimper. Author Cormac McCarthy’s lean prose has been lifted off the printed page and laid carefully into the soundtrack like antique china in a packing crate. “The clocks stopped at 1:17,’’ says the narrator. “A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions.’’ That’s all we know about the apocalypse and all we need to know. The movie takes place in an America that has been turned into an ash heap, with skeletal human survivors picking their way across the cinders. Kept rigorously in the foreground are a Man (Viggo Mortensen) and a Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the latter born shortly after the end came and thus a creature exclusively of this fallen world. The two are traveling from the interior to the coast before winter comes - that’s the action of the movie. That, and keeping clear of marauding bands of men who would gladly skin them and eat them. Also, as the boy reminds his father, the two “carry the fire,’’ whatever that means. It could refer to decency and goodness, the guttering spark of humanity. It could just mean they’re still alive. “The Road’’ has been poured straight from McCarthy’s bleak bottle and brought to the screen by Australian John Hillcoat, who turned the 2005 Outback Western “The Proposition’’ into an epic of blasted landscapes and bloody motivations. He’s the man for the job, yet in adapting this harsh, unyielding book for the screen, Hillcoat and screenwriter Joe Penhall pull their punches the slightest degree and thus too much. Or maybe movies can only dully visualize horrors the best writers hint at. Hillcoat’s “Road’’ is true to the book’s profoundly moving post-nuclear stoicism, but it can’t quite get those biblical cadences that make McCarthy such a transfixing read. The Coens managed it with “No Country for Old Men,’’ so it can be done, but you have to be willing to go all the way into the dark. As a colleague said after seeing this movie, you need to show the baby on the spit. “The Road’’ doesn’t dare, can’t dare, and is the lesser thing. What’s on the screen is disturbing enough. (Even at that, it has taken a year for the Weinsteins, the producers and distributors of “The Road,’’ to get the nerve to release the film.) As the Man and the Boy drag their shopping cart across what’s left of America, the enormity of the cataclysm is glimpsed forward and backward. A wife (Charlize Theron) who may have been the braver for opting out. An impossibly old man (Robert Duvall) like a figure out of “Godot,’’ unable to go on but still going on. A trap door in a kitchen that leads to something you’d better not think about. There are other basements and further revelations in “The Road,’’ but Hillcoat avoids jack-in-the-box suspense clichés; the movie plods with a literalism that’s at times too reverent (as is Nick Cave’s score, piling on a sensitive “mournfulness’’ both redundant and unnecessary). Mortensen underplays his role admirably, and Smit-McPhee is gratifyingly unactorly. At the movie’s best we see their relationship shift as something crucial and inarticulate is passed from one generation to the next. Like all end-of-the-world fiction, “The Road’’ brings iconic meaning to the smallest of gestures. A single kindness becomes the hope of humanity; a cruel act the path to hell. If I have mixed feelings about the movie, it’s because Hillcoat honors the story’s minimalism without bringing his own sensibilities to bear on the material. He’s spooked by the responsibility, and maybe he’s right: When the director does add a single furry detail to the final scenes, it feels like a surrender to sentiment. At the same time, everything about the film is a welcome rebuke to the happy-face apocalypse of “2012,’’ a movie that turns mass extinction into the Greatest Show on Earth. In “The Road,’’ what has been lost is recognized as infinitely precious; what’s left is bitter and our due. Ty Burr can be reached at [email protected]. For more on movies, go to www.boston.com/movienation. © Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

– It’s a thankless job adapting a literary darling like The Road, and, sure enough, director John Hillcoat hasn’t gotten much thanks. Critics have mixed feelings about the bleak post-apocalyptic film. Here’s what they’re saying: Despite good acting, the film is merely adequate, “an honorable attempt at filming an unfilmable book,” writes Kenneth Turan of the LA Times. “To do more than horrify and depress us, The Road is in need of a finer sensibility.” A devoted Cormac McCarthy fan, Roger Ebert wrestles with his review. “It is powerful, but for me lacks the same core of emotional feeling,” he writes. “I'm not sure this is any fault of the filmmakers.” The movie can only “dully visualize horrors the best writers hint at,” says Ty Burr of the Boston Globe. Still, it’s a “welcome rebuke to the happy-face apocalypse of 2012.” “The Road isn't a masterpiece,” writes Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer. But it stuck with him, “its images of dread and fear kicking around like such a terrible dream.”

The Senate Commerce Committee issued a report on the multibillion dollar data industry today, and the accompanying testimony and findings are chilling. Over the last year, the Committee queried nine of the major data companies and invited testimony from privacy groups. What's emerged is that collectively, these companies own an astounding number of consumer profiles, and they're selling deeply personal information — sometimes to identity thieves — in categories like rape victims, people with cancer, and “Rural and Barely Making It.” One data broker is selling lists of addresses and names of consumers suffering from conditions including cancer, diabetes, and depression, and the medications used for those conditions; another is offering lists naming consumers, their credit scores, and specific health conditions. Of the nine companies the Committee approached — Acxiom, Experian, Epsilon, Reed Elsevier, Equifax, TransUnion, Rapleaf, Spokeo, and Datalogix — "some" were forthcoming. The report mentions Equifax as being particularly cooperative. Others weren't. Acxiom, which according to the report has “multi-sourced insight into approximately 700 million consumers worldwide,” Experian, and Epsilon refused to explain how they collected their data or who they were selling it to, citing confidentiality clauses in their contracts. (The Attorney General of New Jersey recently released documents indicating Acxiom sold another company, Dataium, 400,000 dossiers for a mere $2,500.) In October, Experian admitted that it sold personal information — including social security numbers and banking information — through a subsidiary to an alleged online identity theft ring. That same subsidiary, Court Ventures, also appeared on a list of companies that requested private information about gun permit holders in Virginia. Equifax told the Committee they had information as specific as: Whether a consumer purchased a particular soft drink or shampoo product in the last six months Whether they use laxatives or yeast infection products How many OB/GYN doctor visits they've had within the last 12 months How many miles they traveled in the last 4 weeks The number of whiskey drinks they consumed in the past 30 days. That data is then sorted into a dictionary with more than 75,000 data points like, "whether the individual or household is a pet owner, smokes, has a propensity to purchase prescriptions through the mail, donates to charitable causes, is active military or a veteran, holds certain insurance products including burial insurance or juvenile life insurance, enjoys reading romance novels, or is a hunter." Privacy groups testified that the companies also sell lists of rape victims and people with HIV and AIDs. This fine-tuned data collection isn't new — last year, the Times reported a story of how Target figured out a teenager was pregnant before her father did. Even in 2007, the Times reported on a company selling lists like, “Oldies but Goodies,” 500,000 gamblers over 55 years old, for 8.5 cents each, and one list that said: “These people are gullible. They want to believe that their luck can change.” But their databases are growing infinitely, and there are still no relevant consumer protection laws in place to protect individual privacy. And despite recent transparency efforts — like Acxiom's aboutthedata.com — that also means the consumers on these lists still have no right to find out what information is out there, or who is buying it. [image via Shutterstock] ||||| NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Consumer data companies are selling lists of rape victims, seniors with dementia and even those suffering from HIV and AIDS to marketers, underscoring the need for tighter government regulations, a privacy group told Congress Wednesday. The World Privacy Forum uncovered these lists, along with several others, while investigating how data brokers collect and sell consumer information. Marketers buy this data so they can target shoppers based on everything from their income to clothing size. Other lists the nonprofit found included the home addresses of police officers, a mailing list for domestic violence shelters (which are typically kept secret by law) and a list of people with addictive behaviors towards drug and alcohol. The mere existence of these lists highlights the need for increased government regulations, said World Privacy Forum executive director Pam Dixon. Related: What your zip code reveals about you "This is where I urge Congress to take action," she said Wednesday at a Senate committee hearing. "Highly sensitive data are the frayed and ugly ends of the bell curve of lists, far from the center. This is where lawmakers can work to remove unsafe, unfair and overall just deplorable lists from circulation." Currently, data brokers are required by federal law to maintain the privacy of a consumer's data only if it is used for credit, employment, insurance or housing. And while medical privacy laws prohibit doctors from sharing patient information, medical information that data brokers get elsewhere, such as from the purchase of over-the-counter drugs and other health care items, is fair game. In some cases, such lists could put people in harm's way. The list of more than 30,000 police officers' home addresses, for example, could put the lives of the officers and their families in danger, said Dixon. Meanwhile, a list of seniors suffering from dementia could open them up to predatory financial offers. Related: Find out what Big Data knows about you Linda Woolley, president of the Direct Marketing Association, said in a statement that such lists represent a "tiny minority" of marketing products. "We recognize that there are situations in which lists are being used to disparage certain groups," she said. "That is not something that DMA supports." She added that some names of lists may be misleading as to the information it contains and that most lists typically focus on a person's likely interests, such as whether someone is a "sports enthusiast" or "avid traveler." Some data brokers offer ways to opt out, but many have unclear opt-out procedures or none at all. Plus, most consumers have no idea they're on the lists in the first place, said Dixon. Related: What your wireless carrier knows about you Wednesday's hearing came after a year-long Senate committee investigation into the $156 billion data brokerage industry. The Federal Trade Commission has also called on major data brokers to increase transparency into their data practices. Committee chairman John "Jay" Rockefeller criticized several of the country's largest data brokers for resisting the oversight and said he would continue to push for information on how they get data and who they sell it to. In his closing remarks, the senator said he was "revolted" by the lists Dixon had revealed and said the commission would continue to explore the issue. "I think it's our job as government to... bring into sunlight what is going on," he said. "I think its serious, and I think it's a dark underside of American life, in which people make a lot of money and cause people to suffer even more."

– Secretive data companies are tracking almost every American's every move online—and compiling and selling disturbingly targeted lists based on that spying, a new Senate Commerce Committee report concludes. That includes lists of rape victims, people suffering from ailments including HIV, AIDS, and dementia, and people with substance abuse problems, a privacy group said in a hearing yesterday, as per CNN. Mailing addresses for police officers and domestic violence shelters—the latter of which are usually protected by law—are also for sale, as are lists based on demographics and economics, including "Ethnic Second-City Strugglers," and "Rural and Barely Making It." The World Privacy Forum urged Congress to act to "remove unsafe, unfair, and overall just deplorable lists from circulation." The Direct Marketing Association released a statement saying that while the lists are occasionally "used to disparage certain groups," they represented a "tiny minority" of marketing products. Overall the committee looked at nine companies, some of which refused to explain how they got their data or who they sold it to, Gawker reports. One company admitted it had sold social security numbers and banking information to an alleged identity theft ring.

Payment processor PayPal has banned Infowars in what represents nothing less than a political ploy designed to financially sabotage an influential media outlet just weeks before the mid-term elections. Company representatives called Infowars yesterday to confirm that PayPal was terminating its agreement after “a comprehensive review of the Infowars site.” The company claimed that Infowars violated PayPal’s “acceptable use policy” because it “promoted hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions.” No specific examples whatsoever were officially provided to back up this claim, which relies on a nebulous definition of “hate” which is so vague that virtually anything could qualify. Off record, Infowars was told that criticism of Islam and opposition to transgenderism being taught to children in schools were two of the examples of “hate”. The ban was instituted despite InfowarsStore.com containing no political content whatsoever, emphasizing how the decision was a broader attack on the Infowars platform. PayPal representatives said they were giving Infowars 10 days to switch payment processors, after which all services would be terminated. The ban was handed down just weeks after George Soros-funded group Right Wing Watch published an article demanding that PayPal terminate its agreement with Infowars for “egregious violations of the platform’s own terms of service.” Right Wing Watch routinely violates copyright by uploading entire sections of other people’s videos to YouTube without any pretense of fair use, yet the group’s channel has not been deleted. Right Wing Watch is owned by People For the American Way, which is funded by George Soros’ Open Society Initiative. In addition, the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post published an article less than two weeks ago that served as a dog whistle for PayPal to ban Infowars. Entitled As Alex Jones rails against ‘Big Tech,’ his Infowars stores still thrive online, the article bemoaned the fact that despite Alex Jones being banned by every other Big Tech platform, the censorship had, “left intact key elements of his moneymaking machinery — digital storefronts.” The article then specifically mentions how Infowars uses PayPal to generate a “high rate of sales”. This is yet another example of a competing media outlet abusing its dominant position to lobby to shut down a smaller media outlet. PayPal banning Infowars is the ultimate culmination of what represents a de facto Communist Chinese-style social credit score, where first you are demonized, then censored, before your basic ability to operate freely in the marketplace is withdrawn. The decision is also blatantly political given the fact that the mid-terms are now just weeks away. The crusade to ban Alex Jones and Infowars from a myriad of other platforms was amplified by Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), who demanded to know why Facebook and YouTube hadn’t banned Jones. Both companies complied with Deutch’s demand within weeks. As Breitbart reported, the mass deplatforming of Jones occurred, “One week after Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, led a charge threatening new regulation of social media companies who cannot stop bad actors from using their platforms.” This illustrates how lawmakers are colluding with Big Tech to silence conservative voices. The argument that PayPal, like the plethora of other Silicon Valley giants that banned Infowars and Alex Jones, is “just a private company” is wearing increasingly thin. To what degree will conservatives allow themselves to be punished for their political opinions? Will it get to the stage where conservatives are banned from having bank accounts or making credit purchases because of their personal beliefs? This is absolutely chilling. People like David Horowitz and Robert Spencer have already had their access to the marketplace restricted because of their criticism of Islam. Are we now to understand that questioning an often violent and intolerant belief system is all it takes to have your basic right to engage in commerce withdrawn? PayPal is akin to the public square of transactional commerce. It could be legally argued that their decision represents tortious interference, interference in interstate commerce and racketeering. The ban represents nothing less than politically motivated financial discrimination by a giant corporation abusing its monopolistic status to attack the basic right to engage in commerce. PayPal still offers its services to all kinds of unsavory groups and organizations, including groups linked to Palestinian terrorists and extremists like Louis Farrakhan. Why aren’t they banned? Who decides what constitutes “hate”? Infowars was also tipped off by sources in DC that payment processors would be the next target, with Infowars being the first victim, after which leftists would attempt to bring down the NRA and more mainstream conservative groups. Just as Wikileaks’ ability to process payments was sabotaged after it angered the deep state, the financial attack on Infowars is being orchestrated by ‘resistance’ holdovers who are still in government positions. Other prominent conservatives and political groups must realize that while this is happening to Infowars today, they are next. This is election meddling writ large. This is giant corporations taking their orders from the deep state and mobs of leftists and then destroying people’s livelihoods by restricting their access to the marketplace. This is an echo of how authoritarian regimes throughout history eviscerated either political adversaries or minority groups by removing their right to engage in commerce. Now instead of the government taking that role, it’s giant monopolistic corporations who are able to get away with it because conservatives have their heads buried in the sand. This is why it is imperative that President Trump pass an executive order that offers protection for conservatives whose rights are being violated on a regular basis by Big Tech monopolies. With PayPal now buying up global credit card payment processors, Trump must surely look at blocking such activity under anti-trust laws. This sets off a horrific domino effect and an awful precedent for free speech and freedom of commerce. PayPal must reconsider this atrocious decision. Infowars is currently considering all legal options in response to PayPal’s announcement. Please support Infowars by purchasing the products while you still can. Subscribe to the podcast or donate directly. SUBSCRIBE on YouTube: Follow on Twitter: Follow @PrisonPlanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71 ********************* Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. All Conservatives To Be Purged From The Internet After PayPal Ban Of Alex Jones ||||| PayPal will no longer do business with Infowars, according to a post on the conspiracy theory site this morning. PayPal broke the news in an email to Infowars yesterday, saying the company had conducted a comprehensive review of the Infowars site and found that it “promoted hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions,” a violation of PayPal’s acceptable use policy. Infowars had used PayPal to process transactions for its on-site store; the site will have ten days to find new payment processors. The move comes after a string of bans, which have effectively barred Infowars from distributing content on the internet’s major platforms. Facebook banned a number of Infowars pages in August after public pressure. YouTube, Twitter, the iOS App Store, and others followed Facebook’s lead in the weeks that followed. Infowars and its founder Alex Jones have drawn increasing criticism for harassment of the parents of Sandy Hook victims (whom Jones described as “crisis actors”) and persistent conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Clinton staffer Seth Rich. PayPal’s partnership with the site was highlighted in August by Right Wing Watch’s Jared Holt, who described “highly publicized and egregious violations of the platform’s own terms of service.” Reached by The Verge, Holt said today’s move had been a long time coming. “Removing PayPal from the Infowars platform inhibits Jones’ ability to make money from his malice,” Holt said, “but it’s a bit odd it took so long given how egregiously Infowars violated the platform’s terms of service.” Reached by The Verge, PayPal confirmed the ban, and said it extended to all Infowars-related sites. “Our values are the foundation for the decision we made this week,” a PayPal spokesperson said in a statement. “We undertook an extensive review of the Infowars sites, and found instances that promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions, which run counter to our core value of inclusion.”

– Another day, another digital banishment for Alex Jones and InfoWars. This time, it's PayPal, which informed InfoWars of the ban on Thursday, saying the site violated "acceptable use policy" by promoting "hate," The Verge reports. Among other digital platforms that have recently banned Jones—infamous for promoting conspiracy theories, harassing the parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims, and hectoring journalists and politicians—are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. PayPal has given InfoWars 10 business days to find another payment processing platform before it pulls the plug, according to the New York Times noting that PayPal handles all of the InfoWars store's transactions (it sells things like vitamins and InfoWars merch), including donations from supporters. In a blog post, InfoWars accused PayPal of seeking to "financially sabotage an influential media outlet just weeks before the midterm elections."

Less than a week after Brad Pitt promoted Angelina Jolie from live-in girlfriend to fiancée, the United Nations has promoted the Academy Award-winning actress from goodwill ambassador to special envoy. Naturally, the second announcement raises a singular, pressing concern among the tabloid community, which has already devoted countless hours, magazine pages that double as coasters, and Web space to the humanitarian’s recently acquired jewelry: Will Jolie’s new U.N. standing put her engagement ring in danger? Because it would be a shame for something to happen to the ring that Brad Pitt painstakingly designed over a course of a year, even if renowned celebrity jewel appraiser Us Weekly guesses that it’s worth only $250,000, one half the estimated cost of Jennifer Aniston’s bauble. Perhaps Jolie’s new job description will give us some insight into the ring-endangerment risks of a special envoy: According to the less-renowned celebrity-ring-speculation source the Associated Press, “Jolie’s new position will focus on the complex crises that result in the mass displacement of people, such as in Afghanistan and Somalia. In addition, on special occasions she will represent the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres. That can mean conveying messages to governments. It can mean conveying messages to other people and partners that we work with.” We can assume that Jolie will likely continue to travel to refugee camps around the world and promote refugee causes, as she has done for a decade now. With that kind of traveling, we suggest that Jolie take a few jewel-safeguarding precautions, including: 1) Avoid sand, chlorine, or any substance that could damage the precious metal of your band; 2) Leave the ring in a safety security box and, as a James Bond-esque flourish, consider having a less expensive duplicate made; and 3) Dress inconspicuously to avoid attention, and turn the ring around so that the diamond is not showing. No one will ever know! ||||| Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie already hold the record for the most expensive baby pictures ever sold -- $14 million from People magazine for the 2008 images of their twins, Vivienne and Knox. Now, could they nab the same title with their wedding photos? “The weekly magazine market has changed beyond recognition since 2008,” one publisher told me. “Gone are the days when competing magazines would bid against each other, inflating the price of baby and wedding pictures. If Brad and Angie's twins were born today in 2012, they would be lucky if they got a third of what they got back then.” But a market decrease shouldn't affect Brad and Angelina's personal bank account too much. They donated 100 percent of the revenue from their twins' photos to charity. “In this market, the wedding pictures might be worth around $5 million,” one magazine insider tells me. “That would be for worldwide rights, so that whoever buys them in the USA could make money selling them to publications in other countries. Although the big question will be what sort of access will the couple allow? If it's just a few shots where you can’t see the dress or them kiss, then it could be lower.” And although many insiders think Brangelina's wedding will be a low-key affair, look no further than Angie’s infamous right leg to understand that this actress knows how to strike a pose. FOLLOW NAUGHTY BUT NICE ROB ON TWITTER Also on HuffPost: ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| By Radar Staff Wedding photos are considered priceless to most people, but Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s ceremonial snaps will be worth millions of dollars! The Hollywood couple, who announced their long-awaited engagement last week, will rake in an astounding amount of money when they walk down the aisle and say their ‘I dos’ according to a new report – and RadarOnline.com has the details. PHOTOS: Angelina Jolie Debuts Her Huge Engagement Ring “That’s going to be the wedding of the century,” Gary Morgan, CEO of Splash photo agency, told Flash of Brangelina’s big day. The longtime photo agency veteran, who estimates that the photos will demand more than $2 million in total agency sales around the world, believes that the shots will be ‘closely guarded and sold to the highest bidders in the U.S. and abroad.’ PHOTOS: The 10 Hottest Engagement Rings Of The Moment! “They’ll revive the industry — for that week, anyway.” The first photos of Brad and Angelina as a couple, which were taken while the costars vacationed in Kenya together with Maddox, netted the couple $1 million. RELATED STORIES: Angelina Jolie’s Engagement Ring Jeweler Sued For Fraud! Angelina Jolie Looks Scary Skinny As She Flashes Engagement Ring Barbara Walters Slams Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Engagement: ‘Get Married Already!’ Battle Of The Bling! Did Jennifer Aniston Or Angelina Jolie Get A Better Ring From Brad Pitt? ||||| Brangelina Quotes Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie open up about their romance. MORE >> The Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are finally tying the knot, but the burning question still remains: Will the longtime couple and parents-of-six have a prenuptial agreement? According to Forbes, Brad, 48, is worth an estimated $150 million, while Angelina, 36, is worth a whopping $120 million, a net worth equaling $270 million. “The chances of them not having a pre-nup is slim and zip,” Goldie Schon, Los Angeles Family Law Attorney, tells Celebuzz. “The fact that they waited this long to tie the knot, you can’t imagine that with this type of wealth and this type of stature that they’re not going to protect themselves so that they don’t have a situation in the future.” While signing a prenup in Hollywood is a pretty standard procedure, could this legal procedure ultimately doom Brad and Angie’s marriage from the start? Are they wishing it to fail? “[They] just to have something in writing, similar to a couple having a living trust or a will,” Schon explains. “It’s just a document that is going to outline for the two of them and for their family how things are going to be divided up or not divided if the two should separate.” Our expert predicts not much will change for the couple, who’ve already been together for seven years. “Nothing is going to change. The reason they are getting married is because of their children. Their children are growing up and they are becoming more knowledgeable of what mommys and daddys are supposed to be.” When and if a prenup such as this is drawn up, the kids will not be included. Schon explains, “You can’t put child support or child care into a prenuptial agreement because a prenup is between two people, the spouses to be. You can not contract away the rights of a child.” Schon’s advice for Brad and Angie’s possible prenup, “What’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine,” she insists. “That’s how it’s going to stay.” She adds, “These two particular people are extremely affluent in their own right, when it comes to wealth, when it comes to celebrity stature and being a public figure. They are both pretty much of the same elite.” What do you think? Should Brad and Angie get a prenup, or is it jinxing the marriage from the get-go? Sound off in the comments. ||||| Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Dave Hogan/Getty Images There are many questions still unanswered about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's engagement. We all still want to know how the proposal went down, when and where they will say their I-dos and what the wedding dress will look like. And then there's Jennifer Aniston—what does she think of all this? Well, I can tell you... READ: Five Things to Know About Angelina Jolie's Stunning Engagement Ring! Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player She isn't thinking much about it—if she is at all. "She doesn't care," an Aniston pal tells me. "She really doesn't. She's happy with Justin [Theroux]. She'll probably marry him. She's moved on. People don't want to believe it, but she has." No doubt the celebrity tabloids are going to have a field day with Aniston and Brangelina, but be careful of what you read. Another source tells us Aniston found out about the engagement at home. "She was happy and hanging out with her man," the source said. Aniston recently opened up about Theroux to Marie Claire Australia. ""He's a protector, for sure," she told the mag, according to Just Jared. "He's just a good human being, and so funny." —Additional reporting by Ken Baker Now we want to hear from you. Do you think the Jennifer Aniston and Brangelina "love triangle" drama really exists or do you think all three moved on a long time ago? Chime in below. PHOTOS: Wedding Can Wait ||||| It wasn't your average Jolie-Pitt family meeting. On a recent spring day, Brad Pitt gathered his six kids -- Maddox, 10, Pax, 8, Zahara, 7, Shiloh, 5, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 3 -- as he presented love Angelina Jolie with a very special present: A tablet-shaped diamond engagement ring -- estimated at 16 carats and worth $500,000 -- which he helped design with jeweler Robert Procop. PHOTOS: A timeline of Brad and Angie's romance "Angelina cried and smiled" at the proposal, a confidante tells the new Us Weekly, out now. And the children, who had been extremely eager for their parents to wed after seven years together, were equally overjoyed, the source adds. "Everyone hugged once she put [the ring] on. She went around and showed it to each of the kids." PHOTOS: How the Jolie-Pitt kids have grown up As the world now knows, Jolie, 36, quietly debuted that long-awaited ring at an April 11 private viewing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, with startling photos and a confirmation from jeweler Procop and then Pitt's manager emerging two days later. TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images "Angie considers herself bonded to Brad for life," adds the source. PHOTOS: Stars who haven't wed--yet! For much, much more on one of the biggest Hollywood engagements ever -- how son Maddox led the kids to pressure mom and dad to get hitched, their low-key wedding plans, and what Jennifer Aniston really thinks -- pick up the new Us Weekly, on stands Friday!

– And the sure-to-be-constant stream of Brangelina Engagement Gossip continues. The latest, per a "confidante" in Us Weekly: Brad Pitt gathered the whole family together as he presented Angelina Jolie with her brand-new engagement ring, and she "cried and smiled" as he proposed. Their six kids were similarly excited, and "everyone hugged once she put [the ring] on," the source continues. "She went around and showed it to each of the kids." Though the Us article puts the proposal on "a recent spring day," Life & Style claims the pair got engaged over Christmas, and a source tells E! they decided to get hitched "last year." More burning questions: How much will their wedding photos go for? E! shoots high with $10 million, Huffington Post says maybe $5 million, but the Daily and Radar go lower—$2 million. How does Jennifer Aniston feel about all this? She was first said to be so delighted she might actually attend the wedding. Then a source told E! that, believe it or not, "she doesn't care. She really doesn't. She's happy with Justin [Theroux]," while another source tells People, "Jen is not a bitter person and she has always wanted Brad to be happy." And Vanity Fair asks the really important question: "Will Angelina Jolie’s New Job as a UN Special Envoy Put Her Engagement Ring at Risk?" What about a prenup? Click to see what the "experts" think…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to attend a UN Migration Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Monday, Dec.10, 2018. Top U.N. officials and government leaders from about 150 countries are uniting... (Associated Press) German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to attend a UN Migration Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Monday, Dec.10, 2018. Top U.N. officials and government leaders from about 150 countries are uniting around an agreement on migration, while finding themselves on the defensive about the non-binding deal... (Associated Press) MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — A United Nations accord, the "Global Compact on Migration," adopted Monday by 164 U.N. members, but not the United States, aims to improve the treatment of migrants worldwide. Here, at a glance, are key points and details: WHAT IS IT? A non-binding, voluntary agreement that aims to ensure "safe, orderly and regular migration." WHY? Because migration is such a huge economic, social, political and health issue, affecting nearly every country. The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration estimates there are 1 billion migrants worldwide, or nearly one in every seven humans. HOW WILL IT WORK? The pact encourages countries to work together, mentioning the word "cooperation" 62 times, and to fight discrimination against migrants. WHO SUPPORTS IT? German Chancellor Angela Merkel was a key backer. WHO OPPOSES IT? At least nine countries. In a detailed critique , the Trump administration said it could not "support a 'compact' or process" that could "impose" policy. It also said the agreement failed to "distinguish adequately" between legal and illegal immigrants. Many eastern European countries, and more recently Italy and Belgium, also voiced misgivings. WHAT DOES THE U.N. SAY? Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "We are not establishing a new right to migrate. No. There is not a right for anyone to go anywhere at any time according to his or her whim. What we are establishing is the obligation to respect the human rights of migrants." The U.N. says more than 80 percent of the world's migrants move between countries "in a safe and orderly fashion." And most migration is "South-South" — between countries in the southern hemisphere — not among people seeking to reach richer northern countries. ||||| German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to attend a UN Migration Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Monday, Dec.10, 2018. Top U.N. officials and government leaders from about 150 countries are uniting... (Associated Press) German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to attend a UN Migration Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Monday, Dec.10, 2018. Top U.N. officials and government leaders from about 150 countries are uniting around an agreement on migration, while finding themselves on the defensive about the non-binding deal... (Associated Press) MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Defying fierce opposition from the United States and a few other nations, nearly 85 percent of the countries at the U.N. agreed Monday on a sweeping yet non-binding accord to ensure safe, orderly and humane migration. The debate over the Global Compact for Migration, the first of its kind, has proven to be a pivotal test of the U.N.-led effort to crack down on the often dangerous and illegal movements across borders that have turned people smuggling into a booming worldwide industry. "Unregulated migration bears a terrible human cost: a cost in lives lost on perilous journeys across deserts, oceans and rivers; and a cost in lives ruined at the hands of smugglers, unscrupulous employers and other predators," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a migration conference in Marrakech, Morocco. "More than 60,000 migrants have died on the move since the year 2000," he said. "This is a source of collective shame." Migration affects hundreds of millions of people across the globe — farmers coming off the land or forced by climate change to head to cities, families fleeing war or persecution at home, impoverished workers from the developing world looking for jobs in rich countries. It can also involve high-skilled workers from developed nations looking for opportunities beyond their homelands. Defenders say migration greases the wheels of the world economy by diversifying and rejuvenating workforce in aging rich countries and providing a needed source of cash to poorer countries through remittances sent home by migrants. Opponents often fear that an influx of migrants can dilute their countries' character, import poverty or crime, reduce wages and take jobs from tax-paying citizens. A total of 164 countries among the 193 U.N. members approved the agreement by acclamation Monday. At the two-day conference, U.N. leaders were hoping to lure in holdouts from mostly Western nations who were not signing: Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia along with the United States, which under President Donald Trump did not participate in drafting the accord. Louise Arbour of Canada, a former U.N. human rights chief, said the issue also has been tied up in parliamentary debates in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Israel, Slovenia and Switzerland — although some of them did participate in creating the accord, which has since been ensnared by tough political headwinds. The conference is the capstone of efforts set in motion two years ago when all 193 U.N. member states, including the U.S. under President Barack Obama, adopted a declaration saying that no country can manage international migration on its own and agreed to work on a global compact. The Trump administration — which is demanding a wall on the Mexican border and has sent U.S. military troops to the border to block a migrant caravan moving toward the U.S. through Central America — pulled out of the accord a year ago. It claimed that parts of the compact clashed with "U.S. immigration and refugee policies." Some European Union countries, including Italy, Poland and Hungary, now have anti-migrant populist governments that have reacted strongly after over 1 million migrants — mostly refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — poured into Europe in 2015. Since then, right-wing and anti-immigration movements have enjoyed a surge in political support in pockets of Europe.

– Defying fierce opposition from the United States and a few other nations, nearly 85% of the countries at the UN agreed Monday on a sweeping yet non-binding accord to ensure safe, orderly, and humane migration. A total of 164 countries among the 193 UN members approved the first-of-its-kind the Global Compact for Migration by acclamation Monday, reports the AP. At the two-day conference, UN leaders were hoping to lure in holdouts from mostly Western nations who were not signing: Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia along with the United States, which under President Trump did not participate in drafting the accord. The UN's International Organization for Migration estimates there are 1 billion migrants worldwide, or nearly one in every seven humans," and more than 60,000 migrants have died on the move since the year 2000," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a migration conference in Marrakesh, Morocco. "This is a source of collective shame." The conference is the capstone of efforts set in motion two years ago when all 193 UN member states, including the US under President Barack Obama, adopted a declaration saying that no country can manage international migration on its own and agreed to work on a global compact. The Trump administration pulled out of the accord a year ago. It said it could not "support a 'compact' or process" that could "impose" policy and said the agreement failed to "distinguish adequately" between legal and illegal immigrants. Read more on the pact here.

Break your arm, and it will probably heal—but lose a big chunk of your chin, and that’s a different story. Now, researchers have made a significant advance toward replacing large pieces of bone in humans by growing a pig’s own cells into bone in the lab and then using it to restore a piece of missing jaw. “Being able to translate into a large, functional animal model is an important step for this technology,” says Scott Hollister, a biomedical engineer at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who was not involved in the study. But he says the new technique, now inching toward testing in humans, will still have to prove its advantages over other experimental bone regeneration approaches. The face is an especially tricky testing ground for bone reconstruction. It takes precision to match our subtle features and symmetry, and bones in the jaw must be strong enough to withstand the force of chewing. Today, surgeons often repair facial damage by grafting a piece of bone from somewhere else, such as the patient’s pelvis or rib. But that procedure, called an autograft, creates a whole new bone injury that can be painful and slow to heal. The extracted bone is also tough to carve into the desired shape, and surgeons sometimes struggle to find a piece big enough to replace what’s missing. Instead, researchers have been experimenting with ways to grow new facial bone, many of them based on synthetic scaffolds—porous structures shaped like the missing region that can be grafted onto existing bone to encourage the body to rebuild. Some experiments have implanted these empty scaffolds on their own and let new bone grow into them. Others have loaded scaffolds up with growth factors or cells that can transform into bone, or both. Several such techniques have made it to large animal testing—a key step in proving they’re worth trying in humans. But these approaches have involved adding precursor cells or growth factors to the scaffold right before it’s implanted and allowing the bone to develop inside the body. Growing new bone in the scaffold for weeks before implanting it could have advantages, says Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, a biomedical engineer at Columbia University and senior author on the new paper. It would give growth in the scaffold a kind of head start, so that the synthesis of bone matrix is more likely to keep up with the body’s natural process of degrading bone. And if cells are already part of a growing tissue, rather than a smattering of precursor cells recently injected into the scaffold, she says, they may be less likely to disperse out of the scaffold (and go to waste) after they’re grafted. In the new study, Vunjak-Novakovic and her colleagues tested that idea in 14 pigs with facial bone damage. They cut a hammer-shaped chunk roughly 6 centimeters long out of the back of each pig’s jawbone—the vertical piece that extends up toward the ear and bears the most weight when an animal chomps down. To replace those chunks, the team first crafted scaffolds out of cow leg bone by removing all the living cells to leave behind a porous matrix of minerals and proteins. These were carved with a tiny computer-guided pin that shaved away material to match 3D images of each pig’s jaw, created from a computed tomography scan. Next, the researchers sucked some fat from the pigs’ backs and isolated precursor cells that can become bone, known as mesenchymal stem cells. Forcing these cells—and culture medium to nourish them—into the tiny spaces of the scaffold is no easy task. By simply soaking the scaffold in the medium, “you’d get something that looks like M&M candy,” Vunjak-Novakovic says: Healthy bone cells might coat the outside, but they wouldn't penetrate to the center. So the team designed a silicon chamber cut to fit snugly around each scaffold so that the injected medium would be forced inside it instead of diverted around it. The cells were permeated with culture medium as they grew in this bioreactor for 3 weeks. Six pigs received a personalized graft seeded with their own cells. To test the specific benefit of these cells, six other pigs received a custom-carved scaffold with no cells growing inside. The remaining two were left to heal on their own. Over 6 months, pigs in all three groups regrew a portion of the missing jaw, but regrowth was more complete in the seeded grafts, the researchers report online today in Science Translational Medicine . In tests of mechanical strength, only these grafts could withstand the same stress as the original bone, and only they reached and maintained the height of the original bone. The unseeded scaffolds, meanwhile, actually shrank slightly over time, which suggests the body was degrading bone matrix faster than it could be formed, Vunjak-Novakovic says. “This is convincing evidence that you do need provisional bone to get new bone.” The use of a bioreactor to grow bone before grafting holds definite advantages, says Dietmar Hutmacher, a biomedical engineer at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, who was not involved in the study. But there is still debate over the precise recipe for a bone-stimulating scaffold. He suspects, for example, that adding growth factors known as bone morphogenetic proteins—a step this group avoided out of concerns for uncontrolled bone growth—would make for a stronger and more complete bone. The group will also need to show that the technique is an improvement over other approaches, including the currently used autografts, Hollister notes. “There will be lots of questions whether, for example, growing [bone] in a bioreactor gives you an advantage.” Hollister and his collaborators have managed to regrow pig facial bone by adding precursor cells to a scaffold right when it’s implanted, with no cultivation ahead of time. Vunjak-Novakovic, who founded a company called EpiBone in Brooklyn, New York, to commercialize the technology, is now planning to gather more evidence that the procedure is safe to try in humans. She hopes it will be in human trials in roughly 3 years. ||||| Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Science Translational Medicine. NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address. ||||| Photo The pigs, all 14 of them, are doing fine. Considering they’d been retrofitted with bone grown in a laboratory, that came as a pleasant surprise. “The pigs woke up, and a half-hour later they were eating,” said Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, a professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University. “We thought they would be in pain. But no, they’re doing great.” Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic and her colleagues have managed to create living bone from stem cells. First, they made a CT scan to create a 3-D image of each pig’s jaw. From cow bone, they sculpted a “scaffold” — a three-dimensional copy of the pig bone. They put the scaffold in a nutrient solution along with stem cells extracted from the pigs. The cells attached to the scaffold, forming a new bone identical to the original. Then the researchers implanted the new bone in each pig. They reported their results in Science Translational Medicine. There was no problem with rejection, and the new bone integrated with the pig’s own tissue. Clinical trials in humans, however, are at least three years away.

– For the first time, scientists have successfully implanted living bone grown in a laboratory, Live Science reports. And while those implants were in miniature pigs, not humans, it's pretty impressive nonetheless. Scientists removed part of the jaw bones of 14 pigs, carved cow thighbones into the right shape, removed all the cells from the cow bones, saturated the cow bones with stem cells from the pigs, and left the bones to grow in the lab. When the new, living bones were implanted in the pigs, they showed impressive regrowth and returned the jaw to full strength, according to Science Magazine. “The pigs woke up, and a half-hour later they were eating,” researcher Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic tells the New York Times. “We thought they would be in pain. But no, they’re doing great.” The researchers published their findings this month in Science Translational Medicine. They want to try the process in humans in the next few years. At the moment, no great options exist for people who need replacement bones due to injuries, birth defects, or diseases. There are titanium replacements or donated bones, but those come with the risk of rejection. Doctors replacing facial bones currently take the bone from elsewhere in the patient's body, but that causes a new injury, and it can be hard to find a large enough chunk of bone to borrow. Prior methods of bone regrowth have involved letting the new bone grow inside the body, but researchers say growing it first in a lab could have a number of benefits. (Scientists hope to grow human organs in farm animals.)

We use JavaScript to ensure we can give you the best experience on our website. JavaScript is not supported in your browser. For a better experience, enable JavaScript or redirect to the No JavaScript version of the page. ||||| ROME (AP) — American Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend expect to learn their fate Wednesday when Italy's highest court hears their appeal of their guilty verdicts in the brutal 2007 murder of Knox's British roommate. Several outcomes are possible, including confirmation of the verdicts, a new appeals round, or even a ruling that amounts to an acquittal in the sensational case that has captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2007 file photo, Amanda Knox, left, and Raffaele Sollecito, are seen outside the rented house where 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in Perugia, Italy.... (Associated Press) In this July 1, 2014 file photo Raffaele Sollecito speaks during a press conference in Rome. The founder of a heavily visited Wiki site about the prosecutions of U.S. star defendant Amanda Knox and her... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2014 file photo Amanda Knox prepares to leave the set following a television interview, in New York. The founder of a heavily visited Wiki site about the prosecutions of U.S. star... (Associated Press) Here is a look at the case, the possible outcomes and issues that might come into play. THE CASE: Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from Britain, was found dead Nov. 2, 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in the Umbrian city of Perugia where both women were studying. Kercher's throat was slashed and she had been sexually assaulted. Knox, now 27, and Raffaele Sollecito, who turns 31 on Thursday, were convicted of the murder by a trial court in Perugia in 2009. They were freed in 2011 after a Perugia appellate court overturned the convictions. They found themselves back in an appellate court after the Court of Cassation vacated the acquittals in 2013 in a harsh rebuke of the Perugia chief appellate judge's reasoning. Last year, an appeals court in Florence convicted the pair, sentencing Knox to 28 ½ years and Sollecito to 25 years. The court ruled that the pair acted in concert with Rudy Hermann Guede, a drifter born in the Ivory Coast who is serving a 16-year sentence for his role in the murder. Knox, who spent nearly four years in jail during the investigation and after her lower court conviction, remains free in the United States. She has vowed never to return willingly to Italy. IF THE CONVICTION IS CONFIRMED: If the high court upholds the Florence convictions, the prosecutor's office in Florence would issue an order to execute the sentences. In the case of Sollecito, who has remained in Italy, police would seek to take him into custody immediately after receiving the order. For Knox, the situation is more complicated. The prosecutor would ask the Justice Ministry to seek her extradition, and the Justice Ministry must decide whether to comply. Italy and the United States have an extradition treaty, and there is no formal reason for the request not to be made, according to Andrea Scella, a professor of criminal law and process at the University of Udine. However, extradition retains a political element, and the government could decide not to advance a request, accepting any political consequences from the Parliament or voters, he said. Issues like the severity of the crime and the length of the penalty influence extradition requests. Italy's request could propose having Knox serve the sentence in the United States, as an alternative. The timing of Italy's request is uncertain, but could unfold over months or longer. IF THE HIGH COURT ORDERS A NEW TRIAL: The high court can throw out all or any part of the Florence appeals court guilty verdict and order yet another appeals trial — the third in this case. It is not unprecedented in Italy for a case to be sent back to for multiple appellate rounds. In fact, one case involving the 1972 murder of a police commissioner reached the Court of Cassation nine times before the verdicts were finalized, 28 years after the murder. No appellate trial date can be set until the reasoning for the court's decision is issued, which would contain very specific directions to the new appeals court on which elements of the case needed to be re-examined. The court has 90 days to issue its reasoning. IF THE COURT ACQUITS: The high court can throw out the guilty verdict without ordering a new trial, which is tantamount to acquittal. Such a decision is rare, experts say, and would require the court to give a full reasoning for its decision — also within 90 days. For Knox and Sollecito, it would be "case closed" for their criminal court proceedings. Knox would be able to travel to Europe and Italy without risk of arrest. Sollecito, whose passport has been seized, would have his freedom to travel restored. THE ROGUE JUROR'S INTERVIEW: One of the civilian jurors on the panel that convicted the pair in the Florence appellate case gave an interview last week to the magazine Oggi saying she believed there was not enough evidence "to justify such a severe conviction." The interview, which violates secrecy of the deliberations, appeared to confirm rumors that the guilty finding was not unanimous. However, unanimous decisions are not required and it is unlikely to be mentioned in any of the legal teams' arguments before the high court nor have any bearing on the decision.

– Yet another ruling in the Amanda Knox case is coming from Italy's highest court today. Knox and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher in 2009, acquitted on appeal in 2011 (at which point Knox returned to the US), had that acquittal overturned in 2013, and were then found guilty again last year. As the New York Times and the AP report, Italy's top court, the Court of Cassation, has a number of options: Confirm the convictions: That would mean Italy would likely attempt to extradite Knox, who has maintained her innocence and vowed not to return to the country willingly, though there is a chance the Justice Ministry would decline to do so. Sollecito, who is still in Italy, would go to prison immediately to serve his sentence. Order new appellate trials for Knox and/or Sollecito: Yes, you read that right: This saga may still not be over. If this court decides to throw out all or part of the appeals court's guilty verdict, it will likely order a third trial. (To give you an idea of how long this could go on, one 1972 murder case went to the Court of Cassation nine times before a final verdict was issued, 28 years later.) Throw out the guilty verdict without ordering new trials: This would amount to an acquittal, leaving Knox free to visit Italy without fear of arrest, but the AP notes that "such a decision is rare." If an extradition request is made for Knox, a professor of international law tells the Times the US will likely grant it, though it would be a "hard" decision. The two countries do have an extradition treaty, and another expert tells the AP there is no formal reason—though there are a number of political ones—for Italy to not bother asking in the first place. (Some have argued the concept of "double jeopardy" could be used to block Knox's extradition, though others have debunked that idea.) It's not clear when the ruling is expected, but the BBC's live updates noted that the hearing was "underway" as of 7am Eastern time.

amfAR Gala Cannes—25th Anniversary Edition! The unforgettable evening featured spectacular performances by Sting and Shaggy, Grace Jones, Ellie Goulding and Jason Derulo, and a stunning fashion show curated by longtime amfAR supporter Carine Roitfeld. The looks were then auctioned off as a collection, which fetched $1.7 million. Other auction highlights included a Pierce Brosnan original painting, which sold for $1.4 million; a restored 1964 S3 Bentley Convertible, introduced by Heidi Klum and Benicio Del Toro, which sold for over $800,000; and a Joe Bradley painting, which brought in nearly $1 million. The black-tie event was presented by Bold Films and Chopard. Event produced by AAB Productions/Andy Boose DATE Thursday, May 17, 2018 LOCATION Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc Cap d’Antibes, France HONORARY CHAIRS ALESSANDRA AMBROSIO POPPY DELEVINGNE LINDA EVANGELISTA SILVIA FENDI AILEEN GETTY KATE HUDSON SCARLETT JOHANSSON MILLA JOVOVICH HEIDI KLUM DAPHNA KRIM KAROLINA KURKOVA SIENNA MILLER ANGELA MISSONI MARY PARENT KATY PERRY NATASHA POLY AISHWARYA RAI VANESSA REDGRAVE JOELY RICHARDSON CARINE ROITFELD CAROLINE SCHEUFELE IRINA SHAYK LARA STONE DONATELLA VERSACE MICHELLE YEOH CONTACT FOR SPONSORSHIP/LEADERSHIP Andy Boose at (212) 219-0297 or [email protected] CONTACT FOR TICKET/TABLE INFORMATION Christina Christofi at (212) 806-1611 or [email protected] CONTACT FOR PRESS INQUIRIES Bennah Serfaty at (212) 806-1607 or [email protected] Presenting Sponsors Signature Sponsor PHOTO GALLERY ... ||||| Pierce Brosnan I Got $1.4M for My Dylan Painting!!! Buyer Has Kimye Ties Pierce Brosnan's Bob Dylan Painting Sold to Kimye's House Buyer EXCLUSIVE Pierce Brosnan's Bob Dylan painting sold for more than $1 million, and TMZ's learned the new owner is none other than the woman who plunked down $17.8 mil on Kim and Kanye's Bel-Air mansion. We're told Ukrainian billionaire Marina Acton snapped up 007's painting of Zimmy earlier this week at the 25th annual amFAR Cannes charity gala. Pierce, who first took up painting back in the '80s, has gotten more serious about it, and the price tag on his work proves it -- Marina dropped $1.4 million. As for Acton ... she's quickly building a rep for pricey Hollywood collectibles. You already know about the Bel-Air crib Kim and Kanye initially bought for $9 million back in 2013. Not long after that purchase, Acton also shelled out another $2 million for some Beatles history. Kanye, Dylan and the Fab Four? She has good taste and deep pockets. ||||| Pierce Brosnan really is somewhat of a double agent. The former James Bond star, 65, who was trained as a commercial artist and worked as an illustrator, just auctioned off one of his original paintings for $1.4 million. Brosnan donated the piece, depicting the singer Bob Dylan, for the 25th annual gala amFAR Cannes charity event, Cinema Against AIDS on May 17. Courtesy Pierce Brosnan Along with the celebrity auction, this year’s event included performances by Grace Jones, Sting and Shaggy and Ellie Goulding. Brosnan, who has been painting for more than 20 years, also included a lunch date with himself in the sale. At home in Malibu with his wife of 16 years, Keely Shaye Smith, the actor has an art studio in the couple’s bedroom. “I paint in oils, I paint in acrylics,” Brosnan told Origin magazine last year. “I paint figurative and landscape portraits. It’s all in my own kind of style.” Pierce Brosnan at the amfAR Gala Dave Benett/WireImage Despite his success as an actor, Brosnan told the magazine that in recent years his art has “gotten more serious. Thinking about and hoping I will put on an exhibit and make a book shortly,” he added. “Maybe next year.” ||||| The former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan has been open about his side gig as an artist—he even got in trouble with TSA when he accidentally packed a knife for sharpening pencils in his carry-on luggage. Now, his prowess with a paintbrush is paying off. Last week, the actor sold his portrait of Bob Dylan for $1.4 million at the 25th annual amFAR Cannes charity gala. The painting’s new owner also won a lunch date with the 65-year-old actor, reported People. “I started painting in 1987 when my late wife had cancer,” Brosnan told the crowd, according to the Daily Mail. His first wife, Cassandra Harris, died in 1991 of ovarian cancer, the same disease that claimed the life of their daughter Charlotte in 2013. “I had been painting out of pain, and now the pain sometimes comes through in color.” The actor was reportedly speechless when the bidding stopped. He described himself as “deeply proud, humbled and just plain old over the moon joyous” in a post on Instagram. Before getting into the movie business, Brosnan studied commercial illustration at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. He nevertheless described his current brand of landscapes and figurative paintings as “self-taught” in an interview with ORIGIN magazine in 2013. “I’ve painted for many, many years. Now the last few years it’s gotten more serious. Thinking about and hoping I will put on an exhibit and make a book shortly.” The amFAR benefit, titled Cinema Against AIDS, was held Thursday night, and also included the sale of an $800,000 restored 1964 S3 Bentley Convertible and a nearly $1 million painting by Joe Bradley. The evening also featured a fashion show presented by former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld, the looks from which were then auctioned off as a collection for $1.7 million. Follow artnet News on Facebook:

– Pierce Brosnan has joined the ranks of celebrity painters in a major way, reports People. A portrait of Bob Dylan painted by the former James Bond star sold for $1.4 million at the 25th annual amFAR Cannes charity auction held in Antibes last week. "I am deeply proud, humbled and plain old over the moon joyous following the sale of this painting for 1.2 million euros at last nights auction," Brosnan posted on Instagram the next day. The buyer was Ukrainian billionaire Marina Acton, who paid $17.8 million for Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s Bel-Air mansion, reports TMZ. Brosnan, who took up painting in 1987, according to artnet, is a trained commercial artist and has worked as an illustrator. He even has a studio in his bedroom, where he paints landscapes and portraits in oils and acrylics. (To read about a painter-in-chief, go here.)

Improved technology helped archaeologists finally locate a 16th-century Spanish fort on what is now Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Archaeologists had been looking for San Marcos, one of several forts built on the Santa Elena settlement, for more than 20 years. The location was nailed down using radar and magnetometers. The machines have been in play for archaeologists for years, but the computer programs interpreting the data have vastly improved in recent years, said University of Georgia archaeologist Victor Thompson. Thompson has worked on the site with University of South Carolina archaeologist Chester DePratter, whose search for San Marcos began in 1993. The general location of the fort had been noted using documents archived in Spain. There was a drawing of the fort and a written description but nothing detailing the location. Traditional digging methods had failed to find the fort. “We can’t go to a map and say ‘oh, this is where Pedro Menendez lived or this is where that fort was or this is where anything was,’ ” DePratter said. “So we have to figure it out.” The fort was founded in 1577 by Pedro Menendez Marquez. The outpost went up in six days, with large pieces already made off-site to protect against an attack by Native Americans. Though the actual wooden materials have long become part of the earth, the fort could be found by identifying the large post holes required to support the two-story structure and from other signs of human interaction. “Anytime humans occupy an area for an extended period of time, they alter the physical characteristics of the subsurface,” Thompson said. “If floors become compacted, we can see that. If posts were dug in but then removed, we can see that. As long as there is some physical change that accompanies those behaviors, then we can image it.” Santa Elena was founded in 1566 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. Its whereabouts remained a mystery until 1979, when archaeologists found evidence while digging on the Parris Island golf course. DePratter and Thompson have been working on the site this summer with a small team of doctoral students and undergraduates. They are working to map the entire town of Santa Elena, believed to have included some 60 homes as well as a church, shops and taverns. They believe they are also close to knowing the location of Pedro Menendez de Aviles’ home, which can be distinguished from the other home sites by high-end Chinese wares no one else in the settlement could have afforded, DePratter said. He believes they have also found another governor’s home nearby. The team is working in open fields that were once fairways of the golf course, since moved to accommodate the archaeological work. DePratter began his search in 1993 digging small test holes all the way to the golf course clubhouse. He uncovered a pottery kiln — a chamber where the wares were heated and hardened — but no fort. DePratter returned five years later and had play diverted on the golf course to explore again, digging a little too far south of where the fort was eventually found. Before DePratter and Thompson began mapping again, no digging had been done on the site since 2008 and no large-scale projects since 2000. DePratter reached out to Thompson because of his colleague’s experience with the technology. Thompson, in a black floppy hat and short-sleeve plaid shirt, unfurled a map Tuesday with a grid of blocks the team has mapped. Each is about 400 square feet. The work is done in part by pushing a black, three-wheeled cart toting the radar along the ground. A magnetometer and resistivity meter are also used. In determining the fort’s location, there was no breakthrough moment as when DePratter dinged the pottery kiln. Instead, the work was a compilation of layers of data and ruling out Native American artifacts and sites housing Marine structures during the early 20th century. The scientists have the cooperation of the Marine Corps and come and go as they please. The remote spot behind the golf course means a protected site with few visitors — most recently Marines on their lunch break visited Santa Elena to play the popular phone app “Pokemon Go.” Despite the breakthrough on the fort’s location, another six to nine months is required to process the data and learn what has been found. The new discovery will be published this week in the Journal of Archeological Science: Reports, according to a news release. The resulting information will be included in future exhibits at the Santa Elena History Center, which opened this year in downtown Beaufort to tell the story of the early settlement. “Days like today are the reason we established the foundation with a vision to uncover this significant history,” Santa Elena Foundation chairman and CEO Andy Beall said in a release. ||||| Archaeologists Chester DePratter (left) and Victor Thompson (right) have mapped the early colonial Fort San Marcos by running ground penetrating radar and using other high tech equipment. Five centuries ago, two Spanish warships sailed to a marsh bank in the Lowcountry, a coastal jungle haunted by panthers, bison, elk and people the sailors considered savages. The bank was a foothold into the New World also sought by the French. The ships carried wood posts and planking to build a fort. Today, researchers using radar, electric currents and magnetic waves have pinpointed exactly where they built it. Ground-penetrating radar and magnetometers located the outlines of the lost Fort San Marcos near Beaufort, amid the footprint of a church, courts, shops, taverns and farms that comprised the 1566 settlement of Santa Elena. Archeologists knew about where it was, but the organic residue remains of the 16th century structures were buried underground in the midst of 16 acres that also are the site of the earlier French settlement of Charlesfort, on the edge of a golf course in today’s Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Now archaeologists have the key to dig deeper into a past that some call the “lost century” of the state’s history, some 104 years before English settlers landed at Charles Towne on the banks of the Ashley River about 50 miles north. In other words, they can now begin to bring that history to life. “This work will allow us to tell the story of the land that would eventually become the United States. Santa Elena is an important part of this history that lends insight into how colonial powers in Europe vied for control over this corner of the New World,” said Victor Thompson, University of Georgia anthropologist, who worked with University of South Carolina archaeologist Chester DePratter at the site. Fort San Marcos founder Pedro Menendez de Aviles “didn’t leave us with a map of Santa Elena, so remote sensing is allowing us to create a town plan that will be important to interpreting what happened here 450 years ago and for planning future research,” DePratter said. The breakthrough in June came after a number of failed attempts to locate the site with exploratory digs. The finding is scheduled to be published this week in the Journal of Archeology Science Reports, according to a University of South Carolina news release. Fort San Marcos was built in 1577. Menendez’ crews got it up in six days because of the threat that a Native American tribe would attack. It allowed the Spanish to restore Santa Elena, which settlers had abandoned the year before when it was attacked. The fort was a large bunkhouse of barracks and storerooms with cannon platform on one end, according to the release. It had 11 mounted cannons, the largest weighing more than 5,400 pounds. After five years, the wooden posts surrounding the fort rotted, and a new fort, also called San Marcos was built on the nearby shoreline. The restored Santa Elena grew to nearly 400 residents, impressive enough to be named the capital of Spanish Florida in 1571. But after English privateer Sir Francis Drake began attacking Spanish settlements, the settlement was abandoned in 1587 for Fort Augustine in today’s Florida. Among other remains image-mapped at the site are what the archaeologists described as a vast array of possible wells, houses, posts and ditches. “Santa Elena is providing once again an unprecedented view of the 16th-century landscape. This is one of the best sites for remote sensing that I’ve ever had the privilege to work on,” Thompson said. Reach Bo Petersen at 843-937-5744, @bopete on twitter or Bo Petersen Reporting on Facebook. ||||| In this undated image provided by Amanda Thompson with the University of Georgia shows archeologists Chester DePratter, left, with the University of South Carolina and Victor Thompson, right, of the University... (Associated Press) In this undated image provided by Amanda Thompson with the University of Georgia shows archeologists Chester DePratter, left, with the University of South Carolina and Victor Thompson, right, of the University of Georgia, running ground penetrating radar across a land grid. Archaeologists have found... (Associated Press) PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Archaeologists have found the location of a long-sought Spanish fort on the South Carolina coast at the site of what was once the first capital of Spanish Florida. A release from the University of South Carolina says the site of San Marcos, one of five forts built during the 21-year history of the early settlement of Santa Elena, has finally been located on Parris Island near Hilton Head Island. University of South Carolina archaeologist Chester DePratter and Victor Thompson of the Center for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Georgia, have conducted research for the past two years to find the site of the 1577 fort. Using ground-penetrating radar and other high-tech equipment last month, they found the site and are publishing the details of their work this week in The Journal of Archaeology Science Reports. Santa Elena, founded in 1566 to protect Spanish shipping interests, was the first capital of Spanish colonial Florida. The site of the settlement itself was located back in 1979 beneath a golf course at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island. But the site of San Marcos remained a mystery. Using the high-tech equipment, scientists were able to measure differences in local magnetic fields to locate the fort. They were also able to map where buildings stood on the 15-acre Santa Elena settlement. Those buildings included a church, courts, shops, taverns and farms. There are no historical documents with a map of Santa Elena, DePratter said. "Remote sensing is allowing us to create a town plan that will be important to interpreting what happened here 450 years ago and for planning future research," he said. "Santa Elena is providing once again an unprecedented view of the 16th-century landscape," Thompson added. Parris island is located between Hilton Head and Beaufort on the lower South Carolina coast. Back in April, events were held in the Beaufort area to mark the 450th anniversary of the founding of Santa Elena. They included the opening of the Santa Elena History Center and a visit to the area by a replica of a Spanish galleon.

– After two decades of searching, archaeologists have finally discovered the location of a Spanish fort missing for 450 years: a golf course in South Carolina, the Beaufort Gazette reports. According to the AP, Fort San Marcos—built in 1577 and occupied for five years—was discovered last month under a golf course on Parris Island by two researchers. They used improving technology, included radar and magnetic waves, to succeed where years of old-fashioned hole digging had failed, the Post and Courier reports. While the remains of Fort San Marcos are still buried, the location in itself is a hard-won and important find. “This work will allow us to tell the story of the land that would eventually become the United States,” one of the researchers says. Fort San Marcos was built more than 100 years before English settlers arrived in what is now South Carolina. Spanish documents give a description and drawing of the fort, but not its location—that was finally given away by the fort's old post holes. Fort San Marcos was built in the settlement of Santa Elena, which was discovered in 1979—nearly 100 years after it was abandoned in the midst of attacks by the English. It consisted of barracks, storerooms, and 11 cannons. Researchers employed the same method used to discover the location of Fort San Marcos to learn a little more about Santa Elena, mapping its shops, taverns, a church, and more.

Williams had antidepressants, caffeine and Parkinson's drugs in his system Robin Williams' death was ruled a suicide, Marin County officials confirmed on Friday. Autopsy results revealed Williams' death was caused by asphyxia and hanging. The actor died at 63 on Aug. 11 at his home in Tiburon, Calif. in Marin County. Toxicology reports reveal antidepressants, caffeine and levodopa, a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease, in his system. Williams had battled severe depression for years and had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's, his widow, Susan, revealed after his death. He also had a "recent increase in paranoia," according to a medical history authorities recorded at the scene. The night before Williams died, he had placed several wristwatches in a sock and dropped them off with someone (whose name was redacted) because he was worried about the timepieces and "wanted to keep them safe," according to the report. Then at 7:09 p.m. he called Susan to tell her he was picking up magazines for her at the bookstore. Read more 5 Scenes That Made Audiences Love Robin Williams When he returned home, Williams handed Susan the magazines and seemed "OK," she told investigators. Then he was in and out of their bedroom, rummaging through their closet. He left with his iPad, and Susan said "she recalled thinking it was a good thing he grabbed it, because she assumed he was in a good mood and was going to take time to do some reading; he hadn't read or watched TV in six months." He left the bedroom around 10:30 p.m. — it would be the last time she saw him. Twelve hours later, Susan believed her husband was still sleeping and left the house. At about 11:45 a.m. Aug. 11, Williams' assistant grew concerned. He slipped a note under the door, then picked the lock. He found the comedian dressed in a long black T-shirt and belted black jeans hanging by a nylon belt in a closet door frame. The actor, who was being treated for severe depression, also had cuts on his wrist. He wasn't wearing a ring or a watch. Williams was found in an empty bedroom belonging to his stepson, who was away visiting his father. The actor slept in a separate bedroom because he was having a hard time sleeping and was "restless due to his Parkinson's and anxiety issues," and talked in his sleep, the investigator's report says. The room had a bunk bed — the top bunk was neatly made — the bottom bunk crumpled and the bedding pulled down. Read more Robin Williams in Marin: The Man on the Bicycle Near the body, investigators found personal items placed on a chair, including an iPad and two different kinds of anti-depressants: Mirtazapene and Seroquel. Police found an engraved pocketknife with a dried red substance that was later confirmed as Williams' blood. Susan told investigators Williams often received gifts from his USO tours with the military, and that the knife was likely from her husband's collection. A pair of black sneakers were next to the chair. In the right shoe was a pair of black socks; in the left, the assumed case of the pocketknife. Williams' iPhone and wallet were found in his pockets. By the time police arrived, Williams was clearly dead, the report says. No efforts were made to revive him, and his death was declared at 12:02 p.m. Despite a long and well-documented history of depression, Williams' wife and assistant said he never expressed suicidal thoughts or behavior. His pill dispenser had been refilled the day before, but the medications remained undisturbed in their appointed daily slots, Sunday through Saturday. The investigator asked Susan if Robin had ever mentioned suicide "as a solution to a significant health issue." After searching through Williams' iPad, which was near his body, Investigator D. Harris found only web browsers open to information about medications. A sweep of his iPhone revealed no texts or messages that indicated he was suicidal. "There were no reflective devices or pornography near the body" the report says. The investigator says he "frankly asked" if Williams had any "history of autoerotic asphyxia. Mrs. Williams stated that he did not." However, one person interviewed said Williams had worked on a movie years earlier in which his character's son accidentally died by autoerotic asphyxiation. That person added that "the scene was very difficult and emotional for Williams" and he may have researched hanging during filming. A search of Williams' iPhone, iPad and home computer revealed no search histories for suicide or hanging. However, the investigator writes that he later watched the movie in question — the dark comedy World's Greatest Dad — and said the character's son was found "seated on the floor, learning forward with a ligature around the neck secured by a belt" — very similar to the scene of Williams' death. The Marin Sheriff's Office previously drew criticism for releasing candid details about Williams' death but said the disclosure was necessary under the California Public Records Act. The final autopsy report was originally scheduled to be released Sept. 30 but had been delayed twice. Read more Robin Williams remembered by critics, close friends Williams won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his performance as an avuncular psychologist in Good Will Hunting and earned four Academy Award nominations in a career that straddled film and television. His most recent TV show, The Crazy Ones with Sarah Michelle Gellar, was canceled after one season. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @lalasoo Oct. 7, 4:03 p.m. Updated with details throughout. ||||| Robin Williams Suicide Triggered by Depression, Parkinson's, Paranoia Robin Williams -- Suicide Triggered by Depression, Parkinson's, Paranoia EXCLUSIVE was struggling with his Parkinson's, anxiety, depression and paranoia just before he committed suicide ... this according the Coroner's report.The paranoia has not been previously reported. According to the report -- obtained by TMZ -- the night before Robin died, he placed several wristwatches in a sock and gave them to someone because he was worried about their safe keeping.Williams had 4 drugs in his system -- 2 anti-depressants, 2 caffeine compounds, (listed as a drug). The Coroner's report confirms what we were told by various people ... Williams was sober at the time of death.When authorities found Robin's body ... they saw a closed bottle of Seroquel, a drug that treats schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and depression. It was prescribed a week before he died.The 63-year-old comedian committed suicide Aug. 11 by hanging himself with a belt in his Marin County home. He had also attempted to cut his wrists with a pocket knife. The report says authorities found a damp, white washcloth on the bathroom sink counter with a "reddish substance" -- possibly blood.According to the Coroner's report ... authorities asked Williams' wife if Robin was into autoerotica. She said he was not, but he worked on a movie several years ago in which the character who played Williams' son died of autoerotica, and the scene was "very difficult and emotional for Mr. Williams." The report says the last outgoing call from Robin's phone was at 7:08 PM the night before he died. He had called his wife, and it lasted 38 seconds. She told authorities he called because he was picking up magazines for her at a bookstore.The night before he died, Robin's wife said he seemed ok ... he had been rummaging through their closet and grabbed his iPad, which she thought was a good sign because he hadn't even watched TV or read anything in approximately 6 months ... which presumably is a manifestation of depression.As for what Robin was looking at on his iPad ... the web browser had several tabs open to websites discussing medications, including Lyrica -- a seizure Rx -- and propranolol -- which treats blood pressure and tremors.She says the last time she saw him -- at around 10:30 PM Sunday, she described his demeanor as "excited."As for why Robin and his wife were in separate bedrooms, she told authorities he had been having trouble sleeping and would move around a lot in bed and talk loudly in his sleep.As we reported ... Williams was getting treatment for severe depression shortly before his death. After he died, Robin's widow Susan Schneider revealed he was in the early stages of Parkinson's According to the report ... Williams had experienced Parkinson's symptoms since 2011 -- he had a tremor in his left arm and movement in his left hand had slowed. He had recently started taking levodopa to treat it.Williams' wife wanted to see the body before it was removed from the house. They pulled back the sheets and she prayed over the body ... and Sheriff's deputies joined her. ||||| Story highlights Autopsy reveals no alcohol or illegal drugs in Robin Williams' suicide Actor and comedian died August 11 at age 63 Williams was struggling with depression, anxiety, early Parkinson's, widow says Beloved performer was mourned deeply after death The death of actor and comedian Robin Williams has officially been ruled a suicide, the coroner in Marin County, California, said Friday. Alcohol and illegal drugs were not involved, the statement from the coroner's office said. Prescription drugs were found in "therapeutic concentrations," the statement added. Williams was found dead in his Tiburon, California, home August 11 from what investigators suspected was a suicide by hanging. He was 63 years old. The death certificate, obtained by CNN on August 21, says his ashes were scattered off the coast one day later. Investigators believe Williams used a belt to hang himself from a bedroom door, Marin County Assistant Deputy Chief Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd said at the time. JUST WATCHED Report: Williams had Lewy body dementia Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Report: Williams had Lewy body dementia 03:58 JUST WATCHED What is Lewy body dementia? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH What is Lewy body dementia? 03:25 JUST WATCHED Gupta: Depression is a brain disease Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gupta: Depression is a brain disease 03:19 JUST WATCHED Robin Williams' beloved movie characters Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Robin Williams' beloved movie characters 02:43 Williams was sober but struggling with depression, anxiety and the early stages of Parkinson's disease when he died, his widow, Susan Schneider, said in a statement in August. JUST WATCHED In his own words: Williams on depression Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH In his own words: Williams on depression 02:54 "Robin spent so much of his life helping others," she said. Whether he was entertaining millions on stage, film or television, our troops on the front lines, or comforting a sick child -- Robin wanted us to laugh and to feel less afraid." Williams had "a recent increase in paranoia" and was sleeping in a stepson's bedroom because of insomnia and anxiety associated with Parkinson's, according to the coroner's report. A pathology report released Friday said Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in November 2013, several years after he first noticed symptoms such as tremors in his left arm and a slowing of his left-hand movements. Last call made to wife The coroner's report said his body was found about 11:45 a.m. by a personal assistant, who used a paperclip to open the locked door of the bedroom where Williams had been sleeping. Williams was found in a seated position on the floor of the bedroom with a belt secured around his neck and the other end of the belt wedged between a closet door and door frame. The actor was wearing black jeans and a black short-sleeve T-shirt, the coroner's report said. A cellphone recovered from Williams' pants pocket was dead. After recharging the phone, the coroner searched through its texts and emails and found no messages referencing suicide, the report said. The last call on the phone was made the night before to Williams' wife, Susan, and lasted 38 seconds. In one incident the evening before he died, Williams took several wristwatches and put them into a sock and took them to someone's house for safekeeping, an indication of his paranoia, his wife suggested. Also noteworthy, according to Williams' wife, is that he may have learned of the suicide technique from a movie role in which a character Williams portrayed died from autoerotic asphyxiation. Grief and remembrance Williams' death was met with an outpouring of grief and recollections. Friend Billy Crystal paid tribute to him at the Emmy Awards, and later helped Williams' son, Zak, throw out the first pitch before Game 5 of the World Series while Williams' other children watched. Daughter Zelda got a tattoo in honor of her father. Gilbert Gottfried, another friend, remembered a "generous" man who was welcoming to his fellow comedians. JUST WATCHED Gottfried: You had to be on your toes Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gottfried: You had to be on your toes 05:24 JUST WATCHED Suicide by the numbers Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Suicide by the numbers 02:30 JUST WATCHED Robin Williams' funniest late night moments Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Robin Williams' funniest late night moments 03:24 "To see Robin perform was an experience. He was more than a comedian. He was a comedy force of nature," he wrote on CNN.com. Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, among others, also paid tribute to the comedian. David Letterman pays tribute to Robin Williams Oscar-winning performer Williams' long career was notable for his manic, improvisational comedy and his deeply felt acting performances. He won an Oscar for playing a therapist in the 1997 film "Good Will Hunting." A number of his other films, including "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Patch Adams," were huge box-office hits. He was also active in a number of charitable causes and frequently took part in USO tours. Robin Williams: Full of demons, full of heart On her Twitter feed, his daughter Zelda remembered her dad with a quote from Antoine De Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince." "In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night. ... You -- only you -- will have stars that can laugh." Complete coverage on Robin Williams

– The coroner in Marin County, Calif., today confirmed that Robin Williams' death was indeed caused by suicide, reports CNN. The 63-year-old had no alcohol in his system when he hanged himself at his home, and the only drugs found were from prescribed medication in "therapeutic concentrations." The coroner lists caffeine, antidepressants, and the Parkinson's drug levodopa. That meshes with reports that Williams had been struggling with anxiety and a recent diagnosis of Parkinson's before his death. The coroner's report also reveals this odd anecdote, as relayed by the Hollywood Reporter: The night before he died, Williams put several wristwatches in a sock and gave them to somebody because he was worried about their safekeeping. TMZ sees that as a sign of paranoia.

Deep beneath the surface of the Earth, in a dank and dismal cave, lives Hades, the invertebrate king of hell. Named for the mythological god of the underworld, Geophilus hadesi is a newly discovered species of centipede that inhabits the deep caves of the Velebit Mountains in Croatia. Unlike most centipedes of the order Geophilomorpha, which only occasionally seek shelter in caves, G. hadesi spends all its life in this dark, underground environment. Today (June 30), the team of scientists who discovered the remarkable critter published the first-ever description of the animal in the journal ZooKeys. G. hadesi is one of only two known species of centipedes that never leave their cavernous homes. The other underground dweller, Geophilus persephones (named for the queen of the underworld, Persephone), was first discovered in a cave in France in the 1990s. G. hadesi was named with this mythical queen in mind, according to Pavel Stoev, an associate professor of zoology at the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia, Bulgaria, and lead author of the paper detailing the new centipede species. [Creepy Crawlies & Flying Wonders: Incredible Cave Creatures] Though its home, located nearly two-thirds of a mile (1 kilometer) below the Earth's surface, is a bit dark and gloomy, G. hadesi survives just fine, Stoev told Live Science. It has "exceptionally elongated" antennae and furlike body hair, or setae, covering its appendages, and these two features let the animal detect prey in total darkness, Stoev told Live Science. Like most centipedes, G. hadesi feeds on living animals — most likely larvae, springtails (tiny, insectlike hexapods), worms, woodlice, spiders and other small prey. Though the centipede's bite is venomous, this "hellish" creature is likely completely harmless to humans, Stoev said. Not that G. hadesi spends much time with people. While scientists from the Croatian Biospeleogical Society have explored the Velebit Mountains where the Hades centipede lives, some of the crevices it inhabits are unreachable. One specimen was collected from a depth of 3,609 feet (1,100 meters), the deepest known habitat for any centipede. G. hadesi has a long, flattened body that makes crawling around such rocky crevices easy. And its 33 pairs of legs end in thin claws that are "unusually long," according to the researchers. Like other creatures with pointy claws, such as the yeti crabs that inhabit the waters off Antarctica, the Hades centipede may have developed this feature in order to cling more securely to rocks. "The change of a species' appearance is usually a result of a long evolution that is likely to have happened [over] the course of millions of years," said Stoev, who noted that the Hades centipede has also adapted to the deep caves' cold temperatures, which can drop as low as 37 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius). Scientists aren't exactly sure why the Hades centipede started living underground in the first place (though it likely had nothing to do with losing a bet to Zeus and Poseidon). "It could be a dramatic change in the outside temperatures and overall conditions that forced less-adaptive organisms to seek shelter underground where the conditions are more stable and less dependent on the outside fluctuations," Stoev said. The Hades centipede isn't the only critter that inhabits the caves of Velebit mountain range, which spans 90 miles (145 km) of northwest Croatia. Scientists have already discovered a whole host of pale, cave-dwelling creatures there. And many more creatures likely remain to be discovered, Poev said. Follow Elizabeth Palermo @techEpalermo. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| An international team of scientists has discovered the deepest underground dwelling centipede. The animal was found by members of the Croatian Biospeleological Society in three caves in Velebit Mts, Croatia. Recorded as deep as -1100 m the new species was named Geophilus hadesi, after Hades, the God of the Underworld in the Greek Mythology. The research was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Lurking in the dark vaults of some of the world's deepest caves, the Hades centipede has also had its name picked to pair another underground-dwelling relative named after Persephone, the queen of the underworld. Centipedes are carnivores that feed on other invertebrate animals. They are common cave inhabitants but members of this particular order, called geophilomorphs, usually find shelter there only occasionally. Species with an entire life cycle confined to cave environments are exceptionally rare in the group. In fact, so far the Hades and Persephone centipedes are the only two geophilomorphs that have adapted to live exclusively in caves, thus rightfully bearing the titles of a queen and king of the underworld. Like most cave-dwellers, the newly discovered centipede shows unusual traits, some of which commonly found in cave-dwelling arthropods, including much elongated antennae, trunk segments and leg claws. Equipped with powerful jaws bearing poison glands and long curved claws allowing to grasp and tightly hold its prey, the Hades centipede is among the top predators crawling in the darkness of the cave. The new species is yet another addition to the astonishing cave critters that live in the Velebit, a mountain that stretches over 145 km in the Croatian Dinaric Karst, which is as a whole considered a hot spot of subterranean diversity. The deepest record comes from the Lukina jama - Trojama cave system, which is 1431 meters deep and is currently ranked the 15th deepest cave in the world. Just like Hades who ruled over the kingdom of shadows, the new centipede dwells among an extraordinary number of pallid cavernicolous animals, some known to science and many yet to be discovered. "When I first saw the animal and its striking appearance, I immediately realized that this is a new, hitherto unnamed and highly adapted to cave environment species. This finding comes to prove once again how little we know about the life in caves, where even in the best prospected areas, one can still find incredible animals" says the lead author Pavel Stoev, Pensoft Publishers and National Museum of Natural History, Sofia. ### Original Source: Stoev P, Akkari N, Komerički A, Edgecombe GD, Bonato L (2015) At the end of the rope: Geophilus hadesi sp. n. - the world's deepest cave-dwelling centipede (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae). In: Tuf IH, Tajovský K (Eds) Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Myriapodology, Olomouc, Czech Republic. ZooKeys 510: 95-114. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.510.9614 ||||| Discussion On the taxonomic position of G. hadesi sp. n On the habitat of G. hadesi sp. n

– Scientists hoped they'd find some exotic creatures burrowing through some of the deepest caves in Croatia, and they did not come up short. Meet Geophilus hadesi—or "Hades," named for the Greek god of the underworld—a subterranean centipede discovered in the Velebit mountain range by the Croatian Biospeleological Society, per a press release. The carnivore eats other invertebrates and also shows some longer-than-average legs and antennae (which help it find prey in total darkness, LiveScience notes), as well as jaws filled with poison. But what really makes this "centipede from hell" unique is that it's one of "only two remarkably troglomorphic geophilomorphs hitherto known," per the study in ZooKeys. Translation: It's one of only two centipede species that never leaves its cave dwellings, earning it its alternate title of "king of the underworld." And Hades has a queen, too, who never leaves her own underground domicile: Geophilus persephones, or "Persephone," named for the Greek goddess of the underworld, per LiveScience. That species was discovered in southern France in 1999, the study notes. Hades has a couple of features that scientists believe emerged as evolutionary adaptation traits, including long claws at the end of its 33 pairs of legs (perhaps so it can cling to rocks) and the ability to withstand the caves' chilly temps, which can hover in the 30s. How they migrated to these underground dwellings in the first place isn't certain, but the lead author of the study tells LiveScience that it could have been "a dramatic change in the outside temperatures and overall conditions that forced less-adaptive organisms to seek shelter underground where the conditions are more stable and less dependent on the outside fluctuations." (A centipede bite could provide more pain relief than morphine.)

Supporters at left of a tax on large companies such as Amazon and Starbucks that was intended to combat a growing homelessness crisis stand in Seattle City Council Chambers and face off against people... (Associated Press) Supporters at left of a tax on large companies such as Amazon and Starbucks that was intended to combat a growing homelessness crisis stand in Seattle City Council Chambers and face off against people at right supporting the repeal of the tax, Tuesday, June 12, 2018, at City Hall in Seattle. Seattle... (Associated Press) SEATTLE (AP) — A tax on large companies such as Amazon that was meant to fight a growing homelessness crisis got rolled back during a raucous Seattle City Council meeting that exposed divisions over how much companies that have fueled booming economies should help pay to alleviate the downsides of success. A divided crowd chanted, jeered and booed at the meeting, drowning out city leaders as they cast a 7-2 vote Tuesday. People shouted, "Stop the repeal," as others unfurled a large red banner that read, "Tax Amazon." An opposing group held "No tax on jobs" signs. The vote showed Amazon's ability to aggressively push back on government taxes, especially in its affluent hometown where it's the largest employer with more than 45,000 workers and where it has been criticized for contributing to a widening income gap. It remains to be seen whether Seattle's retreat will have a chilling effect on other cities considering taxes on big tech companies to help mitigate the effects of growth. The City Council in Mountain View, California, where Google is based, will vote June 26 on whether to put a similar measure before voters in November. The "Google tax," which has unanimous support from the council, aims to alleviate transportation woes and high housing costs in the Silicon Valley city south of San Francisco. Mountain View Mayor Lenny Siegel said Seattle's about-face hasn't changed his support for the tax, the details of which the council and city administrators have been working on for several months. "It appears that we have a better relationship with our business than Seattle does," Siegel said. He said Google hasn't taken a position on the proposal and that no "groundswell" of opposition has materialized from the Internet search giant and other companies. "That doesn't mean they support it," Siegel said. "Our chamber of commerce has not been excited by it." In Seattle, the tax was proposed as a progressive revenue source aimed at tackling one of the nation's highest homelessness numbers, a problem that hasn't eased even as city spending on the issue grew. Businesses and residents demanded more accountability in how Seattle funds homelessness and housing and said the city should take a regional approach to the problem. Many worried that Amazon and others would leave the city as the companies sharply criticized the tax. Amazon called Tuesday's vote "the right decision for the region's economic prosperity." The company is "deeply committed to being part of the solution to end homelessness in Seattle," Drew Herdener, an Amazon vice president, said in a statement. City leaders underestimated the frustration and anger from residents, businesses and others over not just a tax increase but also a growing sense that homelessness appears to have gotten worse, not better, despite Seattle spending millions to fight it. It poured $68 million into the effort last year and plans to spend more this year. The tax would have raised roughly $48 million annually. But a one-night count in January found more than 12,000 homeless people in the Seattle and surrounding region, a 4 percent increase from the previous year. The region saw 169 homeless deaths last year. Many supporters called the repeal a betrayal and said the tax was a step toward building badly needed affordable housing. They booed council members, imploring them to keep it and fight a coalition of businesses trying to get a referendum overturning the tax on the November ballot. "It's frustrating to see the council be so spineless when the city has so much leverage for businesses to come here despite the tax," said Jake Lindsay, 25, a musician and Lyft driver who supported the tax. Several council members, including three who sponsored the legislation but voted to repeal it, lamented the reversal and conceded they didn't have the resources or time to fight the referendum. Councilwoman Lisa Herbold said it "was truly our best option" and that she repealed it with a heavy heart. She lashed out at business interests for blaming the problems on government inefficiencies. Seattle's so-called head tax would have charged companies about $275 per full-time worker each year for affordable housing and homeless services. It targeted nearly 600 businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenue and would have taken effect next year. Days after it passed, the business-backed No Tax On Jobs campaign began gathering signatures for the ballot and raised more than $280,000 in cash contributions in just weeks. In Silicon Valley, Siegel, the Mountain View mayor, said Google and other companies such as LinkedIn that are based in the California city acknowledge that soaring housing costs and long commutes make it harder to recruit and retain workers. He said city officials estimate the tax would raise about $10 million annually once it's completely phased in after three years. Google is expected to pay half. Siegel said public meetings that touched on the issue were "moderately" attended, and the proposal does not appear to be as contentious in Mountain View as in Seattle. ___ Associated Press reporter Paul Elias in San Francisco contributed to this report. ||||| Seattle Repeals Tax On Big Business After Opposition From Amazon, Starbucks Enlarge this image toggle caption Ted S. Warren/AP Ted S. Warren/AP In a victory for Amazon, the Seattle City Council voted to repeal a tax on the city's biggest businesses Tuesday, a measure designed to fund efforts to combat Seattle's large homeless population. In a meeting punctured with shouting from activists, council members voted 7-2 to repeal the so-called "head tax," which would have raised about $47 million per year to fund affordable housing projects and to help the city's homeless population. It was a sharp reversal from just last month, when the council voted unanimously to pass the tax and the city's mayor signed it into law. Amazon, Starbucks and other companies then funded a campaign against the tax and to put it on a referendum to voters in November. Council member Lisa Herbold said the groups opposing the tax had "unlimited resources" and that her vote to repeal was "counter to my values as a person." However, a campaign from business groups including the Chamber of Commerce had convinced most Seattle residents to oppose the tax and "we don't have the time and we don't have the resources necessary to change enough minds," Herbold said. "This is not a winnable battle at this time," she added. Seattle's government said the tax would only affect about 3 percent of the city's employers — those grossing at least $20 million each year. About 585 employers would have paid about $275 per employee per year, according to the city council. Amazon has about 45,000 employees in Seattle and is the city's largest private employer. It would have paid about $12 million per year. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos was named the world's richest man by Forbes in March, with a worth of $112 billion. The company said the vote "to repeal the tax on job creation is the right decision for the region's economic prosperity." Amazon, Starbucks and investment company Vulcan each paid $25,000 toward the referendum effort, KUOW reports. The No Tax on Jobs campaign raised $350,000. After the session to consider repealing the law was announced a day earlier, Seattle's Chamber of Commerce said it was a "breath of fresh air." The Chamber echoed language from Amazon that it was a "tax on jobs." "From day one, the Seattle Metro Chamber has been clear that a tax on jobs is not the way to address the regional homelessness crisis," President and CEO Marilyn Strickland said in a statement Monday. The law passed in May was itself a watered-down version of the original plan, to tax companies $500 per employee. Amazon temporarily halted construction of a tower in downtown Seattle in opposition. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said she would sign the repeal into law. "Instead of engaging in a prolonged, expensive political fight, the City and I will continue to move forward on building real partnerships that align our strategies from business, advocates, philanthropy," she said in a statement. Council members Teresa Mosqueda and Kshama Sawant both voted against the repeal. Sawant called it a "cowardly betrayal of the needs of working people," saying it was "capitulation and it's a betrayal." Critics of the tax reportedly saw the city's homeless problem growing, despite large amounts of spending by the city already. Seattle spent $68 million on fighting homelessness in 2017, according to The Associated Press. The city council said 8,522 people were counted as "experiencing homelessness" in Seattle in 2017. Including nearby areas, that number went up to 12,000 during a one-night count in January, the AP says, which is up 4 percent from the year before. The wire service says 169 homeless people died in 2017. KUOW reports that the characterization of the tax as "extra money for homelessness ... wasn't necessarily an accurate representation." "It's possible the money wouldn't have been extra: It could have plugged a future hole in the budget instead. Seattle had already been spending money from its construction boom on homelessness. With a depleted general fund projected to sink into the red, the city needed to find money just to stay afloat." "I'm very supportive of the homeless," small business owner Claudia Campanile told the station. "But I am not supportive of the constituency getting taxed with no representation and no clear game plan of what they're going to do with the funds." The mayor seemed to address that concern in her statement Tuesday, saying, "people deserve to know how their money is being spent and what is working. The City has worked towards increased accountability and transparency with taxpayer dollars expected to be spent on the homelessness crisis." Cities across the country are competing to host Amazon's proposed second headquarters. The company says it would create 50,000 jobs and would invest $5 billion in the city it chooses — leading some competing for the headquarters to promise billions in tax breaks for the corporate behemoth. ||||| Seattle council, mayor cave to Amazon, other opposition on head tax for homelessness Supporters and detractors of the "head tax" hold signs in council chambers during a City Council vote to repeal the tax on big businesses, which was voted for unanimously last month, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Council voted 7-2 to repeal the tax. less Supporters and detractors of the "head tax" hold signs in council chambers during a City Council vote to repeal the tax on big businesses, which was voted for unanimously last month, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. ... more Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Seattle council, mayor cave to Amazon, other opposition on head tax for homelessness 1 / 28 Back to Gallery Seattle's city council on Tuesday rolled back its so-called "head tax" on big businesses to fund homeless services, less than a month after it unanimously approved the compromise deal. The tax would have collected about $275 per head on employees at businesses with more than $20 million in annual revenue, raising roughly $48 million a year for housing and other services for the city's booming homeless population. By the latest count, King County was home to more than 12,000 people experiencing homelessness, most of them in Seattle. "We have reached the conclusion that this is not a winnable battle at this time," Councilwoman Lisa Herbold said before the vote. "I am not someone who walks away from what looks like a losing fight, but ... there is so much more to lose between today and November." Pressure from Amazon had already cut the original tax nearly in half, but then the company joined Starbucks and others in backing a campaign to put the tax to a referendum vote this fall. The No Head Tax campaign had raised more than $285,000 through the end of May, according to filings with the city. RELATED: Seattle council approves smaller $48 million head tax for homelessness On Monday, the council and Mayor Jenny Durkan formally caved to the opposition, announcing Tuesday's special meeting and indicating they would largely support repeal. Against the din of protesters chanting in city council chambers, the council struggled to complete its vote on the measure, with Councilwoman Kshama Sawant holding out her vote until the crowd acknowledged the vote was happening behind them. The final tally was seven in favor, with just Sawant and Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda dissenting. The decision to repeal the tax was blamed on the bottomless coffers of the opposition, a nod to Amazon's stunning wealth, and thus, influence in local politics. "I have been unable to find a way forward that we could out-fund and out-resource the opposition campaign by November," said Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez ahead of the vote. "Money has funded this campaign that put us in a position where we have to repeal this law." During public comment on Tuesday, which ran 50 minutes before the council considered the measure, many called the moved to repeal with such little notice a "betrayal" and a "backroom deal" that put corporate interests above people. Now Playing: "I wonder about the homeless state of emergency, I wonder if it's just that here we are in the city of Seattle paying lip service to a state of emergency but we're not actually fixing anything," said Matthew Lang, with the Hope Coalition. In a statement from seven members of the council and Durkan on Monday, they argued that the political fight to keep the tax would prove too costly and wouldn't help the homelessness crisis. Instead, they pointed to a need for the city to find a solution everyone could agree on. During comments before the vote Sawant pushed back on the idea that the council would come out ahead in backing down on the issue so soon. "Do council members actually believe that by completely capitulating to big business today, that somehow we'll be in a better position to win this next year?" she asked. Gonzalez ultimately backed the repeal effort, but hedged her support in a statement Monday. "I am deeply troubled and disappointed by the political tactics utilized by a powerful faction of corporations that seem to prioritize corporations over people," she wrote in Monday's statement. Opponents to the tax have argued that the city hasn't properly handled the money it already has for dealing with the homelessness crisis, something that was officially declared a city emergency in November 2015 by then-mayor Ed Murray. Seattle has doubled its spending on homeless services in the last few years, with $63 million earmarked for the crisis in 2018. Countywide, about $195 million was spent in 2017, according to a Seattle Times analysis of funds that included state and federal sources. By comparison, San Francisco, where around 10,000 people are living without stable housing, will spend about $305 million this year on the crisis. Durkan recently said the city would launch a website detailing how it spends its homelessness funding, but the site hasn't appeared yet. Credit rating company Moody's gives Seattle an Aa2 credit rating, the third-highest rating, and found the head tax to be a credit positive move, while it warned of the impact Amazon may have on the local government of its HQ2 city, wherever that will be. Amazon had a big influence over what the head tax that did pass looked like. After the original proposal was released, the e-commerce company halted planning on two tower projects in Seattle pending a vote on the deal. Durkan struck a compromise deal that was just over half the original amount of the tax in response, a deal that Amazon approved enough to resume work on its tower projects. RELATED: Report: Amazon halts planning for new Seattle towers over head tax Neither council members or Mayor Durkan had offered up alternatives to generate the same funding that was expected from the head tax. Senior editor Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, city hall, and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.

– What does defeat sound like? This: "We have reached the conclusion that this is not a winnable battle at this time." That was the pronouncement of Seattle Councilwoman Lisa Herbold Tuesday in advance of what ended up being a 7-2 vote to reverse a new tax the council had unanimously approved only a month prior. The so-called "head tax" would have generated just shy of $50 million annually to put toward homelessness and affordable housing by charging businesses that generate more than $20 million in revenue a year about $275 per employee. That would have hit about 3% of businesses in the city, one of which is Amazon, which would have contributed about 25% of the expected total, reports NPR. The company was vocal in its opposition. And per SeattlePI.com, the "stunning wealth" of Amazon, Starbucks, and the rest of the opposition drove the reversal. As Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez explains, "I have been unable to find a way forward that we could out-fund and out-resource the opposition campaign by November" (the opposition was campaigning for a referendum on the tax in the fall). "Money has funded this campaign that put us in a position where we have to repeal this law." The AP characterizes city leaders as having "underestimated the frustration" over not just the tax but the fact that while $68 million was spent on homelessness last year, a January count found the homeless population in the Seattle area up 4%, to 12,000, suggesting to some that the city's current resources weren't being used appropriately.

State-of-the-art forensic technology from South Africa has been used to try and unravel the mystery of what was smoked in tobacco pipes found in the Stratford-upon-Avon garden of British playwright William Shakespeare. Residue from clay tobacco pipes more than 400 years old from the playwright’s garden were analysed in Pretoria using a sophisticated technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Chemicals from pipe bowls and stems which had been excavated from Shakespeare’ garden and adjacent areas were identified and quantified during the forensic study. The artefacts for the study were on loan from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The gas technique is very sensitive to residues that can be preserved in pipes even if they had been smoked 400 years ago. What were they smoking There were several kinds of tobacco in the 17th century, including the North American Nicotiana (from which we get nicotine), and cocaine (Erythroxylum), which is obtained from Peruvian coca leaves. It has been claimed that Sir Francis Drake may have brought coca leaves to England after his visit to Peru, just as Sir Walter Raleigh had brought “tobacco leaves” (Nicotiana) from Virginia in North America. In a recent issue of a magazine called Country Life, Mark Griffiths has stimulated great interest in John Gerard’s Herbal, published in 1597 as a botanical book which includes engraved images of several people in the frontispiece. One of them (cited as “The Fourth Man”) is identified by Griffiths as William Shakespeare, but this identification is questionable. Possibly, the engraving represents Sir Francis Drake, who knew Gerard. Gerard’s Herbal refers to various kinds of “tobacco” introduced to Europe by Drake and Raleigh in the days of Shakespeare in Elizabethan England. There certainly is a link between Drake and plants from the New World, notably corn, the potato and “tobacco”. Furthermore, one can associate Raleigh with the introduction of “tobacco” to Europe from North America (notably in the context of the tobacco plant called Nicotiana, from Virginia and elsewhere). What we found There was unquestionable evidence for the smoking of coca leaves in early 17th century England, based on chemical evidence from two pipes in the Stratford-upon-Avon area. Neither of the pipes with cocaine came from Shakepeare’s garden. But four of the pipes with cannabis did. Results of this study (including 24 pipe fragments) indicated cannabis in eight samples, nicotine in at least one sample, and in two samples definite evidence for Peruvian cocaine from coca leaves. Shakespeare may have been aware of the deleterious effects of cocaine as a strange compound. Possibly, he preferred cannabis as a weed with mind-stimulating properties. These suggestions are based on the following literary indications. In Sonnet 76, Shakespeare writes about “invention in a noted weed”. This can be interpreted to mean that Shakespeare was willing to use “weed” (cannabis as a kind of tobacco) for creative writing (“invention”). In the same sonnet it appears that he would prefer not to be associated with “compounds strange”, which can be interpreted, at least potentially, to mean “strange drugs” (possibly cocaine). Sonnet 76 may relate to complex wordplay relating in part to drugs (compounds and “weed”), and in part to a style of writing, associated with clothing (“weeds”) and literary compounds (words combined to form one, as in the case of the word “Philsides” from Philip Sidney). Was Shakespeare high? Chemical analyses of residues in early 17th-century clay “tobacco pipes” have confirmed that a diversity of plants was smoked in Europe. Literary analyses and chemical science can be mutually beneficial, bringing the arts and the sciences together in an effort to better understand Shakespeare and his contemporaries. This has also begged the question whether the plays of Shakespeare were performed in Elizabethan England in a smoke-filled haze? One can well imagine the scenario in which Shakespeare performed his plays in the court of Queen Elizabeth, in the company of Drake, Raleigh and others who smoked clay pipes filled with “tobacco”. This piece is based on an article published in the South African Journal of Science in July 2015. ||||| Compounds Strange ... The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust allowed South African research scientists from the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria to analyze twenty-four pipe fragments found on the grounds of William Shakespeare's home. The findings, published in the South African Journal of Science, show that eight of the pipes tested contain traces of cannabis and two of the pipes contain traces of cocaine. Others appear to be laced with tobacco, camphor, and hallucinogenic nutmeg extracts high in myristic acid. Did Marijuana Fuel Shakespeare's Genius?

– "To smoke or not to smoke" was not the question. Something had been smoked in the pipe bowls and stems unearthed from William Shakespeare' garden in Stratford-upon-Avon; the question was what. Researchers in South Africa now have gas chromatography mass spectrometry to thank for their answer. A piece in the Conversation based on the report published in the South African Journal of Science explains the "technique is very sensitive to residues that can be preserved in pipes even if they had been smoked 400 years ago." Eight of the 24 pipe-fragment samples tested were shown to contain cannabis; another had evidence of nicotine, and two more "evidence for Peruvian cocaine from coca leaves." Of those, only four of the cannabis samples were from Shakespeare's garden; the others were from the Stratford-upon-Avon area. Study author Francis Thackeray writes that the research establishes that a wide range of plants were smoked in the area during the early 17th century, and he leans on Shakespeare's own words to try to draw connections. Thackeray references Sonnet 76, which refers to "invention in a noted weed"; he interprets weed as cannabis and invention as writing. As for whether we can conclude that Shakespeare got high, Thackeray writes "one can well imagine" it. (In April, Texas researchers reported another Shakespeare find.)

More About Endo Pharmaceuticals In support of the disaster relief efforts in Huntsville, Alabama, and the many other communities directly impacted by the recent spring storms, Endo has established this web site for employees to make donations directly to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Endo will match all donations made through close of business on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Thank you for your support and generosity. ||||| U.S. cell phone users donated more than $8 million by 8:25 a.m. EDT Friday in a Haiti earthquake relief text message appeal. The donations were pledged in $10 increments to the Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief, by far the largest outpouring of support via mobile devices in history. The response to the devastating earthquake produced the highest amount of mobile donations "that we have ever seen," said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of mGive Foundation, the nonprofit group that is working with the Red Cross and wireless carriers to channel the donations. To donate to the Red Cross, mobile users are texting the word "Haiti" to the number 90999. Snyder said the money is coming in at a rate of roughly $200,000 an hour. As of Thursday afternoon, people had donated $5.1 million. "We could be handling more," she said. "We are not at capacity." Red Cross spokesman Roger Lowe called the outpouring of $10 donations by hundreds of thousands of mobile users "nothing short of awe-inspiring." But he said the largest donations the organization is getting is still coming in online. So far, the Red Cross has released $10 million for earthquake relief in Haiti. On Thursday morning's "The Early Show" on CBS, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asked Americans to contribute to the Red Cross via text donations. And on social networks Twitter and Facebook, users continued to urge one another to text money as well. Other charities, such as singer Wyclef Jean's Yele, were also collecting mobile donations. To send $5, donors can text "Yele" to the number 501501. The William J. Clinton Foundation was accepting $10 per text from users sending the word "Haiti" to 20222. Verizon Wireless said Thursday morning its users have pledged more than $1 million to the Red Cross through text donations. The outpouring easily surpassed earlier records for mobile giving. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Red Cross collected $400,000 from mobile users. A year earlier, following the Asian tsunami that left 230,000 people dead, the organization received $200,000 through text messages, Verizon Wireless said, citing industrywide figures. Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, called mobile donations a "new stream of philanthropy." "So many folks who are texting $10 now might not have been at a place to write a check, or call a toll-free number or send mail," he said. Wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, said they were not charging regular text-messaging fees on top of the donations. T-Mobile USA Inc., which is also waiving texting fees, said Thursday it is enabling international calls to Haiti free of charge through Jan. 31 and will retroactively credit accounts for such calls made since Tuesday. And T-Mobile users in Haiti will be able to make roaming calls on local networks Voila and Digicel thorough the end of the month, the company said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Update 2: Sprint has also announced that it is waiving fees, retroactive to Wednesday. (Thanks to changebumpin!) Update: MSNBC has updated their article, and they say that AT&T; has announced it will waive fees for donations, and apply the exemption retroactively to those who have already donated. (Thanks to Mathew for the heads up.) MSNBC asked Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T;, and Sprint whether or not they're charging for the popular "text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10" meme that's been going around online for the past two days, and that so far has raked in over three million dollars. Verizon and T-Mobile say they're not. Sprint says they are, but that if you just upgrade to an unlimited text message package then you won't have to worry about it. What makes this even more ridiculous is that text messaging costs carriers next to nothing—it's almost pure profit. AT&T; and Sprint have apparently decided that they'd like to get in on the Haiti disaster and make a little something something off of the goodwill of their customers. My suggestion: if you're an AT&T; or a Sprint customer, donate some other way. Update: I'd take readers who stand up for companies more seriously if I saw more evidence that they thought like companies. A business like AT&T; should have known from the start that making those messages free, and then crowing about it softly via the magic of PR, would be good for the brand, and that means good for profits. The fact that two competitors did just that shows me that some carriers were indeed thinking about long-term self interest, and how to turn public tragedy into a plus sum scenario for the greater good as well as the company. AT&T; and Sprint just weren't. "Mobile giving to help Haiti exceeds $3 million" [MSNBC] (Thanks to Matthew!) From ConsumerReports.org:

– Text messaging has proven to be a wildly popular method of donating to the relief effort in Haiti. As of 8:25 this morning, the Red Cross had pulled in more than $8 million through text messages, Fox News reports. That’s the most mobile donations “that we have ever seen,” says the head of mGive, the nonprofit that set up the mobile donation service. Money is pouring in at a rate of roughly $200,000 an hour, in $10 increments. A Red Cross spokesman called the contributions “nothing short of awe-inspiring,” though he noted that the majority of donations are still coming through the organization's website, redcross.org. To donate, head there, or text the word “Haiti” to 90999, which automatically charges a $10 donation to your phone bill. The four major wireless providers have agreed to waive the charge for users whose accounts don't cover unlimited texting, the Consumerist blog reports.

FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington about bipartisan legislation on gun safety. Esty is apologizing for failing to protect female... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington about bipartisan legislation on gun safety. Esty is apologizing for failing to protect female employees who say they were harassed by her former chief of staff. Current chief of staff Timothy... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington about bipartisan legislation on gun safety. Esty is apologizing for failing to protect female employees who say they were harassed by her former chief of staff. Current chief of staff Timothy... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington about bipartisan legislation on gun safety. Esty is apologizing for failing to protect female... (Associated Press) HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, an outspoken advocate for the #MeToo movement, has found herself in the awkward position of apologizing for not protecting female staffers in her Washington office who say they experienced violence, death threats and sexual harassment by her former chief of staff. She dismissed calls Friday to step down. The Democrat has issued press releases calling for tougher harassment protections for congressional staff and was among those demanding that then-U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan resign amid allegations of misconduct with staff. She issued her own public mea culpa Thursday following newspaper reports she did not suspend or fire the chief of staff until three months after learning about allegations against him in 2016. Esty said she regrets not moving along an internal investigation into the allegations, which revealed more widespread alleged abuse, and regrets providing "even the slightest assistance to this individual as he sought a new job." In advance of the news stories published by Hearst Connecticut Media and the Washington Post, Esty made it a point to call or meet with representatives of at least three grassroots Connecticut groups that have been allies of hers on issues affecting women. "I felt that she wanted to let me know what the situation was as someone who is involved in women's issues," said Cindy Wolfe Boynton, president of CT Now, a group that has endorsed Esty in past elections. "She did say more than once during the telephone call how she felt that she really did handle the situation poorly and was extremely remorseful for that." Boynton said it seemed Esty was "doing her best to handle the situation" in her office, but the group wants to know more about what happened. "As things stand now, I think there's a lot more information about the case that needs to come out," she said. In her apology, Esty said she was "horrified and angry" to learn in 2016 that a former employee had been harassed and physically harmed, allegedly by former chief of staff Tony Baker. She said she demanded Baker receive counseling. She then conducted an internal review of her office practices, later learning "the threat of violence was not an isolated incident" but a pattern of behavior by Baker affecting many female staffers. She said she was advised by the Office of House Employment Counsel to enter into a nondisclosure agreement with Baker, who then went to work as the Ohio state director of Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-gun violence advocacy group created in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Esty's district. He no longer works for the group. A spokesman for Baker told Hearst Connecticut Media and the Washington Post that he denies some of the allegations. A number listed for a Tony Baker in Columbus, Ohio, was disconnected. Karen Jarmoc, executive director of the coalition against domestic violence, said Esty reached out to her last weekend and asked to meet at Jarmoc's office. "This is a really troubling circumstance, but my sense that I received from her on Monday is that her priority was looking out for the survivor ultimately. Initially there were clearly some missteps," Jarmoc said. "What I received from her on Monday was a genuine desire to make things better" for employees the workplace. In an editorial calling on Esty to resign, the Hartford Courant said Esty's answers so far have been disappointing, saying "she has blamed the system and hasn't taken nearly enough responsibility for her own actions." The Courant added that "time was up for John Conyers and now time is up for Elizabeth Esty." JR Romano, the state's Republican Party chairman, also has called on Esty to step down. The state GOP sent out emails, accusing Esty of being "complicit in covering up assault." Esty received mild criticism from fellow Democratic members of Connecticut's congressional delegation, with nearly all noting that Esty acknowledged she had made mistakes. "I'm deeply disappointed. I'm just learning the facts," U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal told reporters while attending an event in Connecticut. Asked whether Esty should resign, the senator said, "what she does in the future is really a decision for her constituents. She needs to talk to her constituents." ||||| FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Esty on Monday, April 2, 2018, asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether she... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Esty on Monday, April 2, 2018, asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether she did anything wrong in her handling of the firing of her former chief of staff accused of harassment,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Esty on Monday, April 2, 2018, asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether she did anything wrong in her handling of the firing of her former chief of staff accused of harassment,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Esty on Monday, April 2, 2018, asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether she... (Associated Press) HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Latest on Rep. Elizabeth Esty's handling of a sexual harassment case in her office (all times local): 4:55 p.m. Connecticut U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty says she won't seek re-election amid calls for her to resign because of her handling of a sexual harassment case involving her former chief of staff. The Democrat issued a statement Monday saying she has determined it's in the best interest of her constituents and her family to end her time in Congress at the end of this year "and not seek re-election." Esty is in the middle of her third term. Esty is again apologizing to a former female member of her staff who said she was punched in the back and received death threats in 2016. The man accused of punching her was not fired for several months, pending an internal investigation. Esty says she'll work to improve workplace protections during her final months in office. __ 11:30 Connecticut U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty is asking the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether she committed any wrongdoing in how she handled the firing of a former chief of staff accused of harassment, threats and violence. The 5th District congresswoman's formal request on Monday comes amid calls for her resignation from state politicians, including fellow Democrats. In her letter to committee members, Esty says she learned through a third party in 2016 about possible misconduct involving her then-chief of staff. Esty has said she fired him three months later, after an internal investigation revealed widespread harassment allegations from staff. Esty says questions have been raised about her handling of the dismissal and she wants the panel to decide whether she violated any law, rule or other standard of conduct.

– Rep. Elizabeth Esty announced Monday she will not seek re-election this year amid calls for her resignation over her handling of the firing of a former chief of staff accused of harassment and violence against female staffers in her office, the AP reports. The Democrat from Connecticut and an outspoken #MeToo advocate was accused of not protecting female staffers from the ex-chief of staff. Esty has said she regrets not moving along an internal investigation into the allegations, which revealed more widespread allegations of abuse, and regrets providing "even the slightest assistance to this individual as he sought a new job." Esty said she determined "that it is in the best interest of my constituents and my family to end my time in Congress at the end of this year and not seek re-election." Her announcement came hours after she asked the House Ethics Committee to review her actions. "Although we worked with the House Employment Counsel to investigate and ultimately dismiss this employee for his outrageous behavior with a former staffer, I believe it is important for the House Ethics Committee to conduct its own inquiry into this matter," Esty said in a written statement, acknowledging "it certainly was far from a perfect process." Esty said she wants the committee to "clarify whether there was any wrongdoing" on her part. A lawyer for the committee said he could not comment on Esty's request for an investigation. It's unclear whether an investigative subcommittee will be created or how long the process might take.

Exclusive Syrian Centre for Policy Research says 470,000 deaths is twice UN’s figure with ‘human development ruined’ after 45% of population is displaced Syria’s national wealth, infrastructure and institutions have been “almost obliterated” by the “catastrophic impact” of nearly five years of conflict, a new report has found. Fatalities caused by war, directly and indirectly, amount to 470,000, according to the Syrian Centre for Policy Research (SCPR) – a far higher total than the figure of 250,000 used by the United Nations until it stopped collecting statistics 18 months ago. In all, 11.5% of the country’s population have been killed or injured since the crisis erupted in March 2011, the report estimates. The number of wounded is put at 1.9 million. Life expectancy has dropped from 70 in 2010 to 55.4 in 2015. Overall economic losses are estimated at $255bn (£175bn). Russia offers ceasefire in Syria but US suspects ploy to crush rebels Read more The stark account of the war’s toll came as warnings multiplied about Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, which is in danger of being cut off by a government advance aided by Russian airstrikes and Iranian militiamen. The Syrian opposition is demanding urgent action to relieve the suffering of tens of thousands of civilians. The International Red Cross said on Wednesday that 50,000 people had fled the upsurge in fighting in the north, requiring urgent deliveries of food and water. Talks in Munich on Thursday between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, will be closely watched for any sign of an end to the deadly impasse. UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva are scheduled to resume in two weeks but are unlikely to do so without a significant shift of policy. Speaking in London on Wednesday, an opposition spokesman, Salim al-Muslet, said President Barack Obama could stop the Russian attacks. “If he is willing to save our children it is really the time now to say ‘no’ to these strikes in Syria,” he said. The Washington Post reported that Moscow had sent a letter to Washington proposing to stop bombing on 1 March. Of the 470,000 war dead counted by the SCPR, about 400,000 were directly due to violence, while the remaining 70,000 fell victim to lack of adequate health services, medicine, especially for chronic diseases, lack of food, clean water, sanitation and proper housing, especially for those displaced within conflict zones. “We use very rigorous research methods and we are sure of this figure,” Rabie Nasser, the report’s author, told the Guardian. “Indirect deaths will be greater in the future, though most NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and the UN ignore them. “We think that the UN documentation and informal estimation underestimated the casualties due to lack of access to information during the crisis,” he said. Humanitarian efforts in Aleppo are at breaking point – this war has to end | Dalia Al-Awqati Read more In statistical terms, Syria’s mortality rate increase from 4.4 per thousand in 2010 to 10.9 per thousand in 2015. The UN high commissioner for human rights – which manages conflict death tolls – stopped counting Syria’s dead in mid-2014, citing lack of access and diminishing confidence in data sources. The SCPR was based until recently in Damascus and research for this and previous reports was carried out on the ground across Syria. It is careful not to criticise the Syrian government or its allies – Iran, Hezbollah, Russia. And with the exception of Islamic State, it refers only to “armed groups” seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. But despite the neutral tone the findings are shocking. In an atmosphere of “coercion, fear and fanaticism”, blackmail, theft and smuggling have supported the continuation of armed conflict so that the Syrian economy has become “a black hole” absorbing “domestic and external resources”.Oil production continues to be an “important financial resource” for Isis and other armed groups, it says. Consumer prices rose 53% last year. But suffering is unevenly spread. “Prices in conflict zones and besieged areas are much higher than elsewhere in the country and this boosts profit margins for war traders who monopolise the markets of these regions,” it says. Employment conditions and pay have deteriorated and women work less because of security concerns. About 13.8 million Syrians have lost their source of livelihood. Madaya again facing starvation as report warns of extent of sieges Read more “The common characteristics across all regions are lack of security, the allocation of all resources to the fighting, the creation of violence-related job opportunities and imposition of authority by force.” The shrinking of the population by 21% helps explain the waves of refugees reaching Turkey and Europe. In all, 45% of the population have been displaced, 6.36 million internally and more than 4 million abroad. Health, education and income standards have all deteriorated sharply. Poverty increased by 85% in 2015 alone. The report notes that the rest of the world has been slow to wake up to the dimensions of the crisis. “Despite the fact that Syrians have been suffering for … five years, global attention to human rights and dignity for them only intensified when the crisis had a direct impact on the societies of developed countries.” The conflict “continues to destroy the social and economic fabric of the country with the intensification of international interventions that deepen polarisation among Syrians. Human development, rights and dignity have been comprehensively ruined.” The report is entitled Confronting Fragmentation. Previous titles in the series track the unfolding of the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster: Syrian Catastrophe, War on Development, Squandering Humanity, and Alienation and Violence. ||||| In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrians gather in a street that was hit by shelling, in the predominantly Christian and Armenian neighborhood of Suleimaniyeh, Aleppo, Syria,... (Associated Press) MUNICH (AP) — Russia has proposed a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, U.S. officials say, but Washington believes Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups. The United States has countered with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, the officials said Wednesday. Peace talks are supposed to resume by Feb. 25. The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the U.S., Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in the Arab country. The conflict has killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq. Russia says it is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government as part of a counterterrorism campaign. But the West says the majority of its strikes are targeting moderate groups that are opposed to Assad and the Islamic State. The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border. The U.S. officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about private diplomatic discussions in the run-up to the Munich conference and demanded anonymity. One said the U.S. can't accept Russia's offer because opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before the ceasefire ever takes hold. The officials said the U.S. counterproposal is simple: A ceasefire that is effective immediately and is accompanied by full humanitarian access to Syria's besieged civilian centers. Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Germany Wednesday, had talks planned late in the evening with U.N. peace envoy Staffan de Mistura and Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Syria's rebel groups. The Obama administration has been trying for months to clinch a ceasefire and pave the way for a transition government in Syria that would allow parties to the conflict to concentrate on defeating the threat posed by the Islamic State and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. But after having long demanded Assad's ouster, the shift in the U.S. focus to combating terrorism has resulted in a confusing mix of priorities and a layered strategy in Syria that few understand, and even fewer see working. Beyond Russia, the administration has often struggled to keep its own allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia in line. "We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment," Kerry said Tuesday in Washington. His peace push coincides with Defense Secretary Ash Carter's attendance at a gathering in Brussels to hash out military options with NATO partners. Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating the Islamic State, said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria's government. "What Russia's doing is directly enabling ISIL," McGurk told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington. But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger U.S. strategy. "It seems as if we're only halfheartedly going after ISIS, and halfheartedly helping the (rebel) Free Syria Army and others on the ground," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. He urged a "robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in ... to destroy ISIS and get rid of Assad." Kerry emphasized Tuesday that U.S. officials "are not blind to what is happening." He said the Aleppo battle makes it "much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation." But the U.S. has staked its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the American public has no appetite for a military solution. To that end, Washington has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power. And to get Russia on board, it now won't even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted. The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters, Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017 — and perhaps beyond.

– Russia has proposed a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, US officials say, but Washington believes Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups. The United States has countered with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, officials say. The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in the Arab country. The Guardian reports that according to a new study from the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the war has killed or injured 470,000 people—11.5% of the population—and has also lowered life expectancy from 70 to 55 and almost "completely obliterated" the country's infrastructure. The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border. Sources tell the AP that the US can't accept Russia's offer of a March 1 ceasefire because moderate opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before it ever takes hold. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, meanwhile, says NATO military authorities have been ordered to draw up plans for how the alliance could help shut down illegal migration and people smuggling across the Aegean Sea. Three NATO allies—Turkey, Germany, and Greece—requested alliance participation in an international effort to help end Europe's gravest migration crisis since World War II.

The arrest warrant for Gustavo Falcon, one of the infamous "Cocaine Cowboys," was first issued on April 10, 1991. Twenty-six years and two days later, Falcon was finally in custody. Falcon, now 55, was nabbed while riding his bike Wednesday in Kissimmee, Florida, according to the U.S. Marshals for the Southern District of Florida. Falcon — whose brother, kingpin Augusto “Willie” Falcon, is in prison after smuggling 75 tons of cocaine into South Florida with his partner Salvador Magluta — was last spotted in Miami. He had evaded U.S. law enforcement, who suspected Falcon was living in Mexico or Colombia, according to the Miami Herald. This Wednesday April 12, 2017 mugshot shows Gustavo Falcon after he was captured by U.S. Marshals in Kissimmee, Florida. Orange County Jail The case finally turned after a group of U.S. Marshals traveled from Miami to the Orlando-Kissimmee area, according to U.S. Marshals in Southern District of Florida Spokesman Barry Golden. There, the U.S. Marshals performed surveillance on a rental property, Golden said. It is unclear how long the U.S. Marshals monitored Falcon before confirming his identity on Wednesday. When the man the U.S. Marshals suspected of being Falcon and his wife went for a bike ride, the officers followed. Golden said the U.S. Marshals were able to confirm the man was Falcon, and stopped him at a traffic light before taking him in to custody. Officers discovered fraudulent driver’s licenses, which were dated back to 1997, according to Golden. The driver’s licenses, some of which were for Falcon’s wife and adult children, were listed under Miami addresses. Golden said although Falcon tried to maintain the name on his license, he eventually confirmed his identity before being booked without resistance in the Orange County Jail. ||||| FILE - This undated photo provided by Orange County Corrections shows Gustavo Falcon, the last of South Florida's "Cocaine Cowboys". Falcon was arrested Wednesday, April 12, 2017, some 26 years after... (Associated Press) FILE - This undated photo provided by Orange County Corrections shows Gustavo Falcon, the last of South Florida's "Cocaine Cowboys". Falcon was arrested Wednesday, April 12, 2017, some 26 years after he went on the lam, while on a 40-mile bike ride with his wife near the Orlando suburb where they apparently... (Associated Press) MIAMI (AP) — A quarter-century after he vanished on the eve of a major drug indictment, the last of Miami's fabled "cocaine cowboys" was in custody Thursday, nabbed on a suburban bike ride with his wife near Disney World. Prosecutors say the man living under an assumed name is Gustavo "Taby" Falcon, who was part of a homegrown drug gang that used super-fast speedboats to smuggle 75 tons of cocaine in the 1980s "Miami Vice" era. Falcon, 55, had been on the lam since 1991, when his older brother Augusto "Willie" Falcon and fellow drug kingpin Salvador "Sal" Magluta were indicted by a federal grand jury. U.S. Marshals spokesman Barry Golden said investigators were surprised to find him living in a typical pink stucco home in a quiet, middle-class Kissimmee suburb. "Nobody thought Gustavo Falcon was still in the United States," Golden said. At his initial court hearing Thursday in Orlando, Gustavo Falcon agreed to be sent to South Florida to face charges of conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. He was ordered held without bond, court records show. Augusto Falcon and Magluta were small-time drug dealers when they dropped out of high school in the late 1970s to begin building their cocaine empire that would amass more than $2 billion, according to trial evidence. They eventually owned world-class ocean racing boats and lived like royalty. Mickey Munday, who did prison time for flying cocaine loads for Colombia's Medellin Cartel, said the pair was known for their honesty in business deals — legal or otherwise — and the expertise of their boat-building operation. They also drove flashy cars and lived in seaside mansions, even when murders and shootings linked to their organization brought police scrutiny. "They were so flamboyant," Munday said. "Everybody in the world knew what they were doing. Why attract attention to yourself?" Gustavo Falcon was not viewed as a top leader of the organization, and vanished just ahead of a 1991 indictment that charged him along with his brother, Magluta and others. He had not been seen since until Wednesday, when U.S. marshals surveilling his rented home in Kissimmee watched him and his wife leave their garage for a bike ride. A neighbor, David Pera, said he frequently saw the couple riding their bikes and never saw them in a car. An older model pickup truck sitting in the driveway never moved, he said. "I'd say hi, they would say hi, and that was about it," Pera said Thursday. It took an exhaustive records search to bring the marshals there. Weeks earlier, they discovered a Florida driver's license issued to a Luis Reiss, traced back to a South Florida home that had been owned by Gustavo Falcon. Then they found 2013 car accident involving Reiss, which eventually led to the house he was sharing with his wife, Amelia. She also had fake identification, in the name of Maria Reiss. Marshals followed as the couple got on their bikes and headed out Wednesday for what turned into a 40-mile ride. Because they were both wearing helmets and sunglasses, it took a while for investigators to make a positive identification, Golden said. Once they felt sure enough, marshals with guns drawn stopped the couple at an intersection a few blocks from their house. "We had to be 100 percent certain this was the guy," Golden said. After his arrest, Gustavo Falcon told authorities he had been living in the Orlando area since 2009 and in the rental house since 2012. It's not clear where he was during all the other years, but officials say it's believed he was living overseas for some of that time. Authorities said they did not know if Falcon had a job. His wife was not arrested. His brother and Magluta were acquitted of all charges at their trial in 1996, leading to the resignation of then-Miami U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey. Despondent at the loss, Coffey and others went to a strip club where he got into an altercation involving the biting of a stripper. Later, it turned out that Augusto Falcon and Magluta had bought off witnesses and at least one member of the jury, a foreman who did 17 years in prison after accepting $400,000. Magluta, now 62, was tried a second time, convicted of drug-related money laundering in 2002 and sentenced to 205 years in prison. That was reduced to 195 years in 2006. Augusto Falcon, now 61, then accepted a plea deal in 2003 on similar charges. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and is scheduled for release from a Kentucky facility on June 17. Their mansions, boats, cars, planes, bank accounts and other ill-gotten gains are long gone, seized and sold by the government. Munday, the former cartel pilot, said Augusto Falcon and Magluta should have disappeared as well, after their initial not-guilty verdicts. "They were guys who went from nothing to having just about anything they could imagine that they wanted," he said. "As soon as they got the innocent verdict, they should have hauled out of here to Argentina." _____ Associated Press contributors include John Raoux. Follow Curt Anderson at http://twitter.com/miamicurt ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

– The "last of the Cocaine Cowboys"—on the lam for almost exactly 26 years—was finally arrested Wednesday while on a 40-mile bike ride with his wife, the Miami Herald reports. During South Florida's "Miami Vice era," Gustavo Falcon allegedly helped his brother, kingpin Augusto Falcon, smuggle tons of cocaine into the US via speedboat, according to the AP. The so-called Cocaine Cowboys, apparently unworried about drawing attention to themselves, lived large in fast cars and oceanfront mansions. Gustavo Falcon disappeared in 1991, just before indictments that would land his brother in prison. A warrant was issued for his arrest on April 10 of that year, NBC News reports. Twenty-six years and two days later, Falcon and his wife were stopped at an intersection on their bikes when they were confronted by a gaggle of armed US marshals. Falcon, 55, was arrested without incident. "Nobody thought he was in the United States," says Barry Golden, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, which believed Falcon was living out his days in Mexico or Colombia. Instead, he was renting a forgettable home in a suburb near Disney World. Authorities were tipped off by a fake driver's license used by Falcon during a 2013 car accident. "We figured this all out a month ago," Golden says. Falcon is facing charges of conspiracy to import cocaine. His brother, the former kingpin, is scheduled to be released from prison in June.

Whom should President Obama ask before he bombs Syria? One of the answers being bandied about is nobody but his own conscience, and some generals who will tell him how to do it. An Op-Ed in today’s Times tells him not to mind various laws and treaties, or rather the lack of applicable ones. Maybe the awful pictures from Ghouta are telling him the same thing; not getting anyone outside White House meeting rooms, or at the other end of a secure phone line, to put his or her name down might be natural, even instinctive, but it is not what the moment demands. There have been calls for the President to reconvene Congress and put this one before them, and such calls are right. It might even help the Administration figure out what, exactly, it hopes to accomplish by shooting missiles in the general direction of Damascus. Having people, representatives, raise their hands before you do something is not an empty ritual, even when they don’t vote the way you want them to. Britain’s David Cameron has called in Parliament, which will meet Thursday, with plans to vote more than once; on Wednesday, his government submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council of the United Nations that would authorize “all necessary measures to protect civilians” in Syria. It would be a shock if it doesn’t fail, because Russia and China would veto it at this juncture—and, as John Cassidy writes, the weapons inspectors trying to figure out just what happened need time. But our domestic political process needs time, too, and deserves it. As of Wednesday afternoon, a hundred and fourteen members of Congress had signed a letter put together by Scott Rigell, a Virginia Republican with a lot of service members in his district, asking Obama to reconvene them and get authorization for any attack. Most of those who signed on were Republicans, but not all of them. Obama could do so if he wanted to. John Boehner could also bring back the House, and Harry Reid the Senate; it would be a mistake not to. What is the disadvantage of going to Congress? That they are loud and annoying and someone will try to introduce a resolution tying action in Syria to Obamacare? If the Administration can’t stand up to Ted Cruz, it can hardly hope to frighten Bashar al-Assad. And if going to Congress now feels time-consuming, how does it compare to the hours, days, weeks, and sanity expended on the Benghazi hearings? Those might have happened anyway, but they got a fair share of their formless force from the Administration’s initial decision to not really bother with Congress and the War Powers Act when it came to Libya. If you haven’t been asked in the first place, there is no cost to turning a tragedy into a piece of political theatre. What, too, does Obama think that future Presidents, even those more reckless than he is, and Congresses, even those that are more unhinged than this one (it is possible), will do if he repeats his Libyan calculation with a Syrian one? Obama is hardly the first President to treat the War Powers Act as something empty and broken; but unless he thinks it should just be crushed, that’s all the more reason not to toss it aside. He’d said that the War Powers Act didn’t apply in Libya because we weren’t engaged in “hostilities”: as the Rigell letter asks, “If the use of 221 Tomahawk cruse missiles, 704 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and 42 Predator Hellfire missiles expended in Libya does not constitute ‘hostilities,’ what does?” Under the War Powers Resolution, the President is supposed to inform Congress within forty-eight hours of starting military action, and get their permission to keep it up after sixty days. That is not onerous in a situation in which no one thinks Syria is about to invade us. And on this one, the Administration needs Congress—it needs deliberation. George Packer has laid out what that might look like on a personal level; on a political one, the Administration needs to be interrogated, sharply, about just what it thinks is going to happen after the two or maybe three days of missile strikes that leaks tell us to expect. It might even be asked about non-military options (perhaps something that could help people trapped in refugee camps like Za’atari). Maybe then it would figure it out, at least a little. There is a cloud of haze there now: we don’t want regime change; we just want Assad and the world to remember that chemical weapons shock us deeply. We can’t bomb the chemical-weapon storage sites, though, both because that might itself send out a cloud of poison and because the rebels, whom we don’t trust, might then be able to grab a few canisters. We don’t want to think about what they might do if they did; we don’t want to think about a lot of things in Syria, including the awful last moments in the lives of the children whose bodies we’ve seen stacked up. We would like to have been able to hold them and tell them that anyone who hurts them will have to answer to us. But just bombing a place doesn’t disperse ghosts; more often, it brings chaos and new ones. Is that the only plan? Ask Congress. Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty. Read more of our coverage of the war in Syria. ||||| It looks as if we’ll be firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria in the coming days, and critics are raising legitimate concerns: President Bashar al-Assad may escalate. Hezbollah may retaliate against Western targets. Our missiles may kill civilians. We’ll own a civil war in a broken country. We’ll be distracted from nation building at home. A couple of days of missile strikes will offer merely a slap on the wrist that advertises our impotence. There’s some truth to all that, but we also need to acknowledge something fundamental: President Obama’s policy toward Syria has failed, and it’s time to try a tougher approach. Obama reportedly rejected a proposal from Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus to arm rebels in Syria, because he feared getting dragged into the conflict. Now we’re getting dragged in anyway, and everything we worried about has come to pass: The war has spread and destabilized Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The hard-line Nusra Front rebels have gained strength, partly because we have spurned moderates. The Syrian Army has won ground. Prolonged war has deepened sectarian hatreds that will make it harder than ever to put Syria back together. More than 100,000 Syrians have been killed. At the rate the killings have accelerated, Syria could even approach a Rwanda-size death toll by the time Obama steps down. I tend to be wary of the military toolbox, and I strongly opposed the Iraq war and the Afghan “surge.” But in conjunction with diplomacy, military force can save lives. We saw that in Bosnia and Kosovo under Bill Clinton (who appears to favor a more forceful American approach in Syria), and we saw that just this year in Mali. The problem is that overcommitments in Afghanistan and Iraq have left us with society-wide PTSD, so that we’re wary of engaging in Syria at all. Obama’s passivity is easy to understand: only one-fifth of the American public favors arming rebels. But when I was last in Syria, in November, I met a grandma who had already lost her husband, her son and her daughter-in-law to the Assad regime. She was living in her fifth home that year, a leaky tent, wondering who would die next, and like everyone was desperate for international support. “We ask for God’s help in ending this, and Obama’s,” she said. What do we tell her? That we don’t have the stomach to help her? That we’d rather wait until all her grandkids have died and the death toll has reached hundreds of thousands and embarrassed us to take firmer action? Granted, there’s a legitimate question about whether a day or two of missile strikes against Syria (seemingly the most likely scenario) will deter Assad from further use of chemical weapons. We can’t be sure, but to me that seems plausible. Chemical weapons are of only marginal use, simply one more way to terrorize and demoralize opponents. President Assad has carefully calibrated his actions over the last few years, testing the domestic and international response before escalating. At first he merely arrested protesters. Then his forces began firing on them. Next his soldiers swept hostile neighborhoods. Then the Syrian Army began firing rockets and mortars at rebel positions. Assad moved on to indiscriminate bombing. Then his army apparently used chemical weapons in small attacks. Finally, his army appears to have undertaken a major assault with nerve gas. We’ve been the frog in the beaker. To me there’s some hope that destroying military aircraft or intelligence headquarters can persuade Assad that chemical weapons are not worth the cost and that he is better off employing more banal ways to slaughter his people. That’s unsatisfying but would still be a useful message to other leaders. It would reinforce the international norm against weapons of mass destruction. Are we making too much of chemical weapons? Probably less than 1 percent of those killed in Syria have died of nerve gas attacks. In Syria, a principal weapon of mass destruction has been the AK—47. Yet there is value in bolstering international norms against egregious behavior like genocide or the use of chemical weapons. Since President Obama established a “red line” about chemical weapons use, his credibility has been at stake: he can’t just whimper and back down. Look, Syria is going to be a mess, whatever we do. The optimal window to intervene by supporting moderate rebels to achieve a quick end to the war may have closed. But if the coming clash gives us a chance to do more to arm certain rebel groups or share intelligence with them, that would still be worthwhile — all while backing the idea of a negotiated settlement. For all the risks of hypocrisy and ineffectiveness, it’s better to stand up inconsistently to some atrocities than to acquiesce consistently in them all. ||||| As of this writing, early Thursday morning, some Syrians are scheduled to pay with their lives for America’s “credibility.” The bombarding of an already war-ravaged country is acknowledged as “symbolic,” intended simply to “send a message.” This is an obscenity as great as the one Washington purports to answer. Another Middle Eastern society will come further unstitched, and those doing the unstitching will have nothing on offer to replace it. The U.S. long ago squandered what credibility it may once have enjoyed or desired in the Mideast. If credibility were the cause, Washington need do no more than start dismantling the Potemkin village it has made of the principles it tediously mouths.But this thought goes nowhere these days. And so the U.S. stalks into another war in the Middle East. Unlike the Iraq and Afghanistan wars—American works of art, both—the conflict in Syria is somebody else’s canvas. But apart from this, the similarities among these three instances of Washington’s wanton hostility toward uncompliant regimes are astonishingly similar. Make that tragically similar. History proceeds, we Americans insist on the virtue of ignorance, on learning nothing and knowing nothing. And what we are about to get is what we get, predictably and always. We are a singular people, no question. Maybe even exceptional. As of these hours, the Obama administration is on the record as rejecting any deliberations the U.N. may judge just. On Wednesday evening, British Prime Minister David Cameron gave in to Labour Party objections to his support for Washington’s invasion plans. Britain now wants to see a U.N. report on the alleged chemical attacks from weapons instructors, and to give the Security Council process more time. But listen closely to President Obama speaking Wednesday on PBS' "Newshour" and it is clear the U.S. could go it alone against the Syrian regime if need be. "We’re prepared to work with anybody – the Russians and others – to try to bring the parties together to resolve the conflict," Obama said. "But we want the Assad regime to understand that by using chemical weapons on a large scale against your own people ... you’re also creating a situation where U.S. national interests are affected, and that needs to stop." So not even the fig leaves of international assent matter now. Events since the apparent attacks with chemical substances in four residential districts of Damascus last week bear all the marks of a disgraceful bum’s rush. Given that the cruise missiles the Obama administration is about to send into Syria will bear the chalk signatures of every American, like a World War II bomb, we are the chumps of the piece (once again, that is). This is a shared responsibility. It makes us complicit. The fabrications and duplicity put before us as Washington prepares to “respond” to the latest savagery in Syria are so strangely formed that it is hard to follow the bouncing ball. The Obama people have changed their story diametrically before our eyes, casting aside all consistency, self-evidently making it up as they go along. And it is the same story recited countless times before. Maybe it is the only story Americans can articulate or grasp—a disturbing thought, but one begging consideration at this point. Stories require media, of course, and there they are, on the case in the Syrian crisis and delivering the goods with irresponsible single-source stories dressed up as responsible multiple-source stories. When was it that journalists began thinking of themselves as national security operatives? It is getting unbearable, this errand-boy act in the face of power. If journalists did their jobs properly we would get into fewer messes such as Syria and would be more nationally secure. As it is now, the press is a defective piece in the democratic mechanism. Instantly after news of chemical weapons and fatalities arrived last week, Washington and its allies began clamoring for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to allow a team of U.N. inspectors to examine the sites in question. It absolutely had to be. Nothing else would do. We read this. Within 48 hours, the Obama people asserted that any such scrutiny was beside the point. When Assad gave assent to the U.N. team’s visit, which was not much delayed given the shelled zone is a battlefield, he was “too late to be credible.” All the evidence would have “degraded,” as we also read. Too late? Degraded? The U.N. team is one of experts. They are in Syria to examine sites where chemicals were allegedly used months ago and would not be there if the question of degradation were authentic. This we did not read, with one exception. On Wednesday the New York Times’ science correspondent, William Broad, had the integrity and sense to cite non-government sources—Yikes!—to point out that chemical agents used in weaponry do not dissipate for a woefully long time. Skeptics can ask the Vietnamese. The Broad piece got the bottom of page eight. As I.F. Stone once said of the Washington Post, the paper is always a kick because you never know where you will find a front-page story. By early this week, if you can take this in, U.S. officials were privately urging the U.N. to abort the mission in Syria. Washington had plainly decided by this time that evidence was not quite the thing. We did not read this, either—not in an American publication. We come to the Mack truck Obama’s people want to park unnoticed in the driveway. “Evidence” of chemical weapons use, even as Obama’s people dodged from any, quickly became “undeniable” (Secretary of State Kerry), a matter of “no doubt” (Vice President Biden), and many other forcefully stated things. This language we read in abundance—and with no decent, professional scrutiny on the part of those conveying it. And did you notice? Evidence of use became evidence of the Assad regime’s use. This is the trump suit in the game. No mention by any U.S. official that responsibility may lie with the awful-as-Assad insurgents. And of course one could not read of this prospect in U.S. newspapers or hear it from U.S. broadcasters. An indefensible lapse in logic also goes unnoted. I honestly cannot figure how dumb we are supposed to be. We are promised incontrovertible evidence of Assad’s guilt in the course of Thursday. Needless to anticipate. In wars of imagery and spectacle, variants of the above-described routine are frequently rehearsed. Think yellowcake, or Colin Powell at the United Nations, or Judith Miller's "metal tubes" or "mobile weapons labs" in Iraq so eagerly reported by the New York Times. I aired my suspicions that the insurgents might well be the culprits in this space last week. I stand by these thoughts times two. Assad’s opponents do not possess supplies of sarin gas or other chemical agents, it is suggested. Rubbish. Not so by a long way. And they have behaved as savagely as anyone in Assad’s army. The rebels could not be capable of mounting an attack of the scale apparent in Damascus last week, we are also advised. The defensible position is that of the Russians and responsible elements within Britain: They want a proper investigation and propose we all abide by it. Carla del Ponte, the noted investigator of war crimes and a member of the U.N. inquiry on Syria, asserted in May that there was sound reason to examine whether the insurgents were responsible for an obscenity in Syria at that time involving sarin gas. The U.N. human rights investigator said that, "According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas," adding that her commission's best understanding of the facts was that "sarin gas has been used ... by opponents, by rebels, not by government authorities." She was tarred and feathered, as our media are versed at doing in the best American tradition. But Obama appears determined to circumvent the U.N. regardless of what its investigators suggest. On Wednesday Britain advanced a resolution in the Security Council calling for intervention, but this was pro forma. The Security Council is composed as it is so that alternative worldviews are properly represented. Obama honors alternative worldviews as much as George W. Bush treasured them. So no U.N., not with a veto in the offing from Russia, a Security Council member. Better to go lawless again, and that is the word to bear in mind as the fireworks display unfolds in the coming days. In the run-up, there is some piling on. We have once again the crummy “coalition of the willing” junk, familiar from the Iraq war: There are the batboy British, the flimsy resistance of Labourites notwithstanding, and the uncertain France of François Hollande, and Angela Merkel’s Germany (complicated motives there), and of course Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel, which is (on the record) eager to regionalize the Syria question so that Iran can be bombed. I have previously identified Bibi as the most dangerous man in the Middle East, and he earns the title once again. The Arab League says no. The European Union says no. Even NATO equivocates as of this hour. Take it apart. Most of humanity is not on board for this adventure in theater. I conclude with what I consider the caker, the preposterous-news- of-the-week prize, even if we cannot read about it in our country but online. “The bulk of evidence proving the Assad regime’s deployment of chemical weapons—which would provide legal grounds essential to justify any western military action—has been provided by Israeli military intelligence.” That would be the reliable folk at Mossad. The quotation comes from the Guardian, which simply reported on a report in a German magazine called Focus. My goodness. Send in the clowns. They’re already here. ||||| All the signs are they're going to do it again. The attack on Syria now being planned by the US and its allies will be the ninth direct western military intervention in an Arab or Muslim country in 15 years. Depending how you cut the cake, the looming bombardment follows onslaughts on Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Mali, as well as a string of murderous drone assaults on Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. The two former colonial powers that carved up the Middle East between them, Britain and France, are as ever chafing for a slice of the action as the US assembles yet another "coalition of the willing". And as in Iraq and Sudan (where President Clinton ordered an attack on a pharmaceuticals factory in retaliation for an al-Qaida bombing), intelligence about weapons of mass destruction is once again at the centre of the case being made for a western missile strike. In both Iraq and Sudan, the intelligence was of course wrong. But once again, UN weapons inspectors are struggling to investigate WMD claims while the US and its friends have already declared them "undeniable". Once again they are planning to bypass the UN security council. Once again, they are dressing up military action as humanitarian, while failing to win the support of their own people. The trigger for the buildup to a new intervention – what appears to have been a chemical weapons attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta – certainly has the hallmarks of a horrific atrocity. Hundreds, mostly civilians, are reported killed and many more wounded, their suffering caught on stomach-churning videos. But so far no reliable evidence whatever has been produced to confirm even what chemical might have been used, let alone who delivered it. The western powers and their allies, including the Syrian rebels, insist the Syrian army was responsible. The Damascus government and its international backers, Russia and Iran, blame the rebels. The regime, which has large stockpiles of chemical weapons, undoubtedly has the capability and the ruthlessness. But it's hard to see a rational motivation. Its forces have been gaining ground in recent months and the US has repeatedly stated that chemical weapons use is a "red line" for escalation. For the same reason, the rebel camp (and its regional sponsors), which has been trying to engineer a western intervention in the Libya-Kosovo mould for the past two years to tip the military balance, clearly has an interest in that red line being crossed. Three months ago, the UN Syria human rights commission member Carla Del Ponte said there were "strong concrete suspicions" that rebel fighters had used the nerve gas sarin, and Turkish security forces were reported soon afterwards to have seized sarin from al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front units heading into Syria. The arms proliferation expert, Paul Schulte, of King's College London, believes rebel responsibility "can't be ruled out", even if the "balance of probability" points to the regime or a rogue military commander. Either way, whatever Colin Powell-style evidence is produced this week, it's highly unlikely to be definitive. But that won't hold back the western powers from the chance to increase their leverage in Syria's grisly struggle for power. A comparison of their response to the Ghouta killings with this month's massacres of anti-coup protesters in Egypt gives a measure of how far humanitarianism rules the day. The Syrian atrocity, where the death toll has been reported by opposition-linked sources at 322 but is likely to rise, was damned as a "moral obscenity" by US secretary of state John Kerry. The killings in Egypt, the vast majority of them of civilians, have been estimated at 1,295 over two days. But Barack Obama said the US wasn't "taking sides", while Kerry earlier claimed the army was "restoring democracy". In reality, western and Gulf regime intervention in Syria has been growing since the early days of what began as a popular uprising against an autocratic regime but has long since morphed into a sectarian and regional proxy war, estimated to have killed over 100,000, balkanised the country and turned more than a million people into refugees. Now covert support has become open military backing for a rebel movement split into over 1,000 groups and increasingly dominated by jihadist fighters, as atrocities have multiplied on all sides. While the focus has been on Ghouta this week, rebels have been ethnically cleansing tens of thousands of Kurds from north east Syria across the border into Iraq. Until now, the western camp has been prepared to bleed Syria while Obama has resisted pressure for what he last week called more "difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment". Now the risk to US red line credibility seems to have tipped him over to back a direct military attack. But even if it turns out that regime forces were responsible for Ghouta, that's unlikely to hold them to account or remove the risk from chemical weapons. More effective would be an extension of the weapons inspectors' mandate to secure chemical dumps, backed by a united security council, rather than moral grandstanding by governments that have dumped depleted uranium, white phosphorus and Agent Orange around the region and beyond. In any case, chemical weapons are far from being the greatest threat to Syria's people. That is the war itself and the death and destruction that has engulfed the country. If the US, British and French governments were genuinely interested in bringing it to an end – instead of exploiting it to weaken Iran – they would be using their leverage with the rebels and their sponsors to achieve a ceasefire and a negotiated political settlement. Instead, they seem intent on escalating the war to save Obama's face and tighten their regional grip. It's a dangerous gamble, which British MPs have a responsibility to oppose on Thursday. Even if the attacks are limited, they will certainly increase the death toll and escalate the war. The risk is that they will invite retaliation by Syria or its allies – including against Israel – draw the US in deeper and spread the conflict. The west can use this crisis to help bring Syria's suffering to an end – or pour yet more petrol on the flames. Twitter: @SeumasMilne

– As the US considers what to do about Syria, there's no shortage of advice on the pros and cons: Pro-strike: Nicholas Kristof is generally wary of the "military toolbox," but it's important here to "reinforce the international norm against weapons of mass destruction," he writes in the New York Times. "For all the risks of hypocrisy and ineffectiveness, it’s better to stand up inconsistently to some atrocities than to acquiesce consistently in them all." Ditto: "Deepening American involvement in yet another Middle East conflict goes against President Obama’s instincts—and ours," write the editors at the Miami Herald. "Unemployment should be his principal focus. But events have a way of intruding on presidential agendas. In this instance, it’s unavoidable. Syria’s brazen disregard for humanitarian norms cannot go unanswered." Bad idea: Just what the world needs, yet another western military intervention in an Arab or Muslim country, writes Seumas Milne at the Guardian. Too many questions persist about the alleged chemical weapons attack, he writes, adding that military strikes would only escalate the war. "The risk is that they will invite retaliation by Syria or its allies—including against Israel—draw the US in deeper and spread the conflict." Better for the West to use its leverage with the rebels to try to force cease-fire talks. Slow down: This is remarkably similar to the run-ups to both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, writes Patrick L Smith at Salon. "Make that tragically similar. History proceeds, we Americans insist on the virtue of ignorance, on learning nothing and knowing nothing. And what we are about to get is what we get, predictably and always." Give the UN investigators the time they need, he urges. Ask Congress: Whatever the final decision, President Obama must consult with Congress about it, writes Amy Davidson at the New Yorker. "Having people, representatives, raise their hands before you do something is not an empty ritual, even when they don’t vote the way you want them to," she writes. The White House can't just ignore the War Powers Act whenever it's convenient. "The Administration needs to be interrogated, sharply, about just what it thinks is going to happen after the two or maybe three days of missile strikes that leaks tell us to expect."

Photo: Andres Kudacki Bernie Sanders was gratified, if a bit amused, to hear Barack Obama call Medicare for All a “good new idea” in September. The idea has recently become very popular among Democratic politicians, even middle-of-the-road ones with presidential aspirations. In recent polling, 70 percent of Americans say they support it. But of course Medicare for All isn’t a new idea. It was one of the pillars of Sanders’s 2016 campaign for president. He’s been talking about a version of it for over 30 years. For a 77-year-old man fixated on the popularity of his ideas and his candidacy — “Harry, have you seen my crowds?” he once asked then-Senator Harry Reid by way of a greeting in the heat of the 2016 campaign — Sanders sometimes finds opportunities like these to enjoy his newfound influence in the Democratic Party. But mostly, he is ill at ease. He talks in private much as he does in front of a microphone, except with a lot more sarcasm. He continues to get angry at Establishment liberals, whose dismissals of how he sees the world he takes personally and judges personally. (He believes their positions and motivations can rarely be disentangled from their funding.) His frustration with the press has only grown. “You mean inside-the-Beltway writers may have missed the point here?” he says to me recently, eyebrows up, when we sit down to talk. And he still thinks he should be president. He doesn’t say this out loud, exactly. “I’m not one of those sons of multimillionaires whose parents told them they were going to become president of the United States,” he says. “I don’t wake up in the morning with any burning desire that I have to be president.” Still, he’s pretty certain he’s already the country’s second-most-important politician, and the logic for running in 2020 is obvious to him: His ideas are the best for the country, a majority of Americans will agree once they’re exposed to them, no other national politician has proved to be as uncompromised or effective a messenger of his platform as he is, and no one else seems better positioned to actually win. “If there’s somebody else who appears who can, for whatever reason, do a better job than me, I’ll work my ass off to elect him or her,” he says. But “if it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run.” He’s been mulling the question all year as he bounds across the country. A longtime friend of Sanders’s characterizes his position as, “At this point, what does he have to lose?” One plausible answer to that question: quite a lot. “In many ways, the world has caught up with him,” says Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator running Our Revolution, the political organization spawned from his campaign. But even some of the people close to Sanders — all of whom agree with that assessment — are not necessarily certain another presidential campaign is the best vehicle for his cause. “Bernie is not accountable to anything,” says one longtime ally. “He thinks it’s all about him” and not always a broader movement. Even the decision not to decide yet has caused anguish, both for Sanders personally and for anyone who might run against him in the primaries. He is now the dean of the American left — the incumbent leader, as it were, of the most energized segment of the national electorate — and everyone is watching to see how he spends the substantial political capital he has, over a four-decade career, recently accumulated. Sanders campaigning in Sioux City, Iowa, in October. Photo: Andres Kudacki One week before Trump’s inauguration, Sanders was steaming. He’d returned to Washington to fight, but he found his colleagues unable to internalize what went wrong. When 13 Senate Democrats nixed a measure to decrease drug prices through Canadian imports, he vented to USA Today that they didn’t have “the guts” to do the right thing, promising they’d hear from him. Behind the closed doors of the Democratic caucus, the backlash from his colleagues was swift. Four of the senators who’d crossed Sanders were centrists up for reelection in states Trump had just won. They already faced pressure from their right; none could afford for Sanders to train his large and energized audience against them. For the first time, he scared them — and this was new to him, too. The prospect of exerting this kind of power opened up new possibilities of influence but also potential pitfalls. Sanders backed down and retreated to his third-floor Senate office to iron out with advisers what, exactly, his new role should look like. His first step was agreeing to be more of a team player in the Senate, which meant building relationships with powerful party members. He had already accepted Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s invitation to join the Senate leadership team. He also hired Ari Rabin-Havt, a former senior aide to Reid, and they quickly found an opportunity to persuade his colleagues to hear him out: working to protect Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act. Sanders had never made any secret of his dissatisfaction with the law or his preference for a single-payer health-care system. But he saw health care as the defining fight of Trump’s term and pitched Schumer on helping organize rallies that winter. He spent much of the first half of 2017 traveling to states represented by key Republican senators to rile up voters around saving the ACA. This, in turn, earned him enough goodwill among skeptical party figures to at least open relations. “For a long time, Bernie believed in organizing but ran solo,” says Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, who tells me she has worked with Sanders more in the past two years than at any time in memory. With Schumer’s support, Sanders joined Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez for a “unity” tour, which, while rocky in its public reception, forced the pair to properly meet and interact for the first time. “The wound that was left in the Democratic Party in 2016 is healing in the context of opposition to Trump,” says Jeff Merkley, the lone senator to endorse Sanders in the 2016 primaries. “You finally have the Democratic Party coming back to its Roosevelt roots.” Meanwhile, Sanders experimented with ways to use his popularity as a cudgel against the president. When he’d first sat down to recalculate his life after the 2016 campaign, a top priority was an overhaul of his digital-media operation. He hired Armand Aviram, a former producer from NowThis News, and cameras now follow him everywhere; in 2017, the team published 550 short videos for Facebook and Twitter. They are enormously popular — town halls streamed on Facebook can earn millions of views — and Sanders constantly asks aides for updates on his viewership and sharing numbers. The project is substantially more ambitious than that of any other politician in Washington. (In April, aides from multiple Senate offices told me they had no idea how Sanders was doing it.) In fact, the only person in Washington who seems to care as much about building his own media ecosystem is Trump. It’s this audience, and the pressure it can exert, that Sanders often credits with pulling his party toward him on specific issues. “Not only Hillary Clinton, not only the Establishment media, not only every op-ed writer in America — they said, ‘Bernie Sanders is crazy, these ideas are extreme, they’re fringe, nobody believes in it, this is not what America is supposed to be about,’ ” he tells me, pounding his index finger on the table as he talks about the presidential-announcement speech he gave in May 2015. Now, “virtually every one of the issues that I talked about” — he lists basically his full campaign platform — “today are mainstream, and today are supported by, in many cases, a vast majority of the American people.” He advocated curtailing the influence of superdelegates in the party’s presidential-nominating process, a change that was codified in August. And he succeeded in bending the national conversation around health care not just away from repealing Obamacare but in the direction of Medicare for All. After the first serious Republican attempt to repeal the ACA was defeated in July 2017, he started wooing colleagues to his own measure, which for years had been widely regarded within the party as unrealistically ambitious, not to mention a rebuke of Obama. He also played his outside game: One video of a Canadian doctor explaining her country’s health-care system earned more than 30 million views on Sanders’s Facebook page. When Sanders introduced his measure in the Senate that September, 16 Democrats co-sponsored it, including Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren. None of which is to say that Sanders, still an Independent, and the Democratic Establishment have altered their opinions of each other much. His advisers believe the party still doesn’t appreciate how respectfully he treated Clinton — he never brought up her emails! — or how useful he was in energizing young voters after the primaries. Clinton loyalists find this analysis laughable to the point of offensiveness. In Washington, there’s still no shortage of Sanders critics within the party, people who see him as a cranky narcissist with a victim complex, or an old, out-of-touch white man with few legislative accomplishments, or someone deluded into thinking his success has to do with anything other than being the alternative to Clinton. Even some activists sympathetic to Sanders see him exercising his political muscle on the health-care and tax debates and wish he’d play a bigger role in the party’s thorniest fights — over Trump’s Muslim ban or the Dream Act, for example. “He’s never been totally comfortable being full-throated in his opposition to Trump, although he does all of it,” one of his Senate colleagues tells me. “He’s more comfortable making Democrats uncomfortable.” This line of argument drives Sanders crazy. Early this summer, Sanders celebrated the publication of his former campaign manager Jeff Weaver’s memoir of the 2016 race. The book was already controversial in Washington: It’s called How Bernie Won. In his brief remarks at the party, Sanders agreed. “In many ways, we did win the election,” he said. Hours earlier, Justice Anthony Kennedy had announced his retirement. To pretty much every Democrat not at that book party (and to many who were there), the day was a particularly demoralizing reminder of how much they had lost. Bernie Sanders at the Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, in October. Photo: Andres Kudacki I ask Sanders what would be different about his presidential campaign this time around, if he runs, and he laughs. “It’s almost personally embarrassing to tell you how little we knew,” he says. Later he describes running for president as “five Ph.D.’s wrapped up in six months.” In January, Sanders convened his inner circle at Rabin-Havt’s to talk through his future. Weaver and Turner were there, as were half a dozen other advisers. Sanders’s wife, Jane, dialed in. The attendees took turns presenting, explaining that if Sanders chose to run for president again, the dynamics would be significantly different — the “Bernie is just too eccentric, too untested” argument would be out the window with Trump in office, and Sanders would likely enter the primary this time as a front-runner, not an amusement. They framed the choice: If you want to focus on your legacy and influencing the party, we understand. But if you want to do this, they told him, say “Go.” The campaign couldn’t afford to be like the last one, which got off the ground only after Sanders’s then–chief strategist, Tad Devine, tired of the senator’s foot-dragging, leaked that an announcement was coming in order to force his hand. Sanders listened, told his advisers he hadn’t yet decided, and instructed them to do whatever was necessary to get him ready for “Go” in case he got there. And so the team mapped out a 2018 political plan that could best position him for a 2020 run. Sanders has now visited 34 states since the 2016 election, including 22 that voted for Trump. Over the 20 days before the midterms, he sprinted through 13 of them, traveling more on behalf of midterm candidates than any other likely presidential contender except Joe Biden. It’s not hard to see how someone in Sanders’s shoes could be a little discouraged by November’s results: The high-profile candidates he backed most vociferously, like Ben Jealous of Maryland and Randy Bryce of Wisconsin, lost. So did many of the candidates he’d backed in primaries, like Virginia’s Tom Perriello and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed. (He didn’t endorse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the single biggest electoral success story for the Sanders wing of the party, in her primary campaign.) Our Revolution, which aimed to support progressive candidates in 2018, had a mediocre showing; though it had some down-ballot successes, it failed to flip a single House seat. There is no doubt that Sanders and his organization helped energize progressive campaigns and popularize his positions among new and incumbent candidates. But paradoxically, the results of the midterms — the largest leftward shift in the American electorate since the aftermath of Richard Nixon’s resignation — might have made a Sanders presidential campaign look more difficult. Sanders’s advisers admit that his path to the Democratic nomination mirrors Trump’s in 2016. Facing what’s likely to be a historically large field, he’s been told, Sanders could start with his most loyal supporters from last time and go for a tight plurality victory in Iowa’s caucuses, followed by a slightly bigger one in New Hampshire’s primary. From there, advisers hope, his numbers could grow as the field dwindles. “There’s a 25 percent base of the party that isn’t going anywhere, and I think 25 percent, in a ten-person primary, is very formidable,” says a former adviser. But everyone recognizes that the strategy is tough — “It is the only thing you can tell yourself and draw a plausible route to the nomination,” says David Axelrod, Obama’s political architect — and everything will depend on who emerges as considerable rivals and how they chip away at his base of support. In January, Sanders’s team reviewed the potential field with him, lingering on the possibility of Warren and Biden entering the race. (An October CNN survey showed Biden 20 points ahead of Sanders across the country, though other polls show a smaller margin.) Sanders made clear that he was also wary of Booker, whom he regards as a potent messenger. In the months since, his aides have kept close tabs on the maneuvers of a wide range of potential candidates, questioning whether Warren intends to run as, in the words of multiple Sanders allies, “Bernie-light” and smiling at the prospect of a matchup against Michael Bloomberg. Everyone in Sanders’s orbit recognizes the difficulty he’s had in speaking beyond issues of economics and political corruption. “The 2020 challenge will be making sure [he] can inclusively get the class message out in a way that doesn’t make it seem like he’s dismissing identity issues,” says one Sanders adviser. To this end, he has established public relationships with the reverends Dr. William Barber and Al Sharpton, as well as Randall Woodfin and Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the young African-American mayors of Birmingham, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi, respectively. But he continues to say things that exacerbate his problems. In April, he faced backlash for appearing to dismiss Obama as just a “charismatic individual,” and, more recently, some black lawmakers bristled at what they perceived as Sanders’s attempt to take credit for Andrew Gillum’s primary win in the Florida governor’s race. Then, as the results were tallied in Florida and Georgia, Sanders had trouble calling voters who were uncomfortable with voting for black candidates “racist,” though he did use the word to describe some GOP candidates’ campaigns. At a May conference hosted by the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, Sanders’s speaking slot was billed as “Focus on Criminal Justice.” But when his office sent out his prepared remarks, it looked like a modified version of his old stump speech. The title was “Breaking Up the Oligarchy.” Mostly, Sanders’s advisers fear that he doesn’t fully appreciate how difficult another run will be. The primaries alone will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they’ve told him. Staffing up will be complicated. In recent months, his allies have talked about 2020 roles with dozens of former and potential campaign workers, many of whom are concerned that the main change he talks about making this time around is assembling a more robust digital team. (As long as Sanders’s inner circle includes Weaver, many senior 2016 staffers will take themselves out of the running or Weaver will remove them. He is polarizing even by the standards of political-campaign operatives.) And the race will almost certainly be more negative this time around. In July, over 200 centrist Democratic lawmakers, operatives, and donors met in Columbus, Ohio, to plan how to beat both Trump and Sanders. But Sanders can’t believe a 2020 race will be any more cynical or negative than the last one. In his experience, the attacks against him and his wife were so raw that he hasn’t asked his advisers for the customary “self-research” that might surface new vulnerabilities. “Look, you don’t even need [opposition research],” he tells me. “If I were a choirboy, it doesn’t matter, because they lie all the time.” But Clinton’s team never ran television ads against Sanders that attacked him personally, and even people close to him fear the amount of potential material is considerable. No opponent has done a full dive through Sanders’s years’ worth of television clips and essays — in 2015, an article he wrote in 1972 that included a line about a woman who “fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously” resurfaced and became a brief political flash point — or succeeded in persuading him to release a full accounting of his taxes. There are also his appearances on RT, the Russian-government-funded network, during the 2016 campaign, and his team’s hesitancy to reckon with Robert Mueller’s finding that Russian agents at one point supported his campaign. When I ask Sanders if there’s anything he wishes he’d done differently over the past two years, he quickly says, “I’m sure there are a million things.” But then, just as quickly, he backtracks. “You always … I don’t … Nothing, you know, jumps out at me.” On October 2, Sanders’s day began with an email from an aide informing him that if he checked the news, he’d see Amazon had just raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour for U.S. employees. This is the kind of victory he still isn’t used to celebrating, and later that morning he wondered aloud whether it was his most important accomplishment ever. Activists had been fighting for a higher minimum wage at Amazon for years, and Sanders had recently used his fame to call attention to it. On an issue like this, he’d told his team, it helps to stop thinking like a senator and start thinking primarily like someone with a huge platform. In July, he’d live-streamed a town hall with workers from Disney, Amazon, American Airlines, Walmart, and McDonald’s; by August, Disney World announced it planned to raise its minimum wage to $15. In September, he introduced legislation in the Senate, following a similar bill introduced by California representative Ro Khanna last year, intended to pressure Amazon, knowing that by signing on to it, he would give the legislation a new round of attention. They branded this version the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act — “Stop BEZOS.” When liberals worried the proposal would backfire, Sanders’s team argued they’d missed the point: The bill wasn’t intended to become law. “You use the opportunity you have within the context that you’re forced to work,” Sanders says. “Right now, nothing good is going to happen for workers in this Congress, and therefore we have to go outside.” This month, he introduced the Stop Walmart Act, and he’s pushing the new Democratic House majority to pass a national $15 minimum wage. And yet, as proud as he is to have found ways to put a dent in income inequality — under a Trump administration, no less — Sanders finds a lot of his newfound fame deeply unpleasant. He has talked with friends about the pressure of being, in his mind, the most popular politician in the country. He travels constantly but can’t go anywhere without being mobbed. He shoos away cameras that get too close, cuts off questioners. “It’s hard to walk down the street without people coming up to you,” he says. “There’s no interview I can give that does not have the possibility of a ‘gotcha’ question. ‘Oh, we can trap him, embarrass Sanders.’ ” His decision to at least partially ingratiate himself with the Democratic Establishment is its own kind of heartache. He believes he has a responsibility to shape the party in his image, but at what point do these negotiations turn him into just another politician? Whenever Sanders is asked about his age, he reddens, cracks an annoyed smile, tilts his head down to peer above his glasses, and opens his eyes wide. The question, he tells me, holding eye contact far more than usual, is getting annoying. “If we say, ‘Oh my God, I have a communications director here who’s a woman,’ oh my God, you would go crazy. I would be pilloried all over the country: I’m a sexist guy. ‘Oh my God, we’re working with African-Americans!’ I don’t know: lalalala,” he says. “And yet — yet! — I think ageism is a real issue, okay? And I think when we look at individuals, we look at their totality, all right? There are, you know, 50-year-olds who retired for whatever reason, people who are dealing with terrible illnesses, all right? Age is a factor! But it is one of many factors! “I thank God, you know, I can’t remember the last day — honestly — when I missed work,” he continues. Opponents make his age an issue only when they can’t compete on issues, he says. “What people have a right to know: Is the candidate healthy? Does he or she have the energy to do what is a very stressful and difficult job?” Some close Sanders allies do think his path to the White House has never been clearer. But other friends have warned him there’s a good chance that if he enters the race, his first day will be his best day. They’ve softly nudged him to consider the symbolic power of handing off his mantle to a younger leader — as well as the influence he’d wield over the primary races if he strategically withheld his support. “His message is one that obviously resonated a couple years ago,” says Tom Harkin, the former Iowa senator whom Sanders consulted before his last campaign. Now, Harkin says, other Democrats must acknowledge that “Bernie’s message is heightened by what Trump has done.” A lot likely comes down to Warren, whom Sanders has called “my favorite senator.” In 2016, according to advisers, the prospect of a Warren campaign nearly kept Sanders out of the race. Now some Sanders allies watching her maneuver toward 2020 perceive her trying to elbow him out. Neither senator has expressed any interest in stepping aside for the other, and the pair have mostly ignored entreaties from allies to meet in person and hash out an agreement. But given the complexity of launching a campaign, Sanders will have to make the decision in the next few months or the calendar will make it for him. “The question that history will answer, depending on what he decides to do, is: Is he going to be the Barry Goldwater or the Ronald Reagan?” says Khanna. “Is he going to be the person who defines the ideology to have someone else win?” Sanders is pretty certain that even being president wouldn’t satisfy him — activism is a constant struggle, he tells people, and it’s a classic politician’s mistake to believe in such a thing as an endgame. But for the first time in his career, he’s seeing the country shift in his direction. The revolution is “already off the ground,” Sanders tells me, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “The genie is out of the bottle.” *This article appears in the November 26, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now! ||||| Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersOn The Money: US, Mexico, Canada sign trade deal | Ocasio-Cortez seeks spot on House banking panel | New GOP tax bill hits roadblock Rahm Emanuel throws cold water on Beto O'Rourke 2020 talk Sanders to 'strongly oppose' Trump trade deal MORE (I-Vt.) said he will probably run for president in 2020 if he is the best candidate to beat President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump praises George H.W. Bush's humility and 'unflappable leadership' Former President George H.W. Bush dies at 94 Trump issues Alaska emergency declaration after earthquake MORE. "I’m not one of those sons of multimillionaires whose parents told them they were going to become president of the United States," Sanders told New York Magazine. "I don’t wake up in the morning with any burning desire that I have to be president." "If there’s somebody else who appears who can, for whatever reason, do a better job than me, I’ll work my ass off to elect him or her," he added. "If it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run.” ADVERTISEMENT Sanders made similar remarks last week, saying his team was "looking at" the possibility of a 2020 run. "[I]t’s a decision that impacts your family," Sanders said on MSNBC's "PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton." "And I want to make sure that when I make that decision, if I decide to run, that I have concluded, in fact, that I am the strongest candidate who can defeat Donald Trump," he said. Sanders ran in the 2016 Democratic primaries and garnered popularity among progressives, before being defeated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonTrump praises George H.W. Bush's humility and 'unflappable leadership' Trump, Russia and lessons from the mob: Did ‘godfathers’ steer collusion probe? Hill reporter says presidential, midterm races are fought on different battlefields MORE for the nomination. The self-described democratic socialist has been one of Trump's most outspoken critics the Senate, often referring to him as the "most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history."

– Bernie 2020? It's a distinct possibility: "If there’s somebody else who appears who can, for whatever reason, do a better job than me, I’ll work my ass off to elect him or her," Bernie Sanders tells New York of the next presidential election. But, the Vermont senator adds, "If it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run." He insists, however, "I’m not one of those sons of multimillionaires whose parents told them they were going to become president of the United States. I don’t wake up in the morning with any burning desire that I have to be president." The Hill notes that Sanders, 77, also said last week his team was "looking at" the possibility of running in 2020. (Hillary, too?)

San Jose serial cat killer gets 16-year sentence Thumper was one of up to 16 San Jose cats slain by Robert Farmer, 26. Thumper was one of up to 16 San Jose cats slain by Robert Farmer, 26. Photo: Myriam Martinez / Myriam Martinez Photo: Myriam Martinez / Myriam Martinez Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Jose serial cat killer gets 16-year sentence 1 / 1 Back to Gallery A serial cat killer in San Jose who pleaded guilty to torturing and dismembering a number of beloved neighborhood felines was sentenced Friday to a maximum term of 16 years in jail. Robert Farmer, 26, pleaded guilty in October to 21 felony counts of animal cruelty. Though Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sharon Chatman imposed the strictest sentence she could on Farmer, she did not require him to register as a sex offender as county prosecutors had requested. Prosecutors and owners of the cats alleged that Farmer had sexually abused one of the slain felines, but the judge rejected that argument. The owners of the dead cats — police say he killed up to 16 of them, though only four bodies were recovered — say that Farmer terrorized their Cambrian Park neighborhood in south San Jose for months, causing pet owners to keep outdoor cats inside as animal after animal disappeared. Gayle Goodson, a self-described cat-lover — who owns three felines — and supporter of those who lost their pets, said the courtroom was packed. There were tears when pet owners spoke about “their beloved cats and what they meant to them,” Goodson said, followed by a “big sigh of relief” when Farmer was sentenced. “We are disappointed that the judge did not” require Farmer to register as a sex offender, Goodson said, “but we understand her reasoning, though we may not necessarily agree with it.” Dozens of animal rights activists had joined the victims in demanding a stringent sentence for Farmer, spurred on by an online petition that gathered tens of thousands of signatures. The bereaved cat lovers started a campaign to hold Farmer accountable — writing letters to the judge, calling up the district attorney’s office and creating memes demanding justice on a Facebook group called “Justice for our CATZ.” Because he does not have to register as a sex offender, Farmer will serve his time — with almost two years in credit for time served — in county jail, not state prison. His attorney, Wesley Schroeder, said his client could be released in as little as 4½ years. “He got max sentence 16 YEARS !!!,” a woman wrote on the Facebook group, adding a thumbs-up emoji. The woman wrote that Farmer “was murdering animals in the neighborhood where he grew up, among people who trusted him.” Others chimed in, commenting that it was “too bad” that the judge didn’t include the sex offender requirement. When Farmer is released, he will have to register for probation until the terms of his entire 16-year sentence are satisfied. Conditions of his probation include staying away from Cambrian Park, not owning or caring for any animal for 10 years and undergoing mandatory psychological treatment. Police said they arrested Farmer in October 2015 inside a car, where they found a beaten and bloody corpse of a cat in a garbage bag, along with an assortment of collars. Schroeder said the county’s probation officer had recommended a sentence of nine years, which the judge nearly doubled. The attorney had argued that Farmer had for years before the cat killings lived with an increasing number of mental health issues, for which he had received no treatment. That, coupled with a methamphetamine addiction, did not excuse Farmer’s “horrific” actions, he said. But Schroeder said Farmer’s long-running addiction acted as an “accelerant” to a spiral of problems that resulted in the death of the felines. “The underlying problem was that the match had already been lit, but the meth just made it more extensive,” Schroeder said. Farmer was stuck in a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation,” Schroeder said, adding that he hoped he would be able to help Farmer obtain counseling and medication while in jail so this does not happen again. ||||| A San Jose man was sentenced to 16 years in jail today for killing 21 cats and sexually abusing a dead one, a bittersweet outcome for those whose pets began disappearing almost two years ago. Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Sharon A. Chatman credited Robert Roy Farmer, 26, for twice the 646 days he already has served since his arrest for crimes that shocked the Cambrian Park community where most of the cats were abducted. Farmer will not have to register as a sex offender when he is eventually released, a proposed sentencing condition that had become a point of contention between his attorney Wesley Schroeder and Deputy District Attorney Alexandra Ellis. Schroeder had argued that a test performed by a San Jose Animal Services and Care veterinarian showed no signs of a cat having been sexually assaulted by Farmer. But the same veterinarian testified during a pre-sentencing hearing in May that the possibility couldn’t be eliminated because other physical exams showed otherwise and “because limited literature in this field says there may be no injuries at all on an animal.” Before the sentencing, Schroeder read a letter written by Farmer, in which he said “it feels like another man committed these crimes, but I know it was me.” “It’s so hard to grasp I did this,” Farmer wrote, adding that he grew up with cats and horses. “I stole a member of their family. The fact that I was out of my mind was no excuse.” Ellis dismissed the letter as “manipulation” that contradicts his previous interviews with police, written by a disturbed individual with no hope for rehabilitation. Because of Farmer’s antisocial personality disorder diagnosis by a court doctor, she urged the judge to consider mental health reports that state he had a “profound lack of empathy and remorse” for his crimes and “significant anger” toward his family. The doctor also considered him a possible danger to the community, with a prognosis for recovery that was “poor, with potential escalation to higher life forms in the future.” The bizarre saga unfolded in September 2015 when cats began mysteriously disappearing from the Cambrian Park neighborhood. Stories started to spread among neighbors about a man who had tried luring two cats into a backpack. One cat escaped and was later treated by a veterinarian for a “bite that was not an animal bite, as well as the bleeding head injury,” Cambrian resident David Stine said at the time. Like our Facebook page for more conversation and news coverage from San Jose, the Bay Area and beyond. Several cats subsequently turned up dead, including two discovered in a dumpster. And Cambrian resident Janice McKimmie’s 15-year-old cat Beardsly was found dead several miles away wrapped in plastic inside a shoebox with his collar missing and rocks placed on the lid. Stine was surprised when McKimmie said her cat went missing the same morning as did his 16-year-old orange tabby cat Chablis, who still has not been seen to this day. Video footage from Miriam Petrova’s security camera later that week showed a young man grabbing a 17-year-old orange tabby cat named GoGo from her front porch. Neighbors soon after helped San Jose police identify Farmer as the man in the video, though no trace of GoGo was ever found. Farmer, the son of a retired San Jose Police Department captain, was found the morning of Oct. 8, 2015 at a Home Depot parking lot near Hillsdale and Leigh avenues. He was sleeping inside his car with a dead cat curled up in the center console when police officers apprehended him. Chunks of fur and streaks of blood covered the interior of Farmer’s vehicle, where police also found a backpack with a pair of fur-covered gloves and a hunting knife in a sheath. Farmer was originally charged with three felony counts of animal cruelty, one count of attempted animal cruelty, and one misdemeanor count each of battery and being under the influence. Subsequent DNA tests on blood, fur and other items found in Farmer’s car eventually shot that number up to 21 charges of felony animal cruelty–one for each of his feline victims. Family members and others who knew Farmer told police they were often terrified around him. An elderly woman who let Farmer stay with her and her grandson shortly before his arrest recounted him tying up the back legs of her cat Angel and smacking it against a wall. One time she said Farmer hit her grandson in the face, unprovoked, and on another occasion he shot the same boy in the leg with a pellet gun. Her grandson also told her that Farmer had commented once about “what it would feel like to kill a person.” The case took a shocking twist when a necropsy report from Animal Services found signs of sexual abuse on the orange female tabby cat inside the car, including dilated genitals. Crime laboratory reports also stated a match was discovered between Farmer and DNA found under claw clippings. Schroeder contested the prosecution’s argument that the cat was sexually abused. The conflicting accounts triggered a debate about whether Farmer should be required to register as a sex offender when someday released from prison. Ellis argued that Farmer’s molestation of the dead cat was sexually motivated but Schroeder proffered other theories. Reading this on your phone? Stay up to date with our free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store. “Doing something to the body in that area doesn’t necessarily indicate sexual motivation,” Schroeder said, adding that Farmer’s methamphetamine use at the time could have contributed to his behavior. Torture was another possibility that Schroeder also mentioned but Ellis said that wasn’t possible. “You can’t torture a dead cat,” she said. “If there was an animal cruelty registry then Mr. Farmer would be the perfect picture for that,” Chatman said. But the judge declined to require Farmer to register as a sex offender upon release, stating that Ellis’ arguments “did not meet that burden” for such an order. “We don’t have experts to form an opinion that similar conduct was sexually motivated,” Chatman told Ellis. “The entire veterinary community doesn’t study it and so it’s not a piece of evidence I can put on your side of the scale.” But the judge ordered him to stay away from cats for 10 years after his release and away from the 95124 Cambrian Park ZIP code area. Throngs of people crowded outside the courtroom in anticipation of the long-awaited sentencing. Many of the owners whose cats fell victim to Farmer read statements in the courtroom expressing their grief and outrage before he was sentenced. Farmer listened with his back turned to the crowd. Petrova wept as she told onlookers how “our sweet GoGo” would cuddle in bed with her children and mourned the fact that “we didn’t have the chance to say a proper goodbye.” “It’s still painful to come home knowing GoGo isn’t waiting for us,” Petrova said. “Now the only image burned in our minds is GoGo running for his life” on camera as Farmer chased after him. “GoGo never hurt anybody,” she added, before addressing Farmer directly: “And for you, Robert Farmer–what have you done to GoGo? Where is he?” Although she had hoped Farmer would have to register as a sex offender, Petrova said she’s “relieved” that the ordeal is finally over. “When I spoke up to (Farmer), I felt relieved,” she said. “It’ll be not closure completely, but partially.”

– A grisly and bizarre animal cruelty case has come to a close in San Jose, with a serial cat killer sentenced to 16 years in jail. Police say Robert Farmer killed at least 16 cats after stealing and torturing them in 2015. Prosecutors also alleged that he sexually abused at least one of the cats, but the 26-year-old avoided having to register as a sex offender, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. He had pleaded guilty to 21 counts of animal cruelty prior to sentencing. Pet owners celebrated the maximum sentence, though Farmer's attorney says he could be released in about 4 years. “It’s so hard to grasp I did this,” Farmer wrote in a letter read by his attorney in court, per the Mercury News. "It feels like another man committed these crimes, but I know it was me.” Neighbors in the Cambrian Park community began sharing stories when their cats started disappearing without a trace. Most of the time, the bodies would turn up discarded in dumpsters or elsewhere. Farmer was arrested after being captured on a pet owner's surveillance camera snatching the family's 17-year-old pet from the property.

Even HBO's "Silicon Valley" has caught on. John P. Johnson/HBO I'm sitting in a San Francisco, counter-service restaurant waiting for my chopped salad, when a group of tall, white men wearing button-downs and fleece vests crowds around the cash register. My boyfriend, who works in venture capital, spots them and says they're VCs. "Do you know them?" "No," he says. "The fleece vests. It's a giveaway." It's true. The fleece vest, often in black and from outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia, has become the most quintessentially-VC item in an investor's wardrobe. No one seems to know how the fashion faux pas turned into a staple, and yet, the fleece vest is inescapable in Silicon Valley. For example, Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn and a partner at Greylock (whose investment portfolio includes Airbnb, Facebook, Flickr, and Zynga), rocked a Patagonia Men's Better Sweater Fleece Vest in Harvest Moon Blue. It retails for $99 on the website. Drew Angerer/Getty Marc Benioff, who has led Salesforce to fund some of the largest private cloud software companies in the world, wore a Salesforce-branded black vest on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this year. Steve Jennings/Getty Angel investor Joanne Wilson, the "Gotham Gal," invests across all industries, from food, to gyms, to real estate. She elevated the black fleece stereotype with this high-fashion, mixed-materials vest. Noam Galai/Getty Business Insider spoke with several venture capitalists for this story and could not track down what brought on the vest's popularity. But we have some theories. A practical reason why the vest might be so popular is, it gets chilly year-round in the Bay Area. This year, San Franciscans (reluctantly) enjoyed one of the mildest summers on record. The city saw only one 70-degree day in August, meteorologists tell The San Francisco Chronicle. As investors make trips up and down the Bay, meeting with entrepreneurs, sitting in on board meetings, and negotiating deals in eternal-spring weather, it helps to zip up. "This is the Bay Area so layering is useful," Kim Milosevich, a marketing partner at Andreeseen Horowitz, tells Business Insider. Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most well-known firms in Silicon Valley, orders Patagonia vests embroidered with the company's name for events. They typically order enough supplies for guests and employees. "Our swag is mainly created as a gift for guests of our events, so we want it to be high quality and something they'd like [or] find useful," Milosevich says. Jeff Berg, CEO and chairman of International Creative Management Ltd., and Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, Google's parent company, sport swag from the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in 2014. Scott Olson/Getty Patagonia has another explanation. They just make darn good vests. "I think one reason for the popularity is: Patagonia represents quality without being pretentious," Corey Simpson, a communications coordinator at Patagonia, says. A casual, slightly pilled fleece vest may help Silicon Valley's many millionaires and billionaires feel (or at least look) grounded. Patagonia would not disclose its corporate sales customers. But with a retail location in Palo Alto, Simpson says Patagonia fields a lot of questions about the trend — especially after its best-selling vest made a cameo in HBO's "Silicon Valley." Donald "Jared' Dunn, played by actor Zach Woods, is the lovable and eccentric head of business development at Pied Piper. Whether he's living it up at a launch party for the fictional capital firm Bachmanity or polling TechCrunch Disrupt attendees on how to pivot the company, he dons a soft, fleece vest in Supply Green from Patagonia. HBO The show's production designer, Richard Royon, told The San Francisco Chronicle in 2014 that before the show aired, his team spent months surveying Silicon Valley for aesthetic inspiration. They racked up hours at Google, Facebook, Zynga, Apple, and Dell. "Patagonia was clearly very important," Toyon said. "You walk around University Avenue and look at all the people wearing Patagonia during the day. It's kind of crazy." The vest trend even spans from Silicon Valley to New York City's Silicon Alley. Henry McNamara, a general partner at New York-based Greak Oaks Venture Capital, tells Business Insider he also owns a fleece vest. He's not sure why he sees so many in the wild. "I guess I've never really thought about it," McNamara says. "I just really like vests." Disclosure: The author is in a relationship with an employee of Andreessen Horowitz. ||||| The vest has become the unofficial uniform for Silicon Valley investors. HBO; Uniqlo; Melia Robinson/Business Insider San Francisco's airport has a vending machine that dispenses vests — the unofficial uniform for venture capital investors — and Twitter has been poking fun all week. But a spokesperson for the airport tells us that the machine's sales figures are no joke. The Uniqlo-branded vending machine earns $10,000 a month on average, according to Doug Yakel, a public information officer for San Francisco International Airport. At nearly $50 a pop, that means the vending machine sells about 200 vests per month. It's one of the highest-earning vending machines that its leasing tenant — a third-party company that also sells electronics and other consumer goods out of vending machines — operates at the airport, according to Yakel. It's unclear what cut SFO and Uniqlo take. "This is the first time we've had clothing available for sale from a vending machine, which we thought was very unique," Yakel told Business Insider. Japanese retailer Uniqlo started selling clothes out of vending machines in airports and malls across the US last year. At the time, these so-called "Uniqlo To Go" machines stocked two of the most popular items from the brand's "LifeWear" collection: a thermal heat-tech T-shirt ($14.90) and a lightweight down jacket ($69.90) in an array of colors. It appears Uniqlo added down vests for the tech set at San Francisco's airport. The Men's Ultra Light Down Vest typically retails for $49.90 online and in the vending machine. "SFO has a down vest vending machine for visiting VCs," said Frank Barbieri, a serial entrepreneur, in a now-viral tweet that included a photo of the vending machine. Venture capitalists can be seen sporting the practical outerwear wherever techies gather, from Blue Bottle Coffee shops to the Battery to the VC offices on Sand Hill Road. San Francisco has chilly summers, with temperatures hovering between the mid-50s and high-60s. As investors travel across the Bay Area, meeting with entrepreneurs, sitting in on board meetings, and negotiating deals in eternal-spring weather, it helps to zip up. ||||| The vest has become the unofficial uniform for Silicon Valley investors. John P. Johnson/HBO; Uniqlo; Melia Robinson/Business Insider San Francisco has reached peak San Francisco with the addition of a vending machine that dispenses down vests at the city's airport, and Twitter is having a field day. "SFO has a down vest vending machine for visiting VCs," Frank Barbieri, a serial entrepreneur, said in a tweet that included a photo of the now infamous machine. The vest has become the unofficial uniform for Silicon Valley investors. Venture capitalists can be seen sporting the practical outerwear wherever techies gather, from Blue Bottle Coffee shops to the Battery to the VC offices on Sand Hill Road. Japanese retailer Uniqlo started selling clothes out of vending machines in airports and malls across the US last year. At the time, these so-called "Uniqlo To Go" machines stocked two of the most popular items from the brand's "LifeWear" collection: a thermal heat-tech T-shirt ($14.90) and a lightweight down jacket ($69.90) in an array of colors. It appears Uniqlo has added down vests for the tech set at San Francisco International Airport. The Men's Ultra Light Down Vest typically retails for $49.90 online. Uniqlo started selling clothes out of vending machines in airports and malls across the US in 2017. Uniqlo "This is the first time we've had clothing available for sale from a vending machine, which we thought was very unique," Doug Yakel, a spokesperson for SFO, told Business Insider. Yakel doesn't know how sales have been at this particular machine, but he said the airport has heard that "the leasing tenant is very happy with it." Twitter has been roasting San Francisco all week long, and it's brutally funny. Here are the best reactions: Uniqlo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

– It's an odd tale of vests, venture capitalists, and San Francisco: Start with this Business Insider story in 2016 declaring that the vest had "become the most quintessentially-VC item in an investor's wardrobe" in Silicon Valley. Flash forward to a different BI story from last week, taking note of a vending machine in San Francisco's airport that dispenses, yes, vests, and the social media jokes that revelation has generated. ("SFO has a down vest vending machine for visiting VCs," wrote one; "automatic vesting" wrote another.) And finally, a followup story at the site that the vendor is surely laughing all the way to the bank—with $10,000 in sales per month. The vests cost about $50, meaning that the machine from third-party vendor Uniqlo is dispensing about 200 of them per month at San Francisco International Airport. "This is the first time we've had clothing available for sale from a vending machine, which we thought was very unique," says an airport spokesman. Turns out, it's one of the most profitable machines at the airport.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fell in her office and fractured three ribs. The 85-year-old liberal justice was admitted to a hospital Thursday. Ginsburg's health has been a matter of intense speculation in recent years. The court's oldest member, Ginsburg has survived multiple bouts with cancer, and in 2014 underwent a procedure to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery. The fall happened Wednesday evening. "She went home, but after experiencing discomfort overnight, went to George Washington University Hospital early this morning," the court said in a statement Thursday. "Tests showed that she fractured three ribs on her left side and she was admitted for observation and treatment." It is not the first time that Ginsburg has fractured her ribs while on the court. In June 2012, Ginsburg fractured two ribs in a fall and did not disclose the injury to the public until months later. The court said at the time that despite the fracture, Ginsburg "did not skip a beat." The Brooklyn-native, one of four liberal justices on the nine-member court, has said she plans to serve on the bench until she is 90, and has hired law clerks through 2020. Her approach to the law has been described as cautious, though she has been influential in shaping jurisprudence in cases involving gender discrimination, women's reproductive health and international law. She was the principal author of a landmark brief that led Supreme Court in 1971 to apply the the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to women. Ginsburg, the second of four women to serve on the high court, was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. Before joining the court, she worked as the director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project. News of Ginsburg's fall comes on the same morning as the formal investiture of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's second nominee to the high court. The court said that more information would be provided as it became available. WATCH: Here's what it's like being a Supreme Court justice ||||| CLOSE Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized after a fall in her office on Wednesday evening left her with three fractured ribs. USA TODAY Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Thursday morning after falling in her office Wednesday night, the court announced. Ginsburg, 85, went home after the fall but continued to experience "discomfort overnight" and went to George Washington University Hospital early Thursday. Tests revealed she fractured three ribs on her left side, and she "was admitted for observation and treatment," according to the court's statement. The fall kept Ginsburg from attending Thursday's formal investiture ceremony for new Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The event attracted President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, all other Supreme Court justices and leaders of Washington's legal community. Ginsburg, the court's eldest justice, has served for 25 years after being appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. She is the leader of the court's liberal wing. She is a medical warrior, having survived colon cancer in 1999, pancreatic cancer a decade later, a heart stent procedure in 2014 and a previous bout with broken ribs. She works out with a personal trainer twice weekly in the Supreme Court's gym to the beat of the PBS NewsHour. News of her fall moved swiftly through Washington legal circles Thursday morning, including during and after Kavanaugh's investiture ceremony. Many Ginsburg fans offered support on Twitter. Known for her work ethic, Ginsburg wrote the first opinion of the Supreme Court’s term this year on age discrimination. The action marked the third consecutive year in which Ginsburg has written the first opinion of the term. Chief Justice John Roberts has remarked about Ginsburg’s speedy delivery of opinions. 'Feeling fine' at 85: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fends off retirement This year, Ginsburg said she intended to stay on the bench for at least five more years. "I'm now 85," Ginsburg said in July, according to CNN. "My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so I think I have about at least five more years." Given her age, some Democrats have expressed concerns about Ginsburg's health. President Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices since taking office, and another opening on the bench could ensure conservative control of the court for decades. The Senate, which confirms justices, remains in Republican control after Tuesday's election. "I pray for Ruth Bader Ginsburg every day," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said Sunday. "We cannot allow one more Supreme Court justice to be nominated and get through the Senate by this president, or we’ll lose that court for over a generation." The second woman appointed to the court – Justice Sandra Day O'Connor became the first in 1981 – Ginsburg is a legend among women's right advocates. She expressed support for the #MeToo movement. In recent years, she gained celebrity status among liberals – who lovingly refer to her as the "Notorious RBG" – and was the subject a recent documentary, "RBG." Her biography is the subject of an upcoming feature film, "On the Basis of Sex," in which she is played by actress Felicity Jones. Contributing: Herb Jackson, USA TODAY Network Ruth Bader Ginsburg on #MeToo: Women of her generation have 'many stories' More: Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she has 'at least five more years' on Supreme Court Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/08/ruth-bader-ginsburg-hospitalized-after-fall-supreme-court-office/1928409002/

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg is "notorious" for, among other things, her killer workouts, which is maybe why the fit 85-year-old justice brushed off a tumble she took Wednesday evening at her office. However, the Supreme Court issued a statement Thursday noting that after she went home, Ginsburg had "discomfort overnight," and a visit to George Washington University Hospital early Thursday revealed she broke three ribs on her left side, USA Today reports. Ginsburg was admitted for "observation and treatment," the statement says. CNBC notes that Ginsburg's health has been under the microscope of late, due to both her age (she's the oldest Supreme Court justice) and the fact that she's one of just four liberal justices on the court's bench. Six years ago, she suffered a similar health scare and broke a couple of ribs then, too—and didn't make it public until months after the fact. (Over the summer, RBG predicted she had at least five years left on the court.)

For members of the deaf community, ordering food or drinks at a drive-thru can be a frustrating, or even impossible, experience. But as one deaf woman recently discovered, Starbucks is trying to make this feature accessible for customers with disabilities -- with the help of a little technology. On Tuesday, 28-year-old Rebecca King of St. Augustine, Florida, uploaded a video to Facebook which reveals what happened during her visit to a local Starbucks drive-thru. The video shows King driving up to the ordering kiosk. A woman’s voice emits from the intercom. "Hi, welcome to Starbucks," the woman says. "What can we get started for you today?" King does not respond and waits in her seat. A few moments later, a Starbucks barista appears on a monitor. King begins to communicate with the woman using sign language, and the barista signs right back. "Starbucks! This is what I’m talking about!" King wrote in her Facebook post, which has been watched more than 4.9 million times to date. "Share it away! We can change the world!" ||||| A new technology is getting a lot of attention — and for good reason — at the brand-new Starbucks by the outlet malls in St. Johns County. A video posted on Facebook shows a customer named Rebecca King using sign language for an order -- and barista, Katie Wyble, quickly signs back. Wyble says she's had a "passion for sign language since I first saw a teacher use it when I was in preschool." Wyble used a two-way video screen to see King, and the duo quickly completed an order for two coffees. King's video of the encounter went viral overnight. The video was just posted Tuesday, and it has more than 1 million views and over 65,000 shares. “Share it away," King said on Facebook. "We can change the world!” “I think more people need to know about what we’re doing because it moves customer service to a whole new level,” Wyble said. “I hope it helps make more people aware of what they can to do serve others in their communities.” St. Augustine is known to have a large deaf and blind community. Action News Jax spoke to Professor Tiri Fellows, who is deaf and teaches American Sign Language. She had a translator tell us what she thought about this technology. “I think it's awesome because it gives the deaf opportunity to order in a different way through the window,” Dr. Fellows said. Dr. Fellows says going through a drive-thru without a device like this is such a hassle for the deaf or hearing impaired. She says its about time someone created this device to help them. “It’s about time,” Dr. Fellows said. “My friends from Arizona saw that on Facebook, Illinois Texas — they all reposted that video.” Dr. Fellows hopes the video continues to spread on social media so other businesses will want to get the technology as well.

– A Florida Starbucks has made it easy for deaf customers to order at the drive-thru—and video of one deaf woman's experience has been viewed more than 6.5 million times since she posted it on Facebook Tuesday. "Starbucks! This is what I'm talking about!" wrote Rebecca King. The 28-year-old tells First Coast News she was surprised on Monday when she drove up to the St. Augustine Starbucks ordering window and a barista appeared on a two-way video screen to take her order via sign language. She went back the next day to record video of her doing the same thing. "It is a big deal to (the) deaf community that Starbucks has one now. Nowhere else has that!" says King. "We all want to have that at every drive-thru in the world." The barista is 22-year-old Katie Wyble, who tells Action News Jax she's had a "passion for sign language since I first saw a teacher use it when I was in preschool"; she continued to study it in grade school, high school, and college. "I think more people need to know about what we’re doing because it moves customer service to a whole new level,” Wyble adds. “I hope it helps make more people aware of what they can to do serve others in their communities." St. Augustine has a large deaf community and the Starbucks in question is brand-new. It's not clear whether other Starbucks locations have the same capability, but the Huffington Post notes that at least two other chains, Culver's and Subway, have installed their own technology to help deaf customers order.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Authorities say a missing North Dakota woman whose body was found in the Red River had been violently killed. Fargo police announced Tuesday that 22-year-old Savanna Greywind's cause of death was homicidal violence. Investigators didn't release further details of a preliminary autopsy on Greywind, who was eight months pregnant when she disappeared earlier this month. She was the subject of intensive searches before her body was found Sunday. Police found a newborn daughter believed to be Greywind's in an apartment in the same building where she had lived. Prosecutors have charged the man and woman who lived there with conspiracy to commit murder in what they say was a scheme to take Greywind's baby. The child is under the care of social services. Police spokesman Joseph Anderson declined comment. ||||| Fargo, N.D. Police Chief David Todd, right, pauses during a press conference at Fargo City Hall to update members of the media on the case of Savanna Greywind, whose body was found Sunday evening in the... (Associated Press) FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A suspect in the death of a pregnant woman initially claimed the woman gave up her newborn daughter but later admitted taking advantage of her to get the child, according to court documents filed Monday that shed no light on how the woman died. Brooke Crews, 38, and her boyfriend William Hoehn (HAYN), 32, were each charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the death of 22-year-old Savanna Greywind. But the brief charging summary does not reveal how police and prosecutors believe Greywind died. Greywind, who was eight months pregnant when she disappeared Aug. 19, was the subject of several large searches before her body was spotted by kayakers Sunday night in the Red River near Fargo, wrapped in plastic and duct tape. "Savanna was a victim of a cruel and vicious act of depravity," Fargo police Chief David Todd said. The complaint offers conflicting stories from the two suspects. Crews told police she arranged to have Greywind come to her apartment on Aug. 19 and told her how to induce labor. Greywind came back two days later to give her the newborn baby, Crews said. "Crews admitted she had taken advantage of Savanna Greywind in an attempt to obtain her child and possibly keep the child as her own," the complaint said. But Hoehn told police a different story, according to the documents. He said he came home Aug. 19 to find Crews cleaning up blood in their bathroom. Hoehn says Crews presented him with an infant baby girl and said: "This is our baby. This is our family." Hoehn told police he took garbage bags containing bloody shoes and his bloody towels and disposed of them away from the apartment complex, according to the documents. Crews and Hoehn are also charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and giving false information to police. They didn't enter pleas during a court hearing Monday. Bond was set at $2 million for each of the suspects. Neither showed much emotion, although Hoehn objected to the bail amount as "unattainable for any regular person." Their court-appointed attorneys, Stormy Vickers for Hoehn and Monty Mertz for Crews, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Family members declined to comment outside the courtroom. Amanda Vivier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, said she struggled with her emotions during the hearing. Greywind was also a member of the tribe. "I have a lot of anger," said Vivier, spiritual director for the Native American Christian Ministry, a church frequented by the Greywind family. "I've got a lot of questions that I don't know how to process." The two suspects were neighbors of Greywind. Authorities recovered her body from the Red River on Sunday night, three days after finding the newborn. The girl, who was in good health, was with Crews when she was arrested. Police say Crews and Hoehn acknowledged it is Greywind's child, but say they are doing DNA testing to be sure. At the same time Greywind's body was found, Todd said, a farmstead on the Minnesota side of the river that is the border between that state and North Dakota was being searched and suspicious items were found that led authorities to believe it might be a crime scene. Todd did not say whether there were signs of trauma to Greywind's body, which was undergoing an autopsy in Minnesota's Ramsey County. A memorial was started on Monday on the steps of the apartment building where Greywind lived with her parents and where she was last seen alive. It included flowers, candles, stuffed animals and a portrait of a young Native American woman with the inscription: "May the stars carry your sadness away, may the flowers fill your heart with beauty, may hope forever wipe away your tears, and above all, may silence make you strong!" ___ Follow Dave Kolpack on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/DaveKolpackAP

– A suspect in the death of a pregnant woman initially claimed the woman gave up her newborn daughter but later admitted taking advantage of her to get the child, according to court documents filed Monday that shed no light on how the woman died. Brooke Crews, 38, and boyfriend William Hoehn, 32, were each charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the death of 22-year-old Savanna Greywind, the AP reports. Greywind, who was eight months pregnant when she disappeared Aug. 19, died as a result of homicidal violence, per police; no further details were given. Her body was found Sunday night in the Red River near Fargo, wrapped in plastic and duct tape. The complaint offers conflicting stories from the two suspects. Crews told police she arranged to have Greywind come to her apartment on Aug. 19 and told her how to induce labor; she said Greywind came back two days later to give her the newborn. "Crews admitted she had taken advantage of Savanna Greywind in an attempt to obtain her child and possibly keep the child as her own," the complaint said. But Hoehn told police a different story: He said he came home Aug. 19 to find Crews cleaning up blood in their bathroom, and that Crews presented him with an infant baby girl and said, "This is our baby. This is our family." Hoehn told police he took garbage bags containing bloody shoes and his bloody towels and disposed of them away from the apartment complex, where Greywind also lived. The baby girl, who was in good health, was with Crews when she was arrested.

Thirty-two years after the AIDS virus was first discovered, the findings of a new study done by Kaiser Permanente prove HIV is 100 percent preventable.More than 600 patients have been on the drug Truvada for about three years and none has tested positive for HIV.The results of those clinical trials showed that Truvada was effective in more than 90 percent of patients. Since then, Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco has been giving the drug to its patients for more than two years with even better results.Doctor Jonathan Volk put Kaiser Permanente patients, at risk for HIV, on the medication. Patients like Paul Marcelin were put on a daily regimen of the drug Truvada, which has proved in clinical trials to protect a vast majority of people from HIV infection."It's wonderful to have less worries about HIV. It's something that is always lurking in the back of one's mind," Marcelin said.Instead of protecting most people, Kaiser Researchers found the drug has been 100 percent effective. Their patients have been taking it since the drug was approved in 2012. Their findings appear online in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Advance Access."We now have over 600 patients using this medication and no new HIV infections," Volk said.Patients are tested every three months for HIV and monitored for any possible side effects. Those include gay and bisexual men, as well as heterosexuals and injection drug users."What's really exciting about HIV prevention in 2015 is that we have options, we have several tools that we can use," Volk said.The study suggests that HIV is very close to being managed like any other chronic disease, such as diabetes or asthma. ||||| HIV-preventing drug holds up under study Truvada, a daily pill that holds the hope of eliminating the risk of contracting HIV, appears to be living up to its promise. In the first real-world study of the prescription drug, Kaiser researchers found no new HIV infections among the more than 650 people they followed over nearly three years, beginning just after the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012. A clinical trial leading up to the FDA approval had shown that Truvada, made by Foster City’s Gilead Sciences, nearly eliminated the risk of getting infected by the AIDS virus. But no evaluations of the drug, also known as PrEP, for pre-exposure prophylaxis, had been published outside the tightly regulated clinical trial setting. LATEST NEWS VIDEOS Now Playing: Now Playing Defense Secretary Mattis Issues Clear Warning To North Korea Buzz60 John Legend Casting Out of Shape Actors To Play Trump Supporters In His New Music Video Buzz60 Blind USC player makes snap during USC game KTVU Special moment at Piner High School vs. Novato High School football game KTVU California's 20th Independent Film Festival starts this week KTVU Trump On Attacking North Korea: 'We'll See' GeoBeats Trump Threatens To Stop Trading 'With Any Country Doing Business With North Korea' GeoBeats Bay Area company offers to recover Harvey victims' data for free. KTVU George Clooney's New Movie Depicts 'Angry America' Inspired By 2016 Campaign Buzz60 Bay Bridge pier implosions KTVU In the new study, participants were sexually active. Many did not use condoms for prevention, and half of them were diagnosed with other sexually transmitted diseases within a year of starting the study. But no new HIV infections turned up, researchers said. “This is really compelling data that shows that PrEP works in a real-world setting,” said Dr. Jonathan Volk, a San Francisco Kaiser physician and epidemiologist and lead author of the study, which was published Wednesday in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Truvada, which contains the antiviral drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir, was originally created as an anti-retroviral drug used to treat HIV, but it has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92 percent when taken consistently, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug has its critics Still, the drug, which costs Kaiser patients about $50 a month, is not without controversy. PrEP was criticized early on by health providers and other advocates over concerns that the drug would encourage unsafe sex because of a false sense of security. In fact, the Kaiser study did find a significant decrease in condom use among the participants. One of the loudest critics has been Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles, who has publicly called Truvada a “party drug.” While PrEP may be an option for high-risk individuals who don’t use condoms, he said last month, it should not be used as community-wide public health intervention strategy. But the CDC and public health advocates disagree. The CDC last summer recommended the drug as a prophylactic for those at highest risk of becoming infected — sex workers, men with HIV-positive partners or those who engage in high-risk behaviors, such as IV drug use — and under careful watch by their doctors. San Francisco health advocates have also recognized Truvada as an important tool for the city’s Getting to Zero program, which aims to make the city the first in the country to have no new HIV infections, deaths or stigma. “We have a fantastic new tool we can be using to help our patients protect themselves from HIV,” Kaiser’s Volk said. “I don’t think PrEP is right for everybody. But for the folks who need it, it works.” No new infections seen To test the effectiveness of the drug, Kaiser researchers identified 657 Kaiser San Francisco patients and followed them over 32 months without requiring anything after their initial screening other than regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases and completing an occasional questionnaire. The average age was 37, and 99 percent were men who have sex with men. The study did not have a control group for the sake of comparison, but the participants clearly weren’t abstinent. After six months, about 30 percent of the PrEP users had been diagnosed with at least one sexually transmitted infection, with that number rising to 50 percent after a year. But there were no HIV infections, the study found. When the participants were asked about any changes in behavior, 74 percent reported no change in their number of sexual partners, while 15 percent reported a decrease and 11 percent said the number increased. Condom use was unchanged in 51 percent of the participants, while 41 percent said they had decreased their condom use and 3 percent had increased the use of condoms. “We know adherence to the medication is a really importance piece,” Volk said. “The fact we had no new HIV infections is very encouraging, but we still have more to learn about how people are using this medication.” ‘At high-risk phases’ For study participant Paul Marcelin, a San Francisco Kaiser patient who lives in Alameda, the drug allows him to protect himself while maintaining his relationship with his HIV-positive boyfriend. “I felt very comfortable that we don’t worry the same way that some couples might,” he said. Marcelin, 40, a database expert, participated in a separate PrEP study conducted in 2013 by the San Francisco Department of Public Health and stayed on the drug for the Kaiser study. He said he thinks any hesitancy about Truvada is starting to dissipate, and people are accepting it as another prevention option. “PrEP is something you can choose to use when at high-risk phases in your life,” he said. “I’m in a phase of my life I need to use it, but I won’t always be.” Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @vcolliver

– Big news in the fight against HIV: Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco's biggest private insurer, says that over a 32-month period, not a single one of its clients taking Truvada contracted HIV. Truvada is the name of the daily pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, pill that the CDC recommended for use in at-risk populations earlier this year. The new study followed 657 San Franciscans (all but four of them gay men) who asked their doctors for Truvada, and found that while condom use did decline—a major fear of PrEP critics—no one contracted HIV between mid-2012 and February of this year, the New York Times reports. More than 40% of the subjects said they used fewer condoms after starting Truvada, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, and while half of the subjects got syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia within a year of starting PrEP, the Times notes most sexual infections other than HIV can be cured with antibiotics. And rates of those infections were already climbing among gay men before PrEP came on the market, a doctor notes. This was an observational study of the $50-a-month drug; a clinical trial last year actually gave some participants a placebo instead of Truvada. That study, however, was stopped early—because it became so obvious that Truvada worked that it was unethical to keep some of the subjects on a placebo. This new study "takes it out of the realm of clinical trials and into the real world," one doctor and infectious disease expert says. An AIDS activist echoes that, noting the study "fills in a critical gap by showing that PrEP can prevent infections in a real-world public health program." "This is very reassuring data," adds the lead author of the new study. "It tells us that PrEP works even in a high-risk population." According to ABC 7, the study population also included "injection drug users."

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government will restart cease-fire negotiations with pro-Russian insurgents in the country's east only once the rebels lay down their weapons, the defense minister said Tuesday Ukrainian tanks roll to the base in Devhenke village, Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, July 7, 2014. There was no word Monday from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who had promised to start... (Associated Press) Ukrainian tanks take their position at the base in Devhenke village, Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, July 7, 2014. There was no word Monday from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who had... (Associated Press) Valery Heletey's statement, posted on the Defense Ministry website, comes amid growing confidence among government forces after they drove the insurgent militia from their stronghold of Slovyansk. Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised cease-fire talks no later than that Saturday, but a series of military successes by the Ukrainian army may have changed minds in Kiev. Instead, on Saturday, Ukrainian troops routed the rebels in Slovyansk, forcing hundreds of militants to regroup in the regional capital, Donetsk — a rare and significant victory for Ukraine, which has often appeared helpless in the face of the spreading insurgency. On Tuesday, the mayor of Donetsk issued a statement after a meeting with Poroshenko, saying the president suggested talks could take place in Svyatogorsk, a town in the north of the region. The insurgents would be unlikely to agree to Svyatogorsk, which is controlled by Kiev. "I don't think we will go there. It's not safe," rebel leader Alexander Borodai told Interfax news agency. He said locations acceptable to the rebels include Donetsk, Russia or Belarus. A 10-day cease-fire that ended in late June was punctuated by frequent clashes and provided no progress in reaching a negotiated settlement. More than 400 people have died and thousands have fled their homes after a nearly three-month-long standoff between the rebels and the new authorities in Kiev, who came to power after the ex-president's ouster in February. Rebels in Ukraine and nationalists in Russia have called for the Kremlin to protect the insurgents, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far made no comment on the rebels' defeat in Slovyansk, while state media and other officials have downplayed the loss. Putin may be wary of more sanctions being imposed by the West, which slapped visa bans and financial sanctions on Russia's top officials for their role in annexing the Black Sea region of Crimea in March. ||||| As Ukraine laid plans for a siege of pro-Russia separatists' remaining bastions Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a critical decision on whether to answer rebel pleas for military help—a move that could determine what he gains or loses following a monthslong conflict that has roiled global powers. Russia has encouraged and supported the separatists during their insurgency, but has been unusually quiet since the Ukrainian... ||||| It has been raining for two days in the black earth region of eastern Ukraine, and the soldiers perching on the motley collection of vehicles clogging the southbound lane of the highway into Slavyansk huddle under their ponchos like drowned rats. But they still manage to flash victory signs at their comrades manning roadside checkpoints. For this is an army on the advance, and the city they are entering was until 48 hours ago their enemies’ most important redoubt. Ukrainian forces established a ring of checkpoints around Slavyansk in early May, effectively laying siege to the city in an attempt to contain the rebel expansion. But the blockade was fractured and the isolated checkpoints vulnerable to attacks by rebel forces based in the city. A little over a week earlier, rebels used tanks to surprise and destroy a checkpoint to the north of the city, in a demoralising blow to government forces. It was one strike in a scrappy war of raid and counter-raid at which the highly motivated pro-Russian fighters excelled – and which appeared to be locked in a bloody stalemate. Ukrainian soldiers look at wrecked tanks and armored personnel carriers left by pro-Russian insurgents in Slavyansk, Ukraine (Getty) That resistance crumbled suddenly and in the early hours of Saturday morning, following several days of artillery bombardment to which the rebels had no answer. Gathering their remaining tanks and fighting vehicles, Igor Strelkov, the rebel commander, and his men made a desperate dash for Donetsk, the regional capital 60 miles to the south where the self-declared People’s Republic had established its government. Most – but not all – of the fighters appear to have got through. With the rebel army regrouping, fears are growing of a similar, and perhaps even bloodier, siege in Donetsk, which, with a population of one million, is 10 times the size of Slavyansk. Two days after the break-out, Slavyansk – scarred by battle, but far from destroyed – is still a long way from a return to pre-war normality. Ukrainian troops are building their own pillboxes to reinforce checkpoints and sandbag bunkers once manned by pro-Russian militiamen. There is still no running water or electricity. Gas has cut out more than once and few, if any, businesses are open. The streets remain largely deserted, much of the civilian population having fled or remaining indoors. On Lenin Square, a small crowd of mostly elderly civilians waited for distribution of the “humanitarian” supplies – mostly food, water and medicines – promised by Kiev. Lenin’s statue now supports a shield emblazoned with the stylised trident of the Ukrainian coat of arms. The exact extent of the damage is still difficult to assess. Access to the city and surrounding area is strictly controlled by the Ukrainians. “We’ve got nothing. Nothing. I never expected to feel such fear,” said Elena, 51, as she watched Ukrainian troops trying to salvage a tank – it was not clear whose – that had rolled down a nearby gully. “We’ve only survived because we keep a bit of a reserve of water and food.” Mines lay near a destroyed pro-Russian APC near the city of Slovyansk (AP) Like many, she declined to voice a preference for one side or the other, only giving thanks that the fear and danger of the past three months appears to be at an end. A mile further on, just past the roadside monolith welcoming drivers to Slavyansk, the blackened turret of another tank obstructed the northbound lane. The rest of the vehicle had been thrown off the embankment on the other side of the road. Between them was the crater of the explosion that destroyed it. Nearby, the tangled remains of an armoured personnel carrier sat among Ukrainian anti-tank mines, destroyed vehicle parts, and its own unused ammunition, apparently scattered but not detonated by the explosion that destroyed it. Major Andrei Tokatsyuk, the Ukrainian paratrooper who has commanded a checkpoint here since early May, said this was all that remained of a rebel armoured column that had tried to break through his checkpoint in the early hours of Saturday. He claimed to have lost one man, compared with almost the entire rebel force, though he declined to put a number on the enemy dead. One burnt body remained unburied on the hard shoulder. This appears to be a victory won partly by superior fire power – it is the vast artillery barrage unleashed by the Ukrainians following the end of a ceasefire last week that appears to have finally forced the rebels into retreat. But it is also a matter of attrition and numbers. Where the “anti-terrorist operation” was once an undermanned, under-equipped shambles, the area is now swarming with thousands of servicemen in a motley mix of uniforms – special forces, regular army, police and the National Guard, which is largely drawn from the revolutionary militias that overthrew Viktor Yanukovych in February. In a strange twist, they now serve alongside men of the Berkut, the elite riot police with whom they fought running battles in Kiev this winter. Even the freelance pro-Kiev militias such as the Donbass battalion, raised and equipped by private individuals and with a previously fractious relationship with the army, appear to have been brought into the fold. An elderly woman walks away from a damaged house in Slavyansk, Ukraine (Photoshot) The columns of advancing troops moving south into the newly captured territory over the past two days may be led by armoured vehicles, but many troops travel in buses, police cars, and Nissan pick-up trucks sprayed green and mounted with machineguns. Neither side in this war is rich and both armies depend on imaginative battlefield improvisation. But the superior numbers and resources of the Ukrainians are beginning to tell. Out-gunned, outnumbered, and with the Kremlin refusing to respond to their pleas for military intervention, the fighters of the Donetsk People’s Republic appear to be facing certain defeat. Yet this war is still far from over. The rebel militia may have suffered a major setback, but their dogged defence of Slavyansk and the breakout itself shows a fighting ability and level of motivation that will make any battle for Donetsk a bloody affair. On Monday, Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Ahmetov, pleaded with the government not to bomb his home city. Pro-Russian rebels put up new barricades and residents said they feared the potential battle to come. Thousands have already left Donetsk, but most have nowhere to go, local officials said. Meanwhile the rebels are preparing for the expected government assault, destroying a railway bridge to block the highway north of the city and blowing up bridges on two other roads. They have even commandeered a vintage Soviet tank from the city’s Second World War museum. “We have got an engine to go in it,” said one rebel. “We have got some experts. We have to add the engine, ease the turret and it will be a working battle tank.”

– Separatists in Eastern Ukraine are starting to complain that Moscow has sold them out, as they prepare for what the New York Times is declaring their "last stand." As they retreated toward Donetsk yesterday, insurgents blew up two road bridges and a railroad bridge behind them. An emboldened Ukraine today said that it would not reopen ceasefire negotiations until the rebels had laid down their weapons entirely, the AP reports. The once undermanned and outgunned Ukrainian force is now noticeably better armed, using buses and pickup trucks alongside its armored vehicles to transport what the Telegraph describes as a "motley mix" of police, special forces, and militiamen. Ukraine says it has succeeded in sealing the Russian border, preventing troops and weapons from flowing to the rebels. But Vladimir Putin has been suspiciously silent, ignoring the separatists' increasingly urgent pleas for help, and many are speculating that he aims to cut his losses, having already taken the real prize of Crimea, the Wall Street Journal reports. Observers believe Moscow has ruled out any military intervention, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov struck a decidedly peaceful tone at a news conference, saying, "A quick end to the bloodshed is in our common interest." But one US official cautioned against declaring victory. "There is only one person who knows what Putin is planning," he said, "and that is Putin."

President-elect Donald Trump Donald TrumpOvernight Healthcare: GOP governors defend Medicaid expansion Trump poised to reinstate 'global gag rule' on Roe v. Wade anniversary: report Cheney calls for DeVos to be confirmed ‘promptly’ MORE tweeted Sunday night about outgoing CIA Director John Brennan, questioning if he’s the “leaker of Fake News?” Trump’s first tweet quoted a Fox News headline that read, “CIA's Brennan warns Trump, says he doesn't 'fully understand' Russia threat” and added commentary of his own. “Oh really, couldn’t do … much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News? .@FoxNews "Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand." Oh really, couldn't do... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2017 much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2017 ADVERTISEMENT The president-elect last week blasted intelligence agencies after it was reported that Trump had been briefed on an unverified dossier alleging Russia had compromising information on him. Brennan said Sunday that the president-elect needs to be disciplined about what he says publicly and criticized Trump for likening the actions of the intelligence community to those of Nazis. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

– Soon-to-be-former CIA Director John Brennan strongly criticized Donald Trump on Sunday for reckless tweeting and for failing to understand the threat from Russia—and the president-elect took to his communication medium of choice to react. "'Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand,'" Trump tweeted, quoting a Fox headline. "Oh really, couldn't do much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?" Trump wondered. In an earlier tweet about the Russia dossier, Trump said intelligence chiefs and the media should "APOLOGIZE" for making "a mistake." Brennan had told Fox News Sunday that Trump needs to be a lot more disciplined about his "talking and tweeting" when he becomes president, the Hill reports. "Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests and so therefore when he speaks or when he reacts, just make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound," he said. Brennan—who leaves office Friday, along with other Obama administration officials—also warned Trump against "absolving Russia of various actions that it's taken in the past number of years" and said it was "outrageous" that Trump had compared the intelligence community to Nazi Germany, the BBC reports. (Trump also tweeted criticism of Saturday Night Live after the "really bad" show's latest portrayal of him.)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell closed the deal to avert a fiscal crisis. But will his work with Democrats mean his re-election bid will take a hit? (The Washington Post) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell closed the deal to avert a fiscal crisis. But will his work with Democrats mean his re-election bid will take a hit? (The Washington Post) By Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) realized he had run out of luck. House Republicans had failed once again to pass critical legislation out of their chamber, so the Democrats who control the Senate had all the leverage. McConnell was cornered, “caught in a cul-de-sac,” he said, with the “worst hand” he had ever been dealt. All of Washington was scrambling to put the pieces of a deal in place to reopen the federal government, avert a federal debt default and deliver Republicans from the political disaster that had been haunting them for two weeks. After the House failed, it was up to the Senate to broker a solution to the problem. So over the final 24 hours of the drama, McConnell, perhaps the most accomplished congressional dealmaker of his time, scrambled to pick up the pieces. Thursday, he settled on an extended football metaphor to describe his predicament: He was a backup quarterback thrust into the game after the starter got knocked out with a concussion, and he was backed up against his own end zone with little protection. Post reporter David Fahrenthold joins host Reid Wilson to discuss the unexpected things inserted in lawmakers’ resolution to reopen the government. (The Washington Post) “I felt like I was on the two-yard line, I had a pretty weak offensive line, and the best I could hope for was to try to punt,” McConnell said. For the fourth time in less than three years, McConnell has emerged as the key Republican in deals with Democrats over fiscal matters. He’s now negotiated two tax deals and two debt-limit measures that averted potential financial meltdowns. The latest effort defied the skeptics who asserted that McConnell’s political problems at home in Kentucky during a reelection campaign would sideline him. From his right, he faces a GOP primary challenger who accuses him of selling out conservative principles in his bipartisan deals; on his left is a fresh-faced Democratic challenger who depicts McConnell as part of the “disease of dysfunction” in Washington. McConnell’s muted involvement in the early rounds of the government shutdown fight lent some credence to the theories. But McConnell swears he is not running from his role as the indispensable Washington Republican and, in fact, plans to make it the hallmark of both his primary and general election campaign next year. “When the country’s in crisis and when a bipartisan agreement is needed, I’ve demonstrated on no fewer than four occasions that I can step into the breach and get an outcome that’s good for the country,” he said. It will be a a tricky line to walk. In his primary fight against a first-time candidate, Matt Bevin, McConnell says he is going to trumpet some of those deals. In 2011, the GOP leader and Vice President Biden finalized a pact that lifted the debt ceiling but was also accompanied by a complex set of more than $2 trillion in spending cuts. Then last New Year’s Eve, McConnell and Biden signed a deal that permanently extended the Bush-era tax cuts for more than 98 percent of workers and granted a permanent estate tax exemption up to $5 million. “With the $5 million estate tax exemption, virtually every family farm and small business in my state can be gotten down to the next generation,” he said. The spending cuts in the 2011 Budget Control Act — also know as the sequester cuts — represent real reductions in government funding that McConnell mentions every chance he gets. When it came to the negotiations for reopening the government and avoiding default, McConnell’s main goal was to protect his winnings from the two previous deals. With the government funding stream set to expire Sept. 30, all the senior GOP leaders on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), wanted to avoid the strategy of shutting down the federal government in an effort to thwart President Obama’s health-care law. But outside conservative advocacy groups such as Heritage Action had spent the August break scaring Republicans, particularly younger members in the House, into pushing the shutdown strategy. Despite reports that only 20 or 30 House Republicans were willing to shut down the government, the number was far higher — 80 or more — and Boehner’s leadership team got steamrolled in trying to avoid the shutdown. Even as Senate Republicans privately castigated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) for meeting with the House renegades and pushing the strategy, they couldn’t steer the effort away from shutdown. “It certainly wasn’t anybody’s intention to have the shutdown, and hopefully we’ve all learned some important lessons,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), McConnell’s second in command, said. Still, the ball remained in Boehner’s hands for the first 10 days of the shutdown. Finally, the GOP’s poll numbers cratered just as the deadline for the debt ceiling grew within a week, and the potential for default took over. McConnell began meeting with Republicans such as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, whom he sent out to discuss options with moderate Democrats. As bad as his hand was, McConnell thought he could secure a couple of conservative concessions in a deal, such as the repeal of an unpopular tax on medical devices that helps fund the Affordable Care Act. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who led the talks this time and who reveled in having the leverage over his rival, outfoxed McConnell. When the bipartisan group appeared to be gaining momentum, he shut it down and forced the talks into just a negotiation between the two Senate leaders. When McConnell issued a statement Sunday announcing support for the “bipartisan” Collins plan, Reid summoned the Democrats working on the plan into his office. While still sitting in Reid’s office, a statement under their name was issued saying the Democrats had pulled back. “Democrats who said they would support certain things disappeared. It would best be described as a pretty weak hand,” McConnell said. The final deal pretty much gave Reid everything he wanted but set up new fights, in January over government funding and later next year over the next debt-ceiling increase. “When you’re on the two-yard line and your offensive line is shaky, you’re trying to get a better position on the field,” McConnell said. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| House Speaker John Boehner just wanted to sneak out of the White House for a smoke. But President Barack Obama pulled him aside for a grilling. Obama wanted to know why they were in the second day of a government shutdown that the speaker had repeatedly and publicly pledged to avoid. Text Size - + reset What Obama said, why it matters POLITICO analysis: Assessing shutdown damage Shutdown: Flashback to 1995 “John, what happened?” Obama asked, according to people briefed on the Oct. 2 conversation. “I got overrun, that’s what happened,” Boehner said. (WATCH: Who won the shutdown? Top 5 quotes) It may be the most concise explanation of a chaotic, 16-day standoff that prompted the first government shutdown in nearly two decades and ended only hours before the world’s largest economy nearly exhausted its ability to pay the bills. The fiscal drama turned on a series of complicated relationships, internecine Republican warfare and rare Democratic unity. The House Republican conference ran roughshod over Boehner, a 22-year veteran of Washington who started the fight demanding to strip funds for Obamacare but settled in the end for the reaffirmation of a minor provision already in the law. (PHOTOS: The government reopens) He was overtaken by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who swept in near the end to forge a bipartisan agreement, part of an attempt to shield Republicans from further damage and salvage his party’s chances of winning back the Senate next year. A particular low point came Oct. 1 when Democrats released private emails to POLITICO aimed at making Boehner look like a hypocrite. The emails showed that Boehner had actually been deeply engaged in fixing an Obamacare glitch that would have cost lawmakers and their staff thousands of extra dollars. Hill veterans weren’t quite as shocked by the flip-flop as the utter breakdown of decorum between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Boehner. (Also on POLITICO: Obama’s latest push features a familiar strategy) Above all, Republicans never believed Obama would hold firm on his refusal to negotiate and Democrats would maintain an unusual level of cohesion — united by a visceral desire to put the tea party in its place and an almost mama grizzly instinct to protect Obamacare. “It was not a smart play,” McConnell said Thursday of the GOP’s Obamacare strategy. “It had no chance of success.” Obama and Reid stuck together, emerging as the political victors. Their hard-ball tactics were designed to “break the fever” brought on by the tea party, but it also helped drive the country to the edge of default. Republicans cycled through every option possible during the three-week standoff to save face. Their Obamacare demands devolved from repeal and defund to a delay of the individual mandate. They revived the idea of a “grand bargain” on taxes and government spending but Reid openly laughed when Boehner raised it during a White House meeting. They offered a more narrow proposal to replace the sequester cuts for two years. Then, they went back to Obamacare. (PHOTOS: Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid’s friendship) Nothing worked. When things were at their worst, some Republican senators urged Vice President Joe Biden to get more involved. But he told each of them it wasn’t his call. Biden participated in meetings at the White House but Reid, still angry about the vice president’s concessions during the fiscal cliff talks last December, had shut him out of direct negotiations with lawmakers this time around. By Wednesday, Republicans just needed a way out, agreeing to a bill that looked almost identical to what they rejected three weeks earlier: a debt-limit increase until Feb. 7, an extension of federal funding through Jan. 15 and no binding strings attached. (Also on POLTICO: Shutdown aftermath: John Harris, Todd Purdum assess damage) This account of the behind-the-scenes drama was drawn from dozens of interviews with key players in Congress and at the White House. The look back reveals how Republicans waged a fight on Obamacare that their leaders knew they would probably lose but pushed anyways because many in their ranks truly believed that Democrats, like they’ve done so often before, would fold — especially under the threat of an historic default on U.S. debt. McConnell told his colleagues this week that his party should “never” be put in the same political position again. “We fought the good fight,” Boehner told WLW radio on Wednesday. “We just didn’t win.” (PHOTOS: John Boehner’s life and career) The buildup to shutdown Any hope of an easy debt limit extension was dashed in late August when Boehner promised a “whale of a fight.” Obama and Reid got on the same page early on, agreeing during strategy sessions over the summer that they wouldn’t give up anything until Republicans renewed the debt limit and government funding. Democrats never believed that Boehner could deliver the 217 House votes he needed to cut a deal. He could shut down the government and risk default, but because of hard-line conservatives, Boehner couldn’t pass anything. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Obama and Reid this privately, and she repeated it publicly. This belief drove the Democrats throughout the crisis: stand firm and Boehner will be forced to fold. (WATCH: Nancy Pelosi blasts GOP for budget saga) But they had to keep each other in check. Reid nixed an idea in mid-September to invite the congressional leaders over to the White House for a talk. It sends the wrong message, Reid argued to Obama in a call. We shouldn’t even create the appearance of a negotiation, Reid said. The meeting never happened. In the House, Boehner and his leadership team ran through a spate of options — none of which his conference would accept. First, the Ohio Republican proposed keeping the debt limit and government-funding discussions separate, which Democrats were privately hoping would happen. He suggested passing a budget bill that completely funded the Affordable Care Act. A resolution would be passed alongside that defunded the law, but it could’ve been stripped out by the Senate and sent to Obama’s desk. The proposal was dubbed the “Cantor plan,” after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who came up with the idea. Then, Boehner would’ve had Republicans fight hard on the debt ceiling, using the sequester as a bargaining chip against Obama. (Also on POLITICO: Mitch McConnell defends deal, slams Obamacare tactics) But that’s where Boehner miscalculated: he assumed House Republicans only wanted a show vote. Instead, they wanted so much more, determined to nullify the health care law and use a government shutdown and threat of a debt-limit default to get there. Boehner’s rank-and-file were being egged on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a populist freshman who was quickly gaining followers in the House as quickly as he was alienating his fellow Republicans senators. In the run-up to the shutdown, Obama was weak politically; his Syria strategy was panned by both parties; Obamacare was suffering poor poll numbers; and Republicans thought they had him on the ropes. (WATCH: Timeline of Ted Cruz’s Obamacare crusade) Yet Cruz’s anti-Obamacare drive played right into Democratic hands. “The president gets up every day and reads the newspaper and thanks God that Ted Cruz is in the United States Senate,” a Republican senator pointedly told Cruz at a closed-door meeting. Even amiable and soft-spoken Republicans like John Boozman of Arkansas tore apart Cruz in a private GOP meeting, saying he was making GOP senators seem like they were for Obamacare when they had fought so hard to torpedo it. Boozman pointedly told Cruz he hadn’t been bullied since middle school, and he wouldn’t be bullied now. Follow @politico

– During a White House meeting on Oct. 2, a day into the shutdown, John Boehner slipped out for a smoke. Barack Obama followed him, demanding a private explanation for the shutdown. "John, what happened?" he asked. "I got overrun, that's what happened," Boehner replied. That anecdote kicks off Politico's behind-the-scenes look at the crisis. The Wall Street Journal has one too—with different bits of insider gossip. Here are the most interesting tidbits from both: Obama and Harry Reid decided on their no-negotiation strategy over the summer, believing that Boehner could never unite his fractured caucus behind anything. Republicans never believed the pair would stick to it. Boehner and Reid initially struck a deal in which Boehner would pass a sequester-level budget with an ObamaCare-defunding rider that the Senate could simply strip out. Boehner assumed—incorrectly—that his caucus only wanted a show vote. Boehner's former chief of staff was feeding the White House intelligence, telling it that Boehner would have to fight up until the debt ceiling deadline. Reid also took to monitoring Twitter for hints on the GOP's next move—a sign of how badly communication was flowing. Many Republicans turned to Joe Biden, hoping he would intervene. Biden told them he'd been "sidelined … at the direction of the president," one rep says. Reid, bitter about the fiscal cliff deal Biden negotiated, had wanted him out. At one point, Boehner brought up the idea of a "grand bargain" at a White House meeting; Reid laughed in his face. When Paul Ryan joined the fray at an Oct. 10 meeting, he told Obama that he would "miss his moment" and derail his whole term if he didn't strike a deal. But he also made what White House aides called a "Freudian slip," saying, "We’re going to have six weeks to negotiate the debt limit." That night, aides to Boehner, Cantor, and Obama began talking about a broader budget deal, and agreed to talk more in the morning. The White House never called. When Mitch McConnell finally decided he had to broker the deal, he partnered with Lamar Alexander—angering Susan Collins, who had worked far harder on the process, only to see her own deal torpedoed. McConnell picked Alexander because he had better conservative credentials, and was pals with Reid confidante Chuck Schumer. Alexander and Schumer brokered the deal behind the scenes, then passed it off to Reid and McConnell. McConnell tells the Washington Post that he saw himself as a backup quarterback thrown into the game. "I felt like I was on the two-yard line, I had a pretty weak offensive line, and the best I could hope for was to try to punt." Boehner made one last-ditch attempt to pass an alternative. "We're running out of time," he told his caucus. "Your 'no' vote has consequences." But as Reid and Obama had predicted, he couldn't convince them. With the ball back in McConnell and Reid's court, McConnell made a few last-minute demands. Reid rejected them. It took all of 15 minutes for McConnell to call back and accept Reid's terms.

Chris Brown will return to jail for a month after being arrested on Friday for violating his probation. On Monday (March 17), a judge cited his "inability to stay out of trouble" as grounds to keep him locked up until April 23. Brown, 25, was arrested on Friday based on a warrant issued by probation officials and held without bail until Monday. Though authorities have not yet revealed the cause of the alleged probation violation, TMZ has reported that the singer was kicked out of a Malibu rehab center for violating unspecified "internal rules." Brown was ordered to spend 90 days in a residential facility in November for anger-management issues after an incident in which he threw a rock through his mother's car window before being discharged from a rehab facility. Brown spent two weeks in a rehab facility in early October after he was arrested in Washington, D.C., for allegedly assaulting a 20-year-old man. He's due back in court on April 17, when a judge will determine whether he committed criminal assault in that incident. Late last month, the Malibu rehab facility revealed in court documents that the singer suffered from PTSD and bi-polar disorder. According to TMZ, Brown was thrown out of the Malibu rehab facility for breaking three rules, including one which allegedly applied only to him and which required him to stay at least two feet away from other women at the rehab. Brown allegedly violated that rule by touching the elbows and hands of a woman, as well as leaving the facility last week on an unauthorized outing and initially refusing to take a random drug test upon his return. (The tests were reportedly negative, but the initial refusal violated the rehab's rules.) He also reportedly acted out during a rehab group session by making harsh comments. The judge in Brown's probation violation case, Superior Court James R. Brandlin, revoked Brown's probation in December, but turned down a prosecutor's request in February to jail the singer again because of the D.C. assault case. Brandlin said at the time that Brown appeared to be making progress in rehab and a probation officer seconded that emotion during by presenting a favorable report during a court hearing on February 28. Brown was slated to finish his probation in August, but with a reported 750 hours of community labor left to complete and possible additional penalties for not completing rehab it's likely his probation could be extended once again. ||||| Chris Brown You Got Too Close to Our Women So We Booted You from Rehab EXCLUSIVE was thrown out of the Malibu rehab facility Friday for violating 3 internal rules ... including a special rule imposed specifically on him --Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... the rehab facility imposed the 2-foot rule because of thecase -- specifically, that he beat her. The people who run the facility imposed the highly unusual rule, and we're told Chris violated it by touching elbows and hands with a woman.As for the 2 other violations, we're told Chris left the facility last week on an authorized outing, but when he returned he was told to submit to a random drug test and he refused. Our sources say he later took the test and the results were negative, but the initial refusal was a violation of rules.And the third violation ... the facility claims Chris made a mockery of rehab during a group session with some harsh comments.Our sources say Chris was also in some sort of sexual encounter with a woman at the facility at the beginning of the month, but for some reason that is not part of the basis for booting him.TMZ broke the story ... Chris was arrested Friday because he violated the order of the judge in thecase ... the judge required him to stay in rehab for anger management until mid-April, when his Washington D.C. assault case ran its course.He's currently being held in jail without bail. His lawyer,, will appear in court Monday with Brown in an attempt to get him freed. We're guessing Geragos will ask for house arrest until the D.C. trial.

– Chris Brown was kicked out of a Malibu rehab facility last week, and TMZ says it knows why. First off, he violated a rule specifically imposed on him because he assaulted Rihanna: to keep at least two feet away from all women (he touched a woman's hands and elbows). The other violations? He went on an unauthorized outing last week and refused a drug test when he returned, and disrespected a group-rehab session by making "harsh comments." Now, because rehab was a mandatory part of his probation in the Rihanna case, the singer is back in jail—and MTV reports that a judge today ordered him to stay there for a month due to his "inability to stay out of trouble."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "A long life can pass by many milestones - my own is no exception" The Queen has thanked well-wishers at home and overseas for their "touching messages of kindness" as she becomes Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Speaking in the Scottish Borders, the 89-year-old monarch said the title was "not one to which I have ever aspired". At 17:30 BST she had reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes - surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. David Cameron said the service the Queen had given was "truly humbling". Dressed in turquoise with her trusty black handbag at her side, the Queen spoke briefly to the gathered crowds earlier. "Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones - my own is no exception - but I thank you all and the many others at home and overseas for your touching messages of great kindness," she said. In the day's main events: The Queen and Prince Philip travelled by steam train from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, where she formally opened the new £294m Scottish Borders Railway They were accompanied by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who praised the Queen's "dedication, wisdom and exemplary sense of public service" In London, a flotilla of historic vessels, leisure cruisers and passenger boats took part in a procession along the Thames and HMS Belfast sounded a four-gun salute The exact moment the Queen became the longest-reigning sovereign is unknown. Her father, George VI, passed away in the early hours of 6 February 1952, but his time of death is not known. Her Majesty's Milestone Image copyright Buckingham Palace Image caption Newly released official photographs show the Queen with her official red box, containing the day's policy papers, cabinet documents, Foreign Office papers and other letters Business in the Commons was postponed for half an hour so that MPs, led by Mr Cameron, could pay tribute to the Queen. The prime minster said she had been a "rock of stability" in an era when so much had changed, and her reign had been the "golden thread running through three post-war generations". He said it was "typical of the Queen's selfless sense of service" that she thought today should be a normal day. Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman said it was "no exaggeration" to say the Queen was "admired by billions of people all around the world". Ministers are to present the Queen with a bound copy of cabinet papers from the meeting in 1952 when Sir Winston Churchill's government approved the content of her first Queen's Speech. In the House of Lords, leader Baroness Stowell said the Queen had served the country with "unerring grace, dignity and decency", adding: "And long may she continue to do so". Image copyright Reuters Analysis: BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt There have been glowing tributes and much talk about the significance of this moment. No such words were uttered by the subject of all the attention. She undertook a run-of-the-mill engagement on a far from run-of-the-mill day. And in her brief remarks - her lengthy reign hasn't lessened her aversion to making speeches - she displayed some classic British understatement. Overtaking her great-great-grandmother wasn't something she'd ever aspired to, she said. She was simply the beneficiary of a long life. In Scotland - and indeed in other parts of the United Kingdom - that life and her reign have been celebrated very publicly. Privately, later, the Queen will mark the moment she enters the record books. Prince Philip will be with her - her husband of 67 years has been the one constant in a reign of sometimes dizzying change. Image copyright PA Image caption In London, a flotilla of vessels, including Havengore and Gloriana, took part in a procession along the Thames Image copyright PA Image caption Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, the Royal Party were welcomed by a traditional pipe band Image copyright AFP Image caption The Queen and the Duke stopped off at Newtongrange station where she unveiled a plaque Image copyright PA Image caption Children from Busy Bees Nursery turned out to see the Queen in Tweedbank Buckingham Palace has released two official photographs to mark the occasion, taken by Mary McCartney in the Queen's private audience room. This is where she holds weekly audiences with prime ministers of the day, and receives visiting heads of state and government. The Queen is taking her traditional summer break at this time of year at her private Scottish home, Balmoral. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Scotland on holiday and are expected to have dinner with the Queen at Balmoral later. Queens of the modern age Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Elizabeth II has reigned for 63 years and seven months, beating Queen Victoria's record Victoria became queen at 18, while Elizabeth was 25 Elizabeth II rides in the same coach as Victoria did for the annual State Opening of Parliament Both queens were shot at by lone gunmen while out riding near Buckingham Palace Elizabeth loves the private royal estate at Balmoral, which was bought by Victoria Victoria ruled over an empire of 400 million people. Elizabeth is head of state for 138 million people Elizabeth and Victoria in numbers Elizabeth II: Britain's Diamond Queen Woman who redefined the monarchy Queen Victoria became queen at the age of 18 and ruled for 63 years, seven months and two days. Queen Elizabeth's reign has included 12 prime ministers, two more than served under Victoria. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Duke of York: "From her perspective it is business as usual" One of those prime ministers, Conservative Sir John Major, rejected any suggestion the Queen had been too passive as head of state: "The monarchy wouldn't be as popular if they were part of politics - they're above and beyond it. "But when the Queen meets her prime minister she has the opportunity to question, to ask, to counsel. Nobody knows and no prime minister is going to tell you exactly what happens at those meetings. So those who say she's been too passive, how can they possibly know?" 'Genuinely exceptional' The Queen is Head of the Commonwealth and sovereign of 15 Commonwealth realms in addition to the UK, and the organisation's Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, sent his congratulations. "As a symbol of continuity during decades of unprecedented change, and by drawing our people together in their rich diversity, Her Majesty has embodied all that is best in the Commonwealth," he said. "With vision and dedication her example has encouraged successive generations of leaders and citizens to embrace the promise of the future." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Graham Smith: "I don't think that keeping a job for life, for life, is something to get excited about" Anti-monarchist group Republic said the Queen's long reign was a reason for reform not celebration. Chief executive Graham Smith said: "It is now time for the country to look to the future and to choose a successor through free and fair elections, someone who can genuinely represent the nation." ||||| On Sept. 23, 1896, Queen Victoria marked a momentous day in her journal: “Today is the day on which I have reigned longer by a day than any English sovereign.” Churches rang their bells and bonfires were lit on the hills of Balmoral, where Victoria was living when she overtook her grandfather, King George III, who had reigned for 59 years, 96 days. In September, her great-great-granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, will surpass Victoria as the longest-reigning British monarch in history. Yet, until recently, no one could decide on when exactly Her Majesty would make history. Dates ranging from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11 were posited. The calculations themselves give different results, depending on whether days alone are counted, or years and days, or years, months and days. When Martin Willis, a professor of Victorian literature at the University of Westminster in London put his own extensive calculations online—he went for Sept. 10—he was stunned to realize his post was being read, and commented on, by people around the world. In late November, he got an email out of the blue from Buckingham Palace. They’d seen his work and were emailing to notify him that the Royal Archives had done its own more exhaustive investigation, using the number of days and, yes, hours for both queens. When contacted by Maclean’s, the palace confirmed the information given Willis. Victoria’s reign lasted 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes. Elizabeth II is expected to pass that record on Sept. 9, 2015, at around 5:30 p.m., local time in Britain. As Willis says, “They’ve got first dibs on this. I’m quite willing to accept that.” Like her predecessor, Elizabeth II is expected to be at Balmoral. Victoria didn’t want Empire-wide celebrations to mark the event. The current monarch seems to agree. (As a palace official noted, her reign started with the death of her beloved father, King George VI.) The event is important and unprecedented; just don’t expect a big party.

– Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-tenured monarch in British history, surpassing her great-great-grandmother Victoria's 23,226 days, 16 hours, and 23 minutes as queen sometime around 5:30pm local time, reports the BBC. The time is approximate because no one is actually sure when regular Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth. There are no gaps between British monarchs, so Elizabeth became queen as soon as her father King George VI died. However, he died in his sleep, and no one is quite sure exactly when he passed, explains Time. Maclean's reports Britain rang church bells and lit bonfires to celebrate Queen Victoria's record-setting reign, but Elizabeth's day is being celebrated in more low-key fashion. "The event is important and unprecedented; just don't expect a big party," Maclean's states. Still, a flotilla of boats on the Thames was marking the occasion, and crowds cheered the queen when she appeared in public.

These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| It wasn’t a Super Bowl halftime show to die 4. But Justin Timberlake’s only minimally Prince-augmented performance proved to be the fumble-free affair he needed this weekend. Yes, he wore a weird shirt emblazoned with lovingly photographed elk, proving that, no, he hasn’t been reading the comments about his much-snickered-about “Man of the Woods” album rollout. But he made everyone forget about hooves with 12 minutes of the superior hoofing that first made him America’s song-and-dance sweetheart. It ended better than it started. Timberlake spent the first couple of valuable minutes under the stage, in a recreation of a sleazy nightclub where you can’t see the artist and everyone is holding cell phones over their heads — a vision of hell, for some of us. But he brought himself out of that “Filthy” milieu and out into the stadium open, where he was joined by what seemed like hundreds of dancers on what seemed like thousands of stages. Haters will continue to say it’s fake — as he correctly prophesied — but at least he made a fast-moving target for ‘em, moving from platform to platform on the vast field faster than Corey Clement making a 55-yard run. He sang “Rock Your Body” — not afraid to revive the song that served as soundtrack for history’s most famous nip slip in 2004 — and then said, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my pleasure to introduce to you…” If this had led to a cameo by Janet Jackson, the roar would have been heard back in the team’s respective hometowns, but of course we’d already been advised this was not to be, nor any other guest appearance, and so we were primed for the letdown of… “the Tennessee Kids!” Bringing out a 10-plus-piece band would have had more impact if every kid and grandma in the audience weren’t aware at this point in history that all the instrumentation at the Super Bowl is canned. Also absent, for obvious reasons: a Prince hologram, which TMZ reported and turned out to be semi-fake news, as the site subsequently updated its story with a correction that it would be video of Prince projected onto a wind-swept screen. Somehow, in the delineation of the fine line between what we consider grave-robbing and what we consider tribute, most of us determined that a flat projection was fine, whereas a 3D Prince would have been grounds for canceling Timberlake’s career. Whatever. It was sweet, even if there might have been a better pick than “I Would Die 4 U,” and even if Wendy and Lisa were the guest stars he should have called in if he wasn’t going to call Janet. The unisex Prince symbol that lit up the snowy blocks surround the stadium tied a glyph-y ribbon on this perfectly acceptable homage. Timberlake crooned of “disasters in the world” and “so much darkness in the world,” but this was not going to be the place for social commentary, obviously. This would be the place for feelings that can’t be stopped — specifically, boogie-down feelings — and the performance finally came into its own when JT stepped away from that white piano and joined the cast of thousands on the field. “Can’t Stop the Feeling” was the can’t-fail capper to his medley, an inevitable show-closer so irresistible that maybe even Bill Belichick felt less tense for a minute. Well, scratch that. But the ghosts of Up With People had to have been proud. The amusing anticlimax to this came when Timberlake ran into the stands and… took time out to try to teach a kid how to take a selfie. Maybe the performance would have been better bookended without cell phones. But if nothing about the optics of this performance adds up to this going on a “Five Most Memorable Halftimes” list, Timberlake turned in a more enjoyably physical performance than just about anybody else who’s done the Bowl show… and if it was more a feat of athleticism than aestheticism, you can’t say that’s entirely inappropriate for the occasion. In a week where he’s had some obvious PR problems with that album launch, it might even have helped bring him out of the woods. ||||| Compared with Prince's, Justin Timberlake's halftime show was a joke CLOSE Sheila E. says Justin Timberlake reached out to her after she tweeted that Prince didn't want to be hologrammed and says she wants "people to know there was no hologram." (Feb. 4) AP Considering Sunday's Super Bowl was hosted in Minneapolis, not paying tribute to Prince during the halftime show would’ve been sacrilege. Prince, who died in April 2016, wasn’t just Minneapolis’ own king of pop, he also gave the Super Bowl its best-ever halftime show performance in 2007. Yet, it’s unlikely that Prince and his deservedly-large ego would've been satisfied with the treatment he received: a tribute from Justin Timberlake, an artist with whom Prince had a historically fraught relationship, during a show that fell woefully short of The Purple One's legendary 2007 set. There’s a reason why, when rumors spread last week that a hologram version of Prince would join Timberlake on-stage, that the late singer’s fans rioted. Timberlake had a history of mocking Prince in public, from taking a dig at the 5’2’’ singer’s height at the 2007 Golden Globes to dedicating an entire verse to dissing Prince on his song Give It To Me later that year. There was no Prince hologram on Sunday, though a projection of the late artist performing I Would Die 4 U, projected on a stories-high white sheet reminiscent of the one Prince himself posed behind during his halftime show with his legendary phallic guitar left fans unsettled. Yet, Prince devotees can take solace in the fact that their idol’s 2007 halftime show eclipses Timberlake’s in every way. Review: Justin Timberlake's 'Man of the Woods' can't pull off its Americana-pop fusion More: Why Prince fans are bashing Timberlake's Super Bowl halftime performance Prince sang his songs during his halftime show, while Timberlake let his backing tracks and background singers do the heavy lifting, following a disastrously garbled opening in which the sound was so muffled fans could barely make out Timberlake’s lyrics. Between Timberlake willfully ignoring his Suit and Tie vocals in favor of kicking around his mic stand, and the singer desperately reaching for his high notes at the end of Mirrors, he was doomed whether he opened his mouth or not. Prince also knew how to balance his classic songs with some innovative risks, ripping through faithful versions of his hits (save a few added guitar solos) before debuting a blistering mashup of All Along the Watchtower and the Foo Fighters’ Best Of You. Meanwhile, Timberlake’s attempts to remix his own pop classics resulted in the lurching rock arrangements of songs like My Love and Cry Me a River, the instrumentals further jumbled by a horns section behind him. As heard in the confused Americana-R&B of Man of the Woods, Timberlake’s genre experimentations didn’t just doom his new album, but also Sunday's show. And Prince knew how to stick his landing, ending his halftime set with one of the greatest moments in halftime show history, his breathtaking performance of Purple Rain. What would Prince have thought that Can't Stop The Feeling, a song from the Trolls movie soundtrack, capped Timberlake's set instead of his duet with Prince? In a moment that went instantly viral, Timberlake ventured into the stadium stands in the song’s final moments and took a selfie with a teenager who, nonplussed, immediately looked back down at his phone, the singer still performing next to him. Somehow, we think Prince would've been more proud of that kid than anything else in Timberlake's set. When your friend go dancing with strangers at the club and u just don’t know what to do #selfiekidpic.twitter.com/MzH4237Z1y — Triyoncé (@tribranchvo) February 5, 2018 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2s9A78j

– Reviews of Justin Timberlake's halftime show Sunday have generally not been kind, and Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times delivers a particularly devastating line: "This guy has nothing to say and just won't stop saying it." The sentiment applies not just to the halftime show but to Timberlake's new release, Man of the Woods. About the best that can said of Timberlake's Super Bowl performance is that "the tightly choreographed production was impressive from a logistics standpoint," writes Wood. Beyond that, there was almost nothing to enjoy. "The performance lacked soul, meaning, humor; it had no message, nor was it taking any stand—soft, hard or otherwise." At least Timberlake didn't go ahead with rumored plans to perform with a hologram of Prince. Instead, he settled for a lesser version of the late superstar projected on a screen. But even that is inviting unfavorable comparisons to Prince's 2007 show, "which eclipses Timberlake's in every way," writes Maeve McDermott at USA Today. Prince actually sang, "while Timberlake let his backing tracks and background singers do the heavy lifting." Both reviews cite the kid with whom Timberlake took a selfie, though not in a positive light for the singer, because the teen seemed kind of uninterested in Timberlake himself. Meanwhile, Chris Willman at Variety finds better things to say of the show. "If it was more a feat of athleticism than aestheticism, you can’t say that’s entirely inappropriate for the occasion."

Campaign seeks to help educate escaped Nigerian schoolgirls By Katy Senour .- As more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls remain missing after being kidnapped this spring, one human rights group has started a campaign to help educate those who were able to escape. “Right now as these courageous girls remain in Nigeria, they are confronted daily with the paralyzing fear of recapture and potential village attacks,” Jubilee Campaign legal intern Sarah Jane Norris told CNA. “These are our sisters-in-Christ and they need our help.” In April, the radical Islamic group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria. About 60 girls have escaped, according to report, but the majority remain missing despite government efforts to locate them. Jubilee Campaign USA – a non-profit group that supports human rights and religious freedom – is now raising money to help further the education of several of the girls who have escaped. This fits in with one of the organization’s stated goals, which is “to promote and protect vulnerable women and children from bodily harm and sexual exploitation, paying particular attention to the scourge of human trafficking or modern slavery which we oppose however we can, wherever we find it, in all of its forms.” “We will assist 10 of the girl child victims, who courageously escaped the confines of their Boko Haram captors, by sending them to specialized boarding schools where their traumatic experiences may be transformed into empowering triumphs over evil,” said Norris. Jubilee Campaign aims to raise $125,000 by Aug. 14, in order to help 10 of the girls to “have a fresh start and continue their education in a safe and nurturing environment.” Along with providing an education to the young women, the fundraiser is a reminder “that the grand-scale of violence has not stopped in Chibok,” she added. “Boko Haram unleashed and continues to unleash a vicious cycle of attacks on villages, churches, and schools,” she said, pointing to recent reports that 11 parents of the abducted girls have now died. Jubilee Campaign also hosted a “100 Days of Captivity Rally” on July 24, marking 100 days since the girls had been kidnapped and urging the Nigerian government to do everything in its power to find and return the girls. Ultimately, Norris said, the organization hopes to raise enough money to ensure the future of the escaped young women, and to be the light of Christ for them. “If we can get these girls back in school in a safe environment, then the Chibok people, the Chibok culture, and these girls will survive in spite of Boko Haram,” she explained. Jubilee Campaign’s fundraising website can be found at: http://www.youcaring.com/tuition-fundraiser/education-after-escape-1-month-10-girl-victims-125-000/206245 Tags: Women, Nigeria, Education, Boko Haram ||||| Recent U.S. surveillance flights over northeastern Nigeria showed what appeared to be large groups of girls held together in remote locations, raising hopes among domestic and foreign officials that they are among the group that Boko Haram abducted from a boarding school in April, U.S. and Nigerian officials said. The surveillance suggests that at least some of the 219 schoolgirls still held captive haven't been forced into marriage... ||||| The Education After Escape campaign reached a significant goal of over $20,000 in its one month campaign (July 18- August 18, 2014). Help us raise even more funds to educate the escaped schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria by going to https://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/education-after-escape/228007. As the world’s attention turned to northern Nigeria and the demand for the return of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, it is important to note that although these women and children may escape Boko Haram’s clutches, they do not escape the long term effects of their capture. With the mass abductions of nearly 300 hundred Chibok girls, Boko Haram has had a chilling effect on girl education in northern Nigeria. Amazingly, some of the girls have managed to escape their vicious captors. In the midst of this atrocity, the education of Nigeria’s girls has been disrupted and there is a real risk of having a lost generation, thereby risking the long-term peace and development in Nigeria and the wider region. Every girl deserves the right to an education! These rescued girls are living in constant fear of Boko Haram’s further vengeance and need your help. Organizations like Jubilee Campaign USA are trying to make a difference. Jubilee Campaign, a US based non-profit organization with a track record of helping victims of violence in northern Nigeria, is assisting 10 of the girl child victims, who courageously escaped the confines of their Boko Haram captors, to send them to specialized boarding schools where their traumatic experiences may be transformed into empowering triumphs over evil. Each girl will be able to enroll in a school where she will grow in wisdom and stature while gaining mental and emotional support. Through this campaign, these girls who due to cost, environmental threats, or ongoing Boko Haram violence in Nigeria, would otherwise be out of school and thus their future potential and healing neglected, will have the opportunity to survive. The Education After Escape Campaign seeks to be the change. We are looking to mobilize $125,000 in 1 month (by the end of August 2014) to support the transportation and education of 10 escaped girl victims from Boko Haram terrorists, leading them to a hopeful and successful future through education. On behalf of the children that we help out, we thank you, so much. We have done this successfully with one girl from Chibok already. Now we want to do it for 10. So what are you waiting for? Donate now! A donation of any amount will help. Share with your friends to also Donate Now! Who we are at Jubilee Campaign USA: Information about all correctly registered charities in the U.S. is made available through Guidestar.org. Jubilee Campaign has been an IRS registered 501(c)(3) since 1991. You can find this information: http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/52-1645262/jubilee-campaign-usa.aspx#legitimacy Jubilee Campaign is listed with the Combined Federal Campaign, and our listing can be found by typing in our full name (Jubilee Campaign USA Inc) in that official website: http://www.cfctoday.org/_root/index.php?content_id=5204 Jubilee Campaign is listed as in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council on page 56 of this document on their website: http://csonet.org/content/documents/e2013inf6.pdf In October 2010, Jubilee Campaign undertook the Justice for Jos Project in order to advocate for victims of Boko Haram violence in northern Nigeria. Since then we have tirelessly advocated for Boko Haram to be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization on Capitol Hill. Throughout that period, we have also been advocating for refugees and the internally displaced from northern Nigeria violence. Through this work and contacts within U.S. Congressional offices, we have raised awareness and brought help to victims of Boko Haram including introducing them to visiting U.S. Congressman Christopher Smith, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and Congressman Steve Stockman. After contacting some of the escaped girls, ten of them completed applications to further their education in Europe or the U.S. We have secured admissions for these ten in boarding schools, and we are fundraising to cover the costs of these admissions, travel, and other needs. With affiliated offices in Washington, D.C., the U.K., and the Netherlands, Jubilee Campaign is a U.S. registered 501c3 charity that seeks justice for the oppressed. We partner internationally to advance human rights and religious liberty of ethnic and religious minorities; advocate for the release of prisoners of conscience; and protect and champion the physical and spiritual freedom, safety, and care of children and families abandoned, orphaned, homeless, refugees, internally displaced persons, human trafficking victims, relief of poverty, and otherwise victimized or suffering injustice. Jubilee promotes peace, reconciliation, and rehabilitation in conflict areas and legally defends the right to life and dignity from biological conception to natural death where such defense is required.

– The Wall Street Journal has a report raising hopes about the 200 or so Nigerian girls still missing after being kidnapped by Boko Haram. US surveillance planes have on at least two occasions spotted sizable groups of girls in remote locales in northeastern Nigeria. The girls had been moved by the time subsequent flights flew overhead, but the development suggests that instead of selling the girls into sex slavery as feared, Boko Haram is keeping them in the hopes of a prisoner swap with the government. In fact, the Journal quotes a Nigerian security adviser who says that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has given orders that "anybody found touching any of the girls should be killed immediately." President Goodluck Jonathan has publicly ruled out a prisoner exchange, but he is up for re-election in February and under heavy pressure to bring the girls home. Meanwhile, a human rights group has launched a campaign to provide educations for the girls who managed to escape, reports the Catholic News Agency.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Thursday declined to rule out resuming the use of torture under some circumstances by the U.S. government. Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, speaks during a forum sponsored by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015, at St. Ambrose University in... (Associated Press) "I don't want to make a definitive, blanket kind of statement," Bush told an audience of Iowa Republicans, when asked whether he would keep in place or repeal President Barack Obama's executive order banning so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA. "When you are president your words matter," he said. The former Florida governor said that in general, he believes torture is inappropriate, and that he was glad his brother, former President George W. Bush, largely ended the CIA's use of the techniques before he left office. The CIA used waterboarding, slapping, nudity, sleep deprivation, humiliation and other methods to coerce al-Qaida detainees — methods the military would be prohibited from using on prisoners of war. A Senate report released last year cited CIA records in concluding that the techniques were more brutal than previously disclosed, that the CIA lied about them, and that they failed to produce unique, life-saving intelligence. The CIA and its defenders take issue with the report. Jeb Bush said he believed that the techniques were effective in producing intelligence, but that "now we're in a different environment." He suggested there may be occasions when brutal interrogations were called for to keep the country safe. "That's why I'm not saying in every condition, under every possible scenario," Bush said. Later Thursday in Iowa, Bush said there is a difference between enhanced interrogation techniques and torture, but declined to be specific. "I don't know. I'm just saying if I'm going to be president of the United States, you take this threat seriously." Bush has been walking a careful path, seeking to disassociate himself from some of the unpopular aspects of his brother's legacy while praising him. In discussing the Iraq war, for example, Bush, who previously acknowledged that the intelligence didn't support the decision to invade, on Thursday said he had learned from some of the mistakes made during the occupation, including what he said was a wrong decision to disband the Iraqi military. He said his brother also now believes that was a mistake. Bush blames the rise of the Islamic State group on what he said was Obama's failure to negotiate an agreement to leave U.S. troops there in 2011. Asked if it was true that there would be no IS absent a U.S. invasion of Iraq, he said there was no way to know. He repeated his call for a more aggressive posture toward the Islamic State group but, like the Obama administration, he opposes sending in regular U.S. ground forces. He does favor putting special operations troops on the battlefield. Bush spoke at a foreign policy forum sponsored by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security, a group chaired by Mike Rogers, a former Republican congressman from Michigan who chaired the House Intelligence Committee. ___ Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report from Ankeny, Iowa. ||||| AP Photo Jeb Bush defends George W.’s Iraq War legacy The former Florida governor stops running away from his Iraq War problem. DAVENPORT, Iowa — Jeb Bush is owning his Iraq War problem. Bush, wrestling with his brother’s legacy of the war for the second time in three days, again sought to cast blame on the Obama administration for its failure to achieve a “fragile but secure” peace in the region that has been overrun by ISIS militants. Story Continued Below As he did in his speech Tuesday night outlining his own approach to combating ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the former Florida governor and presidential hopeful glossed over his brother’s decision to go to war in Iraq — and while acknowledging that mistakes were made, he seemed to view the war itself in positive terms. “I’ll tell you, taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal,” the former Florida governor told a crowd of roughly 200 people who attended a forum on national security at St. Ambrose College. Bush’s efforts to present himself as a strong, sensible commander in chief are complicated by the unpopular war his brother waged in Iraq — a war the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, supported at the time — and by his own tendency to view it in a more favorable light. While Democrats are sure to mine Bush’s words for attack ad soundbites, the candidate showed no signs of tempering his praise for his brother’s war record. To the contrary, after months of difficulty reconciling the broadly held public view that the Iraq War was a mistake with his own hawkish foreign policy views and an innate unwillingness to rehash and criticize his brother’s record, he has settled on a strategy: unapologetically arguing that the war, however misconceived, brought about an opportunity for a more stable Middle East, one that the current Democratic administration squandered. “I’m not saying this because I’m a Bush,” he said. “I’m proud of what he did to create a secure environment for our country.” With 17 of his 21 foreign policy advisers being veterans of George W. Bush’s White House, Bush’s position is no great surprise. And in a wild Republican primary to be decided by a conservative electorate clamoring for a more muscular approach to foreign policy, it might be a smart strategic play. “It’s not like you can run a campaign for president and not talk about Iraq,” said Tim Miller, Bush’s campaign spokesman. “We can talk about Iraq on our terms. Terrorism and radical Islam is something the country cares about and certainly Republican primary voters are very concerned about it. He wanted to take the mantle as somebody who’s going to have a strategy and be a leader on it. There’s a primary electorate on our side that’s looking for that.” Specifically, Bush focused again on the 2007 troop surge as a “courageous” decision that, he argues, temporarily curtailed sectarian violence within in Iraq; and he blames President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Clinton for removing American troops too hastily and creating the power vacuum that’s allowed ISIS to take root. “We just washed our hands of the effort,” Bush said. “We declared success and then chaos occurred afterwards.” More than anything else Bush said Thursday afternoon here, that statement underlined the political perils of this candidate talking about that war. The words he chose to criticize Obama for bringing U.S. forces home from Iraq too soon evoked decade-old critiques of his brother’s infamous declaration of ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Iraq in a show of bravado aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in May 2003. Some Bush donors privately question the strategy of Bush focusing attention on foreign policy and, specifically, the Iraq War with his speech Tuesday night in Los Angeles and the forum on national security here Thursday. Even though Tuesday’s speech didn’t begin until after 9 p.m. Eastern time, it garnered significant media attention. “If you’re of the view that the U.S. should do nothing about ISIS, Jeb’s not going to be your candidate,” Miller said. “And that might be the majority view of the media, so that’s something we have to contend with; but that’s not the view of the American people.” The subject of the Iraq War was the first major thing to trip Bush up earlier this year and, whatever the campaign’s attempts to deal with it head on now, will likely be something he wrestles with for the duration of his campaign. Back in May, Bush stumbled during an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly when he didn’t clearly answer whether he believes the war, in hindsight, was a mistake (after four days of controversy, he acknowledged it was, in hindsight, a mistake). “The decision to dismantle the Iraqi army was a mistake, and I think my brother would admit that today,” he said Thursday, as he pushed back at questions suggesting that he was attempting to rewrite history by suggesting that ISIS “didn’t exist” when his brother was president and that Obama bears the blame for carrying out the Strategic Forces Agreement his brother negotiated to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. “I reject this out of hand, this whole idea that somehow, after the surge, they’re just doing it because the agreement required them to do it,” Bush said. “Leadership requires a strategy.” Asked whether Clinton, then Obama’s secretary of state, deserved credit for pushing within the administration to maintain a larger troop presence in Iraq, Bush hedged: “She was not very effective in her advocacy,” he said. Bush bristled at the moderator’s suggestion that his own strategy to take on ISIS isn’t that different from Obama, but he defended the administration’s use of drones and said that he would keep detainees imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, just as Obama, despite promises to close the prison, has done. “This is not a torture chamber,” Bush said. “There is no other option that I can see.” In reiterating his own plan to root out ISIS, Bush called for engaging U.S. allies and working to strengthen a coalition of moderates in Syria, but his critique of Obama again brought to mind those leveled against his brother’s war. “We can’t unilaterally go into countries,” he said. Follow @politico

– George W. Bush left Iraq in pretty good shape, only for President Obama to mess it all up, according to Jeb Bush. The candidate, speaking at a national security forum in Iowa yesterday, continued to defend his brother's war record, arguing that "taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal," Bloomberg reports. He blamed the rise of ISIS on Obama's failure to strike a deal for US troops to stay in the country after 2011 and said that under the Bush administration, the "mission was accomplished" regarding Iraq's security. "That is a fact," he said. "You can't rewrite history in that regard." Bush said the 2007 troop surge was a courageous move but that chaos occurred when the next administration "declared success" and washed their hands of the effort, reports Politico, which notes that 17 of his 21 foreign policy advisers served under George W. Bush. The candidate, who admitted months ago that he wouldn't have invaded Iraq knowing what we know now, said mistakes were made after the invasion and that he and his brother now believe disbanding Iraq's military was an error. He also refused to rule out lifting Obama's ban on torture, telling the forum he didn't want to make a "definitive, blanket kind of statement," the AP reports. (This week, Bush used Iraq to attack Clinton.)

February 5, 2016 at 4:00 PM Share Tweet Pin Listen, resting bitch face (RBF) is a thing -- you know it, we know it, and now science knows it. In fact, scientists even went so far as to conduct a study on resting bitch face (you know, because inquiring minds apparently want to know why some folks look uber pissed off all the time). We all know that Kanye doesn't think smiling is "cool," but as it turns out, he's probably just suffering from resting bitch face like many of us common folk are. The study says that while most faces register 97 percent neutral, with 3 percent underlying emotion (the part that produces resting bitch face), folks like Kanye have more than your average underlying emotion in their expression -- up to 6 percent, in fact. Just another reason to note that the music and fashion mogul is super special. We dug up our favorite examples of Kanye showing off his resting bitch face for you to enjoy. You can thank us later. Image via Splash News ||||| Actress Anna Kendrick, a self-described lifelong RBF sufferer. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images) Queen Elizabeth has it. So does fashion designer Victoria Beckham. And actress Kristen Stewart — poor thing, she’s practically the poster girl. Among the slew of pop culture icons said to be afflicted with so-called Resting Bitch Face (alternatively known as Bitchy Resting Face), the vast majority are women, though Kanye West is among the male examples. All of them have been mocked by Internet commenters for having a certain unintentional expression when their faces are not in motion — a look best described as vaguely annoyed, maybe a little judgy, perhaps slightly bored. Since the RBF meme took over the Internet in 2013, fueled by a viral mock-PSA about “Bitchy Resting Face,” legions of people have identified the dreaded phenomenon in celebrity listicles, in their own social circles, even in the mirror. Kristen Stewart of “Twilight” fame, often considered the poster girl for RBF. So Jason Rogers and Abbe Macbeth, behavioral researchers with international research and innovation firm Noldus Information Technology, decided to investigate: Why are some faces seen as truly expressionless, but others are inexplicably off-putting? What, exactly, makes us register a seemingly neutral expression as RBF? “We wanted this to be fun and kind of tongue-in-cheek, but also to have legitimate scientific data backing it up,” Macbeth said. [Why the Internet’s biggest conspiracy theories don’t make mathematical sense] The researchers enlisted Noldus’s FaceReader, a sophisticated tool engineered to identify specific expressions based on a catalogue of more than 10,000 images of human faces. The software, which can examine faces through a live camera, a photograph or a video clip, maps 500 points on the human face, then analyzes the image and assigns an expression based on eight basic human emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, and “neutral.” To establish a baseline, Rogers and Macbeth first had FaceReader assess a series of genuinely expressionless faces. Those expressions registered about 97 percent neutrality, Macbeth said; the remaining three percent included “little blips of emotion” — a touch of sadness here, a hint of surprise there, but nothing significant. The FaceReader software analyzes Kanye, one of the few men commonly associated with RBF. (Courtesy Noldus Information Technology) Then they plugged in photos of RBF all-stars Kanye West, Kristen Stewart and Queen Elizabeth. Suddenly, the level of emotion detected by the software doubled to six percent. One particular emotion was responsible for the jump: “The big change in percentage came from ‘contempt,’” Macbeth said. [Facebook’s ‘teen dating’ groups are every parent’s nightmare come to life] And how exactly does a piece of software measure contempt in a face? It’s in subtle signals, like “one side of the lip pulled back slightly, the eyes squinting a little,” Rogers explained. Or: “It’s kind of a tightening around the eyes, and a little bit of raising of the corners of the lips — but not into a smile,” Macbeth suggested. The cues are understated, yet the machine detects and interprets them the same way our human brains do, she said. “Something in the neutral expression of the face is relaying contempt, both to the software and to us.” Queen Elizabeth II, also considered a prime example of RBF (even this portrait bust of her, by the late British sculptor Oscar Nemon, looks a bit severe) But there was one big difference, she added. FaceReader, being a piece of software and therefore immune to gender bias, proved to be the great equalizer: It detected RBF in male and female faces in equal measure. Which means that the idea of RBF as a predominantly female phenomenon has little to do with facial physiology and more to do with social norms. [Scientists have found that smoking weed does not make you stupid after all] Consider actress Anna Kendrick, who has publicly bemoaned the effect of RBF on her life. “When she was younger, directors would say, ‘Why don’t you smile more, you need to smile more, you don’t seem like you’re very happy,’” Macbeth said. “That’s something that’s expected from women far more than it’s expected from men, and there’s a lot of anecdotal articles and scientific literature on that. So RBF isn’t necessarily something that occurs more in women, but we’re more attuned to notice it in women because women have more pressure on them to be happy and smiley and to get along with others.” Worried that you might have RBF? Now you can find out for sure. After publishing their results in October, Rogers and Macbeth invited members of the public to submit their own faces for analysis. Guys and gals alike are welcome to email photos of their most “neutral” facial expressions to [email protected], and FaceReader will tell you if you’re actually expressionless — or if you and the Queen have RBF in common. ||||| We all know that face. Pursed lips, daggers eyes and a look that says, "I hate you," or at least, "I'm annoyed." The expression can wreak havoc on relationships, as highlighted by this comic video from 2013 explaining the affliction popularly known as Resting Bitch Face (RBF), or sometimes, Bitchy Resting Face. Jason Rogers and Abbe Macbeth, behavioral researchers with Noldus Information Technology, wanted to find out why some people's neutral expressions are interpreted so negatively, and why we react to them this way. They ran a series of videos and images through FaceReader, a software program that maps more than 500 points on a face to determine the emotional expression on display. The software looked for signs it associates with the six universally identified emotions: happy, angry, sad, scared, disgusted and surprised. The software could also identify an expression as "neutral" or as displaying contempt. (According to the study, contempt is a more recently recognized emotion with universal reach that is visually defined as "lips and brow not quite angry or sad, the lip tightened and raised more strongly on one side than the other.") They tested images and videos featuring celebrities who are famous for displaying RBF, including Kristen Stewart, Queen Elizabeth and Kanye West. Neutral test faces measured very low for signs of contempt, accounting for only 3 percent of the overall emotional expression, but that figure spiked to 5.76 percent on faces displaying RBF. This illustration shows how the software interpreted study author Abbe Macbeth's neutral expression, which registered low in contempt: Noldus Information Technology By contrast, video of this woman in the study registered high in contempt: Noldus Information Technology "What we take away from this study is that there is an underlying, unconscious contempt aspect to the neutral face of people who are said to have RBF," study author Macbeth told CBS News in an email. "Something in the person's face is relaying greater-than-trace amounts of contempt, but they don't intend that to be the case. Yet the software (and we as humans, viewing the face) see that contempt and react negatively to it." A scan of Kanye West's face also registered traces of contempt, the researchers said. NOLDUS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Want to know if you have RBF? You can test yourself on the Noldus Information Technology website. And to people who do have RBF -- this author included -- Macbeth says not to worry. "At this point, we can't 'fix' anyone's face, even though we've had requests from people to do so, as this study has hit the internet this week," she said. "I don't think that it's worth getting stressed out over."

– What do Queen Elizabeth, Kanye West, and Kristen Stewart have in common? They all have Resting Bitch Face—or, as New York puts it, a "face combining disgust, better-than-you snobbery, and boredom." Actress Anna Kendrick even once tweeted, "Is there a filter on Instagram that fixes Bitchy Resting Face? Asking for a friend." The not-so-formal condition came to prominence in 2013 with a "Bitchy Resting Face" PSA by Funny or Die. Now, behavioral researchers Jason Rogers and Abbe Macbeth with Noldus Information Technology have used science to uncover why some people's resting faces are expressionless while those of others are considered angry and judgmental, the Washington Post reports. The pair used software called FaceReader, which maps 500 points on the human face and assigns expressions based on the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, and "neutral." When the researchers plugged in faces of famous RBF faces, the software lit up. "Something in the person's face is relaying greater-than-trace amounts of contempt, but they don't intend that to be the case," Macbeth tells CBS News. That includes signals, Rogers tells the Post, such as "one side of the lip pulled back slightly, the eyes squinting a little." One key point: The researchers found that the condition afflicts men and women equally. "This means that classifying RBF as a female-dominant expression of bitchiness is actually quite wrong, and probably a reflection of societal expectations of women," observes the post at New York. (The Stir amplifies the point that men are affected, too, with a gallery of Kanye West RBF photos.) Can anything be done about RBF? "We can't 'fix' anyone's face," Macbeth, also a sufferer tells CBS. But, she adds, "I don't think it's worth getting stressed out over." (Here's one woman talking about her RBF.)

Two pro-life county commissioners in Oregon have reacted with horror to a Vancouver newspaper story that claims aborted fetuses from B.C. are routinely shipped to a waste-to-energy incinerator near Portland, where they are “burned to generate electricity.” An article that appeared Monday in The B.C. Catholic newspaper, published by the Roman Archdiocese of Vancouver, reported that “aborted and miscarried children” are “ending up in an Oregon waste-to-energy plant, likely mixed with everyday trash” and “incinerated to provide electricity to the people of Marion County.” The account was picked up by media outlets in Oregon, where it spread like wildfire. It caught Marion County’s two elected commissioners off guard; both expressed disgust and said steps are being taken to end the alleged practice. “We are outraged and appalled that this material could be included in medical waste received at our facility,” Councillor Janet Carlson said in a statement Wednesday. “We did not know this practice was occurring until today.” The two councillors held an emergency meeting Thursday morning and agreed that the county would temporarily stop all biomedical waste shipments to its waste-to-energy incinerator, and would amend local ordinances to bar any future shipments that could contain fetal tissue. While county officials don’t know how much fetal tissue from B.C has actually been transported to the plant and then burned, they felt they had to take immediate action, says Marion County spokeswoman Jolene Kelley. “We don’t want to exclude all human tissue, but we want to draw the line somewhere,” she told the National Post. “This is a disrespectful way to dispose of remains.” Ms. Carlson and her fellow councillor, Sam Brentano, are both pro-life and are particularly sensitive to the issue, Ms. Kelley added. Mr. Brentano is also familiar with waste disposal, having worked in the industry for 30 years. Neither councillor responded Thursday to interview requests. Marion County’s incinerator is owned and operated by a private company, Covanta Marion Inc., and is located eight kilometres north of Salem, the Oregon capital, and about an hour’s drive south of Portland. The plant burns 500 tonnes of solid waste every day, “providing 11 megawatts per hour of electricity to Portland General Electric Company,” according to Covanta documents. The 28-year-old incinerator was recognized by industry peers with a “waste-to-energy excellence” award in 2012. Covanta says the plant disposes of all kinds of refuse including confidential documents and law enforcement material, through a supplemental waste program. The program provides both the company and Marion County “additional revenues streams the [sic] support Covanta’s and Marion counties [sic] bottom line,” according to Covanta. The biomedical waste may include lab cultures and vaccines, human fluid and blood products, and small amounts of human waste and tissue In a statement Thursday, the company blamed Marion County for the fetal tissue controversy, and said it has “no responsibility” for the medical waste program at its incinerator. “Covanta is shocked by these allegations and is discontinuing the receipt of this waste stream until we have been assured by the County that this alleged material is not being delivered to the facility,” the statement reads. According to The B.C. Catholic, 14,000 fetuses are aborted in the province each year, and “the likeliest destination for their remains is the Covanta Marion” incinerator. That was left uncorroborated. But B.C.’s Ministry of Health did reportedly confirm — to the newspaper and to the Associated Press wire service — that regional health authorities in the province have contracts with a Canadian waste removal company that ships biomedical waste to the Covanta Marion plant, where it is burned. The biomedical waste may include lab cultures and vaccines, human fluid and blood products, and small amounts of human waste and tissue. It may also include fetal tissue from miscarriages and abortions, according to the ministry. “All biomedical waste from B.C. hospitals is incinerated outside the province,” reads a ministry response to questions about disposal practices. Stericycle Inc., the Brampton, Ont.-based company that ships B.C.’s biomedical waste to Oregon for disposal, did not respond to questions sent to it on Thursday. National Post ||||| PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — County commissioners gave final approval Thursday to an order to stop an incinerator in Oregon from receiving medical waste until procedures are in place to ensure no fetal tissue is burned to generate power. While taking the action, Marion County commissioners Sam Brentano and Janet Carlson said they were horrified to learn that the Marion County Resource Recovery Facility in rural Brooks might be burning medical waste that includes fetal tissue to generate electricity. Both strongly oppose abortions. "We're going to get the bottom of it," Carlson said. "I want to know who knew, when they knew, how long they had known this was going on." Brentano, however, noted that the county ordinance that sets the parameters for what can be accepted at the waste-to-energy plant allows for all human tissue. "No rule or law has been broken, but there's an ethical standard that's been broken," he said. The decision came about a month after reporters in the United Kingdom discovered that health authorities there used fetal remains to generate power at medical facilities. The Department of Health quickly banned the practice. The Oregon facility is a partnership between the county and Covanta, a New Jersey-based firm that operates energy-from-waste power generation plants. The Marion County plant processes 550 tons of municipal solid waste a day, with only a small portion coming from medical sources. It sells the power to Portland General Electric. Jill Stueck, a Covanta spokeswoman, said the company is cooperating with the suspension, and it does not seek out the waste that mortified commissioners. "No one is saying bring us fetal tissue," Stueck said. Some of the fetal material came from the Canadian province of British Columbia, where regional health authorities have a contract with waste management firm Stericycle and send biomedical waste, such as fetal tissue, cancerous tissue and amputated limbs to the Oregon facility, said Kristy Anderson, a spokeswoman with the British Columbia Health Ministry. Stericycle, based in Lake Forest, Ill., has been criticized by anti-abortion groups for years because it disposes of aborted fetuses collected from family planning clinics. Company officials did not return phone calls seeking comment. Jeff Bickford, environmental services division manager in Marion County, said the facility there has been taking material from British Columbia for five to seven years. He said clinical waste providers such as Stericycle bring in medical waste ranging from syringes and body parts to laboratory cultures and bodily fluids after hospitals and clinics place it into red bags and sealed containers. "You've got biological agent and infectious diseases in there, so they're never opened once they're sealed," Bickford said. Brentano said the county plans to rewrite its ordinance to spell out that no tissue from fetuses can enter the incinerator, and the providers will have to develop a workable system. He stressed that other medical waste would be accepted. "So if someone loses an arm, loses a finger?" Carlson asked at the meeting. "That should go in and be burned," Brentano replied. "As gross as that is."

– Two horrified anti-abortion county commissioners in Oregon have ordered a waste-to-energy plant to stop burning any medical waste until it can be sure that no fetal tissue is being incinerated. The Marion County plant burns large amounts of biomedical waste from British Columbia, and the commissioners say they were disgusted to learn from a report in a Catholic newspaper that some of the 14,000 fetuses aborted in the Canadian province every year are "incinerated to provide electricity to the people of Marion County," the National Post reports. The commissioners say there has to be "a process to figure out how we can accept legitimate medical waste," including amputated limbs and cancerous tissue, but accepting fetal tissue is out of the question, reports the Oregonian. "It's inappropriate to put them in the trash," one commissioner says. A spokeswoman for the incinerator firm says that while the medical waste may have contained fetal tissue including umbilical cords or placentas, it did not contain whole fetuses. She says the company is cooperating with the order to stop accepting medical waste while new procedures are put in place, the AP reports. Last month, the UK banned the incineration of fetal remains after learning that thousands of fetuses had been burned for power.

"Eat my panties off me," Mrs. Pratt rhythmically coos. Vogue threatens Anna Wintour's town car, Elin Nordegren invests in another house, Ryan Seacrest cries over Simon. Come, plumb the depths of Wednesday's gossip. If only we could harness the force of all the Schadenfreude they create and use it to power whole cities. "Ooh—come eat my panties off me," Heidi Montag murmurs in her new single, "I'll Do It," which is so gross I'm starting to second-guess even the non-gross parts. Case in point: "off up into ya dungin." I think she means "dungeon," but is it possible that "dungin" is slang for some part of the body that one can be "up into"? This song sounds suspiciously like a catalog of Pratt-Montag fetishes. Point being: You don't want to listen to this song, except that you kind of do, so here it is. [THG] ||||| The world may have to wait for the patter of little Speidi feet: Heidi Montag says that her quest to have kids with husband Spencer Pratt is "kind of on hold" as she launches her campaign to become a "pop star" with her just-released album Superficial. Reimagine Heidi and other stars with Jersey Shore star Snooki's hair! "I'm really trying to do this pop star [thing], my first album, so I think that would kind of be distracting from this album coming out," she said in a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest Tuesday. "But one day I would love to have kids. I don't know if Spencer quite feels the same way." See how Heidi, Spencer and other Hills stars looked like back in the day The Hills star spent three years working on Superficial, which features songs like "I'll Do It," in which she tells a lover to "come eat my panties off of me." R-rated lyrics or not, she tells Seacrest that "it's very personal, empowering music...just about living life and enjoying every moment and living it up--definitely club music." Did Heidi get a nosejob? Examine the evidence for yourself! The reality diva also explains the title. "I think that Superficial is kind of a double entendre," she says. "It's superficial in a sense that everything in Hollywood is a little superficial. It's superficial in a positive way too. It's not what it seems to be, it's the inside that counts. It's kind of the unknown and the known." On the spiritual side, Montag and Pratt "have been getting very into yoga," she says. "It's very relaxing and has definitely calmed my husband down a little bit. He's a little energetic. "

– The wait is over: Heidi Montag’s debut album finally dropped yesterday, and it’s just as horrible as you’d expect. Case in point: Superficial track “I’ll Do It” includes the lyrics, “Come eat my panties off of me / Do whatever you feel comes naturally.” Nonetheless, Montag called the music “empowering,” Us reports—but not everyone agrees. The song “is so gross I'm starting to second-guess even the non-gross parts,” writes Azaria Jagger for Gawker. Here's yet another example, Jagger continues: "'Off up into ya dungin.' I think she means ‘dungeon,’ but is it possible that ‘dungin’ is slang for some part of the body that one can be ‘up into’?" Listen to the track at left.

An apartment building is pictured where a 25-year old woman from Colorado, United States, has been found dead in Vienna, Austria,Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. The woman's body was found in her apartment after... (Associated Press) VIENNA (AP) — Austrian police say an autopsy has not revealed the cause of death of a 25-year old woman from Colorado whose body was found in her Vienna apartment. Police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger said Thursday that investigators are now awaiting the results of toxicological tests over the next few days. U.S. authorities have identified her as Lauren Mann. Police and firefighters who forced open her door Tuesday evening found the half-naked body on a mattress in the bedroom. Mann had been working as an au pair, and police were alerted by Mann's employer after she did not show up for work. Mann graduated in 2012 from the University of Colorado-Boulder's College of Music. ||||| Police have concluded that a Colorado woman who was found dead in Vienna this week had died from suffocation. Lauren Mann, 25, had been living in the Austrian capital and was working as an au pair, or nanny, for a local family. She was found dead in a pool of blood on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in her apartment, according to Vienna police. Her body was half-undressed, according to Thomas Keiblinger, a Vienna police spokesperson. Today, the city's prosecutor Nina Bussek told ABC News that Mann had suffocated. Investigators have not yet determined if someone else was involved in her death. Keiblinger previously told ABC News that a preliminary autopsy showed Mann has not been stabbed or strangled and there were no external wounds on her body. There are no suspects or arrests at this time, according to police. Officers have been in contact with Mann's friends. Lauren Mann/Facebook The family for whom Mann worked said in an interview that Mann was "very reliable, trusted, caring and socially active." Family members became concerned when one of their children was not picked up from school on Monday. Mann's neighbor Peter Kratochwill told ABC News it was "extraordinary" for something like this to happen in "a neighborhood that is so quiet and safe." The U.S. Embassy in Vienna is providing consular assistance. ABC News' Louise Dewast contributed to this report. ||||| VIENNA -- Austrian police told CBS News on Thursday that a 25-year old Colorado woman whose half-naked body was found in her Vienna apartment was not strangled, shot or stabbed, but they could not yet rule out homicide. The autopsy, which allowed investigators to rule out those three potential methods of attack, was nonetheless "inconclusive,"officials said. Vienna police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger told CBS News the results of a toxicology report were not expected for at least a week, possibly two, and the cause of her death was still under investigation. Keiblinger said Wednesday the woman's body was found after she did not show up at the home where she worked as an au pair and her employer called police. The U.S. government has identified her as Lauren Mann. Speaking Wednesday on Austrian television, Keiblinger said "so far, this case must be treated as a murder because a third-party responsibility can't be excluded." Police and firefighters who forced open her door Tuesday evening found the half-naked body on a mattress in the bedroom. Mann graduated in 2012 from the University of Colorado-Boulder's College of Music. Spokesman Ryan Huff says the university was saddened by news of her death. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Andy Eckardt and Cassandra Vinograd MAINZ, Germany - An American nanny whose half-naked body was found in her Vienna apartment died of "suffocation," police in Austria said Thursday. Lauren Mann, 25, was found at her home in the city Tuesday night. Police are still treating the case as homicide "because third party involvement cannot be excluded," a spokesman told NBC News. A "considerable" amount of blood was found at the scene though an initial autopsy failed to determine cause of death. A final autopsy showed that she died of "suffocation," police said Thursday, adding that the case has been handed to the Vienna prosecutor's office. A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office would only say that the "investigation is ongoing and we will need to wait for results." American authorities are assisting in the investigation, according to the U.S. State Department. Toxicology testing has been ordered, though final results "could take up to a couple of weeks," police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger told NBC News. He said "no specific suspect" was being investigated, adding that police have been speaking to Mann's neighbors and friends. She had been living in Vienna for several years, working as an au pair while studying. She grew up in the small Colorado town of Paonia and graduated from the University Of Colorado-Boulder in 2012, according to NBC station KKCO. Paonia resident Lisa Heinritz said Mann had taken dance lessons with her daughter as a child. "She always seemed like a really happy little girl and had a lot of friends," Heinritz told KKCO.

– Officials have released a name in the case of the American nanny found dead in her Vienna, Austria, apartment on Tuesday night, but beyond that, much remains unclear. ABC News reports Lauren Mann, 25, died by suffocation, though it notes that Vienna police rep Thomas Keiblinger earlier referenced a preliminary autopsy that found no indications of strangulation. NBC News echoes the report of suffocation, but CBS News and the AP report the autopsy was inconclusive, and their reports don't mention suffocation. CBS cites officials who on Thursday confirmed Mann was not strangled, shot, or stabbed. The case is being treated as a homicide, and an official tells NBC News "third party involvement cannot be excluded"; police say there are no suspects at this time. Keiblinger says it'll take a week or two for the toxicology report to be completed, which has CBS saying her death "could be [a] mystery for weeks." ABC reports Mann failed to pick up one of her charges from school on Monday, but her half-dressed body wasn't found until 6pm the following day. The Colorado native was a graduate of the University of Colorado-Boulder's College of Music.

In June 1962, three inmates shimmied through a hole they’d chiseled into the walls of Alcatraz prison and climbed up to the roof. To mask their escape, they’d placed in their bunks realistic-looking dummy heads they’d made out of papier-mâché and human hair from the prison barber shop. The three men — brothers John and Clarence Anglin and fellow inmate Frank Morris — grabbed makeshift paddles and plunged an escape raft they made of stolen raincoats into the dark waters of San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz officials have long stated that the men drowned, maintaining the prison’s bragging rights of no escapees. But now, more than 50 years later, new leads are being presented by the Anglin family, who are cooperating with authorities for the first time. They claim that not only did the brothers survive the escape, they were alive and well up through at least the mid-1970s — and may still be alive today. The evidence is offered up by the Anglins’ nephews David, 48, and Ken Widner, 54, who are featured in “Alcatraz: Search for the Truth,” a History Channel special airing Monday. The evidence has pumped life into the cold case, and has investigators lining up new interviews and planning to search South America for signs of America’s most notorious escapees. “This is absolutely the best actionable lead we’ve had,” Art Roderick, the retired US marshal who was lead investigator on the case for 20 years, tells The Post. The Anglin family sat on those leads for years because, they say, they were spied on and harassed by the FBI for years. But a desire to see the case solved before Marie Anglin Widner — the Widners’ mother and the escapees’ sister — passed away, combined with the cockiness of Alcatraz officials, inspired them to come forward. “[Alcatraz officials] were not willing to . . . say, ‘Maybe [the escapees] did make it,’ ” David Widner says. “That gave me the motive to prove them wrong.” First there were the Christmas cards, signed with Clarence and John Anglin’s names, that were delivered to their mother during the three years after the escape. They arrived without postage. In the History Channel special, the nephews take the cards and other evidence to Roderick, who retired in 2008 but is still working on the case. Though the handwriting matched, the investigators were unable to pinpoint the exact date of the cards. But the nephews also came forward with a photo — which will be revealed on the show — that proves the Anglins may have been alive in the 1970s. That really caught Roderick’s attention. “When you work these types of cases, there’s a feeling you get when stuff starts to fall into place,” he says. “I’m getting this feeling now.” The next big piece of evidence was buried — about six feet in the ground. The family finally let investigators dig up the remains of the Anglins’ other brother, Alfred, who was electrocuted during his own escape attempt from an Alabama prison. They needed his DNA: Authorities had discovered a set of bones that washed ashore north of San Francisco in 1963, which they said may have belonged to one of the escapees. But the DNA proved to not be a match, bolstering the Anglin family’s claims that the two may indeed still be alive. (The bones could still belong to Morris, though; he has no living relatives to test.) David Widner says he’s working on a book that will contain more evidence not included in the TV show. That includes a surprise guest star: Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger, who met the future escapees in Alcatraz. Bulger, in a 2014 letter to Ken Widner, said he instructed John and Clarence on how to navigate bay currents, and dropped a key piece of advice about being a fugitive. “He taught them that when you disappear, you have to cut all ties,” Ken says. “He told me in a letter, ‘This is the mistake that I made.’ He told me, ‘These brothers undoubtedly had done exactly what I told them to do.’ ” The nephews hope the special rewrites the history of Alcatraz, and cements their uncles and Morris as the only people to successfully escape the island, out of the 36 who tried. Roderick has lined up 10 new interviews since seeing the evidence, and is talking to US marshals about investigating in Brazil, where the Anglins may have ended up. If they are still alive (both would be in their mid-80s by now), international laws may not even allow extradition to the US. Nonetheless, Roderick would want to sit down with them to figure out how they did it. If they died and their bodies can be found, however, Ken and David want to bring the Anglin brothers back to the family plot in Ruskin, Fla. Says David, “We should get ’em a place ready.” ||||| Those caught up in the romance surrounding Alcatraz might be tempted to watch “Alcatraz: Search For the Truth,” a History documentary devoted to the 1962 escape by Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin. The curious, however, would be well advised to tape this tedious production and fast-forward to the last six minutes, which contain everything they could hope to glean about whether the trio, never found, might have survived the treacherous waters surrounding the prison island. Even allowing for the genre’s carnival-barker qualities, the producers have spread about 25 minutes of content over two hours. Told entirely from the perspective of the Anglins (that is, the guys who Clint Eastwood didn’t play in the 1979 movie “Escape From Alcatraz”), the special is built around information provided by their nephews, Ken and David Widner, two emotional fellows who are convinced the government has been after the family and that their uncles have been abused by the media. So they enlist a retired U.S. Marshal, Art Roderick, to help lay out their case, which includes various shreds of evidence that they believe prove the Anglins not only navigated the frigid waters but also made it to South America. Graciously setting aside what the “Search” reveals – with the Widners having begun expressing their belief the Anglins survived a few years ago – there’s no nice way to say that the brothers are an irritating pair, carrying rather sizable chips on their shoulders. Claiming the FBI harassed them, and that their only motivation is to set the record straight, they’re prone to getting teary-eyed when speaking about these half-century-old events, including their conviction that the feds killed another uncle while seeking information about the escapees. Nor does it help that almost everything here feels overproduced, from the pounding music to the dramatic recreations. So when one of the Widners reminisces about his mom receiving a phone call when he was a child, voila, there’s a gauzy image of a woman holding a tyke as she answers. Morris, whose genius IQ was thought to have been instrumental in planning the dramatic escape, is shortchanged by this version of history, which focuses squarely on the Anglins. Yet while some of the new details certainly appear intriguing, wading through the padding feels like treading water, or maybe crawling down that sewage tunnel at the end of “The Shawshank Redemption.” All that, and there’s still relatively little presented about the rich lore of Alcatraz – which has inspired plenty of fiction – other than a rather mundane visit to the island. Granted, History’s pursuit of younger demos with programs like “Pawn Stars” deviates so often from actual history that it’s kind of nice when the two occasionally bump into each other. Yet watching “Alcatraz,” those prone to lament the channel’s drift will likely just remember why their search for quality historical fare increasingly leads elsewhere.

– Three inmates who famously escaped from Alcatraz prison in 1962 may not be so dead after all. In fact, new evidence that they survived has spawned a History Channel special and inspired a retired US marshal to revive the investigation, the New York Post reports. "This is absolutely the best actionable lead we’ve had," says the ex-marshal, Art Roderick. To recap, three Alcatraz inmates—Frank Morris along with brothers John and Clarence Anglin—escaped by chiseling a hole into a prison wall and jumping into the cold San Francisco Bay, with homemade paddles and a raft made from raincoats. Never found, they were presumed dead. But two nephews of the Anglins have produced evidence to the contrary: They have Christmas cards signed in the names of John and Clarence Anglin, and Roderick matched the handwriting. But the cards are neither stamped nor dated. A photo that will be seen on the show, Alcatraz: Search for the Truth, "proves the Anglins may have been alive in the 1970s," says the Post. And DNA from the dug-up remains of another Anglin brother, Alfred, does not genetically match a set of bones found on a shore near San Francisco in 1963. In a letter, former Boston mobster Whitey Bulger says he met the three men in Alcatraz and gave them advice about navigating currents in the bay. "He taught them that when you disappear, you have to cut all ties," says one of the nephews, Ken Widner. "He told me, 'These brothers undoubtedly had done exactly what I told them to do.'" Sadly, Variety didn't think much of the History Channel special, calling it "overproduced, from the pounding music to the dramatic recreations." (A study found that the inmates might have survived if they plunged into the water between 11pm and midnight.)

ENLARGE Photo: Twitter Bloomingdale’s, the luxury department store owned by Macy’s Inc., M 0.79 % is the latest advertiser to face an outpouring of criticism on the Web. Consumers have taken to social media this week to criticize an ad in Bloomingdale’s holiday catalog that some interpreted as encouraging date rape. The ad features a woman laughing with her head turned as a young man looks her way. The text reads: “Spike Your Best Friend’s Eggnog When They’re Not Looking.” There have been 3,868 comments on social media channels over the last 48 hours about the ad, according to data from social media analytics firm Networked Insights. The majority of the comments, Networked Insights said, are negative. Data shows that many of the online commentators have called the ad “creepy.” Bloomingdale’s has apologized for the ad. “In reflection of recent feedback, the copy we used in our current catalog was inappropriate and in poor taste. Bloomingdale’s sincerely apologizes for this error in judgment,” said the company in a statement. It’s unclear what the intention of the ad was, but branding experts say that marketers are under pressure to stand out amid the ever-increasing amount of advertising messages that consumers are being bombarded with every day. And even more is at stake heading into the all-important holiday shopping season. “Marketers have to work harder to get attention nowadays, but the more they try, the riskier it becomes,” said Jonah Disend, chief executive officer of Redscout, a branding firm owned by MDC Partners. Bloomingdale’s is the latest company to see how quickly controversy can spread thanks in part to social media. Earlier this week, consumers took to social media to complain about Starbuck’s new red holiday cups or to vent about the fact there was even a controversy. Write to Suzanne Vranica at [email protected]

– "Bloomingdale's must be pleased everyone is too distracted by red cups to notice its pro-roofie holiday ad," tweets one Washington Post writer. That's right, another company has found itself in some holiday hot water this week. The Wall Street Journal reports the Internet is in an uproar over an ad in the Bloomingdale's holiday catalog that appears to encourage date rape. The offending ad shows a laughing woman looking away as a man stares intently at her. The text reads: "Spike Your Best Friend's Eggnog When They're Not Looking." A social analytics firm found thousands of online comments made about the ad, mostly negative with the majority opinion apparently being "creepy." "Someone at Bloomingdale’s thought this ad was smart," a Mashable executive tweets. "I assume that person has been fired." But it's not just the Internet that has a problem with Bloomingdale's ad. "What is this? Some kind of business function they’re attending? This is the way we’re going to treat women in the workplace?” a gender studies professor tells the Post. “It’s sending the message that it is it okay to have sex with people who are incapable of consent." "I doubt the person who created this was consciously thinking about sexual assault," another expert says. "Male or female, whoever it was who came up with this—and the many people who okayed it—just don't get it." Bloomingdale's apologized for the ad in the wake of the uproar. “In reflection of recent feedback, the copy we used in our current catalog was inappropriate and in poor taste," the Journal quotes a company statement. "Bloomingdale’s sincerely apologizes for this error in judgment."

Not long after wrapping up their string of Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, Amazon has pulled back the curtain on yet another way they’ll be snagging purchases away from physical retail outlets. Starting this Saturday, users of Amazon’s Price Check app will be able to score up to $5 off a purchase of any product if they use the app in-store. Here’s how it works: after waltzing into a brick-and-mortar retailer, whip out your iPhone or Android device (with location services enabled) and get to scanning those barcodes. After placing a desired item into the app’s virtual basket, a 5% discount will be applied to the product within 24 hours. Price Check app users can use the discount on up to three products, so they’ll need to choose those items wisely. It’s a great idea for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it could help potential buyers get over one of Amazon’s biggest stumbling blocks: experiencing the product. Reading reviews and looking at pictures online is enough in certain instances, but it can be a poor substitute for actually touching and seeing a product in person. With their Price Check promotion, Amazon can actually help people to make purchasing decisions and at the same time giving them an incentive to buy from them. On top of that, Amazon will be able to stay up to date with their competitors prices, which could help inform future pricing plans. With just weeks until the holiday of your choice kicks off, Amazon clearly wants to be your shopping source, and they’re better equipped to roll-out pricing changes and promotions than any B&M store. As IntoMobile points out, Amazon often has lower prices then their physical retail counterparts, so the additional (minor) savings just sweeten the deal. The big question now is how many users will actually take advantage of Amazon’s offer. The $5 cap means there’s probably a limit to how much play Amazon will get out of the promotion, but I imagine that it could be worth it to them if they manage build up more awareness around their Price Check app. Fortunately for your local stores, the promotion will only run from 9PM PST on December 9 to 11:59 PM PST on December 10 — I can already imagine rabid deal-hunters drooling in anticipation. ||||| If brick-and-mortar stores didn’t hate Amazon enough, they’ll really be steamed this Dec. 10 because the online retailing giant is holding a promotion which will give users an additional 5 percent off its prices when they use the Price Check app. Basically, you’ll be able to walk into a store, use the Price Check app (iPhone or Android) to scan the barcode, take a picture or type in the product manually and you’ll be able to get an extra 5 percent (up to $5) off of that product from Amazon. Amazon generally has lower prices anyways, so this is just the cherry on top. “The ability to check prices on your mobile phone when you’re in a physical retail store is changing the way people shop,” said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile, in a prepared statement. “Price transparency means that you can save money on the products you want and that’s a great thing for customers. Price Check in-store deals are another incentive to shop smart this holiday season.” This has been the first holiday shopping season where mobile shopping has actually gone mainstream, as reports suggest record numbers of mobile purchases and I see more and more people comparing prices in stores on their phones. Heck, Amazon and eBay even opened pop-up stores in major cities this shopping season and it encouraged shoppers to use their mobile phones to buy products and have them delivered to their homes. While it’s tough for physical stores to compete based on margins and costs, these companies still do have some advantages. First of all, people have proven that they will pay a slight premium if the shopping experience is better than a purely online one and there’s always the advantage of being able to take your product home immediately. Additionally, not all mobile shopping technology has to hurt stores, as companies like Shopkick are trying to use smartphones to augment the in-store experience. [Image via Shutterstock, artjazz]

– In a scheme clearly devised to give brick-and-mortar retailers nightmares, Amazon is running a one-day promotion on Dec. 10 in which customers can score up to $15 in discounts for literally walking out of stores. Here's how it works: Download the Amazon Price Check app for your iPhone or Android device, walk into the retailer of your choice on Saturday with the geo-location feature on, scan three things you'd like to buy, and leave. Then, anytime within the next 24 hours you can buy all three from Amazon at 5% off, to a maximum of $5 each. That might not sound like much, but as IntoMobile points out, Amazon's prices are usually lower anyway, so that discount is something of a bonus. Plus, Chris Velazco of TechCrunch notes, it allows customers to see a product in person before buying—something you can't usually do on Amazon.

This afternoon a Mountain View Police Department traffic officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow moving car traveling in the eastbound #3 lane on El Camino Real, near Rengstorff Ave. The car was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. As the officer approached the slow moving car he realized it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle. The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic per 22400(a) of the California Vehicle Code. The Google self-driving cars operate under the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Definition per 385.5 of the California Vehicle Code and can only be operated on roadways with speed limits at or under 35 mph. In this case, it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph. The Mountain View Police Department meets regularly with Google to ensure that their vehicles operate safely in our community. Media inquiries can be directed to [email protected] ||||| MOUNTAIN VIEW -- When one of Google's self-driving vehicles is pulled over, who gets the ticket? The passenger or the car? The question was asked across the Internet on Thursday, after a police officer stopped one of the gumball-machine-shaped vehicles around noon on El Camino Real. In a blog post, the Mountain View Police Department said the officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow-moving car in the eastbound No. 3 lane, near Rengstorff Avenue. The vehicle was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. "As the officer approached the slow-moving car he realized it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle," the post said. Zandr Milewski photo A Mountain View police officer pulled over one of Google's self-driving cars on El Camino Real, near Rengstorff Avenue, on Thursday. The vehicle attracted the officer's attention because it was backing up traffic. No ticket, however, was issued. (Zandr Milewski) "The officer stopped the car," the post continued, "and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic." The vehicle didn't stop itself; a passenger took control and pulled over for the officer, according to police. In a Google Plus post, the Google Self-Driving Car Project appeared to appreciate the humor of the situation. "Driving too slowly?" the post asked. "Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often." "We've capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 mph for safety reasons," the post explained. "We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets." Advertisement As it turns out, the cars are considered "neighborhood electric vehicles" under the California Vehicle Code, and can be operated on roadways with speed limits at or under 35 mph, according to the police department's blog post. "In this case," the post continued, "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street, as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph." So, no ticket, and the question of who would get it remains unanswered. "Like this officer, people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project," the Google Self-Driving Car Project said in its post. "After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that's the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!" Zandr Milewski photographed the car stop from an office building at 5150 El Camino Real in Los Altos. He was working on a project in a conference room when a colleague wandered in with news of what was transpiring outside. "We all immediately dropped what we were doing to go look," Milewski said. "It's not something you see every day." Email Jason Green at [email protected] or call him at 650-391-1337; follow him at twitter.com/jgreendailynews.

– Apparently Google's self-driving cars have yet to learn how to evade cops. One of its bubble-shaped autonomous vehicles was pulled over during a traffic stop in Mountain View, Calif., on Thursday, though it managed to avoid a ticket, reports NBC News. An officer spotted the vehicle traveling 24mph in a 35mph zone, with traffic backed up behind it, police say, per the San Jose Mercury News. "The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways," authorities say in a blog post, noting "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street." According to the California Vehicle Code, the cars can operate on roads with speed limits of 35mph or under. However, "we've capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25mph for safety reasons," Google Self-Driving Car Project explains. "We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets." The project notes "people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project," but "after 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that's the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!" (Apple is working on its own self-driving cars.)

GREENSBURG, Ind. -- A mom who has been behind bars since 1996 accused of murdering her toddler son in an arson fire, walked free from jail Wednesday after new evidence was presented that led a court to grant her a new trial. A sheriff led Kristine Bunch, wearing a new dress and black patent leather shoes and carrying her prison clothes in a Wal-Mart bag, out the door of the jail. He let go of her arm and then said quietly: "You're free." Bunch, 38, turned down the sidewalk and went straight to her mother, Susan Hubbard. They had a long embrace. Next in line for Bunch was her son, 16-year-old Trenton, who had never visited his mother outside of prison, who has never slept under the same roof with her except for his very first night. Bunch went back to the Indiana Women's Prison the day after giving birth at a local hospital. Authorities say Bunch set fire to her mobile home in a blaze that killed her 3-year-old son, Tony. Bunch, then 22, was sentenced to 60 years. But on Wednesday, at 38, she was released, pending a new trial that was granted in March by the Indiana Court of Appeals. The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law took up Bunch's case in 2007 and was joined in the cause by Chicago attorney Ron Safer, whose Schiff Hardin firm worked on the case at no cost. In 2009, they presented new evidence to the appeals court based, in part, on technological advances in fire investigations. The new evidence, Safer said, made it impossible for the fire to have happened the way the state alleged, that some test results the state provided were simply incorrect. In actuality, tests showed that he died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Safer said. Had the fire been set with an accelerant in the manner prosecutors alleged, he would have died from burns. On Wednesday, Senior Circuit Judge W. Michael Wilke, based on the fact that Bunch's family put up bond money for her in 1996, said the words she and her family had waited 16 years to hear: "The defendant will be released from the Department of Corrections." Decatur County prosecutors were unavailable for comment. Bunch has a court appearance next week. But, Safer said, "Today she is a free woman, and we are determined to make sure that she has spent her last day behind bars." Bunch said she was initially in a state of shock upon being sentenced to 60 years for arson and the murder of her son. She likened it to a bad dream that wouldn't end. Upon her release, Bunch was joyful but expressed no bitterness over a conviction she has always maintained was a mistake. "I haven't been by myself," she said. "I had a family that stood by me. I had people that believed in me and stepped up. And you can't receive blessings like that and be bitter." While in prison, Bunch said she took part in Kairos prison ministry and became a Catholic. She earned undergraduate degrees in English and anthropology from Ball State University. And now she has dreams of going to law school, focusing on criminal law and joining a wrongful conviction team. "I want to give back. I've been very blessed," she said. "One day I want to fight for others because others fought for me." First, Bunch said she wants to get reacquainted with her family. Trenton already has a long list of things he wants to do with his mom. He wants to take a trip to the zoo, go to a concert, have her watch him run track in the spring if he makes the team. "I want to do the stuff that I should have been able to do a long time ago," he said, "and never got to do." Initially, though, Trenton may have to help his mother navigate her 16-year time warp. When she was last free, cellphones were the size of shoeboxes, and she was amazed at the tiny devices her friends and her legal team were toting, that half the courtroom had to cough up at the judge's order before her hearing began. And then there's the Internet -- she's heard about it but never seen it. There's no access in the prison. "My son said I'm going to teach you how to Facebook," she said, "and we're going to look at the Internet." But Bunch also relishes the idea of much simpler pleasures. She wants to watch her son sleep. "I've never gotten to see my son sleep except for little naps when he would come visit me," she said. "I want to be able to bounce in his room all night and look at him while he's asleep." ||||| Women's Project Featured article by Emily Halter, CWC alum and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law 2018 graduate "While some programs exist in the United States, for the most part, there are few avenues of support for incarcerated mothers. This Comment explores the possibilities currently available to incarcerated mothers, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to parent and that right should be extended to incarcerated mothers." Center on Wrongful Convictions Spring Symposium Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of the Women's Project March 16, 2018, 1:00-4:45 P.M. Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Thorne Auditorium Reception immediately following in Thorne Lobby Kerry Masterson Exonerated! On November 2, 2017, Kerry Masterson was found not guilty after a second jury trial. Kerry was represented at her retrial by the Center on Wrongful Convictions and Neal Gerber Eisenberg. Read more about Kerry's case here. Read our press release here. Media coverage here and here. Tyra Patterson may be home by Christmas. Due to the efforts of her many supporters, the Ohio Parole Board granted Ms. Patterson an early parole hearing in July 2017. News that she was granted parole came October 24, 2017. The Women's Project was honored to send a letter in support of Ms. Patterson to Govenor John Kasich in 2015. Congratulations, Tyra! Podcasts featuring CWC exoneree Kristine Bunch CWC exoneree Kristine Bunch is a tireless advocate for justice. In many different settings she has told the painful story of her wrongful conviction for the accidental death of her son - always with the objective of shedding light on the issues of false forensic science and serious flaws in the criminal justice system. Here are some recent podcasts featuring Kristine: Everyday Law podcast Actual Innocence podcast Court Junkie podcast part I Court Junkie podcast part II Women's Project files amicus brief in Minnesota Supreme Court The CWC Women's Project has filed an amicus brief in the Minnesota Supreme Court on behalf of Danna Back, a woman wrongfully convicted of second degree manslaughter. The actual perpetrator was an acquaintance of Ms. Back, and the high court overturned her conviction after holding she was not legally responsible for the perpetrator's actions. State prosecutors are nonetheless attempting to block her bid for compensation for the years she spent in prison. The Innocence Network has also filed an amicus brief in support of Ms. Back. Amanda Knox tackles women and false confessions We highly recommend this article by exoneree Amanda Knox, making the case for more research on how women experience interrogation tactics. The article quotes Women's Project Co-Director Judy Royal and cites an article by CWC attorneys Andrea Lewis and Sara Sommervold on the role of stereotypes in the wrongful conviction of women. Women's Project screens San Antonio Four documentary On September 29, 2016, the Women's Project hosted a screening of Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four. The San Antonio Four are Kristie Mayhugh, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez, four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted in 1997 sexually abusing two children. Their attorney, Mike Ware, began the program by discussing the recently passed Texas junk science law that helped free them. Following the film screening, these inspiring women discussed their experience and their continuing efforts to clear their names and answered questions from the audience. Event page Facebook photo album Women's Project Featured in Mother Jones Magazine The attorneys of the Women’s Project, and Center on Wrongful Convictions client Kristine Bunch, are featured in an in-depth article by Molly Redden in the current issue of Mother Jones. The article discusses Kristine’s case, the reasons behind the formation of the Women’s Project, and some of the unique characteristics of Women’s Project cases. Andrea Lewis, Kristine Bunch, and Karen Daniel were interviewed on August 5, 2015, on HuffPost Live #FreeSpeechZone. Why Women's Cases Are Different Innocent women accused of heinous crimes face extraordinary challenges. In many cases, they are suspected of harming their children or other loved ones. As a result, when under investigation, they may be coping with deep personal loss, rendering them especially vulnerable to high-pressure interrogation tactics that can lead to false confessions or seemingly inculpatory statements. When women—traditionally viewed as nurturers and protectors—are accused of murdering or sexually abusing children, they are particularly reviled by society, including, of course, police, prosecutors, judges, jurors, and witnesses. 40% of female exonerees were convicted harming children or loved ones in their care. In cases in which no crime has occurred—such as accidental or natural deaths that are mistaken for homicides—the evidence is often entirely circumstantial. DNA evidence, the gold standard for exonerating the innocent, has been central to less than 3% of women's exonerations (compared to 22% of men's exonerations). In circumstantial cases, other types of forensic evidence may play an unusually large role, yet the evidence may be erroneous. More than a third of exonerated women's cases involved flawed or misleading forensic evidence. Two-thirds of female exonerees were convicted in cases in which no crime occurred. *Statistics on this webpage are derived from the National Registry of Exonerations and are reasonably current but may not be fully up to date. ||||| Center on Wrongful Convictions CWC client Tommy Ward featured in The Innocent Man, premiering on Netflix December 14, 2018 The Innocent Man Netflix series includes the story of the Center on Wrongful Convictions’ client Tommy Ward. Tommy was convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 because of a false confession and official misconduct. The CWC, along with Oklahoma licensed attorney Mark Barret, continue to fight for Tommy in his post-conviction proceedings before a district court in Oklahoma. Learn more about Tommy's case CWC Client Marcel Brown Exonerated! On July 18, 2018, prosecutors dismissed first degree murder charges against CWC client Marcel Brown, who had served 10 years in prison, since the age of 18. More details to follow, but here is a clip of Marcel walking free from the Cook County IL criminal courthouse with his CWC attorneys and family members: Marcel Brown release clip Wrongful Conviction podcast featuring CWC exoneree Jason Strong Corey Batchelor and codefendant Kevin Bailey Exonerated! On January 30, 2018, murder charges were dismissed against Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth client Corey Batchelor and his codefendant Kevin Bailey, who maintained they were physically coerced into falsely confessing to a 1989 murder. Media coverage here and here. CWC Client Gabriel Solache Exonerated! On December 21, 2017, murder and kidnapping charges were dismissed against CWC client Gabriel Solache, a former death row inmate, and his codefendant Arturo Reyes - both of whom had been behind bars for nearly 20 years. The dismissals followed lengthy post-conviction proceedings during which a Cook County Circuit Court judge found credible evidence that former Chicago detective Reynaldo Guevara had engaged in a pattern and practice of misconduct, and further that Guevara lied in court and could not be considered credible in any proceeding. Media coverage here and here. CWC Client Raymond McCann II Exonerated! On December 7, 2017, prosecutors dismissed perjury charges against Raymond McCann II, who had been wrongly suspected of murdering a young girl in Michigan in 2007, and then wrongly convicted of perjury in 2015 for statements he made during the murder investigation. McCann was represented in post-conviction proceedings by the Center on Wrongful Convictions and the Michigan Innocence Clinic. Read more about McCann's case here. Read our press release here. CWC Client Kerry Masterson Exonerated! On November 2, 2017, Kerry Masterson was found not guilty after a second jury trial. Kerry was represented at her retrial by the Center on Wrongful Convictions and Neal Gerber Eisenberg. Read more about Kerry's case here. Read our press release here. Media coverage here and here. How Dana Holland Became the Country's First Double Exoneree The CWC weighs in: Is Chicago really the 'False Confession Capital'? CWC Director Karen Daniel's podcast interview on eyewitness identification evidence "Exonerated" film "Exonerated" vividly captures six of our clients' experiences before and after their exonerations. We gratefully thank photographer Andy Goodwin for creating this film, and we congratulate him for winning Best In Show at The Midwest Independent Film Festival. Charles Johnson exonerated! CWC client Charles Johnson was granted a new trial on July 11, 2016, based on fingerprint evidence discovered after trial pointing to an alternative suspect. On February 15, 2017, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against Charles and his coodefendants Larod Styles, LaShawn Ezell, and Troshawn McCoy, all of whom were only teenagers when they falsely confessed to a 1995 double murder. More... CWC Director Karen Daniel discusses wrongful convictions on the Undisclosed podcast The friendship of two CWC clients is front-page news Dana Holland and Christopher Coleman shared more than a cell in prison; they shared claims of innocence and dreams of freedom. Eventually, they also shared an attorney: Karen Daniel, now Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Steve Mills details their friendship and their eventual exonerations, a decade apart, in this incredible story: Innocent prisoners jailed in same cell forge friendship, and freedom. Jane Beber Abramson Award Thanks to the generosity of the family of the late Jane Beber Abramson, the Center on Wrongful Convictions is able to specially recognize one or more individuals every year "for extraordinary dedication to pursuing justice for the wrongly convicted." The award winners to date are: 2008: Judy Royal and Ron Safer 2009: Marian Tomlinson 2010: Gary Elden and Phyllis Mandler 2011: James Kaplan 2012: Amy Kaplan 2013: Amy Berg, Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, Peter Jackson, David McMahon, and Fran Walsh 2014: Mararet Soffin and Susan Swanson 2015: Michael Sklar 2016: Esther Hernandez 2017: Laura Caldwell and Joey Mogul 2018: Kristine Bunch and Juan Rivera Thomas P. Sullivan Justice Award: 2018: Stephen B. Bright Center on Wrongful Convictions Lifetime Achievement Award: 2018: Thomas F. Geraghty In Memoriam: Our Beloved Jane Raley It is with the greatest sadness that we announce the passing of Co-Director Jane Raley, a member of our legal staff since 2000 and truly the heart of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. She died peacefully at home on Christmas morning 2014, surrounded by her loving family. The cause of criminal justice lost one of our greatest and most compassionate warriors. Jane was an incredible lawyer, a tenacious advocate for her clients, a revered mentor of law students and young lawyers, and an exceptionally loving and caring person. All who knew her will miss her beyond measure. Many innocent men and women are free from their convictions due to Jane’s work, and many young lawyers are out doing good in the world—and understand the good that attorneys can accomplish—due to Jane’s magnificent example during her 14 years as a law professor at Northwestern University School of Law. A sampling of online tributes to Jane: Rest in peace, our dear Jane. ||||| In the early morning hours of June 30, 1995, a fire sparked to life in Kristine Bunch's mobile home. It fanned out across the floor and climbed up the walls, then formed an impassable barrier across the middle of the trailer. Bunch, 21, snapped awake in the living room. Her three-year-old son, Tony, shrieked for her on the other side of the flames. Bunch staggered outside and howled for a neighbor. She bashed Tony's window with a tricycle. As the flames lashed 30 feet into the dawn sky, a fire engine tore up to the house. A firefighter, crawling on his belly, found Tony's charred body in the bedroom. Bunch told police she had no idea what caused the fire. Soon, though, arson investigators determined that a liquid accelerant such as kerosene or lighter fluid had been poured in Tony's bedroom and the living room. Police arrested Bunch on charges of arson and felony murder. Eight months later, Bunch went on trial. By then, she was 22 and unexpectedly pregnant with a second child. The evidence against her seemed overwhelming. Two arson investigators gave compelling testimony for the prosecution, and the jury took only a few hours to convict her on both counts. At sentencing, Bunch recalled, the judge sneered down at her belly. "I understand that you have arranged to have yourself impregnated," he said. "You thought it would work to your advantage somehow in this process. It will not. You will not raise that child." The judge gave her the maximum sentence: 60 years. Karen Daniel and Judy Royal are obsessed with people like Bunch. During their nearly 30 combined years at the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School, the two lawyers have helped exonerate more than two dozen people once found guilty of horrendous crimes. Most of the people they have freed are men; just four are women. And for a long time, Daniel and Royal thought that disparity made perfect sense. Men are convicted of crimes, especially violent crimes, at much higher rates than are women. So it follows that most people exonerated of crimes are also men: The National Registry of Exonerations, a University of Michigan Law School database that has cataloged information on more than 1,600 exonerations nationwide since 1989, includes just 148 women. About three years ago, however, Daniel and Royal began to question whether that number was too low. Women make up about 11 percent of the people convicted of violent crimes, but just 6 percent of those exonerated of violent crimes. At the urging of a former client, Julie Rea Harper—who spent four years in prison for the murder of her son before a serial killer confessed to the crime—Daniel and Royal decided to try to figure out if there was anything that set exonerated women apart. They started by looking at the few women whose cases they had worked on themselves. "I haven't had any men's cases that looked like these four cases," Daniel recalls thinking. "Could that really be a coincidence?" After three years of pursuing that question, Daniel and Royal have concluded that most innocence projects—including their own legal clinic—are failing to bring justice to wrongly convicted women. They have identified factors that make female clients more difficult to exonerate, and uncovered startling facts that distinguish the cases of wrongly convicted women from those of men. And they have launched a project that could change how the American innocence movement helps these women get justice. Daniel and Royal started by digging deep into the exonerations database. Their first insight had to do with DNA evidence—the very breakthrough that launched the innocence movement a quarter century ago. "Women tend not to be convicted of the types of crimes that can be overturned based on the results of DNA testing," Daniel explained. Men perpetrate the overwhelming majority of rapes and murders of strangers. These crimes are much more likely to leave behind DNA evidence that can rule out an innocent suspect, or point to the real rapist or killer. But when women kill, they usually kill someone close to them. And in most of those cases, DNA isn't relevant. When a woman is suspected of killing her husband or her child, investigators are likely to find her DNA all over the crime scene whether she's guilty or innocent—so DNA testing can do little to exonerate her. Sure enough, 27 percent of the men in the exonerations registry were freed using DNA evidence. The same was true of only 7.6 percent of the women. Yet many exoneration projects, including the original Innocence Project founded in 1992, only work with convicts who can be absolved through DNA. Because courts consider DNA tests definitive and trustworthy, genetic evidence is often the most effective way to overturn a wrongful conviction. Innocence projects have tended to avoid cases in which the offender knew the victim, because it can be hard to disentangle what happened in a domestic crime. In some cases, Daniel said, "you almost have to look into that person's brain to know what happened." About half the women in the registry went to prison for harming someone in their care. But reliance on DNA and aversion to domestic cases weren't the only hurdles for wrongly convicted women. In a whopping 63 percent of the women's cases, Daniel and Royal realized, it turned out that there was never a crime to begin with—the death was actually a suicide or an accident. That was true in only 21 percent of the men's cases. This was a critical discovery. The tools innocence projects rely on are designed to solve crimes. When DNA evidence isn't available, innocence investigators may seek to establish alibis, interview witnesses overlooked by police, undermine mistaken witness identifications, or track down alternative suspects with a history of similar crimes. Attorneys have a much easier time getting a wrongful conviction reopened when they can point to the real culprit. Yet if a woman is wrongly convicted for an accident that kills her child, there is no crime to solve, no "real killer," and probably no alibi. Overturning convictions for crimes that were really accidents is difficult and time-consuming. Attorneys may have to prove that the prosecution misused or misunderstood forensic science or withheld crucial evidence. Proving that something was an accident may require attorneys to understand highly technical and controversial evidence on fire science, shaken-baby syndrome, toxicology, or rare medical conditions, and hire expensive expert witnesses to bolster their arguments. These hurdles disproportionately affect women: Daniel and Royal have found that 37 percent of the women (but around 20 percent of the men) in the exonerations registry were cleared because their original convictions used false or misleading forensic evidence. There was one more thing that set exonerated women apart: Daniel and Royal have come to believe that, in many cases in which women were freed because no crime had been committed, sexist stereotypes had been used to conjure up a motive. "Almost every case has something like this," Daniel told me, recounting one trial in which a prosecutor suggested a mother had killed her son so she could pursue a career in modeling. "That was based on one tiny conversation expressing slight interest in maybe having a nice photo taken," Daniel said. The woman spent years in prison before the real perpetrator came forward. When Harper, the woman blamed after a serial killer murdered her son, was on trial, the prosecution portrayed her variously as thirsty for revenge on her ex-husband or, pointing out her pursuit of a postgraduate degree, career-obsessed with no time for a child. Her ex-husband testified that Harper considered an abortion when she first became pregnant (which Harper denied). "And that was used to show she was capable of murder," Royal said, noting that the trial—and jury selection—took place in a rural, heavily conservative county in Illinois. In the case of Kristine Bunch, the prosecutor said he didn't think the blaze burned Bunch badly enough. Wouldn't a mother walk through fire to save her child? He offered evidence that Bunch was a bad mother, telling the jury in his closing argument that she had asked a friend to take custody of Tony, even though the friend had denied this rumor in her testimony. Not to mention the judge's comments about Bunch's pregnancy. These sorts of narratives have "nothing to do with whether the evidence shows that a person did what they're being accused of," said Andrea Louise Lewis, an attorney who works for Royal and Daniel. "And these women get wrongfully convicted in these cases where nothing happened. Nothing criminal happened at all." After Kristine Bunch gave birth to her second son, correctional officers put her in an ankle chain just long enough for her to reach the toilet in her hospital room. It had been three months since she went to prison. Bunch held her baby for a fleeting moment before her parents took him home with them. Then she made it her single-minded mission to find someone to help reopen her case. "I realized, I'm going to have to fight," Bunch recalled. She sent out hundreds of letters and received hundreds of rejections. Daniel and Royal have come to believe that in many cases sexist stereotypes had been used to conjure up a motive. While Bunch despaired in prison, new research emerged showing that the signatures of an accidental fire are easy to confuse with signs of arson; as a result, many old arson cases have been called into question. In a similar vein, child abuse investigators once took it as gospel that a baby with brain swelling and certain forms of internal bleeding had been violently shaken within the past several hours. But a new body of evidence suggests that infections, infant strokes, and accidental falls can also cause the telltale symptoms of shaken-baby syndrome (SBS). Meanwhile, child abuse researchers now believe that a symptom like brain bleeding can take days—not hours—to cause serious problems. If a child has several caregivers—a babysitter, relatives, and immediate family members—it can be impossible to say with certainty who abused her. But it's prosecutors who decide whether to file charges or fight appeals, and not all of them buy the new science. When I sent questions about wrongly convicted women to the National District Attorneys Association, I was referred to Josh Marquis, an NDAA board member and Oregon district attorney who is a strident skeptic of the innocence community. Daniel and Royal noted that a disproportionate number of women are exonerated because new science cast doubt on their original conviction—or even moved medical experts who once testified against them to change their minds. But Marquis said that he and many of his fellow prosecutors don't trust the developing science. New doubts about SBS, he said, are shared by only "a very small group of doctors" whose voices have been amplified by the defense bar. As for developments in arson science, he said, "arson investigation is more of an art than a science." It was only when Bunch connected with an Indianapolis attorney named Hilary Bowe Ricks, and scraped together a modest fee using her $1.30-a-day prison earnings, that she learned that new arson science could cast her conviction into doubt. In 2006, Ricks convinced the Northwestern center to join the case, and the team, which by then included Daniel, soon found a bevy of problems with the conviction. Bunch's original defense attorney had argued that one of the trailer home's many electrical problems probably caused the fire. Any accelerant, he insisted, was likely from a kerosene heater the family sometimes ran in the living room. However, state investigators working on-site (using now-questionable science) observed burn patterns in Tony's bedroom that fire experts at the time saw as undisputed evidence of arson. And a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives chemist who examined 10 samples sent to his Washington, DC, lab testified at Bunch's original trial that the floor of both the living room and the bedroom tested positive for liquid accelerant. Bunch's new legal team obtained the raw data that the ATF chemist had analyzed. According to lawsuits her attorneys have since filed against the investigators for withholding evidence, someone had altered the result for the sample in Tony's bedroom, which was negative for accelerant, making Bunch seem guilty. It appeared to Ricks as though investigators hadn't found accelerant anywhere in the trailer home, except in the living room, where the heater stood. The fire that had taken Tony's life now looked like an accident. (The state investigators have denied any wrongdoing, and an ATF spokeswoman declined to comment.) Bunch's legal team brought this undisclosed evidence to the Indiana Court of Appeals. On March 21, 2012, a three-judge panel reversed Bunch's conviction. The state Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in August, and she walked out of prison, a free woman for the first time in more than 16 years. By Christmas, prosecutors quietly declined to retry her. "When you walk out, you're exonerated, and you're free and clear. But that hurt, that humiliation, that shame—it doesn't go away." A few months after Bunch was released, Daniel and Royal launched Northwestern's Women's Project, an exoneration effort focused exclusively on freeing wrongly convicted women. They have already agreed to represent six women—cases that will involve child head trauma and arson science—and in December, they asked the Illinois Supreme Court to grant their first appeal. Meanwhile, their team is poring over files from dozens of suspicious convictions around the country and amassing court transcripts for an in-depth study of wrongful convictions of women accused of killing their children. Daniel and Royal's tiny project may wind up in the vanguard of work to exonerate both men and women. More wrongful convictions are overturned each year, but fewer and fewer of them involve DNA: Paul Cates, a spokesman for the Innocence Project, told me that investigators have now cleared many "easy" DNA cases—such as convictions that can be overturned by testing a single previously untested rape kit. Instead, more cases now involve complex DNA evidence, or none at all, and many more of those cases are ultimately found to involve an accident. Last year, a record 125 people were exonerated across the country; in 58 of those cases, courts found no crime was committed at all. Today, Kristine Bunch volunteers for the Women's Project, sorting through inmates' letters. She reads each one carefully, remembering the decade she spent writing pleas just like theirs. "You live with this freaky numbness," she said. "It's almost like you're underwater and everything is in slow motion. And you can't seem to pull yourself up out of it." She is thrilled that there is now an outfit giving convictions like hers its full attention, run by attorneys who understand that everything about a woman—her career, her ambitions, how much she cries—is ripe for judgment. In her off-hours, she is trying to get to know her 19-year-old son. Even though she saw him nearly every weekend in prison, she missed out on raising him, and building a strong relationship has proved difficult. So has the healing process. Many men who were wrongfully convicted didn't know their supposed victims. But with Bunch, the accident she was blamed for not only took 17 years of her life—it took her child. "You're accused of this horrible, horrible crime, you're put away, you have newspapers saying horrible, horrible things about you," she said. "When you walk out, you're exonerated, and you're free and clear. But that hurt, that humiliation, that shame—it doesn't go away because you've been exonerated. It's hard to step back out and act like you're normal and part of the world."

– Exonerating women who are wrongfully convicted of violent crimes is no easy task—just ask Kristine Bunch. She got 60 years for supposedly setting the fire that killed her 3-year-old son in 1995, and struggled to find anyone who could help, Mother Jones reports. Finally, lawyers at the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University's law school exposed a glaring hole (and possibly corruption) in the arson investigators' case. That evidence got Bunch released in 2012 after 16 years in prison, USA Today reported at the time. Then two lawyers from the Center, Karen Daniel and Judy Royal, began helping wrongfully convicted women based on a shocking statistic: Women constitute roughly 11% of violent-crime convictions but only 6% of overturned cases. But why are women's cases harder to overturn? Daniel and Royal give their reasons: Women are usually convicted of violent crimes against people close to them (like a husband or son) so DNA evidence won't help; the suspect's DNA is already spread around the crime scene. By contrast, men usually assault or kill strangers. An incredible 63% of women's exoneration cases turn out to be accidents or suicides rather than crimes. So instead of finding a "real culprit," Daniel and Royal may have to laboriously dismantle the prosecutors' case, perhaps with new science on arson or shaken-baby syndrome that not everyone accepts. Sexist stereotypes are used against women in court. In the case of a woman wrongfully convicted of murdering her son, the prosecutor implied she did it to pursue a modeling career. "That was based on one tiny conversation expressing slight interest in maybe having a nice photo taken," says Daniel. "Almost every case has something like this." Click for Mother Jones' full article.

(CNN) -- Just before she and her two brothers were captured after a manhunt lasting more than a week, Lee Grace Dougherty pointed her machine pistol at a Colorado police chief, but the chief fired his .40-caliber handgun first, wounding her in the right upper thigh, according to an investigator's affidavits released Thursday. "I pointed the gun at the cop," Dougherty told the FBI and Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Christian L. Mohr. "I deserved to get shot," Dougherty, 29, told authorities, according to Mohr's affidavit. "The cop said drop the gun." Southeast's Daugherty siblings caught in Colorado When she was shot, "instantly, I let go of the gun," Dougherty told the FBI. "The pain was all through my body." The cop who wounded her was Walsenburg, Colorado, Police Chief James Chamberlain, according to the documents. Thursday's release of the investigator's affidavits -- filed in support of the siblings' arrests -- provided new details about the moments leading up to authorities' capture of the three Dougherty siblings Wednesday. The FBI and other law agencies conducted a multistate dragnet for the trio for more than a week. The three siblings, arrested Wednesday after a high-speed chase by police resulted in the crash of the Doughertys' vehicle on a rural Colorado highway, had their first court hearing Thursday in Pueblo, but the three waived their right to appear, according to CNN affiliates KGTV and KUSA. A public defender represented them in their absence, according to the CNN affiliates. Lee Grace Dougherty, brother Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, and half-brother Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, face numerous charges. The three were wanted in an armed bank robbery in Georgia and were suspects in the attempted murder of a Florida police officer. Both incidents occurred August 2. Bond was set Thursday at $1.25 million for each of them, according to CNN affiliate KUSA. Their next court hearing is August 15, in Pueblo. During a high-speed chase before their car crashed, Ryan Dougherty was behind the wheel, and Dylan Dougherty Stanley was firing an AK-47 at pursuing officers and their vehicles, Lee Grace Dougherty told authorities, according to a second affidavit filed by Mohr. "We weren't trying to hurt anyone; we just wanted them to get back," Lee Grace Dougherty told investigators after her arrest. "They were way back, and we could barely see them. We were getting shot at, then we wrecked." Mohr inserted a note in his affidavit saying that police never fired upon the Doughertys: "No shots were fired at the vehicle and she may have mistaken the sounds of the tire deflation device they ran over." She told investigators that she "didn't shoot at any cop in the state of Colorado," according to Mohr's affidavit. In the Florida incident, the Doughertys successfully eluded police after the officer's car tire was shot out from one of the many rounds fired from the Dougherty's stolen car, authorities said. But the Doughertys couldn't elude authorities in Colorado. Their car crashed into a highway guardrail during a chase that reached up to 120 miles per hour, the affidavits said. One brother stayed in the car. Another brother stumbled off through the brush to a couple of nearby businesses, only to be picked up by law enforcement officers after a citizen spotted him, authorities told CNN. Authorities recovered two assault rifles, a submachine gun and a handgun at the crash scene, the affidavits said. Colorado authorities said the trio spent Tuesday night in the San Isabel National Forest, about 10 to 12 miles west of Colorado City. Their fugitive run ended Wednesday morning on Interstate 25 between Colorado City and the town of Walsenburg, authorities said. CNN's Deanna Proeller contributed to this report. ||||| Share E-Mail News Alerts Get breaking news and daily headlines. Browse all e-mail newsletters Related To Story Pueblo County S.O. DOUGHERTY GANG Dougherty Sister: I Deserved To Get Shot Dougherty Gang Held On $1.25 Million Bond Each On Assault, Attempted Murder Charges POSTED: 7:16 am MDT August 11, 2011 The fugitive sister shot by police in Colorado after a nationwide manhunt told police she "deserved to get shot" because she had pointed a gun at a police officer, but that she and her two brothers "weren't trying to hurt anyone," according to a court document released Thursday. Lee Grace E. Dougherty, 29, Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, and half-brother Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, were taken into custody after a high-speed chase and shootout on Wednesday. Lee Grace E. Dougherty, 29, Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, and half-brother Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, were taken into custody after a high-speed chase and shootout on Wednesday. They are currently being held in Pueblo County on $1.25 million bond each. They are currently being held in Pueblo County on $1.25 million bond each. An attorney for the trio, a public defender, waived their advisement hearing on Thursday, so the siblings did not appear in court via a closed-circuit camera. An attorney for the trio, a public defender, waived their advisement hearing on Thursday, so the siblings did not appear in court via a closed-circuit camera. They face charges of attempted murder of a peace officer and assault on a peace officer. The charges stem from allegations that they shot at authorities in Colorado. They are also facing charges in Florida and Georgia. They face charges of attempted murder of a peace officer and assault on a peace officer. The charges stem from allegations that they shot at authorities in Colorado. They are also facing charges in Florida and Georgia. The bond on the assault charges was set at $250,000 each. The bond on the attempted murder charges was set at $1 million each. The bond on the assault charges was set at $250,000 each. The bond on the attempted murder charges was set at $1 million each. Their next court appearance was set for Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. Their next court appearance was set for Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. Court Documents: Lee Grace Says They Weren't Trying To Hurt Anyone Lee Grace was shot in the leg by Walsenburg, Colo., Police Chief James Chamberlain after she pointed a machine gun at him, according to the affidavit. The document says she later told police, "I deserved to get shot." Lee Grace was shot in the leg by Walsenburg, Colo., Police Chief James Chamberlain after she pointed a machine gun at him, according to the affidavit. The document says she later told police, "I deserved to get shot." She told an FBI agent that the shootout -- which stretched for 20 miles along Interstate 25 -- was a defensive move. She told an FBI agent that the shootout -- which stretched for 20 miles along Interstate 25 -- was a defensive move. Pueblo Chieftain/Mike Sweeney Dylan, Lee Grace, and Ryan Dougherty awaiting a court appearance on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011. "We weren't trying to hurt anyone, we just wanted to get them back. They were way back and we could barely see them. We were getting shot at ... then we wrecked," Lee Grace said, according to the arrest affidavit. "We weren't trying to hurt anyone, we just wanted to get them back. They were way back and we could barely see them. We were getting shot at ... then we wrecked," Lee Grace said, according to the arrest affidavit. However, the Colorado State Patrol said no shots were fired at the Doughertys' car and that they may have mistaken the sounds of the stop sticks deflating their tires as gunshots, according to the arrest affidavit. However, the Colorado State Patrol said no shots were fired at the Doughertys' car and that they may have mistaken the sounds of the stop sticks deflating their tires as gunshots, according to the arrest affidavit. Several AK-47 rounds were fired at the three CSP cars and one Pueblo County Sheriff's vehicle during the pursuit, said Lt. Col. Anthony Padilla of the Colorado State Patrol. Several AK-47 rounds were fired at the three CSP cars and one Pueblo County Sheriff's vehicle during the pursuit, said Lt. Col. Anthony Padilla of the Colorado State Patrol. Troopers said said during the pursuit, which at times exceeded 120 mph, they could hear gunfire and could see "a weapon being fired out of the right side of the car." Troopers said said during the pursuit, which at times exceeded 120 mph, they could hear gunfire and could see "a weapon being fired out of the right side of the car." At time, the Doughertys' vehicle even drove on the right shoulder to pass vehicles, according to the affidavit. At time, the Doughertys' vehicle even drove on the right shoulder to pass vehicles, according to the affidavit. Once the car crashed, Lee Grace scrambled out and was going over a guard rail with a machine pistol in her hand, when Chamberlain ordered her to drop her weapon, the affidavit said. Once the car crashed, Lee Grace scrambled out and was going over a guard rail with a machine pistol in her hand, when Chamberlain ordered her to drop her weapon, the affidavit said. She was seen trying to "work the action on the pistol" and pointed her weapon directly at him, the affidavit said. She was seen trying to "work the action on the pistol" and pointed her weapon directly at him, the affidavit said. That's when Chamberlain fired his .40 caliber weapon and struck her in the right upper thigh, causing her to fall to the ground. That's when Chamberlain fired his .40 caliber weapon and struck her in the right upper thigh, causing her to fall to the ground. "I let go of the gun" and the "pain was all through my body," she told the FBI. "I let go of the gun" and the "pain was all through my body," she told the FBI. Ryan ran off and Dylan stayed in the car and was arrested without incident. Ryan ran off and Dylan stayed in the car and was arrested without incident. When questioned by authorities, Lee Grace said "Well, I didn't shoot anyone." (I) didn't shoot at any cop in the state of Colorado," and that her brother Ryan was driving and "a person can't drive and shoot at the same time." When questioned by authorities, Lee Grace said "Well, I didn't shoot anyone." (I) didn't shoot at any cop in the state of Colorado," and that her brother Ryan was driving and "a person can't drive and shoot at the same time." She didn't say if that meant that Dylan was the one who fired at officers with an AK-47 assault rifle. She didn't say if that meant that Dylan was the one who fired at officers with an AK-47 assault rifle. Authorities recovered a MAC-11 machine pistol, two AK-47 assault rifles and a handgun at the crime scene, according to the affidavit. Authorities recovered a MAC-11 machine pistol, two AK-47 assault rifles and a handgun at the crime scene, according to the affidavit. The Chase The Doughertys were first spotted in Colorado on Tuesday. Investigators believe the trio may have purchased a tent at an REI sporting goods store at 1376 E. Woodmen Road in Colorado Springs around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and one of them may gone into a Walmart in Canon City that night to buy ammunition for an AK-47. The Doughertys were first spotted in Colorado on Tuesday. Investigators believe the trio may have purchased a tent at an REI sporting goods store at 1376 E. Woodmen Road in Colorado Springs around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and one of them may gone into a Walmart in Canon City that night to buy ammunition for an AK-47. On Wednesday, witnesses spotted the suspects near Colorado City and called 911, said Colorado State Patrol Trooper Heather Cobler. Sightings of the suspects' vehicle were reported at a campground on Highway 165. Troopers said that when law enforcement reached the campground, the suspects had already left. On Wednesday, witnesses spotted the suspects near Colorado City and called 911, said Colorado State Patrol Trooper Heather Cobler. Sightings of the suspects' vehicle were reported at a campground on Highway 165. Troopers said that when law enforcement reached the campground, the suspects had already left. A short time later, a Pueblo County sheriff's Deputy Robbie Newsome saw the vehicle at a gas station near exit 74 on I-25 near Colorado City. He discreetly followed them until state troopers could join in the chase. A short time later, a Pueblo County sheriff's Deputy Robbie Newsome saw the vehicle at a gas station near exit 74 on I-25 near Colorado City. He discreetly followed them until state troopers could join in the chase. Officials said the suspects fled around 9:30 a.m. when they noticed that CSP troopers trying to stop them. Officials said the suspects fled around 9:30 a.m. when they noticed that CSP troopers trying to stop them. In Walsenburg, an off-duty trooper working at a construction site heard about the chase coming his way and he deployed spiked stop strips across the interstate. In Walsenburg, an off-duty trooper working at a construction site heard about the chase coming his way and he deployed spiked stop strips across the interstate. A tire was punctured on the Doughertys' Subaru, sending it rolling and crashing into a guardrail. A tire was punctured on the Doughertys' Subaru, sending it rolling and crashing into a guardrail. Lee Grace and Dylan were taken into custody immediately, according to the arrest affidavit. Lee Grace and Dylan were taken into custody immediately, according to the arrest affidavit. Ryan ran off and was eventually detained by construction workers working at a nearby site, authorities said. Ryan ran off and was eventually detained by construction workers working at a nearby site, authorities said. Construction Workers Capture One Suspect Three witnesses told a 7NEWS crew that they were working on a construction site near the crash when they noticed a man they believed was the third suspect hiding in some bushes. Two of the men said they chased Ryan on foot for about a quarter-mile before he turned on them and brandished what appeared to be a gun. Three witnesses told a 7NEWS crew that they were working on a construction site near the crash when they noticed a man they believed was the third suspect hiding in some bushes. Two of the men said they chased Ryan on foot for about a quarter-mile before he turned on them and brandished what appeared to be a gun. The witnesses said they dropped to the ground, but soon realized Ryan was simulating a gun with his hands. The witnesses said they dropped to the ground, but soon realized Ryan was simulating a gun with his hands. "He turned around and pointed like he had a gun at us and said, 'You know, get back!'" said witness Shane Zibinski. "So that's when the two of us kind of got down. Then we actually noticed that it was just his hands." "He turned around and pointed like he had a gun at us and said, 'You know, get back!'" said witness Shane Zibinski. "So that's when the two of us kind of got down. Then we actually noticed that it was just his hands." "When we got him down in that creek bed there, we kind of got in a little scuffle with him, getting him down to the ground," said witness Dave Vucetich. "He finally gave up then. We walked him back up to the highway." "When we got him down in that creek bed there, we kind of got in a little scuffle with him, getting him down to the ground," said witness Dave Vucetich. "He finally gave up then. We walked him back up to the highway." They held the suspect until law enforcement arrived. The witnesses said Ryan had injuries to one of his shoulders. They believed he was hurt in the crash -- not from any gunshots. They held the suspect until law enforcement arrived. The witnesses said Ryan had injuries to one of his shoulders. They believed he was hurt in the crash -- not from any gunshots. Dave Dallaguardia said he had no idea he was chasing one of the Dougherty siblings and his wife later scolded him for pursuing him. He said he and his co-workers came from small, blue-collar towns. Dave Dallaguardia said he had no idea he was chasing one of the Dougherty siblings and his wife later scolded him for pursuing him. He said he and his co-workers came from small, blue-collar towns. "If you need to lend a hand, you lend a hand and help people out," Dallaguardia said. "If you need to lend a hand, you lend a hand and help people out," Dallaguardia said. Crime Spree The Dougherty siblings have been on the run since Aug. 2, when police said they fired 20 shots at a Florida police officer attempting to pull over their white Subaru Impreza for speeding. The Dougherty siblings have been on the run since Aug. 2, when police said they fired 20 shots at a Florida police officer attempting to pull over their white Subaru Impreza for speeding. "At first it was like, 'Wow, you know, they're shooting at me.' And then it turned to, 'I just want to catch them before they hurt anybody,'" Zephyrhills, Fla., police officer Kevin Widner said of the confrontation. "At first it was like, 'Wow, you know, they're shooting at me.' And then it turned to, 'I just want to catch them before they hurt anybody,'" Zephyrhills, Fla., police officer Kevin Widner said of the confrontation. Five hours later, the trio, wearing masks, robbed a bank in Valdosta, Ga., police said. One of them fired an AK-47 rifle into the ceiling as they walked through the front door. Another was armed with some type of machine gun, while the third collected the cash, police said. Five hours later, the trio, wearing masks, robbed a bank in Valdosta, Ga., police said. One of them fired an AK-47 rifle into the ceiling as they walked through the front door. Another was armed with some type of machine gun, while the third collected the cash, police said. Ryan, a convicted sex offender, has 14 previous felonies on his record and was accused of sending hundreds of explicit text messages to an 11-year-old girl he had met online. Dylan has arrests for marijuana-possession. Ryan, a convicted sex offender, has 14 previous felonies on his record and was accused of sending hundreds of explicit text messages to an 11-year-old girl he had met online. Dylan has arrests for marijuana-possession. Lee Grace worked as a stripper at a club called Cheaters and had been arrested for five felonies, including battery and hit-and-run, and six misdemeanor offenses. Lee Grace worked as a stripper at a club called Cheaters and had been arrested for five felonies, including battery and hit-and-run, and six misdemeanor offenses. On her On her profile on the photo sharing website Flickr.com , Lee Grace wrote: "I love to farm and shoot guys and wreck cars. I'm a redneck and proud of it. I like milk and German engineering and causing mayhem with my siblings." Dubbed the Dougherty Gang, the two brothers and sister were the subject of a national manhunt, listed on the FBI's Most Wanted List and defined as heavily armed and extremely dangerous. Dubbed the Dougherty Gang, the two brothers and sister were the subject of a national manhunt, listed on the FBI's Most Wanted List and defined as heavily armed and extremely dangerous. "These individuals were armed. They'd fired upon police officers in the state of Florida. We knew we were dealing with some very dangerous individuals," Padilla said. "These individuals were armed. They'd fired upon police officers in the state of Florida. We knew we were dealing with some very dangerous individuals," Padilla said. Authorities are still investigating how the trio got from Georgia to Colorado and where they were going. FBI agent Phil Niedringhaus couldn't say why they came to Colorado other than to say it was "a poor choice." Authorities are still investigating how the trio got from Georgia to Colorado and where they were going. FBI agent Phil Niedringhaus couldn't say why they came to Colorado other than to say it was "a poor choice." Pasco County, Fla., Sheriff Chris Nocco called the siblings "very, very dangerous people" and said their capture was a big relief and a sign that law enforcement has won. Pasco County, Fla., Sheriff Chris Nocco called the siblings "very, very dangerous people" and said their capture was a big relief and a sign that law enforcement has won. Trio's Mother Talks Their mother, Barbara Bell of East Palatka, Fla., spoke briefly Thursday to The Associated Press but declined to discuss their ordeal, saying she didn't think it would help them in the long run. Their mother, Barbara Bell of East Palatka, Fla., spoke briefly Thursday to The Associated Press but declined to discuss their ordeal, saying she didn't think it would help them in the long run. "Thank God they're not tried by the media," she said. "They're tried in a court of law and their story will come out at that time." "Thank God they're not tried by the media," she said. "They're tried in a court of law and their story will come out at that time." Bell hung up the phone shortly after a reporter called, saying she needed to keep the line open for concerned family members to reach her. Bell hung up the phone shortly after a reporter called, saying she needed to keep the line open for concerned family members to reach her. "I'm devastated and I'm trying to be strong for other family members," Bell said. "Throughout all of this, I think everybody just wanted it to stop. And now it's over." "I'm devastated and I'm trying to be strong for other family members," Bell said. "Throughout all of this, I think everybody just wanted it to stop. And now it's over." Which Jurisdiction Will Try Them First? FBI spokesman Dave Joly said it's not clear who would get their first shot at trying the trio. However, there was no word on extradition on Thursday. FBI spokesman Dave Joly said it's not clear who would get their first shot at trying the trio. However, there was no word on extradition on Thursday. The siblings also have no-bond warrants in Georgia and Florida. The siblings also have no-bond warrants in Georgia and Florida. "These three have a big legal mess in front of them, and at some point they'll face charges in all those jurisdictions," said Niedringhaus. "These three have a big legal mess in front of them, and at some point they'll face charges in all those jurisdictions," said Niedringhaus. Pueblo County Prosecutor Bill Thiebaut said his office is pursuing the case. Pueblo County Prosecutor Bill Thiebaut said his office is pursuing the case. "Our community needs a chance in the justice system to remedy that," he said. "Our community needs a chance in the justice system to remedy that," he said. Read about more out-of-state fugitives arrested in Read about more out-of-state fugitives arrested in Colorado over the years. Report a typo or inaccuracy Copyright 2011 TheDenverChannel.com. 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– The female member of the fugitive siblings glorified as the Dougherty Gang doesn't sound too upset she caught a bullet in the thigh: "I pointed the gun at the cop," Lee Grace Dougherty told authorities, according to KMGH in Denver. "I deserved to get shot. The cop said drop the gun." The comments were revealed in court affidavits as she and brothers Ryan and Dylan made their first court appearances by video. They are each being held on $1.25 million bond and will eventually face a long list of charges from their cross-country dash. As for firing at pursuing Colorado troopers with an AK-47: "We weren't trying to hurt anyone, we just wanted them to get back," she told investigators. "They were way back, and we could barely see them. We were getting shot at, then we wrecked." An investigator inserted a note in the file saying police never fired at the car and suggesting that Dougherty confused the sound of the car running over spiked speed sticks with gunfire, notes CNN. She claimed she didn't do the shooting (at least in Colorado) and that Ryan was driving, and "a person can't drive and shoot at the same time." Which means big sis ever so tactfully pointed the finger at Dylan. (Click to read what mom thinks about the whole ordeal.)

WASHINGTON — As the United States military prepares to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning a remarkable civilian effort, buttressed by a small army of contractors, to fill the void. By October 2011, the State Department will assume responsibility for training the Iraqi police, a task that will largely be carried out by contractors. With no American soldiers to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq, it will be up to American diplomats in two new $100 million outposts to head off potential confrontations between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish pesh merga forces. To protect the civilians in a country that is still home to insurgents with Al Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias, the State Department is planning to more than double its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000, according to administration officials who disclosed new details of the plan. Defending five fortified compounds across the country, the security contractors would operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and even staff quick reaction forces to aid civilians in distress, the officials said. “I don’t think State has ever operated on its own, independent of the U.S. military, in an environment that is quite as threatening on such a large scale,” said James Dobbins, a former ambassador who has seen his share of trouble spots as a special envoy for Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo and Somalia. “It is unprecedented in scale.” White House officials expressed confidence that the transfer to civilians — about 2,400 people who would work at the Baghdad embassy and other diplomatic sites — would be carried out on schedule, and that they could fulfill their mission of helping bring stability to Iraq. “The really big picture that we have seen in Iraq over the last year and a half to two years is this: the number of violent incidents is significantly down, the competence of Iraqi security forces is significantly up, and politics has emerged as the basic way of doing business in Iraq,” said Antony J. Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “If that trend continues, and I acknowledge it is an ‘if,’ that creates a much better context for dealing with the very significant and serious problems that remain in Iraq.” But the tiny military presence under the Obama administration’s plan — limited to several dozen to several hundred officers in an embassy office who would help the Iraqis purchase and field new American military equipment — and the civilians’ growing portfolio have led some veteran Iraq hands to suggest that thousands of additional troops will be needed after 2011. “We need strategic patience here,” Ryan C. Crocker, who served as ambassador in Iraq from 2007 until early 2009, said in an interview. “Our timetables are getting out ahead of Iraqi reality. We do have an Iraqi partner in this. We certainly are not the ones making unilateral decisions anymore. But if they come to us later on this year requesting that we jointly relook at the post-2011 period, it is going to be in our strategic interest to be responsive.” The array of tasks for which American troops are likely to be needed, military experts and some Iraqi officials say, include training Iraqi forces to operate and logistically support new M-1 tanks, artillery and F-16s they intend to acquire from the Americans; protecting Iraq’s airspace until the country can rebuild its air force; and perhaps assisting Iraq’s special operations units in carrying out counterterrorism operations. Such an arrangement would need to be negotiated with Iraqi officials, who insisted on the 2011 deadline in the agreement with the Bush administration for removing American forces. With the Obama administration in campaign mode for the coming midterm elections and Iraqi politicians yet to form a government, the question of what future military presence might be needed has been all but banished from public discussion. “The administration does not want to touch this question right now,” said one administration official involved in Iraq issues, adding that military officers had suggested that 5,000 to 10,000 troops might be needed. “It runs counter to their political argument that we are getting out of these messy places,” the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, added. “And it would be quite counterproductive to talk this way in front of the Iraqis. If the Iraqis want us, they should be the demandeur.” ||||| U.S. military officials are hustling to reduce the number of troops in Iraq to 50,000 to meet President Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for an end to U.S. combat operations, but as troops leave, the administration reportedly is planning to double the number of private security guards in the country. A senior military official in Iraq said the Defense Department will meet the deadline for exiting combat troops. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT "We are sitting around 55k and will be down to 50k by 1 September," the official wrote in an e-mail to Fox News. The bulk of the 4th Stryker Brigade from the 2nd Infantry Division left the country on Thursday. Approximately 100 members of the brigade remain in Iraq to handle various administrative and supply issues. They will be out of the country within days. After Aug. 31, the mission in Iraq will no longer be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom and will instead be known as Operation New Dawn. Obama, who had imposed an end-of-the-month deadline for the pullout in February 2009, called it a milestone in the war though the remaining 50,000 support troops will stay in Iraq until the end of next year to train Iraqi forces. The U.S. still has "a significant amount of influence" in Iraq, and the mission will be to provide support and help the country grow and "give economic development" assistance, said Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza, a spokesman for Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. When the last of the military troops leave at the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning to more than double the number of private security guards it has in Iraq -- up to 7,000 -- The New York Times reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed administration officials. The U.S. State Department move is aimed at protecting civilians still exposed to Al Qaeda-linked insurgents and Iranian-backed militias. At the same time, Afghanistan is asking the United States to remove a bulk of its 45,000 private contractors from the country. Contractors employed by the State Department will train the Iraqi police and U.S. diplomats in two new $100 million outposts will be left to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq. The security contractors, defending five fortified compounds around the country, will operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and staff quick reaction forces to help civilians in distress, the officials told the Times. As the exit of the troops was shown live on TV in the U.S. Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley described the end of combat operations as a "historic moment," but vowed that America's long-term commitment was unwavering. "The last thing that we want to see is an occasion where we have to send troops back into Iraq yet again so we are ending the combat phase of our involvement in Iraq for a second time," he said. "We're not ending our involvement in Iraq. We will have important work to do. This is a transition. This is not the end of something. It's a transition to something different. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq." Crowley said that after spending $1 trillion in Iraq and with 4,400 lives lost, the conflict had come "at high expense." "We've invested heavily in Iraq and have to do everything we can to preserve that investment to integrate Iraq, along with the neighborhood, into a much more peaceful situation that serves their interests as well as ours. But this is a historic moment." Obama said the events were the beginning of the pullout he promised when he became president. "As we mark this milestone in the Iraq war and our troops continue to move out of Iraq, I hope you'll join me in thanking them, and all of our troops and military families, for their service," Obama said. "My administration will continue to do our part to support the brave men and women in uniform that have sacrificed so much. But supporting our troops and their families is not just the job of the federal government; it's the responsibility of all Americans. "Shortly after taking office, I put forward a plan to end the war in Iraq responsibly. Today, I'm pleased to report that -- thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians in Iraq -- our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops. "Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of next year. Meanwhile, we will continue to build a strong partnership with the Iraqi people with an increased civilian commitment and diplomatic effort." NewsCore contributed to this report.

– The US military may be rolling out of Iraq, but American civilians are not. To protect its outposts, the State Department plans to double the number of private security guards on the ground, finds the New York Times. As many as 7,000 guards will search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones, and continue training Iraqi police. “We need strategic patience here,” says a former US ambassador to Iraq. “Our timetables are getting out ahead of Iraqi reality." "I don’t think State has ever operated on its own, independent of the US military, in an environment that is quite as threatening on such a large scale,” said another former ambassador. But, notes Fox News, the contractors won't be entirely on their own—some 50,000 US troops are staying behind through the end of 2011 to train Iraqi forces. (Click here to read about al-Qaeda in Iraq's post-withdrawal plans.)

As the species with a sequenced genome closest to our most recent aquatic ancestor, the coelacanth provides a unique opportunity to identify genomic changes that were associated with the successful adaptation of vertebrates to the land environment. Over the 400 Myr that vertebrates have lived on land, some genes that are unnecessary for existence in their new environment have been eliminated. To understand this aspect of the water-to-land transition, we surveyed the Latimeria genome annotations to identify genes that were present in the last common ancestor of all bony fish (including the coelacanth) but that are missing from tetrapod genomes. More than 50 such genes, including components of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling, TGF-β and bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signalling, and WNT signalling pathways, as well as many transcription factor genes, were inferred to be lost based on the coelacanth data (Supplementary Data 7 and Supplementary Fig. 9). Previous studies of genes that were lost in this transition could only compare teleost fish to tetrapods, meaning that differences in gene content could have been due to loss in the tetrapod or in the lobe-finned fish lineages. We were able to confirm that four genes that were shown previously to be absent in tetrapods (And1 and And2 (ref. 29), Fgf24 (ref. 30) and Asip2 (ref. 31)), were indeed present and intact in Latimeria, supporting the idea that they were lost in the tetrapod lineage. We functionally annotated more than 50 genes lost in tetrapods using zebrafish data (gene expression, knock-downs and knockouts). Many genes were classified in important developmental categories (Supplementary Data 7): fin development (13 genes); otolith and ear development (8 genes); kidney development (7 genes); trunk, somite and tail development (11 genes); eye (13 genes); and brain development (23 genes). This implies that critical characters in the morphological transition from water to land (for example, fin-to-limb transition and remodelling of the ear) are reflected in the loss of specific genes along the phylogenetic branch leading to tetrapods. However, homeobox genes, which are responsible for the development of an organism’s basic body plan, show only slight differences between Latimeria, ray-finned fish and tetrapods; it would seem that the protein-coding portion of this gene family, along with several others (Supplementary Note 9, Supplementary Tables 12–16 and Supplementary Fig. 10), have remained largely conserved during the vertebrate land transition (Supplementary Fig. 11). As vertebrates transitioned to a new land environment, changes occurred not only in gene content but also in the regulation of existing genes. Conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) are strong candidates for gene regulatory elements. They can act as promoters, enhancers, repressors and insulators32, 33, and have been implicated as major facilitators of evolutionary change34. To identify CNEs that originated in the most recent common ancestor of tetrapods, we predicted CNEs that evolved in various bony vertebrate (that is, ray-finned fish, coelacanth and tetrapod) lineages and assigned them to their likely branch points of origin. To detect CNEs, conserved sequences in the human genome were identified using MULTIZ alignments of bony vertebrate genomes, and then known protein-coding sequences, untranslated regions (UTRs) and known RNA genes were excluded. Our analysis identified 44,200 ancestral tetrapod CNEs that originated after the divergence of the coelacanth lineage. They represent 6% of the 739,597 CNEs that are under constraint in the bony vertebrate lineage. We compared the ancestral tetrapod CNEs to mouse embryo ChIP-seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing) data obtained using antibodies against p300, a transcriptional coactivator. This resulted in a sevenfold enrichment in the p300 binding sites for our candidate CNEs and confirmed that these CNEs are indeed enriched for gene regulatory elements. Each tetrapod CNE was assigned to the gene whose transcription start site was closest, and gene-ontology category enrichment was calculated for those genes. The most enriched categories were involved with smell perception (for example, sensory perception of smell, detection of chemical stimulus and olfactory receptor activity). This is consistent with the notable expansion of olfactory receptor family genes in tetrapods compared with teleosts, and may reflect the necessity of a more tightly regulated, larger and more diverse repertoire of olfactory receptors for detecting airborne odorants as part of the terrestrial lifestyle. Other significant categories include morphogenesis (radial pattern formation, hind limb morphogenesis, kidney morphogenesis) and cell differentiation (endothelial cell fate commitment, epithelial cell fate commitment), which is consistent with the body-plan changes required for land transition, as well as immunoglobulin VDJ recombination, which reflects the presumed response differences required to address the novel pathogens that vertebrates would encounter on land (Supplementary Note 10 and Supplementary Tables 17–24). A major innovation of tetrapods is the evolution of limbs characterized by digits. The limb skeleton consists of a stylopod (humerus or femur), the zeugopod (radius and ulna, or tibia and fibula), and an autopod (wrist or ankle, and digits). There are two major hypotheses about the origins of the autopod; that it was a novel feature of tetrapods, and that it has antecedents in the fins of fish35 (Supplementary Note 11 and Supplementary Fig. 12). We examine here the Hox regulation of limb development in ray-finned fish, coelacanth and tetrapods to address these hypotheses. In mouse, late-phase digit enhancers are located in a gene desert that is proximal to the HOX-D cluster36. Here we provide an alignment of the HOX-D centromeric gene desert of coelacanth with those of tetrapods and ray-finned fishes (Fig. 2a). Among the six cis-regulatory sequences previously identified in this gene desert36, three sequences show sequence conservation restricted to tetrapods (Supplementary Fig. 13). However, one regulatory sequence (island 1) is shared by tetrapods and coelacanth, but not by ray-finned fish (Fig. 2b and Supplementary Fig. 14). When tested in a transient transgenic assay in mouse, the coelacanth sequence of island 1 was able to drive reporter expression in a limb-specific pattern (Fig. 2c). This suggests that island 1 was a lobe-fin developmental enhancer in the fish ancestor of tetrapods that was then coopted into the autopod enhancer of modern tetrapods. In this case, the autopod developmental regulation was derived from an ancestral lobe-finned fish regulatory element. Figure 2: Alignment of the HOX-D locus and an upstream gene desert identifies conserved limb enhancers. a, Organization of the mouse HOX-D locus and centromeric gene desert, flanked by the Atf2 and Mtx2 genes. Limb regulatory sequences (I1, I2, I3, I4, CsB and CsC) are noted. Using the mouse locus as a reference (NCBI and mouse genome sequencing consortium NCBI37/mm9 assembly), corresponding sequences from human, chicken, frog, coelacanth, pufferfish, medaka, stickleback, zebrafish and elephant shark were aligned. Alignment shows regions of homology between tetrapod, coelacanth and ray-finned fishes. b, Alignment of vertebrate cis-regulatory elements I1, I2, I3, I4, CsB and CsC. c, Expression patterns of coelacanth island I in a transgenic mouse. Limb buds are indicated by arrowheads in the first two panels. The third panel shows a close-up of a limb bud. Full size image (414 KB) Download PowerPoint slide (986 KB) Previous Figures index Next Changes in the urea cycle provide an illuminating example of the adaptations associated with transition to land. Excretion of nitrogen is a major physiological challenge for terrestrial vertebrates. In aquatic environments, the primary nitrogenous waste product is ammonia, which is readily diluted by surrounding water before it reaches toxic levels, but on land, less toxic substances such as urea or uric acid must be produced instead (Supplementary Fig. 15). The widespread and almost exclusive occurrence of urea excretion in amphibians, some turtles and mammals has led to the hypothesis that the use of urea as the main nitrogenous waste product was a key innovation in the vertebrate transition from water to land37. With the availability of gene sequences from coelacanth and lungfish, it became possible to test this hypothesis. We used a branch-site model in the HYPHY package38, which estimates the ratio of synonymous (dS) to non-synonymous (dN) substitutions (ω values) among different branches and among different sites (codons) across a multiple-species sequence alignment. For the rate-limiting enzyme of the hepatic urea cycle, carbamoyl phosphate synthase I (CPS1), only one branch of the tree shows a strong signature of selection (P = 0.02), namely the branch leading to tetrapods and the branch leading to amniotes (Fig. 3); no other enzymes in this cycle showed a signature of selection. Conversely, mitochondrial arginase (ARG2), which produces extrahepatic urea as a byproduct of arginine metabolism but is not involved in the production of urea for nitrogenous waste disposal, did not show any evidence of selection in vertebrates (Supplementary Fig. 16). This leads us to conclude that adaptive evolution occurred in the hepatic urea cycle during the vertebrate land transition. In addition, it is interesting to note that of the five amino acids of CPS1 that changed between coelacanth and tetrapods, three are in important domains (the two ATP-binding sites and the subunit interaction domain) and a fourth is known to cause a malfunctioning enzyme in human patients if mutated39. Figure 3: Phylogeny of Cps1 coding sequences is used to determine positive selection within the urea cycle. Branch lengths are scaled to the expected number of substitutions per nucleotide, and branch colours indicate the strength of selection (dN/dS or ω). Red, positive or diversifying selection (ω > 5); blue, purifying selection (ω = 0); yellow, neutral evolution (ω = 1). Thick branches indicate statistical support for evolution under episodic diversifying selection. The proportion of each colour represents the fraction of the sequence undergoing the corresponding class of selection. Full size image (156 KB) Download PowerPoint slide (332 KB) Previous Figures index Next The adaptation to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated major changes in the physiological environment of the developing embryo and fetus, resulting in the evolution and specialization of extra-embryonic membranes of the amniote mammals40. In particular, the placenta is a complex structure that is critical for providing gas and nutrient exchange between mother and fetus, and is also a major site of haematopoiesis41. We have identified a region of the coelacanth HOX-A cluster that may have been involved in the evolution of extra-embryonic structures in tetrapods, including the eutherian placenta. Global alignment of the coelacanth Hoxa14–Hoxa13 region with the homologous regions of the horn shark, chicken, human and mouse revealed a CNE just upstream of the coelacanth Hoxa14 gene (Supplementary Fig. 17a). This conserved stretch is not found in teleost fishes but is highly conserved among horn shark, chicken, human and mouse despite the fact that the chicken, human and mouse have no Hoxa14 orthologues, and that the horn shark Hoxa14 gene has become a pseudogene. This CNE, HA14E1, corresponds to the proximal promoter-enhancer region of the Hoxa14 gene in Latimeria. HA14E1 is more than 99% identical between mouse, human and all other sequenced mammals, and would therefore be considered to be an ultra-conserved element42. The high level of conservation suggests that this element, which already possessed promoter activity, may have been coopted for other functions despite the loss of the Hoxa14 gene in amniotes (Supplementary Fig. 17bc). Expression of human HA14E1 in a mouse transient transgenic assay did not give notable expression in the embryo proper at day 11.5 (information is available online at the VISTA enhancer browser website; http://enhancer.lbl.gov/cgi-bin/imagedb3.pl?form=presentation&show=1&experiment_id=501&organism_id=1), which was unexpected as its location would predict that it would regulate axial structures caudally43. A similar experiment in chick embryos using the chicken HA14E1 also showed no activity in the anteroposterior axis. However, strong expression was observed in the extraembryonic area vasculosa of the chick embryo (Fig. 4a). Examination of a Latimeria BAC Hoxa14-reporter transgene in mouse embryos showed that the Hoxa14 gene is specifically expressed in a subset of cells in an extra-embryonic region at embryonic day 8.5 (Fig. 4b). Figure 4: Transgenic analysis implicates involvement of Hox CNE HA14E1 in extraembryonic activities in the chick and mouse. a, Chicken HA14E1 drives reporter expression in blood islands in chick embryos. A construct containing chicken HA14E1 upstream of a minimal (thymidine kinase) promoter driving enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was electroporated in HH4-stage chick embryos together with a nuclear mCherry construct. GFP expression was analysed at stage approximately HH11. The green aggregations and punctate staining are observed in the blood islands and developing vasculature. b, Expression of Latimeria Hoxa14-reporter transgene in the developing placental labyrinth of a mouse embryo. A field of cells from the labyrinth region of an embryo at embryonic day 8.5 from a BAC transgenic line containing coelacanth Hoxa9–Hoxa14 (ref. 49) in which the Hoxa14 gene had been supplanted with the gene for red fluorescence protein (RFP). Immunohistochemistry was used to detect RFP (brown staining in a small number of cells). Full size image (388 KB) Download PowerPoint slide (500 KB) Previous Figures index These findings suggest that the HA14E1 region may have been evolutionarily recruited to coordinate regulation of posterior HOX-A genes (Hoxa13, Hoxa11 and Hoxa10), which are known to be expressed in the mouse allantois and are critical for early formation of the mammalian placenta44. Although Latimeria does not possess a placenta, it gives birth to live young and has very large, vascularised eggs, but the relationship between Hoxa14, the HA14E1 enhancer and blood island formation in the coelacanth remains unknown. ||||| In the hope of reconstructing a pivotal step in evolution — the colonization of land by fish that learned to walk and breathe air — researchers have decoded the genome of the coelacanth, a prehistoric-looking fish whose form closely resembles those seen in the fossils of 400 million years ago. Often called a living fossil, the coelacanth (pronounced SEE-luh-canth) was long believed to have fallen extinct 70 million years ago, until a specimen was recognized in a fish market in South Africa in 1938. The coelacanth has fleshy, lobed fins that look somewhat like limbs, as does the lungfish, an air-breathing freshwater fish. The coelacanth and the lungfish have long been battling for the honor of which is closer to the ancestral fish that first used fins to walk on land and give rise to the tetrapods, meaning all the original vertebrates and their descendants, from reptiles and birds to mammals. The decoding of the coelacanth genome, reported online Wednesday in the journal Nature, is a victory for the lungfish as the closer relative to the first tetrapod. But the coelacanth may have the last laugh because its genome — which, at 2.8 billion units of DNA, is about the same size as a human genome — is decodable, whereas the lungfish genome, a remarkable 100 billion DNA units in length, cannot be cracked with present methods. The coelacanth genome is therefore more likely to shed light on the central evolutionary question of what genetic alterations were needed to change a lobe-finned fish into the first land-dwelling tetrapod. Photo The idea of decoding the coelacanth genome began six years ago when Chris Amemiya, a biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, acquired some samples of coelacanth tissue. He asked the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., a biological research institute in Cambridge, Mass., to decode the DNA and invited experts in evolutionary and developmental biology to help interpret the results. Dr. Amemiya’s team has sifted through the coelacanth’s genome for genes that might have helped its cousin species, the ancestor to the first tetrapod, invade dry land some 400 million years ago. They have found one gene that is related to those that, in animal species, build the placenta. Coelacanths have no placenta, but they produce extremely large eggs, with a good blood supply, that hatch inside the mother’s body. This gene could have been developed by land animals into a way of constructing the placenta. Another helpful preadaptation is a snippet of DNA that enhances the activity of the genes that drive the formation of limbs in the embryo. The Amemiya team focused on the enhancer DNA sequence because it occurred in the coelacanth and animals but not in ordinary fish. They then inserted the coelacanth enhancer DNA into mice. “It lit up right away and made an almost normal limb,” said Neil Shubin, meaning that the coelacanth gene enhancer successfully encouraged the mouse genes to make a limb. Dr. Shubin, a member of the team, is a paleontologist at the University of Chicago. Present-day coelacanths are ferocious predators that live in a twilight zone about 500 feet deep where light barely penetrates. They lurk in caves during the day and emerge at night to attack surface fish as they descend and deep-sea fish as they rise to the surface. They have no evident need of fins that might help them walk on land. “This is probably an unusual habitat for this lineage,” said Axel Meyer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Konstanz in Germany and a member of the team. “Other coelacanths lived in more shallow, estuarylike environments 400 million years ago, and you can envisage them using the fins more like walking legs.” The Amemiya team reports evidence that the coelacanth’s genes have been evolving more slowly than those of mammals, possibly because of “a static habitat and lack of predators.” But its environment must have changed quite considerably over the last 400 million years, Dr. Meyer said. Its principal habitat at present is the caves beneath the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean, but since these are extinct volcanoes a mere 5 million to 10 million years old, they must be a quite recent home for the coelacanth. The Amemiya team does not possess a full coelacanth — these are endangered species — and decoded the genome from tissues obtained from Rosemary Dorrington of Rhodes University in South Africa. Dr. Dorrington supplied DNA kits to the Comoro Islands fishermen who occasionally snag coelacanths by accident. When a coelacanth was captured in 2003, they preserved blood and tissues, which were given to Dr. Dorrington and kept frozen, Dr. Amemiya said. The specimen was preserved in Moroni, the capital of the Comoro Islands, but Dr. Amemiya has been unable to find out where it is now because of the constant state of civil war in the islands, he said. Can he be certain, then, that the tissue came from a coelacanth? “Oh, no question,” Dr. Amemiya said. “We have DNA from several other coelacanths, from Africa and Indonesia, which is very similar to this one.” The one caught in 2003 was identified as a coelacanth by Said Ahamada, a South African expert, Dr. Amemiya said. Because the original specimen is not available and the DNA sequencing is incomplete, the Amemiya team does not know its sex. Lobe-finned fish like the coelacanth and lungfish are known to zoologists as sarcopterygians, meaning fleshy fins. Tetrapods, including people, are descended from this group, and the coelacanth is more closely related to people than to other fish. “Evolutionarily speaking, we are sarcopterygian fish,” Dr. Meyer said.

– The coelacanth doesn't just look like a prehistoric fish, it was believed to be one, extinct for some 70 million years—until one turned up at a South African fish market in 1938. Now, scientists have decoded the endangered species' genome, and they say they've found some clues as to how today's land animals evolved from a fish ancestor, reports the New York Times. First, some fascinating backstory: The Times explains that the coelacanth and lung fish—both "lobe-finned fish"—have been duking it out for the title of the closet relative to that first ancestral fish that used its fins to walk on land. Post-decoding, the lungfish emerges as the closer relative, but in the Times' telling, the "coelacanth may have the last laugh"—that's because the lungfish genome is too long to decode using current technology. What scientists learned from the coelacanths' DNA: Even though coelacanths don't have a placenta, they have a gene related to one that allows land animals to grow a placenta. A DNA sequence found in coelacanths, but not ordinary fish, bolsters the genes that helps an embryo grow limbs. Researchers actually injected the coelacanth's sequence into mice; "it lit up right away and made an almost normal limb," says one. You can check out the original article at Nature.

To read about TIME’s choice in Spanish and Portuguese, click below. EL ELEGIDO: El Papa Francisco es la Persona del Año 2013 de TIME A Escolha: O Papa Francisco é a Personalidade do Ano eleita pela Time em 2013 Once there was a boy so meek and modest, he was awarded a Most Humble badge. The next day, it was taken away because he wore it. Here endeth the lesson. How do you practice humility from the most exalted throne on earth? Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly—young and old, faithful and cynical—as has Pope Francis. In his nine months in office, he has placed himself at the very center of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power. At a time when the limits of leadership are being tested in so many places, along comes a man with no army or weapons, no kingdom beyond a tight fist of land in the middle of Rome but with the immense wealth and weight of history behind him, to throw down a challenge. The world is getting smaller; individual voices are getting louder; technology is turning virtue viral, so his pulpit is visible to the ends of the earth. When he kisses the face of a disfigured man or washes the feet of a Muslim woman, the image resonates far beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church. (PERSON OF THE YEAR: Pope Francis, The People’s Pope) The skeptics will point to the obstacles Francis faces in accomplishing much of anything beyond making casual believers feel better about the softer tone coming out of Rome while feeling free to ignore the harder substance. The Catholic Church is one of the oldest, largest and richest institutions on earth, with a following 1.2 billion strong, and change does not come naturally. At its best it inspires and instructs, helps and heals and calls the faithful to heed their better angels. But it has been weakened worldwide by scandal, corruption, a shortage of priests and a challenge, especially across the fertile mission fields of the southern hemisphere, from evangelical and Pentecostal rivals. In some quarters, core teachings on divorce and contraception are widely ignored and orthodoxy derided as obsolete. Vatican bureaucrats and clergy stand accused of infighting, graft, blackmail and an obsession with “small-minded rules,” as Francis puts it, rather than the vast possibilities of grace. Don’t just preach; listen, he says. Don’t scold; heal. And yet in less than a year, he has done something remarkable: he has not changed the words, but he’s changed the music. Tone and temperament matter in a church built on the substance of symbols—bread and wine, body and blood—so it is a mistake to dismiss any Pope’s symbolic choices­ as gestures empty of the force of law. He released his first exhortation, an attack on “the idolatry of money,” just as Americans were contemplating the day set aside for gratitude and whether to spend it at the mall. This is a man with a sense of timing. He lives not in the papal palace surrounded by courtiers but in a spare hostel surrounded by priests. He prays all the time, even while waiting for the dentist. He has retired the papal Mercedes in favor of a scuffed-up Ford Focus. No red shoes, no gilded cross, just an iron one around his neck. When he rejects the pomp and the privilege, releases information on Vatican finances for the first time, reprimands a profligate German Archbishop, cold-calls strangers in distress, offers to baptize the baby of a divorced woman whose married lover wanted her to abort it, he is doing more than modeling mercy and ­transparency. He is ­embracing complexity and acknowledging the risk that a church obsessed with its own rights and righteousness could inflict more wounds than it heals. Asked why he seems uninterested in waging a culture war, he refers to the battlefield. The church is a field hospital, he says. Our first duty is to tend to the wounded. You don’t ask a bleeding man about his cholesterol level. (MORE: Everything You Wanted to Know about TIME’s Person of the Year) This focus on compassion, along with a general aura of merriment not always associated with princes of the church, has made Francis something of a rock star. More than 3 million people turned out to see him on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro last summer, the crowds in St. Peter’s Square are ecstatic, and the souvenirs are selling fast. Francesco is the most popular male baby name in Italy. Churches report a “Francis effect” of lapsed Catholics returning to Mass and confession, though anecdotes are no substitute for hard evidence, and surveys of U.S. Catholics, at least, see little change in practice thus far. But the fascination with Francis even outside his flock gives him an opportunity that his predecessor, Benedict XVI, never had—to magnify the message of the church and its power to do great good. The giddy embrace of the secular press makes Francis suspect among traditionalists who fear he buys popularity at the price of a watered-down faith. He has deftly leveraged the media’s fascination to draw attention to everything from his prayers for peace in Syria to his pointed attack on trickle-down economics, which inspired Jesse Jackson to compare him to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rush Limbaugh to wonder whether he’s a Marxist. When you are a media celebrity, every word you speak is dissected, as are those you choose not to speak. Why has he not said more about the priest sex-abuse scandal? ask victims’ advocates. (Just this month, he set up a commission to address the abuse of children by priests.) Why does he not talk more about the sanctity of life? ask conservatives, who note that in his exhortation, abortion is mentioned once, mercy 32 times. Francis both affirms traditional teachings on sexuality and warns that the church has become distracted by them. He attacks priests who won’t baptize children born out of wedlock for their “rigorous and hypocritical neo-clericalism.” He declares that God “has redeemed all of us … not just Catholics. Everyone, even atheists.” He posed with environmental activists holding an antifracking T-shirt and called on politicians and business leaders to be “protectors of creation.” (MORE: Behind the Pope Francis Cover) None of which makes him a liberal—he also says the all-male priesthood is not subject to debate, nor is abortion, nor is the definition of marriage. But his focus on the poor and the fact that the world’s poorest 50% control barely 1% of its wealth unsettles those who defend capitalism as the most successful antipoverty program in history. You could argue that he is Teddy Roosevelt protecting capitalism from its own excesses or he is simply saying what Popes before him have said, that Jesus calls us to care for the least among us—only he’s saying it in a way that people seem to be hearing differently. And that may be especially important coming from the first Pope from the New World. A century ago, two-thirds of Catholics lived in Europe; now fewer than a quarter do, and how he is heard in countries where being gay is a crime and educating women for leadership roles is a heresy may have the power to transform cultures in which Catholicism is a growing, even potentially liberating force. These days it is bracing to hear a leader say anything that annoys anyone. Now liberals and conservatives alike face a choice as they listen to a new voice of conscience: Which matters more, that this charismatic leader is saying things they think need to be said or that he is also saying things they’d rather not hear? The heart is a strong muscle; he’s proposing a rigorous exercise plan. And in a very short time, a vast, global, ecumenical audience has shown a hunger to follow him. For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world’s largest church to confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is TIME’s 2013 Person of the Year. ||||| Illustration by Jason Seiler for TIME To avoid surveillance, the first four Americans to visit Edward Snowden in Moscow carried no cell phones or laptops. They flew coach on Delta from Washington with tickets paid for by Dutch computer hackers. After checking into a preselected hotel not far from Red Square, they waited for a van to pick them up for dinner. None could retrace the ride that followed, driven by anonymous Russian security men, nor could any place the side door of the building where the trip ended. They passed through two cavernous ballrooms, the second with a painted ceiling like the Sistine Chapel, and emerged into a smaller space with salmon-colored walls and oil paintings in golden frames—like Alice in Wonderland, remembers one of the group. There at the bottom of the rabbit hole, in rimless glasses, a black suit and blue shirt with two open buttons at the collar, stood the 30-year-old computer whiz who had just committed the most spectacular heist in the history of spycraft. By all accounts, Snowden was delighted to see his countrymen, though over the next six hours he did not partake of the wine. At one point, Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst, recited from memory in Russian an Alexander Pushkin poem, “The Prisoner,” which he had learned back in his days spying on the Soviet Union. “We have nothing to lose except everything, so let us go ahead,” said Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department attorney, quoting Albert Camus’s warning at the dawn of the nuclear age. Another attendee, the whistle-blowing FBI agent Coleen Rowley, compared Snowden to Benjamin Franklin, who as postmaster general in 1773 helped leak letters from American officials who were secretly collaborating with British authorities. Even Snowden’s Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, raised his glass for a toast. Coming from a man with close ties to the Kremlin and a knack for misleading the press, Kucherena’s words captured the surreal nature of Snowden’s Moscow exile. “Ed, I am going to give you the biggest gift that I can probably give,” he told Snowden through an interpreter. “I’m writing a novel about you.” The gathering had been called to deliver an award, given by four dissident veterans of the U.S. national-security apparatus to one of their own. But for Snowden it was something more, a chance to reaffirm to the world the purpose of his actions, for which he has been charged in absentia with theft and violations of the Espionage Act. Since escaping his country in late May with tens of thousands of its most secret documents—“one of everything,” jokes one person with access to the stash—Snowden has chosen to lie low. No Twitter account. No television interviews. No direct contacts with U.S. authorities. He held his tongue as Kucherena boasted to the press about Snowden’s new Internet job in Moscow, his new Russian girlfriend and his dire money troubles. Most of that is fiction, like the novel, according to several people who communicate regularly with Snowden. But he has nonetheless begun to figure out a life for himself in Russia, where he has been granted asylum for at least one year. He is learning Russian, recently read Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and spent weeks living with his WikiLeaks protector, Sarah Harrison, who has since flown to Berlin, fearing that she could face criminal charges if she returns to her native Britain. Most important, he has been able to spend time on the Internet, his lifelong home, where he has watched through encrypted and anonymized connections as his leaks roil the world—diplomatic crises, congressional reform efforts, new federal lawsuits, financial damage to U.S. technology companies and an as yet uncertain harm to U.S. national interests, including documented changes in the way terrorists communicate online. “This increases the probability that a terrorist attack will get through,” says General Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency (NSA). “I think it’s absolutely wrong.” For Snowden, those impacts are but a means to a different end. He didn’t give up his freedom to tip off German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the American snoops on her cell phone or to detail the ways the NSA electronically records jihadi porn-watching habits. He wanted to issue a warning to the world, and he believed that revealing the classified information at his fingertips was the way to do it. His gambit has so far proved more successful than he reasonably could have hoped—he is alive, not in prison, and six months on, his documents still make headlines daily—but his work is not done, and his fate is far from certain. So in early October, he invited to Moscow some supporters who wanted to give him an award. EPA Snowden received the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence award in Moscow in October. After the toasts, some photographs and a brief ceremony, Snowden sat back down at the table, spread with a Russian buffet, to describe once again the dystopian landscape he believes is unfolding inside the classified computer networks on which he worked as a contractor. Here was a place that collected enormous amounts of information on regular citizens as a precaution, a place where U.S. law and policy did not recognize the right to privacy of foreigners operating outside the country, a place where he believed the basic freedoms of modern democratic states—“to speak and to think and to live and be creative, to have relationships and to associate freely”—were under threat. “There is a far cry between legal programs, legitimate spying, legitimate law enforcement—where it is targeted, it’s based on reasonable suspicion, individualized suspicion and warranted action—and the sort of dragnet mass surveillance that puts entire populations under a sort of an eye and sees everything, even when it is not needed,” Snowden told his colleagues. “This is about a trend in the relationship between the governing and governed in America.” ||||| illustration by Jesse Lenz for TIME A few years ago, a high-ranking U.S. intelligence official was asked what he most wanted to know about Bashar Assad, the Syrian leader. “Whether he’s Michael or Fredo,” he replied. “Whether Syria’s [leadership] is singular or plural.” The Corleone reference, from The Godfather, was apt. The Assads have run Syria as a mafia family business since 1970, when Bashar’s father Hafez Assad gained control in a Baathist coup. The Assads are ­Alawites, a Shi‘ite-related minority sect, and Hafez Assad ruled his 80% Sunni country with a relentless brutality. In 1982 he put down a rebellion by the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama, killing an estimated 20,000 people. Bashar Assad was not expected to succeed his father. He had been trained in England as an ophthalmologist and was married to a stylish investment banker. His charismatic older brother Bassel was the designated successor, but Bassel died violently in a car crash, and when Hafez died in 2000, Bashar became a rather unlikely President of Syria. He didn’t look like a tyrant. He was gawky-tall, soft-spoken, with a halfhearted mustache and milky blue eyes. At first, some in the U.S. intelligence community believed he was a front man for a family consortium that included his older sister Bushra and her husband General Assef Shawkat, who controlled the Syrian intelligence services; there was also a younger brother, Maher, an alleged hothead in charge of the army’s Republican Guard. When I interviewed Assad in 2005, it was difficult to tell if he was Michael or Fredo or someone else entirely. He was not at all bombastic or egomaniacal; he seemed a bit nervous. And yet he was thoughtful, eager to engage in a real conversation rather than filibuster the interview, the usual modus operandi for despots. He sat slouched on a couch—not exactly the body language of an aggressor—and seemed boggled by his predicament. He knew he was dancing through a minefield. President George W. Bush had sent the “with us or against us” message to the region after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Syria was trying to be both and neither. The government had allowed a de facto safe haven for the funders of Iraq’s Sunni rebels and for assorted anti-Israel terrorist groups. The Syrian intelligence forces were suspected of abetting Hizballah in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. And the Assads were Iran’s main ally in the region. Syria’s contradictory tangle of allegiances and private arrangements was, in fact, a perfect exemplar of the mind-numbing complexity of Middle East politics. SANA / AP After his sudden appointment as president in 2000, Assad, right, relied heavily on advisers like army chief of staff Ali Aslan, left. Assad talked wistfully about his desire to finish his father’s peace negotiations with Israel. He said he wanted to be a “good neighbor” in the region. He said he was intending to pull all Syrian troops out of Lebanon in the next few months—a statement immediately contradicted by his own government but which turned out to be true. As I was leaving, he said, “Send this message: I am not Saddam Hussein. I want to cooperate.” That man—that slightly overwhelmed prisoner of the palace—seems very different from the Bashar Assad we’ve come to know. He is unquestionably Michael now. His brother-in-law, the intelligence director Shawkat, was killed in a Damascus bombing in 2012; his younger brother Maher was severely injured in another bombing. Bashar stands alone in the rubble, presiding over a regime that has surpassed the brutality of his father’s by orders of magnitude—an estimated 126,000 dead; more than 1,000, including over 400 children, killed by chemical weapons; hundreds of thousands wounded; more than 2 million refugees fled to neighboring countries. “He’s much worse than his father,” says Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. “He has killed relentlessly and without any attempt to reconcile with his opponents. He seems to believe that if he just keeps killing them, they will eventually give up.” Shrewdness and Savagery It appears to be working. The tide has turned his way in the civil war that began in the Arab Spring of 2011. He has survived, even though the bulk of the world—except for Iran, Russia and China—­wanted to see him deposed after his Aug. 21, 2013, chemical attack on the Sunni suburbs of East Damascus. He survived because, unlike Saddam, he had a very precise sense of his own mortality, a very precise sense of the steps needed to placate the U.S. and ensure his survival. In the process, he made Barack Obama seem irresolute and foolish, an American President who threatened military action, then backed down, then threatened again—before finally agreeing to a Russian-­initiated deal to get rid of the ­Syrian chemical stockpile. There was great skepticism that Assad would actually ­cooperate in this process, but he had made several very clear-eyed military and political calculations of the sort that eluded Saddam and most of the other myopic despots in the region. He knew that if he didn’t adhere to the deal, Obama would have no choice but to obliterate the Syrian air force—and Assad needed the air force far more than he needed the chemical weapons; it was his primary enforcement mechanism in his war against the rebels. He also realized that by agreeing to the deal, the Obama Administration would tacitly acknowledge his legitimacy as the leader of Syria. The U.S. and the rest of the world would have to negotiate with him over the terms of the disposal. It was a move that would have made Michael Corleone proud. ||||| Correction appended, Dec. 16, 2013 Edith Windsor’s living room is filled with mementos of a battle she never expected to wage. Growing up gay in America, Windsor, now 84, mostly kept a low profile with her sexuality beyond a vibrant circle of friends. But when her spouse Thea Spyer died in 2009, it triggered a series of events that prompted Windsor to fight for her rights in the U.S. Supreme Court—a fight that concluded with a landmark victory for gay marriage this year. And so the modest Greenwich Village apartment that Windsor and Spyer shared for more than 30 years now houses trophies alongside relics of the rich life they led together. Near a framed copy of the couple’s New York Times wedding announcement, there’s a photograph of ­Michelle Obama stooping to give Windsor a tight congratulatory hug. From a pile of thank-you letters she has received, Windsor pulls out a note written in green felt-tip marker by Grace, age 9, thanking her for making it possible for her parents to marry. In her hallway is a piece of artwork with a note from lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel that reads, “For Edith! Thank you for ­paving the way.” Robert Maxwell for TIME Windsor’s judicial odyssey began in 2010, when she sued the government for a $363,053 refund of the estate taxes she had to pay when her spouse died. Under the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law passed in 1996, the couple’s legal marriage in Canada in 2007 didn’t qualify them for any federal protections, including the estate-tax exemption for surviving spouses. When the Supreme Court decided 5-4 in Windsor’s favor on June 26, it declared ­DOMA—which excluded gay married couples from some 1,100 federal provisions, like filing joint tax returns and accessing veterans’ benefits—­unconstitutional. The decision marked the first time the U.S. recognized marriage between partners of the same sex. It was a big win. Windsor now finds herself transformed into an icon of the gay-rights movement. She wears the mantle well. Feisty, funny and extroverted, Windsor has been, at different points in her life, a leader. At 13 she was elected vice president of her eighth-grade class. In the 1960s and early ’70s, after developing a precocious expertise in computer programming at IBM, she managed (at times reluctant) men. The homes she shared with Spyer in New York City and the Hamptons were salons for many people in the gay and lesbian community. The couple’s love and tenacity “empowered the rest of us as we were coming up,” says historian and friend Blanche Wiesen Cook. But like almost all gay people in her generation, Windsor lived a double life. “Most of us have spent most of our lives coming out selectively. It’s safe here. It’s good here. You can say you have a wife here, but not there,” she says. Though she had always been quietly supportive in the gay community, generous with her time and money, she had not been—in the most literal meaning of the word—an activist. Her case, of course, has changed that. “I can’t be more out,” she says joyfully. A Happy Childhood Edith Windsor, who has always been called Edie, was born in 1929, the youngest of three, to James and Celia Schlain, immigrants from Russia who owned and lived above a candy and ice cream store in a poor part of Philadelphia. When Windsor was 2, the store was quarantined after she and her brother got polio. Her parents lost the store and their house. Despite this, ­Edie was sheltered from the ­Depression—her father took a hard-boiled-egg sandwich to work every day for lunch so he could buy books, and little Edie read voraciously. (She still has in her apartment the 19-volume dictionary her father used to learn English.) She was not sheltered from anti-Semitism. Her mother taught her that if a boy called her “a dirty Jew,” she should pull his hair and run home. The family moved to a middle-class neighborhood because her mother wanted her daughters to meet the right boys. Edie began high school during the war and had dates with boys “every Saturday night of my life.” Looking back, Windsor says, she had crushes on girls, but homo­sexuality wasn’t a concept she thought about or applied to herself then. “I didn’t even know about it,” she remembers. “The first time I became aware, I was at a [college] party with a boy and I was in the kitchen, and the hostess came in and said, ‘Do you have homosexual relations?’ And I pulled myself together, and I said, ‘On occasion.’ I never had.” During her time in college, which she started in 1946, Windsor’s awareness grew. By chance, she was assigned to write a paper on the 1948 Kinsey report, which argued that homosexuality was more prevalent than previously thought. She fell in love with a girl—a classmate at Temple University—for the first time. “It was both wonderful and terrible,” she says. Their romantic relationship caused Edie to break off her engagement to a man. But then, deciding that she didn’t want to live life as a gay person, Edith reconciled with him. They eventually married. “In the context of the homophobia that was so prevalent in the 1950s,” she wrote in her sworn affidavit to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, “I certainly didn’t want to be a ‘queer.’ Instead, I wanted to live a ‘normal’ life.” ||||| Illustration by Bryan Drury for TIME; Photo reference: Alessandra Tarantino / AP To read about TIME’s choice in Spanish and Portuguese, click below. EL ELEGIDO: El Papa Francisco es la Persona del Año 2013 de TIME A Escolha: O Papa Francisco é a Personalidade do Ano eleita pela Time em 2013 On the edge of Buenos Aires is a nothing little street called Pasaje C, a shot of dried mud leading into a slum from what passes for a main road, the garbage-strewn Mariano Acosta. There is a church, the Immaculate Virgin, toward the end of the ­pasaje—Spanish for passage—where, on one occasion, the local priest and a number of frightened residents took refuge deep in the sanctuary when rival drug gangs opened fire. Beyond the church, Pasaje C branches into the rest of the parish: more rutted mud and cracked concrete form Pasajes A to K. Brick chips from the hasty construction of squatter housing coagulate along what ought to be sidewalks. The word asesino—­murderer—is scrawled in spray-paint on the sooty wall of a burned-out house, which was torched just days before in retaliation for yet another shooting. Packs of dogs sprawl beneath wrecked cars. Children wander heedless of traffic, because nothing can gather speed on these jagged roads. But even Pasaje C can lead to Rome. As Cardinal and Archbishop of Buenos Aires, a metropolis of some 13.5 million souls, Jorge Mario Bergoglio made room in his schedule every year for a pastoral visit to this place of squalor and sorrow.­ He would walk to the subway station nearest to the Metropolitan Cathedral, whose pillars and dome fit easily into the center of Argentine power. Traveling alone, he would transfer onto a graffiti-blasted tram to Mariano Acosta, reaching where the subways do not go. He finished the journey on foot, moving heavily in his bulky black orthopedic shoes along Pasaje C. On other days, there were other journeys to barrios throughout the city—so many in need of so much, but none too poor or too filthy for a visit from this itinerant prince of the church. Reza por mí, he asked almost everyone he met. Pray for me. When, on March 13, Bergoglio inherited the throne of St. Peter—keeper of the keys to the kingdom of heaven—he made the same request of the world. Pray for me. His letter of retirement, a requirement of all bishops 75 and older, was already on file in a Vatican office, awaiting approval. Friends in Argentina had perceived him to be slowing down, like a spent force. In an instant, he was a new man, calling himself Francis after the humble saint from Assisi. As Pope, he was suddenly the sovereign of Vatican City and head of an institution so ­sprawling—with about enough followers to populate China—so steeped in order, so snarled by bureaucracy, so vast in its charity, so weighted by its scandals, so polarizing to those who study its teachings, so mysterious to those who don’t, that the gap between him and the daily miseries of the world’s poor might finally have seemed unbridgeable. Until the 266th Supreme Pontiff walked off in those clunky shoes to pay his hotel bill. The papacy is mysterious and magical: it turns a septuagenarian into a superstar while revealing almost nothing about the man himself. And it raises hopes in every corner of the world—hopes that can never be fulfilled, for they are irreconcilable. The elderly traditionalist who pines for the old Latin Mass and the devout young woman who wishes she could be a priest both have hopes. The ambitious monsignor in the Vatican Curia and the evangelizing deacon in a remote Filipino village both have hopes. No Pope can make them all happy at once. (MORE: Behind the Pope Francis Cover) But what makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all. People weary of the endless parsing of sexual ethics, the buck-passing infighting over lines of authority when all the while (to borrow from Milton), “the hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed.” In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church—the church as servant and comforter of hurting people in an often harsh world—above the doctrinal police work so important to his recent predecessors. John Paul II and Benedict XVI were professors of theology. Francis is a former janitor, nightclub bouncer, chemical technician and literature teacher. And behind his self-effacing facade, he is a very canny operator. He makes masterly use of 21st century tools to perform his 1st century office. He is photographed washing the feet of female convicts, posing for selfies with young visitors to the Vatican, embracing a man with a deformed face. He is quoted saying of women who consider abortion because of poverty or rape, “Who can remain unmoved before such painful situations?” Of gay people: “If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.” To divorced and remarried Catholics who are, by rule, forbidden from taking Communion, he says that this crucial rite “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” Through these conscious and skillful evocations of moments in the ministry of Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, this new Pope may have found a way out of the 20th century culture wars, which have left the church moribund in much of Western Europe and on the defensive from Dublin to Los Angeles. But the paradox of the papacy is that each new man’s success is burdened by the astonishing successes of Popes past. The weight of history, of doctrines and dogmas woven intricately century by century, genius by genius, is both the source and the limitation of papal power. It radiates from every statue, crypt and hand-painted vellum text in Rome—and in churches, libraries, hospitals, universities and museums around the globe. A Pope sets his own course only if he can conform it to paths already chosen. And so Francis signals great change while giving the same answers to the uncomfortable questions. On the question of female priests: “We need to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman.” Which means: no. No to abortion, because an individual life begins at conception. No to gay marriage, because the male-female bond is established by God. “The teaching of the church … is clear,” he has said, “and I am a son of the church, but”—and here he adds his prayer for himself—“it is not necessary to talk about those issues all the time.” If that prayer should be answered, if somehow by his own vivid example Francis could bring the church into a new relationship with its critics and dissidents—agreeing to disagree about issues that divide them while cooperating in the urgent mission of spreading mercy—he might unleash untold good. “Argue less, accomplish more” could be a healing motto for our times. We have a glut of problems to tackle. Francis says by example, Stop bickering and roll up your sleeves. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good—an important thing for the world to hear, especially from a man who holds an office deemed infallible. Francesco Zizola / NOOR for TIME Thousands turn out in Rome to greet Francis during his biweekly audiences. See more photos of the Pope made for Person of the Year on LightBox . A Changing Papacy This papacy begins with a name. Jorge Bergoglio is the first Pope to choose as his namesake Francis of Assisi, the 13th century patron saint of the poor. The choice, coming after 14 Clements, 16 Benedicts and 21 Johns, is clearly and pointedly personal. The 13th century Francis turned to the ministry when, as legend has it, he heard a voice calling to him from a crucifix to repair God’s house. He left his prosperous silk-merchant family to live with the poor. He was a peacemaker, the first Catholic leader to travel to Egypt to try to end the Crusades. He placed mercy at the core of his life. From that name follows much of Francis’ agenda. While the Catholic Church envisioned by Benedict XVI was one of tightly calibrated spiritual prescriptions, Francis told Father Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica, in an interview published at the end of September, that he sees “the church as a field hospital after battle.” His vision is of a pastoral—not a doctrinaire—church, and that will shift the Holy See’s energies away from demanding long-distance homage and toward ministry to and embrace of the poor, the spiritually broken and the lonely. He expanded on this idea in a 288-section apostolic exhortation called “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel.” “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” he wrote. He made it clear that he does not just want talk—he wants actual transformation. He has halted the habit of granting priests the honorific title of monsignor as a way to stem careerism in the ranks and put the focus instead on pastoring. He told a gathering of his diplomats that he wanted them to identify candidates for bishop in their home countries who are, he said, “gentle, patient and merciful, animated by inner poverty, the freedom of the Lord and also by outward simplicity and austerity of life.” To Francis, poverty isn’t simply about charity; it’s also about justice. The church, by extension, should not reflect Rome; it should mirror the poor. Which helps explain why he has turned the once obscure Vatican Almoner, an agency that has been around for about 800 years and is often reserved for an aging Catholic diplomat, over to the dynamic 50-year-old Polish Archbishop Konrad Krajewski and told him to make it the Holy See’s new front porch. “You can sell your desk,” Francis told Krajewski. “You don’t need it. You need to get out of the Vatican. Don’t wait for people to come ringing. You need to go out and look for the poor.” The Archbishop hands out small amounts to the needy, including a recent gift of 1,600 phone cards to immigrant survivors of a capsized boat so they could call family back in Eritrea. Francis often gives Krajewski stacks of letters with his instructions to help the people who have written to him and asked for aid. In what sounds like a necessary precaution, the Vatican recently issued a denial after Krajewski hinted that Francis himself sometimes slips out of the Vatican dressed as an ordinary priest to hand out alms. ||||| In 2013, the audacious upstart shut down the government on a hopeless quest to stop the President's signature policy. Love him or hate him, he is a vision of the future Marco Grob for TIME They don’t teach this stuff in eighth-grade civics class: a freshman U.S. senator from the minority party provokes a shutdown of the federal government in a hopeless quest to undo the President’s signature legislative achievement. The nation flirts with a potentially disastrous default while the populace looks on in disgust. And when the instigator tries to explain himself during one of the longest speeches in Senate history, somehow he ends up reciting Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham. The faux filibuster to “defund Obama­care” waged by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas made him so unpopular with his fellow Republicans (Democrats scarcely concealed their delight) that they might have made him walk the plank—except that the GOP’s approval ratings were sinking so fast that even the plank was underwater. Plus, anyone steeped in Washington politics could see that Cruz was already dead from this massive self-inflicted wound. But to Cruz, 42, that is precisely the reason he believes he is winning. The young barn burner is convinced that “official Washington”—his umbrella term covering the old guard of both ­parties—is hopelessly out of touch with the voters, so he wears the scorn like a crown of laurel. If the Establishment says he’s finished, he concludes, he must be making headway. If they’re so sure he’s wrong, he must be doing something right. “Changing Washington isn’t easy, and we shouldn’t be surprised when official Washington fights back,” he told Time in an end-of-year interview. “People who were used to making decisions in smoky rooms behind closed doors don’t know how to operate in today’s world, where people have direct access to information, can form their own opinions and know how to make their views heard.” TIME Graphic by Chris Wilson, Sam Jacobs & Alexander Ho

– 2013 has been a pretty unbelievable year for Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis, dominated Facebook, and now finds himself Time's Person of the Year. Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs explains how he ended up on the cover after just nine months on the job: because of how he has positioned himself ("at the very center of the central conversations of our time," from wealth to the role of women to justice), for his reach in our flattening world ("far beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church"), and for what he has accomplished in such a short time. "Something remarkable: he has not changed the words, but he's changed the music." Gibbs acknowledges the skeptics' likely response—that Francis faces many obstacles "in accomplishing much of anything beyond making casual believers feel better about the softer tone coming out of Rome while feeling free to ignore the harder substance." But the fascination that swirls around him gives him an ability Benedict XVI lacked: "to magnify the message of the church and its power to do great good." Writes Gibbs, "The heart is a strong muscle; he's proposing a rigorous exercise plan. And in a very short time, a vast, global, ecumenical audience has shown a hunger to follow him. For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world's largest faith to confronting its deepest needs, and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is Time's 2013 Person of the Year" (cover story here). Also, the runners-up: Edward Snowden, Edith Windsor, Bashar al-Assad, and Ted Cruz. See past winners here.

Washington (CNN) Russia appointed actor Steven Seagal as a "special representative" on US-Russian humanitarian ties, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in statement on its official Facebook page Saturday. According to the statement , the action star's role will be to promote US-Russia relations "in the humanitarian sphere," adding that the role will include collaboration "in the sphere of culture, public and youth exchanges." The foreign ministry said the unpaid role will be similar to the United Nations' goodwill ambassador positions. Seagal, who became a Russian citizen in 2016, is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He attended Putin's recent swearing-in ceremony in May. Seagal has been an ardent supporter of Putin, going so far as to defend his government against allegations of election meddling in the United States. He told Piers Morgan on the British ITV network's "Good Morning Britain" last year, "For anyone to think that Vladimir Putin had anything to do with fixing the elections, or even that the Russians have that kind of technology, is stupid." "And this kind of propaganda is really a diversion ... so that the people in the United States of America won't really see what's happening, " he added. In the interview, Seagal also praised Putin as "a great world leader" and a "brilliant tactician." In 2013, BuzzFeed reported that Putin suggested to President Barack Obama that Seagal serve as an honorary envoy of Russia to help improve relations between the two countries. Also that year, California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher credited Seagal with facilitating meetings for a congressional delegation that visited Russia in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings to investigate the suspects' backgrounds and discuss intelligence sharing issues. CNN has reached out Seagal's spokesperson for comment. ||||| ... me Minister Youssef Chahed Только что состоялась ещё одна встреча в рамках нашего визита в Тунис - с Премьер-министром этой страны Ю.Шахедом, которая была посвящена планам наращивания нашего торгово-экономического и инвестиционного сотрудничества. Мы выразили удовлетворение темпами роста товарооборота, договорились работать над тем, чтобы его структура становилась более сбалансированной. Этим вопросам будет посвящено заседание Межправительственной комиссии по торгово-экономическому и научно-техническому сотрудничеству, которое планируется в первой половине этого года здесь, в Тунисе. Мы также напомнили нашим тунисским коллегам о том, что в прошлом году Российская Федерация предложила подписать программу торгово-экономического и научно-технического сотрудничества между нашими странами на 2019-2021 годы. Мы попросили, и Премьер-Министр Туниса Ю.Шахед обещал это сделать, ускорить согласование этой программы, чтобы она могла быть одобрена на предстоящем заседании Межправительственной комиссии. Также договорились ускорить ратификацию подписанного ранее межправительственного соглашения о сотрудничестве в сфере мирного использования ядерной энергии и подписание целого ряда других проектов и документов, которые касаются облегчения визового режима, автомобильного транспорта и сотрудничества в сфере охраны окружающей среды. Тунисские коллеги также проинформировали нас о планах развития инфраструктуры своей страны. Они заинтересованы в том, чтобы российские компании, прежде всего занимающиеся строительством автомобильных и железных дорог, участвовали в соответствующих тендерах. Будем поощрять наших экономических операторов откликаться на такие предложения. С удовлетворением отметили развитие сотрудничества между Тунисом и российскими регионами, в частности между Тунисом и Татарстаном. Президент Татарстана Р.Н.Минниханов посетил эту страну в октябре прошлого года. Состоялся бизнес-форум с участием бизнесменов Туниса и Татарстана. Такие контакты мы также будем всячески поощрять. В целом беседа была конкретной, предметной и помогла лучше понять, как нам двигаться по пути дальнейшего развития нашего сотрудничества во всех областях.

– Actor Steven Seagal has taken on a new role, though it's not likely the kind you'd expect. Per the AP, the Under Siege star has been appointed as a special envoy to the United States on humanitarian issues. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the news on its Facebook page Saturday. The ministry said the unpaid role will "facilitate relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges." According to CNN, the role will be akin to the United Nations' goodwill ambassador positions. While not a typical role for an actor known more for his martial arts skills than his diplomatic chops, the announcement is no big surprise for those who've followed Seagal at all in the last few years. A close friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin's, the 66-year-old was made a Russian citizen in late 2016 and has publicly defended the leader from critics who question the legality of his most recent election. Seagal was a guest at Putin's swearing in last May after he won the election. Seagal has also vocally defended the Russian leader's most controversial policies, including Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Influential fantasy fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin died Monday at the age of 88, and her death has driven an outpouring of remembrances and odes to her work, particularly from fellow writers. Le Guin authored more than 20 novels in her lifetime, as well as a dozen books of poetry, more than 100 short stories, seven collections of essays, 13 books for children, and five volumes of translation. Her work has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold millions of copies around the world, and her writing is noted for its feminist sensibilities and providing “high literature” in the fantasy genre. Le Guin won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, prizes awarded specifically for science fiction and fantasy writing, as well as the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the National Book Awards. Her passing has left an immense hole in the world of fantasy fiction and many prominent authors of the genre (and beyond) are responding to her death with sadness and messages that recount how much her work inspired them. Stephen King called Le Guin “a literary icon” and wished her “godspeed into the galaxy.” Best-selling author N.K. Jemisin said Le Guin is “one of the reasons [she’s] a writer now.” Beloved writer Neil Gaiman, who presented Le Guin with the National Book Foundation’s lifetime achievement award, also shared how deeply affected he was by the news, writing, “I just learned that Ursula K. Le Guin has died. Her words are always with us. Some of them are written on my soul. I miss her as a glorious funny prickly person, & I miss her as the deepest and smartest of the writers, too.” Read below for a sampling of reactions to the author’s death. Usula K. LeGuin, one of the greats, has passed. Not just a science fiction writer; a literary icon. Godspeed into the galaxy. — Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 23, 2018 This is heartbreaking. I always hoped for the chance to meet her. She's one of the reasons I'm a writer now. — N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) January 23, 2018 And altho I didn't realize it at the time, folks pointed out to me that the Broken Earth saga is basically "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" writ large. Her influence is all of my work, popping out in ways I don't even notice 'til much later. — N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) January 23, 2018 I just learned that Ursula K. Le Guin has died. Her words are always with us. Some of them are written on my soul. I miss her as a glorious funny prickly person, & I miss her as the deepest and smartest of the writers, too. Still honoured I got to do this: https://t.co/U4mma5pJMw — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 23, 2018 We are incredibly saddened by the passing of the visionary writer Ursula K. Le Guin, whose art has influenced writers across the globe. https://t.co/amt3i9a0pZ — National Book (@nationalbook) January 23, 2018 “People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.” Rest in peace, Ursula. — Penguin Random House (@penguinrandom) January 23, 2018 Ursula Le Guin has died. She is a master storytelling. She is fierce and frighteningly smart and does not tolerate fools. Her EARTHSEA books are a revelation. — Shannon Hale (@haleshannon) January 23, 2018 I'm sitting in an airport crying. Ursula Le Guin. You have taken my words with you. — Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) January 23, 2018 Sad to hear of the passing of Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the most brilliant American novelists and thinkers. https://t.co/tD6L4SZvoG — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 23, 2018 Ursula Le Guin has been a hero of mine for 20 years. She's done so much, and she will continue to do good even though she's gone. She recorded a podcast recently and I want everyone who can to listen to it. I haven't stopped thinking about it for weeks. https://t.co/K8GbRLWenR — Hank Green (@hankgreen) January 23, 2018 Hail and farewell Ursula Le Guin. https://t.co/5qEcU1D9Xe — Hari Kunzru (@harikunzru) January 23, 2018 Le Guin is one of those writers who hit me in fundamental ways early. I've said many times I wouldn't be the same writer – by which I mean, person – without The Tombs of Atuan. She's an enormous talent and a huge, huge loss. — Kieron Gillen (@kierongillen) January 23, 2018 “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” –Ursula K. LeGuin Legendary author Ursula K. LeGun has died, age 88. Her stories will live forever. pic.twitter.com/c7bGtV1Hka — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy (@BNSciFi) January 23, 2018 I'll have more to say about Ursula Le Guin's passing, probably tomorrow. But for now, "God damn it" will suffice. — John Scalzi (@scalzi) January 23, 2018 One of the first white science fiction writers to depict a racially diverse universe with black and brown main characters, Ursula Le Guin has died. https://t.co/x1rj1aY25C — Karen Sands-O'Connor (@ksandsoconnor) January 23, 2018 Oh, no. Rest In Power, Ursula Le Guin. https://t.co/AGt5CRVNzP — Jaclyn Friedman❄️ (@jaclynf) January 23, 2018 Sad, sad news. Ursula Le Guin passed away. One of our greats.https://t.co/0wDZVDqF7Z — Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) January 23, 2018 There is a dragon’s hoard of treasure stored in her books. Read them. https://t.co/0iTrHo08KA — Benjamin Percy (@Benjamin_Percy) January 23, 2018 Thank you, Ms. Le Guin. — Kelly Sue Demonic (@kellysue) January 23, 2018 Rest in peace, Ursula K. LeGuin. The best of us don't go away having left behind only a body of work, but a body of people who have been inspired by our work. — Sam Sykes (@SamSykesSwears) January 23, 2018 So sorry to learn of the passing of Ursula K. LeGuin, one of the great writers of our time and a lifelong favorite of mine. The worlds, species and societies she created and explored will live forever. https://t.co/39vXpzG7Mo pic.twitter.com/19BYuoQYO6 — David Grinspoon (@DrFunkySpoon) January 23, 2018 ||||| She often found herself making this argument. Finding herself among a cohort that included Gene Wolfe and Philip K. Dick, Le Guin explained to The Times in 1985 that “we were expressing serious concerns through the metaphors of science fiction and fantasy, as Tolkien did.” She added, “In the days of flowerdom we were going to make the future better. Instead of a cold, sterile futuristic place full of 'Star Wars,' there was a feeling for a while of making the world more livable, more human. My kind of science-fiction writer fit right into this.”

– Author Ursula K. Le Guin, known best for her "Earthsea" series of fantasy novels, has died at age 88. Le Guin died Monday, her agent confirmed to NPR. Le Guin "brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy," the New York Times wrote in its obituary of the author, whose books have been translated into some 40 languages and sold millions worldwide. In an early exploration of gender identity, one of Le Guin's most popular works, The Left Hand of Darkness, takes place on a planet where inhabitants are neither male nor female. The novel was among some 20 of the often femininist-leaning books Le Guin authored over the course of her career. According to EW.com, Le Guin also penned short stories, poetry compilations, and children's books. She was the recipient of a National Book Award, a Hugo, and a Nebula Award. Born in 1929 and raised in Berkeley, Calif., Le Guin was the daughter of anthropologists. She would carry on the academic tradition after undergraduate studies at Radcliffe College, when the LA Times notes she pursued graduate studies in French and Italian literature at Columbia University. Le Guin, née Kroeber, left Columbia after being awarded a Fulbright to study in France, where she would meet her future husband. The two would go on to settle in Portland, Ore. "The family of Ursula K. Le Guin is deeply saddened to announce her peaceful death yesterday afternoon," reads a message on the writer's official Twitter account, which had been active up until this month. Le Guin is survived by her husband, Charles Le Guin, their two daughters, and their son. The family did not confirm a cause of death, but said Le Guin had been ill for the last several months.

Cops: 2nd man charged in man killed over dice game Derrick A. Hillard, 37, of the 8300 block of South King Drive, has been charged with with first-degree murder and one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon for the Oct. 6 slaying of Jamal Harmon, said police. A second man has been charged this evening in connection with a 2013 slaying of a 19-year-old man whose body was dumped in a South Side alley after an argument over a dice game, said officials. Hillard's uncle, Andre Davis, 52, of the 8200 block of South Eberhart Avenue, was charged earlier this week in connection with the slaying. Prosecutors had said earlier that Harmon had been at a party at a previous home of the nephew near the 6500 block of Ross Avenue, when he got into an argument with the nephew about losing money in a dice game. Prosecutors said the nephew went into the house and came back with a gun and shot Harmon. Another attacker also shot Harmon. A witness said Harmon was still alive after being shot, and Davis ordered another person to help him move Harmon. They carried Harmon to a trunk of a Cadillac, said prosecutors. Davis drove away with Harmon in the trunk and witnesses said he told them he was going to find somewhere to dump Harmon's body, said prosecutors at Davis' bond hearing. They said Davis admitted to witnesses to cutting Harmon's throat. Harmon's body was discovered about 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 26 in an alley on the 7600 block of South Carpenter Street in the city's Gresham neighborhood, said police. Harmon was shot three times in the face, neck and left side. He also was stabbed twice in the torso and suffered two cuts on the front of his neck, said prosecutors earlier this week. Davis was arrested Wednesday morning at his home. He was charged with murder and kidnapping, said police. Hillard is scheduled to appear in Central Bond Court Saturday afternoon. [email protected] Twitter: @neacynewslady ||||| Part one of two. Read part two here. On a summer day in 1980, 19-year-old Andre Davis stepped off a train 125 miles south of his native Chicago. He expected his visit would last the summer. Little did he know he wouldn't return home for more than 30 years. Andre had just graduated from high school and traveled to the central Illinois town of Rantoul, population 20,000, to learn his father's business. Richard Davis—known as "Crazy Legs" for his brilliant moves on the dance floor—was a disc jockey serving nearby Chanute Air Force Base. Andre had grown up on Chicago's south side, where he lived with his mother, Emma, who owned a beauty salon. Emma and Richard had divorced when Andre was two, and though Andre didn't see much of his father, he had an extended family to rely on. Andre's grandfather had moved to Chicago from the south in the 1920s, part of the initial Great Migration of African-Americans. He started a corner store and was later successful in real estate. In decades of difficulty for so many blacks, members of the Davis family attended college and went on to lucrative careers. They were, as several of them proudly put it, pillars of the community—lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers, and scholars. Andre's mother recalls that her son was a good student but also a "typical teenager." "He always did very well in school, but was bored by it," she says. She believes that boredom, perhaps accentuated by the sporadic presence of his father, led to Andre acting out. In his early teens, Andre started breaking curfew and running away from home for short periods. A few years later, he faced an auto-theft charge for what he calls "a joy ride" that left him in the hospital. "He was hanging out with the bad boys on the block," Emma Davis says, "and they were a bad influence on him." Some time spent in Rantoul, his family thought, would be good for him. Rantoul was a far cry from Chicago. Historically, the town has averaged less than a murder per year. Blacks accounted for just 10 percent of the population. Former police chief Eldon Quick says that gangs have always been nonexistent and race relations in the town "were not a big deal." Still, the small African-American population felt it was necessary to stick together. Andre's father had a big network—most of the parties he DJed were thrown on the base, where Crazy Legs was the man to know. And so Andre instantly had a network, too. When Andre arrived at the train station, he was greeted by Crazy Legs and his friend Donald "Don Juan" Douroux. Andre quickly took to Don, who had enlisted in the Air Force several years prior, was discharged in 1979, and decided to stick around Rantoul with a girlfriend while attending nearby Parkland College. It was also through his father that Andre met Lutellis "Sonny" Tucker. Sonny had five kids, was divorced, and lived two blocks from Crazy Legs. Sonny's kids came and stayed with him occasionally, but mostly they lived with their mother in Gary, Indiana, Sonny's hometown. Sonny's brother, Maurice, who was around Andre's age, had recently moved into Sonny's house. Sonny, a cook at Chanute, had been convicted in April of 1978 of felony theft and placed on two years' conditional discharge. On one occasion, Don would later claim, he overheard one of the Tucker brothers thanking a police officer from Gary for beating him up instead of taking him to jail after he was caught stealing a car. The crew would often drink together and get into wrestling matches. Andre was only 5'7" and 130 pounds, but he was muscular enough to hold his own with Maurice Tucker, who was six inches taller and 50 pounds heavier. Neither of the two had found work, so they'd get together and lift weights, drink beer, smoke weed, and hang around the NCO club on base. When Sonny's kids weren't staying with them on the weekends, the Tucker brothers often threw parties at their house on Eastview Avenue "for all the brothers," as Don put it. Friday, August 8, 1980, was steaming. Andre headed over to the Tuckers' at around 10 AM to waste the day away with Maurice while Sonny was in and out of the house. They took out weights from the utility room, where Maurice slept, and lifted barbells in the backyard under the blazing sun. They played records. Most ambitiously, they climbed the generous fruit trees that leaned from a neighbor's house into the yard and picked apples and pears. But mostly they sat on the stoop drinking beer and cheap Wild Irish Rose wine and listening to breaks. Andre would later recall that when he left the house, sometime after 6 PM, he saw a little girl playing outside. He remembered telling her to stay out of the garbage can she was getting into. The girl, Brianna Stickel, was adorably blonde and had recently turned three. Earlier that day her stepfather, Rand Spragg, who was stationed at Chanute, had worked until noon before taking Brianna's mother, Becky Spragg, to apply for a job at the local Holiday Inn Jr. The couple then picked up Brianna and her 18-month-old brother, Simon, from their nursery and returned home. The kids hadn't napped yet, so the family lay down to rest together, as they often did. The children woke first, around 6 PM. When Rand got up, he noticed that Brianna and Simon had gotten into the fridge; Brianna had spilled some juice. Becky took Simon for a bath, and Brianna was told to go play outside. The heat was so intense that the little girl was clad only in yellow underwear. Rand went to the window and saw her sitting beneath the large shade tree, biting her nails. After wiping up the spilled juice, Rand squeezed the liquid out of the mop and turned again to the window. Brianna was gone. He went outside and circled the house. No Brianna. He went inside and asked Becky if the little girl was with her. She wasn't. At around 6:30 PM, Rand began knocking on doors. He went to the Tuckers' house and heard a stereo playing on low volume. He knocked but got no answer, figuring that somebody had left the stereo on. He then got in his car to continue the hunt. The Spraggs didn't own a phone, so Becky flagged down a passing police car and told the officer that Brianna was missing. Officer Ronald McLemore began checking around the neighborhood. Brianna Stickel's stepfather last saw her alive in the family's front yard, where she was sitting beneath a large shade tree. Courtesy Judi Stickel Shortly before 8 PM, as the officer was conducting his search, "a black man come up there in a car—I don't remember the car—and he knocked on the [Tuckers'] door," Becky later recalled. It was Don Douroux. He was carrying a glass of Kool-Aid and wearing a T-shirt with the words master blaster emblazoned on the front and don juan on the back. A short while later, Rand and Becky saw Don walk out the back door of the house and lock it up. Becky walked up and asked if they could look for Brianna inside. Perhaps she had wandered over? At first Don demurred—it wasn't his house, he said. But he relented and they searched the house while he supervised. No sign of Brianna. Rand did notice a wet red stain on the twin bed in the messy utility room where Maurice slept. He passed his finger across the stain, but chalked it up to "a single man living there and having girlfriends, you know," he later said. The room had clothes strewn everywhere. Don saw the Spraggs to the front door, and went to lock up the back. As Rand and Becky stood in front of the Tucker house debating what to do next, Don emerged. He was shaking and crying, borderline hysterical, and dropped the glass of Kool-Aid he was drinking on the front porch. Becky thought he was having an epileptic seizure. He was silent for a bit and then said there was something on the bed in the back room under a pile of clothes. "I can't look," he said. Rand went in with Simon and pulled back the sheets on the bed in Maurice's room. There was Brianna, lying on her stomach, her head turned to one side. Rand rolled her over. She wasn't breathing, and she had no pulse. Her lips were purple. He began CPR, and saw some vomit. He didn't want Simon to continue to see the disturbing scene and took the baby out of the room. As Simon whimpered, Rand went back to resume CPR on Brianna. He got no response. At 8:15 PM, Officer McLemore received an ambulance call directing him to the Tuckers' house. He raced over and found a crowd standing around the home. Becky was outside crying. Rand escorted McLemore to the utility room, where Brianna lay limp and naked, with bloodstains on her genitals. The blankets were all in a ball at the end of the bed, wet with blood. The officer performed CPR on Brianna for two minutes. It was futile. Don told the officer that "the person that done this is at 1056 Eastview"—Don's own house, the next block over. Sergeant Arthur Wiseman and Quick, the police chief, went to the address and knocked on the door. Don, who had raced home ahead of them, answered the door and let them in. Andre was inside, watching television. Wiseman later said Don was "acting somewhat nervous" and said he wished to speak to one of the lawmen. He went outside with Chief Quick. Wiseman stayed inside with Andre, who appeared "nonchalant or uninvolved in what was going on." Andre told Wiseman he didn't know why the sergeant was there, and Wiseman stayed quiet about the crime. Outside, Don was telling the chief that he'd returned from work to find Andre hiding under a trailer behind the bushes. He said Andre had told him he'd "been in bed with a woman" at the Tuckers' when a knock at the bedroom door led him to put his hand over the woman's mouth to keep her silent—and he soon noticed she wasn't breathing. Don told Chief Quick that at first he didn't believe Andre and told him so. He said he went over to the Tuckers' to prove Andre was lying, and found the little girl dead. "Everything happened so quick I barely had time to think. I had a brain freeze times a thousand.” —Andre Davis, describing his realization that police were charging him with the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl Andre later would deny Don's account. He said he never claimed to have been with a woman that day, let alone killed anyone. His recollection was that he left the Tuckers' between 6:15 and 7 PM, when Maurice and Sonny were still at the house—a point on which all parties agreed—and headed over to Don's. Finding nobody there, he said he went to a friend's house across the street and made a phone call. He said he then returned to Don's and waited for him until he came home, which was about 20 minutes later. According to Andre, the two drank some Kool-Aid together and discussed getting high later on, after which Don told him he was going for a run. (Don went over to the Tuckers' instead.) Andre recalled Don returning 20 minutes later, and the police arriving soon after. Wiseman stepped outside to talk with Don and the chief. He went back into the house and cuffed Andre—who would later say that he thought the police were just taking him in for questioning about a crime that had occurred. They began asking him pointed questions, though, and when he understood he was being charged, he "went ballistic," he would later recall. "I couldn't understand it. Everything happened so quick I barely had time to think. I had a mind freeze times a thousand." He says that as far as the police were concerned, he was guilty. They slapped him around, he claims, hurling racial slurs. "There was no possibility in their mind that I didn't do it." In the five months leading up to his trial, Andre was held in the Champaign County jail. He barely slept. "I didn't know what was happening one moment to the next." He kept his mind focused on his family; his mother reassured him that he would be acquitted, and told him to pray and stay optimistic. Andre's trial got under way at the Champaign County Courthouse in January 1981. He wore a beige plaid suit, brown shirt and tie, and green sweater. The strategy of his court-appointed attorney was to finger Don Douroux as being involved in Brianna's death, which would explain why Don would falsely—according to the defense—implicate Andre. It was Don, after all, who had found Brianna. What's more, if Andre had told Don he'd killed a woman he was having sex with, why didn't Don find Brianna on his first sweep of the house? He would have known he was looking for a corpse, after all. "Donald Douroux knows a lot more about this than he is telling us," Andre's lawyer, Donald Parkinson, told the jury. "I don't know if he did it or not, but I suspect that he knows something more about it than he's telling us. Don Douroux, Don Juan, came home and found a patsy. And from that moment on, he's put this on Andre Davis. And he's putting it on Andre Davis because he's trying to cover for himself or someone else." The state's first witness was pathologist Stanley Bobowski, who testified that Brianna had been suffocated by somebody putting a hand or other object over her mouth and nose. He told the jury she'd been raped at the same time. Though dried blood and feces were found around Brianna's anus, there were no breaks or tears, Bobowski said, which suggested she had not been anally raped. Next on the stand was Robert Beams, an FBI special agent who headed up the Washington lab where the evidence in the case was tested. At the time, the FBI was the only agency in the country capable of doing sophisticated forensic analysis. Type O-positive blood, the most common blood type in the United States, covering about 45 percent of the population, was found at the scene. Brianna was type O-positive, as is Andre. Moreover, Andre is what's called a "nonsecretor." Eighty percent of Americans are secretors, individuals whose blood type is present in the rest of their fluids. Andre is among the remaining one-fifth of the population who do not have blood-group substances in their saliva, urine, sweat, and semen. Beams told the court that a mattress and bedsheet with semen on them had been sent to him for testing. Both contained no trace of blood-group substances—meaning they came from a nonsecretor, like Andre. Rantoul police officer Montgomery Portis testified that Andre—after being arrested by Officer Wiseman and advised of his Miranda rights—shook his head in a negative fashion and declined to sign a Miranda form. He was then interrogated further by Portis and Wiseman. During the questioning, Andre told them that he and Don Douroux had been wrestling—which explained why he had fresh, bloodied scratch marks. In the course of undressing Andre at the station, Portis also noticed grass in both his head hair and pubic hair. Andre then changed his story, according to Portis, saying, "Juan and I is too big to be wrestling." Portis testified that Andre then said he didn't know where the scratches came from. "I didn't rape no little two- or three-year-old white girl," Portis recalled Andre saying. When Don Douroux took the stand, his recollection of Andre's confession was damning. "He said something similar to that he had killed someone," Don testified. "So I asked him who did he kill and where, and he said it was just a woman who lived down the street next door to a mutual friend of ours, Sonny Tucker." Sonny testified that on the morning of the crime, he left his house at about 10 AM to run some errands. Andre was already there, he recalled. He returned home at around noon with some wine, and shared it with his brother and Andre. "We were just sitting around and talking, you know." Sonny told the jury he stepped out again that afternoon and returned between 5:30 and 6 PM with a friend, Ida Parker, at which time he said Andre and Maurice were still there drinking. Sonny had plans to drive to Gary, Indiana, to visit his parents. Before he departed, he said, Andre left on foot, in the direction of Don Douroux's house. (Prosecutors contended that Andre later returned to the house.) Soon after, Sonny said, he locked up the doors and left, with Maurice and Ida still at the house. He told the jury that was the extent of what he knew about the day's events. Maurice also took the stand, testifying that after Andre and Sonny were gone, he himself left—with Ida Parker—to go spend the night with relatives in Champaign. Maurice testified that he found out about the killing that very night, at his relatives' house. Someone—he didn't specify who—called him around midnight and told him there had been a child found murdered at his brother's house. He knew Brianna Stickel, he said, "but she never came inside" the house. He said he had nothing to do with the crime. Ida Parker testified that she arrived at the Tuckers' early that evening with Sonny, saw Andre and Sonny leave, then left with Maurice to go to Champaign. Perhaps the most persuasive testimony came from Jose Raquel. Raquel was the emergency room physician at Burnham City hospital the night Brianna was killed. He described to the jury how he examined Andre's genitals after he was arrested. Raquel testified that the head of Andre's uncircumcised penis had been "red or recently traumatized." The only way a penis can get that traumatized, Raquel said, was "by forcing it against a tight opening" when it is erect. Could the penis of a man who had masturbated, or had been walking around without underwear, show the same type of trauma? "Absolutely not," Raquel said. He also said he found "unmistakably fecal material . . . from the anus of a human being" in Andre's foreskin. Raquel took saline swabs from Andre that showed no presence of semen or blood, but testified that Andre could have washed them off. When Andre himself took the stand, he was sure his testimony would convince the jury of his innocence. "I thought from day one that I would be found not guilty," he told me. "I always believed in justice, and I thought innocence was more powerful than anything else." He explained that after he left the Tuckers' house that evening, he made a phone call at a friend's house and waited for Don Douroux at Don's place. He said Don told him he was going for a run and came back 20 minutes later, shortly after which the police arrived. Asked point-blank on the stand if he had anything to do with Brianna's death, Andre replied, "No, I didn't." He was never at the Tuckers' house without them, he said, and had made no confession to Don. Phone records were checked, however, and no calls had been made from Andre's friend's house that day, according to testimony from an employee of the Eastern Illinois Telephone Company (the employee also testified that, if it had been a collect call, no record would exist). The prosecutor said in his closing argument that this proved Andre had "lied, lied, lied." Andre's lawyer retorted in his closing argument that Andre was "confused" (which certainly didn't help lend credibility to anything else he said on the stand). "The days are pretty similar when you're not working," Parkinson said. "And you might forget what day you made a phone call." Andre's lawyer focused his closing argument on discrediting Don Douroux. Parkinson pointed out that Don's girlfriend had testified earlier that he had occasionally hit her. And it was Don, not Andre, who was nervous when the police first arrived. Jane Raley, an attorney with Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, knew there was something familiar about Andre Davis when he wrote her seeking help in 2003. Anjali Pinto The jury deliberated for just under three hours before delivering a verdict: Andre Davis was guilty of the rape and murder of Brianna Stickel. "None of us had any doubt," Melvin Parker, a juror at the trial, told me more than 30 years later. When being questioned during jury selection, all potential jurors had to agree that they would be willing to apply the death penalty if it were appropriate. Parker and nine other jurors voted for death for Andre, but two others said they couldn't condone the killing of a human being. Parker and the others pushed, saying they had all agreed in principle during jury selection. But the two holdouts said that, when faced with the real thing, they couldn't vote to put a man to death. Instead, Andre was sentenced by the judge to 80 years in prison without the chance of parole. Andre was devastated, but still hopeful. He even got a second trial. It turned out that the jury had requested a copy of the transcript of the trial testimony during deliberation, but the bailiff had failed to pass on the request to the judge. Before the second trial, Andre was offered a deal. If he pleaded guilty, he would serve a maximum of 25 years. Under Illinois law at the time, he would get a day off his sentence for every day he behaved well in prison. The offer on the table, then, was for 12.5 years in prison. Andre declined. "I would never plead guilty," he says. "Never, never. I was innocent, and that was going to come out some day, I knew it." Andre's mother, Emma, encouraged him in that decision. The second jury heard virtually the same information as the first—though this time around, Don's testimony included a revelation that was not made in his prior testimony and did not appear in prior police records. Don told the jury that Andre had asked him at his house—shortly before Don went to the Tuckers' and discovered Brianna's body—what would happen in a town like Rantoul if a black man killed a white person. And again, in 1983, Andre was found guilty of first-degree murder and received the same sentence of 80 years. Harold Jensen, the judge at the second trial, says now that he had "no doubt whatsoever" about Andre's guilt at the time. "The evidence was quite clear to me, and there was nothing to contradict that evidence." For the first 18 years of his sentence—almost as many years as he'd been alive at the time he was locked up—Andre passed the time at the maximum-security Pontiac Correctional Center by obsessively going over his case and praying to a god he still had faith in. At no time did he ever abandon his belief that he would one day be released. "I still believed in justice," he recalls. "I did anything I could to keep my sanity." In addition to examining his case, Andre spent his time studying religion. Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam, in particular. "What screamed to me was that in Islam, the biggest pursuit of justice is really emphasized." Early into his sentence, in 1984, he converted. His faith sustained him for the hardest part of his sentence—the part that wouldn't arrive for more than 25 years. He kept himself in shape by exercising in his tiny cell. He did whatever else he could to maintain his mental stability. If you let your bitterness get the better of you in prison, he says, you'll never make it. "I spent my time reading, watching TV, talking to myself, writing thousands of letters." He wrote to the NAACP, to the Nation of Islam, to the Urban League. But the most important letter turned out to be one he received—from an unlikely source. "I never adjusted to prison," Andre says. "In my mind, in my spirit, I rejected the fact that I was in that world—I wasn't going to accept that I was in that world." He adds: "I was a captive, so why would I ever accept that?" Of all the criminal charges that can land someone in prison, sexual abuse of a child is considered the worst by most inmates and guards. "Everyone's out to get you," Andre says. "Keeping yourself safe is a constant struggle." On top of that, he wanted to assert his will as much as he could, to discourage other prisoners from attacking him and to convince himself that prison hadn't broken him. He says that his constant attempts to protect himself—and to send other prisoners a message—resulted in a mind-set that repeatedly got him in trouble. He racked up one of the longest prison disciplinary records in the state, according to the Chicago Tribune. It eventually caught up with him. July 20, 1998, was Andre's 37th birthday. It was also the day he was transferred from the maximum-security state prison to the newly built Tamms Correctional Center, the now-notorious supermax facility reserved for the worst of the state's violent criminals. For at least 23 hours a day, Andre, like all Tamms prisoners, would be locked in solitary confinement in a windowless 7-by-12-foot cell. If he was well behaved, he was permitted an hour outside of his cell to get exercise in the yard. In Tamms, Andre didn't eat with other inmates—there was no mess hall. Meals were stuffed through a slot in a steel door. Inmates were not allowed to interact with each other, and they rarely had contact with guards. There was no library, no classroom—even medication was typically passed through the steel door. An Illinois federal court would later find that "Tamms imposes drastic limitations on human contact, so much so as to inflict lasting psychological damage and emotional harm on inmates confined there for long periods." Amnesty International determined that the facility "flout[s] international standards for humane treatment." (Tamms was finally closed by Governor Pat Quinn on January 4, 2013.) Judi Stickel says of the man convicted of killing her young niece: "It became clear to me that Andre was innocent. Nothing added up." Kevin E. Schmidt/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images Andre's mother and sister were consistently amazed at his optimism while in prison. During his parents' regular visits, he tried to cheer them up. Emma always shared her son's conviction that he would one day be freed. When asked if she ever had any doubt about Andre's innocence, Emma's jaw squares up. "No," she says. "I know my son." Another woman shared Emma's conviction: Judi Stickel, Brianna's aunt. Stickel had spent years reading and rereading police records and court documents describing the death of her niece. And she came to believe that the accounts witnesses gave police were contradictory. "It became clear to me that Andre was innocent," she told me. "Nothing added up." She sent Andre a letter in 1992, she recalled to the Tribune last year, which he ignored for fear that she had ulterior motives. She kept sending letters until he finally responded, two years later. Stickel then met with Andre's mother. She visited Rantoul. She pored over transcripts, interviewed witnesses herself, and wrote everyone she could think of who might want to hear what she had to say. Finally—more than ten years after she first wrote Andre—Judi Stickel stumbled upon someone who might listen. In 2003, when he was closing in on a quarter of a century of prison life, Andre—at Stickel's urging and with her help—wrote a desperate letter to a woman named Jane Raley, a law professor at Northwestern University and, since 2000, an attorney at the university's Center on Wrongful Convictions. Stickel had discovered the center and believed that they'd be able to act on Andre's behalf. Raley is slender and polite, with thin bangs that sometimes fall into her eyes. When she begins talking about her defenses of wrongfully convicted individuals, her calm demeanor vanishes and she can shake with anger. At a recent panel on the use of DNA in wrongful convictions, one of the formerly incarcerated men she works for called her a "drum major for justice." Raley received Andre's letter, written on lined yellow paper. It was one of the estimated hundreds of letters she'd received in her three years at the Center on Wrongful Convictions, and the words described a scenario familiar to her—though not because of her past work at the center. Raley had, coincidentally, been the backup attorney in the public defender's office during Andre's appeal. "I knew the case—and we thought he might be innocent," she recalled earlier this year, sitting in her small Northwestern office. Several pieces of the investigation seemed strange to her. And the fact that Andre had gotten a second trial suggested to Raley that perhaps other errors had been made—earlier on. What's more, two juries had decided against the death penalty for Andre. But if any case cried out for an execution, it was the horrific rape and murder of three-year-old child. "It suggested to me that they had reasonable doubt," she says, "that the evidence was problematic." Raley began parsing court transcripts and police records. The initial police report mentioned something relevant that was never discussed in court: Don Douroux had written in a statement to police that Becky Stickel, Brianna's mother, asked to look for Brianna in Sonny's house because "the girl visited there frequently." Maurice had testified, however, that Brianna had never been in the house. In addition, a junior high school student who was a neighbor of the Tuckers and had been in his backyard around the time of the crime had a clear view of a black man coming out of the house—yet didn't identify Andre in a police lineup. And hairs consistent with those of an African-American male that were found on Brianna's body did not match Andre's hair (or, for that matter, Don's). In his letter to Raley, Andre offered to take a DNA test. That, for Raley, was the decisive factor. Guilty men, she felt, typically don't want DNA tests done. The first of Andre Davis's many letters to Judi Stickel. (Click on the image to read the letter in its entirety.) Courtesy Judi Stickel Exoneration through DNA testing is extremely rare. DNA evidence plays no role in 90 to 95 percent of criminal convictions. But exonerating someone based on DNA evidence is, of course, far easier than exonerating defendants in cases in which DNA evidence doesn't exist. Successfully working a non-DNA wrongful-conviction case takes an average of 3,500 hours, according to Lesley Risinger, director of the Last Resort Exoneration Project at Seton Hall University. Those hours, billed to a midlevel associate, would compute to at least $1.5 million. Proving one's innocence through DNA is usually a far less costly and time-consuming endeavor. Andre, like most inmates, had no money to pay a lawyer. And once an individual is convicted, he has no right to a court-appointed attorney after his initial appeal. If Raley didn't listen to him, Andre's innocence claims likely weren't going to be heard by anyone else. On February 13, 2004, Raley filed a motion for DNA testing in Andre's case. She foresaw a fight. All states have laws granting some form of postconviction DNA testing. But in Illinois, as in other places, anyone seeking that testing still must meet burdensome criteria. And so prosecutors had the option to force Andre to prove he met the standards before being tested, which would have delayed Raley's motion. But they didn't. "To their credit, the state always said, 'Go right ahead and test it, we don't care,'" Raley says. The problem was that a lot of the evidence in Andre's case was either destroyed or missing. Hairs, swabs, a bloody brown paper towel discovered in the Tuckers' bathroom—all were tested using the technology of the time, but weren't introduced at trial and therefore weren't preserved. Fortunately, the evidence that was introduced—sheets, a mattress, and toilet paper—was stashed in the basement of the Champaign County Courthouse. Raley sent the material, along with a vial of Brianna's blood and an oral swab from Andre containing his DNA, to Cellmark Diagnostics, a testing lab in North Carolina. "These sheets and bedding—they were filled with just blood and semen," she recalls. The minimum cost for a DNA test at California's Serological Research Institute (SERI) is $2,200, says Gary Harmor, the lab's executive director. For that price, SERI can test one swab from an individual and compare it with one sample of blood or semen from a piece of evidence. Of course, most cases have far more evidence than just one piece—Harmor is currently working a cold case that's running a $110,000 tab so far. DNA degrades, so old evidence, such as in the Davis case, requires extra testing and is pricier. In addition, there are costs for having the lab prepare a report and for having a lab expert testify at a hearing or trial. The Virginian firm Bode Technology Group charges $1,900 per day plus expenses for an expert witness to appear at a courtroom outside of the local area. Northwestern University provides the Center on Wrongful Convictions with student help and pays for overhead and the lawyers' salaries. But any money for investigations and DNA testing has to be raised from private sources—and the center receives hundreds of requests annually from prisoners and their families to work their cases. But May 2004 happened to be a time when some money was available. Cellmark representatives told Raley that they couldn't do anything with the blood on the bedsheets—it was 24 years old and too degraded to be properly tested. The lab could, however, test the semen on the bedding. On November 16, 2004, they called Raley with the results. This article was reported with assistance from the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, with additional support from the Puffin Foundation. Correction: This article was amended to correct the name of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. Read part two of this story here. ||||| Andre Davis is charged with murder and kidnapping. A man who served 32 years in prison for rape and murder before being exonerated by DNA evidence in 2012, faces new murder charges for the death of a man found stabbed and shot in a South Side alley last year. Andre Davis, 52, of the 8200 block of South Eberhart Avenue, is charged with murder and kidnapping in connection with the death of 19-year-old Jamal Harmon on Oct. 7, 2013, authorities said. On Thursday, he was ordered held without bond. According to media reports at the time, Davis served more than 30 years in prison for the August 1980 rape and murder of 3-year-old girl Brianna Stickle in downstate Rantoul. DNA evidence overturned his conviction and he was released from prison in July 2012. Prosecutors did not retry him, claiming it would have been too hard to bring a 32-year-old case to trial. Top News Photos of the Week About 15 months later, Harmon was at a party hosted by Davis’ nephew in the 6500 block of South Ross about 3 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2013, authorities said. Harmon and the nephew got into an argument outside of the home over money lost at a dice game during the party. Davis’ nephew went back into the house, then came back outside with a handgun and shot Harmon, prosecutors allege. A witness said Harmon made sounds after he was shot, indicating he was still alive. Davis and the witness carried Harmon to the trunk of a Cadillac, prosecutors said. Davis drove off with Harmon in the trunk, telling others he was going to find a spot to dump him. Harmon’s body was discovered later that morning in an alley in the 7600 block of South Carpenter Street, prosecutors said. He had suffered three gunshot wounds to the face, lower neck and left armpit, and had been stabbed four times. An autopsy found Harmon died of multiple stab and gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office. The next day, Davis told someone he cut Harmon’s throat, prosecutors said. Along with he 1980 murder conviction, Davis has also previously been charged with attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a weapon, and two counts of aggravated battery, according to court records. He currently faces two misdemeanor counts of DUI. Copyright SunTimes

– Andre Davis served 32 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Now he might be going back for one that prosecutors say he did. As NBC Chicago explains, Davis served his lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of the 1980 rape and murder of a young girl, but he was released in 2012 after DNA evidence overturned the conviction. He had been a free man since—until this week, when he got arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of a 19-year-old, reports the Sun-Times. Police say the victim got into a fight with Davis' nephew during a house party, and the nephew shot him. According to prosecutors, witnesses say the victim was still alive when Davis put the teen into his trunk and said he would find a place to dump the body, reports the Chicago Tribune. He told another witness the next day that he cut the victim's throat, say prosecutors. Both he and his nephew have been charged, and Davis is once again behind bars awaiting trial. For an in-depth look at the original case, see the Chicago Reader. (Click to read about another man who spent three decades on death row before his exoneration.)

A day after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman over the death of Trayvon Martin, a Republican House member said Sunday that President Obama had politicized the case. "The president engaged in this and turned it into a political issue that should have been handled exclusively with law and order," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, on Fox News Sunday. Though local authorities prosecuted the case in Florida, King told Fox, "The evidence didn't support prosecution, and the Justice Department engaged in this." NEWS: George Zimmerman found not guilty The president spoke of Trayvon's family at a news conference on March 23, 2012: "I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. And, you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us, as Americans, are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened." Obama has not commented on Saturday's verdict. Critics of the jury's decision are calling on Obama's Justice Department to pursue a civil rights case against Zimmerman. "There is reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why he targeted young Trayvon," said NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous on CNN's State of the Union. ||||| Carol Medina, left, and her cousin Blanca Zavala attend a rally following the George Zimmerman verdict in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Carol Medina, left, and her cousin Blanca Zavala attend a rally following the George Zimmerman verdict in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jason Redmond/Reuters George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, has been found not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year in Sanford, Fla. George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, has been found not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year in Sanford, Fla. George Zimmerman’s acquittal Saturday night on all charges in the killing of a black teenager, Trayvon Martin, sparked deep emotional reactions across the country Sunday, resurrecting an intense national debate about the role of race and racism in American life. President Obama declared Martin’s killing an American tragedy but called for calm. From church pews to street corners to the sprawling social-media universe, Americans expressed outrage, disgust and, in some cases, relief at the verdict. Rallies and vigils were held in Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles as well as in Sanford, Fla., where the killing and the trial took place. Others were scheduled in Boston, Detroit and Baltimore. “I grew up in Georgia, and what happened to Trayvon would be the norm for any black man in Georgia,” said James Ealey, 73, recalling an earlier, more segregated nation. “That was the way it was. We are going backwards. We are not in a post-racial America just because of Barack Obama,” he said after Sunday services at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington. The White House issued a statement in which Obama characterized Martin’s death as “a tragedy . . . not just for his family . . . but for America.” The president acknowledged that “passions may be running ever higher” in the wake of the verdict but urged citizens to remember that a jury had spoken. “I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son,” Obama said. “And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities . . . if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. . . . That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.” The verdict did little to close the stark divisions the case opened up among Americans along the jagged fissures of race and personal safety — starting when Martin was shot about 18 months ago. A Zimmerman attorney argued throughout the case that race had little bearing on the initial confrontation or the outcome. But the case has played out against a racially charged backdrop since Zimmerman followed the unarmed Martin as he walked through his central Florida neighborhood and later said a confrontation led him to shoot Martin in self-defense. As one side sees it, a racially biased criminal justice system was slow to charge Zimmerman and quick to believe a white man’s version of events. The other side sees in Zimmerman a law-abiding citizen who tried to protect his neighborhood and properly claimed his right to carry a weapon in self-defense. Protesters across the country decried what they called the injustice of Zimmerman’s acquittal. They insisted that something must change in a court system and body of law that would allow an armed and self-appointed neighborhood watchman to pursue a black teenager, based on the suspicion that he was up to no good, and kill him. A group called the Coalition for Justice for Trayvon hosted a rally Sunday afternoon at the Seminole County courthouse, where a jury of six women acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder. In Washington, critics of the verdict were pumping fists and chanting along the U Street corridor early Sunday morning. Among the placards they carried were these two messages: “Stop criminalizing black men” and “Only White Life is Protected in America.” The NAACP began circulating a petition late Saturday asking Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to take action in the case as the group held its annual conference in Orlando. “It is time for the Department of Justice to act,” the petition says. “The most fundamental of civil rights — the right to life — was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin.” During a vigil Sunday night at Howard University, students, community members and alumni honored Martin with a moment of silence and the hymn “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.” Then Taylor Davis, a Howard student who is president of the school’s NAACP chapter, delivered a rousing address that had the crowd shouting in affirmation. “We will honor the voice of the jury, but we will put ourselves in a position where they will honor our voices as well. Make noise,” she said. She urged her listeners to sign the petition and to register to vote so that they can cast ballots against lawmakers who support legislation like the “stand your ground” law that protected Zimmerman. Although some people criticized the verdict, many argued that state investigators should have never prosecuted Zimmerman, because there was simply not enough evidence to prove who was the aggressor. Even legal analysts who said they strongly suspected that Martin was an innocent victim agreed that evidence proving so beyond a reasonable doubt — the standard that must be met for a guilty verdict — did not exist in this case. Ultimately, there were no living witnesses other than Zimmerman. Zimmerman said Martin punched him and threw him to the ground. A few neighbors testified that they heard yelps and saw an altercation but not who was doing the harm. A friend of Martin’s said he had called her on her cellphone minutes before his death, complaining that he was afraid of a “creepy-ass cracker” following him. Attorneys for Zimmerman said at a post-verdict news conference that they were ecstatic at the decision and praised the jurors, saying they weighed the evidence carefully. But defense attorney Mark O’Mara complained that some in the public and the media turned Zimmerman into a civil rights cause — and a monster. “If only those who decided to condemn Mr. Zimmerman as quickly and as viciously as they did would have taken just a little bit of time to find out who it was that they were condemning, it would never have happened,” O’Mara said. Added another defense attorney, Don West: “I think the prosecution of George Zimmerman was disgraceful. . . . It makes me sad, too, that it took this long, under these circumstances, to finally get justice.” The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation of Martin’s death shortly after his shooting. A department spokesman said Sunday that the investigation remains open and that officials are looking at whether there is enough evidence to pursue a civil rights case. But for many Americans furious with the jury’s decision, Sunday was a day to look to their religious faith for comfort and understanding. Among them was Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, who tweeted about her deep faith and quoted Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” She also tweeted: “Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you. You are all that I have. At the end of the day, GOD is still in control. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I will love you forever Trayvon!!! In the name of Jesus!!!” Martin’s parents and relatives were “in church this morning, praying and turning to God, a higher authority, to make sense of it all,” family attorney Benjamin Crump said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” The family cannot believe the verdict, Crump said. They don’t fault the prosecutors, he said, but they are trying to make sense of the jury’s decision while continuing to mourn the 17-year-old’s death. Family members are trying to decide what to do next and will look into filing a civil lawsuit. They have set up a foundation in Martin’s memory and pledge to fight gun violence. In sermons Sunday, many pastors mentioned the verdict and the pain it had caused their flocks. At some churches, members wore hooded sweatshirts in Martin’s honor to bring attention to racial stereotypes about young black men who wear such attire. But Sunday was a day of celebration for supporters of Zimmerman, who believed he had properly defended himself from a threat and should never have been prosecuted. His brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., tweeted early in the day: “Message from Dad: ‘Our whole family is relieved’. Today . . . I’m proud to be an American. God Bless America! Thank you for your prayers!” Manuel Roig-Franza in Sanford, Fla., and Hamil R. Harris, Sari Horwitz and Julie Zauzmer in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| 4 years ago Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama called on Sunday for "calm reflection" following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The president, in a statement, acknowledged an emotionally charged climate but concluded that "we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken."

– As the aftermath of George Zimmerman's acquittal continues to unfold—the Washington Post reports protests across the nation with more planned for the future—Obama has issued a statement, asking for Americans to "respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son," but also to ask themselves "if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence." The full statement, per CNN: "The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin." Earlier today, Republican Rep. Steve King accused Obama of politicizing the case on Fox News Sunday. "The president engaged in this and turned it into a political issue that should have been handled exclusively with law and order," he said, USA Today reports. But others are asking the Justice Department to get even more involved.

By Adrian Cho, ScienceNOW If it’s true, it will mark the biggest discovery in physics in the past half-century: Elusive, nearly massless subatomic particles called neutrinos appear to travel just faster than light, a team of physicists in Europe reports. If so, the observation would wreck Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which demands that nothing can travel faster than light. In fact, the result would be so revolutionary that it’s sure to be met with skepticism all over the world. “I suspect that the bulk of the scientific community will not take this as a definitive result unless it can be reproduced by at least one and preferably several experiments,” says V. Alan Kostelecky, a theorist at Indiana University, Bloomington. He adds, however, “I’d be delighted if it were true.” The data come from a 1,300-metric-ton particle detector named Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA). Lurking in Italy’s subterranean Gran Sasso National Laboratory, OPERA detects neutrinos that are fired through the Earth from the European particle physics laboratory, CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. As the particles hardly interact at all with other matter, they stream right through the ground, with only a very few striking the material in the detector and making a noticeable shower of particles. Over three years, OPERA researchers timed the roughly 16,000 neutrinos that started at CERN and registered a hit in the detector. They found that, on average, the neutrinos made the 730-kilometer, 2.43-millisecond trip roughly 60 nanoseconds faster than expected if they were traveling at light speed. “It’s a straightforward time-of-flight measurement,” says Antonio Ereditato, a physicist at the University of Bern and spokesperson for the 160-member OPERA collaboration. “We measure the distance and we measure the time, and we take the ratio to get the velocity, just as you learned to do in high school.” Ereditato says the uncertainty in the measurement is 10 nanoseconds. However, even Ereditato says it’s way too early to declare relativity wrong. “I would never say that,” he says. Rather, OPERA researchers are simply presenting a curious result that they cannot explain and asking the community to scrutinize it. “We are forced to say something,” he says. “We could not sweep it under the carpet because that would be dishonest.” The results will be presented at a seminar tomorrow at CERN. The big question is whether OPERA researchers have discovered particles going faster than light, or whether they have been misled by an unidentified “systematic error” in their experiment that’s making the time look artificially short. Chang Kee Jung, a neutrino physicist at Stony Brook University in New York, says he’d wager that the result is the product of a systematic error. “I wouldn’t bet my wife and kids because they’d get mad,” he says. “But I’d bet my house.” Jung, who is spokesperson for a similar experiment in Japan called T2K, says the tricky part is accurately measuring the time between when the neutrinos are born by slamming a burst of protons into a solid target and when they actually reach the detector. That timing relies on the global positioning system, and the GPS measurements can have uncertainties of tens of nanoseconds. “I would be very interested in how they got a 10-nanosecond uncertainty, because from the systematics of GPS and the electronics, I think that’s a very hard number to get.” No previous measurements obviously rule out the result, says Kostelecky, who has spent 25 years developing a theory, called the standard model extension, that accounts for all possible types of violations of special relativity in the context of particle physics. “If you had told me that there was a claim of faster-than-light electrons, I would be a lot more skeptical,” he says. The possibilities for neutrinos are less constrained by previous measurements, he says. Still, Kostelecky repeats the old adage: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Even Ereditato says that one measurement does not extraordinary evidence make. This story provided by ScienceNOW, the daily online news service of the journal Science. Image: OPERA experiment ||||| A pillar of physics _ that nothing can go faster than the speed of light _ appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories. FILE - In this Tuesday, March 30, 2010 file photo, the globe of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, is illuminated outside Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists at CERN, the world's largest... (Associated Press) This undated file photo shows famed physicist Albert Einstein. Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, the world's largest physics lab, say they have clocked subatomic particles,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Dec. 28, 1934 file photo, Albert Einstein delivers a lecture at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the auditorium of the Carnegie Institue of Technology... (Associated Press) Scientists at the world's largest physics lab said Thursday they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than light. That's something that according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity _ the famous E (equals) mc2 equation _ just doesn't happen. "The feeling that most people have is this can't be right, this can't be real," said James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The organization, known as CERN, hosted part of the experiment, which is unrelated to the massive $10 billion Large Hadron Collider also located at the site. Gillies told The Associated Press that the readings have so astounded researchers that they are asking others to independently verify the measurements before claiming an actual discovery. "They are inviting the broader physics community to look at what they've done and really scrutinize it in great detail, and ideally for someone elsewhere in the world to repeat the measurements," he said Thursday. Scientists at the competing Fermilab in Chicago have promised to start such work immediately. "It's a shock," said Fermilab head theoretician Stephen Parke, who was not part of the research in Geneva. "It's going to cause us problems, no doubt about that _ if it's true." The Chicago team had similar faster-than-light results in 2007, but those came with a giant margin of error that undercut its scientific significance. Other outside scientists expressed skepticism at CERN's claim that the neutrinos _ one of the strangest well-known particles in physics _ were observed smashing past the cosmic speed barrier of 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second). University of Maryland physics department chairman Drew Baden called it "a flying carpet," something that was too fantastic to be believable. CERN says a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds, making the difference statistically significant. But given the enormous implications of the find, they still spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there was no flaws in the experiment. "We have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement," said Antonio Ereditato, a physicist at the University of Bern, Switzerland, who was involved in the experiment known as OPERA. The researchers are now looking to the United States and Japan to confirm the results. A similar neutrino experiment at Fermilab near Chicago would be capable of running the tests, said Stavros Katsanevas, the deputy director of France's National Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research. The institute collaborated with Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory for the experiment at CERN. Katsanevas said help could also come from the T2K experiment in Japan, though that is currently on hold after the country's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Scientists agree if the results are confirmed, that it would force a fundamental rethink of the laws of nature. Einstein's special relativity theory that says energy equals mass times the speed of light squared underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics," said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. "It has worked perfectly up until now." He cautioned that the neutrino researchers would have to explain why similar results weren't detected before. "This would be such a sensational discovery if it were true that one has to treat it extremely carefully," said Ellis. ||||| Image caption Enormous underground detectors are needed to catch neutrinos, that are so elusive as to be dubbed "ghost particles" A meeting at Cern, the world's largest physics lab, has addressed results that suggest subatomic particles have gone faster than the speed of light. The team has published its work so other scientists can determine if the approach contains any mistakes. If it does not, one of the pillars of modern science may come tumbling down. Antonio Ereditato added "words of caution" to his Cern presentation because of the "potentially great impact on physics" of the result. The speed of light is widely held to be the Universe's ultimate speed limit, and much of modern physics - as laid out in part by Albert Einstein in his theory of special relativity - depends on the idea that nothing can exceed it. We want to be helped by the community in understanding our crazy result - because it is crazy Antonio Ereditato, Opera collaboration Light speed: Flying into fantasy Thousands of experiments have been undertaken to measure it ever more precisely, and no result has ever spotted a particle breaking the limit. "We tried to find all possible explanations for this," the report's author Antonio Ereditato of the Opera collaboration told BBC News on Thursday evening. "We wanted to find a mistake - trivial mistakes, more complicated mistakes, or nasty effects - and we didn't. "When you don't find anything, then you say 'well, now I'm forced to go out and ask the community to scrutinise this'." Friday's meeting was designed to begin this process, with hopes that other scientists will find inconsistencies in the measurements and, hopefully, repeat the experiment elsewhere. "Despite the large [statistical] significance of this measurement that you have seen and the stability of the analysis, since it has a potentially great impact on physics, this motivates the continuation of our studies in order to find still-unknown systematic effects," Dr Ereditato told the meeting. "We look forward to independent measurement from other experiments." Neutrinos come in a number of types, and have recently been seen to switch spontaneously from one type to another. The Cern team prepares a beam of just one type, muon neutrinos, and sends them through the Earth to an underground laboratory at Gran Sasso in Italy to see how many show up as a different type, tau neutrinos. In the course of doing the experiments, the researchers noticed that the particles showed up 60 billionths of a second earlier than they would have done if they had travelled at the speed of light. This is a tiny fractional change - just 20 parts in a million - but one that occurs consistently. The team measured the travel times of neutrino bunches some 16,000 times, and have reached a level of statistical significance that in scientific circles would count as a formal discovery. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Professor Antonio Ereditato of Cern: "An understatement that these are unexpected results" But the group understands that what are known as "systematic errors" could easily make an erroneous result look like a breaking of the ultimate speed limit. That has motivated them to publish their measurements. "My dream would be that another, independent experiment finds the same thing - then I would be relieved," Dr Ereditato told BBC News. But for now, he explained, "we are not claiming things, we want just to be helped by the community in understanding our crazy result - because it is crazy".

– It's enough to make Einstein's hair stand up: Physicists at CERN think they've spotted neutrinos traveling faster than light, reports AP. According to Einstein's special theory of relativity—his E=MC2 equation—nothing should be able to go that fast. At Wired, Adrian Cho doesn't mince words: "If it’s true, it will mark the biggest discovery in physics in the past half-century." It's so jarring in the world of science—the BBC explains that modern physics depends on the notion that the "the speed of light is the universe's ultimate speed limit"—that the researchers themselves are asking other scientists to try to duplicate the findings before proclaiming them to be true. "The feeling that most people have is this can't be right, this can't be real," says a CERN spokesman. Chicago's Fermilab says it will begin its own experiments immediately.

If the bill passes in a final council vote, D.C. would become the first municipality in the country to allow minors to vote in all elections, including presidential races. WASHINGTON — A bill that would lower the voting age for District residents from 18 to 16 cleared a committee hurdle Thursday and will advance to the full D.C. Council for a final vote. If it passes, the nation’s capital would become the first municipality in the country to allow minors to vote in all elections, including presidential races. Three Maryland jurisdictions — Takoma Park, Greenbelt and Hyattsville — previously lowered their voting age to 16 but only for local elections. “Many 16-year-olds shoulder adult responsibilities and burdens,” said Council member Charles Allen, who introduced the bill in April. “They do have skin in the game in their communities. They pay taxes, they have jobs and they drive on our city streets.” The legislation passed through the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety on a vote of 3-0. “This bill will enfranchise the District’s young people and bring their voices into the political process,” said Allen. Allen unsuccessfully introduced the measure in 2015 and revived it this year, inspired by high school student protests against gun violence following the Feb. 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A public hearing in June drew dozens of young people to the Wilson Building to testify in favor of the measure. About 70 people testified in support of the bill and nobody testified against it, according to Allen. Supporters claim young people vote at higher rates than adults when they are given the chance, and that teens who are allowed to vote are more likely to develop a lifelong habit of voting. Opponents argue that young people are not educated enough on the issues and are likely to simply vote however their parents vote. “Those arguments have been completely eviscerated,” Allen said. More than 10,000 16- and 17-year-old residents would be added to the voting rolls if the measure is passed by the full council and signed into law by Mayor Muriel Bowser. The full council is expected to take up the bill later this month. Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others. © 2018 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. ||||| The D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety passed a bill to lower the voting age to 16 in D.C. with a unanimous 3-0 vote Thursday. With Committee approval, the bill will now be placed on the agenda of the Nov. 13 City Council Legislative Meeting, where it will be voted on by the full council. Vote16DC, a coalition of youth, adult allies, and organizations that support granting voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds in the District, has spent months leading up to this committee vote mobilizing community support and educating Councilmembers on the merits of lowering DC’s voting age to 16. “I’m really glad to see that the committee voted for this bill,” said Chloe Ifill, a Vote16DC Youth Leader and 16-year-old Ward 7 resident who attends Woodrow Wilson High School. “We’ve worked hard to get the word out by talking to other youth and meeting with Councilmembers, and it’s great to see that our voice is being heard and valued.” The Youth Vote Amendment Act of 2018 was introduced in April by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, and a total of eight members of D.C. Council have announced support for the measure. To become law, a majority of the full Council must vote in favor of the bill in two separate votes, per requirements under D.C.’s Home Rule. “It’s exciting that we can be part of history by getting D.C. youth the right to vote,” said Helisa Cruz, a 16-year-old student at BASIS D.C. Public Charter School who lives in Ward 5 and is active in Vote16DC. “I am hopeful that when they vote on this bill, D.C. Councilmembers will make the right decision.” The DC Office of Planning estimates that there are approximately 10,400 16- and 17-year-olds in the District, with nearly 80 percent identified as youth of color. "DC is poised to become the first major American city to grant voting-rights to 16- and 17-year-olds,” said Vote16DC Campaign Manager Dave Chandrasekaran, a Ward 1 resident. "At a time when political discourse in this country is so divisive, it's really inspiriting to witness how passionate D.C. youth are about having a voice and positively influencing our community." The six co-introducers joining Councilmember Allen were Councilmembers David Grasso (At-large), Anita Bonds (At-large), Robert White (At-large), Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1), Vincent Gray (Ward 7), and Trayon White (Ward 8). Councilmember Elissa Silverman (At-large) announced support for the bill in October. “At the age of 16, your legal relationship with the government changes,” Allen said. “Young people work and pay income taxes. Some are raising a family or helping their family make ends meet. They can drive a car. Ironically, they pay fees to get a license plate that reads ‘End Taxation Without Representation.’ I think it’s time to change that.” If approved by the D.C. Council and signed by the mayor, the bill would have to undergo the requisite 30-day congressional review period before becoming an official act. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds are already able to pre-register to vote under current D.C. law. If the Youth Vote Amendment Act of 2018 is enacted, D.C. would become the fifth US city to have a voting age of 16, and the only jurisdiction in the country where this age group could vote in federal elections, including for president.

– Washington, DC, appears poised to become the first municipality in the nation to let 16-year-olds vote in national elections, including presidential races. A measure to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 cleared a committee last week and now heads to the full council, reports WTOP. To pass, it needs the support of a majority of the 13-member city council, and WJLA reports that eight members already have voiced their approval. While a handful of US cities allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections, none grants the right in national elections. DC has an estimated 10,000 teens of that age, most of them minorities, per WJLA. “At the age of 16, your legal relationship with the government changes,” says council member Charles Allen, who introduced the measure. He points out that many 16-year-olds get jobs and begin paying taxes, and they also start driving. "Ironically, they pay fees to get a license plate that reads ‘End Taxation Without Representation.’ I think it’s time to change that.” Allen says he was inspired in part by the youth political movement that surfaced after school shootings. If passed by the council and signed by the mayor, the measure must undergo a 30-day congressional review period. (One leader of the youth political movement has big plans for himself by the age of 25.)

5 years ago Washington (CNN) – "Reprehensible." "Irresponsible." "Hard to stomach." White House senior adviser David Plouffe did not mince words Sunday when talking about the reaction by Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to President Barack Obama's comments on the Trayvon Martin shooting. - Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker "Those two comments are really irresponsible. I would consider them reprehensible," Plouffe said on CNN's "State of the Union." "I think those comments were really hard to stomach, really, and I guess trying to appeal to people's worst instincts." While the GOP presidential candidates said the incident was a tragedy, Santorum and Gingrich were particularly critical of the president's response to the shooting in which Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, was shot and killed by a George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense. A somber Obama on Friday commiserated with the Martin family and urged authorities to fully investigate the shooting. "If I had a son he would look like Trayvon," Obama said. "I think (his parents) are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and we will get to the bottom of exactly what happened." Santorum said the president politicized the events, while Gingrich characterized Obama's comments as "nonsense." "What the president of the United States should do is try to bring people together, not use these types of horrible and tragic individual cases to try to drive a wedge in America," Santorum said Friday on "The Hugh Hewitt Show," a radio program. "Is the president suggesting if it had been a white who had been shot, that would be OK because it wouldn't look like him? That's just nonsense," Gingrich said Friday on conservative host Sean Hannity's radio show, "The Hannity Show." "I mean dividing this country up, it is a tragedy this young man was shot." But Plouffe, who served as Obama's 2008 campaign manager, said the Republican reaction is evidence of a circus-like primary. "I don't think there's very many people in America that would share that reaction. You know, this Republican primary at some points has been more of a circus show and a clown show," Plouffe told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. Although he indicated the Obama campaign expects Romney to be the Republican nominee, Plouffe also predicted an aggressive election come fall. "Romney has a big delegate lead so we've always felt you know because Romney's won a couple of big states lately, the fundamentals kind of support him," Plouffe said. "But it's going to be a close competitive race no matter who come out the other side." Also see: Santorum's Louisiana win does little to change the game of delegate math ‘Math isn’t adding up,’ Gingrich delegate says Santorum video: 'Obamaville' is a house of horrors Watch State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sundays at 9am ET. For the latest from State of the Union click here. ||||| White House senior adviser David Plouffe said on Sunday that the administration is "confident" that the U.S. Supreme Court will find the health care law constitutional. "We are confident it will be upheld," Plouffe said on ABC's "This Week," a day before oral arguments open on the case. He said the mandate requiring every American to obtain health insurance is a concept developed by conservative thinkers and once supported by Republicans Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole and Mitt Romney, who Plouffe termed the "godfather" of the mandate. Asked why the law isn't more popular, Plouffe said that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent attacking it and that the major benefits won't kick in until 2014. "We just have to tell the story of this," he said. "One thing I am confident of, by the end of this decade, we are going to be very glad the Republicans termed this Obamacare because when the reality of health care is in place it will be nothing like the kind of fear mongering that was done." Read more about: Supreme Court, David Plouffe, Health Law ||||| White House senior adviser David Plouffe declined on Sunday to say whether President Barack Obama would support or fight a gay marriage plank in the Democratic Party's platform. "We don’t even have a platform committee," Plouffe said on ABC's "This Week." "We are going to work through the platform process." Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and 22 senators have endorsed the national party taking a stance on marriage legalization. Obama, however, remains opposed to gay marriage. Read more about: Barack Obama, David Plouffe, Gay Marriage ||||| White House senior adviser David Plouffe on Sunday branded the House Republican spending plan as the "Romney-Ryan budget," a tactical move to link the budget crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) with the Republican presidential front runner Mitt Romney. "If Mitt Romney is the nominee, then this really is going to be the Romney-Ryan plan," Plouffe said on ABC's "This Week." "He said he's going to rubber-stamp it. ... So the American people have to understand, if Mitt Romney's elected president, he'll rubber-stamp that budget. And here's what that budget is. It fails the standard -- it fails the test of balance and fairness and shared responsibility. It showers huge additional tax cuts on the wealthy ... that are paid for by veterans and seniors and the middle class, so it's not a balanced approach." "So the president's approach is the right approach. It's the balanced approach," Plouffe said. "Anybody out there that's offered a deficit reduction plan, any expert says it's got to have balance, which means it's got to cut spending, and we've already cut a lot of spending, almost $2 trillion. It's got to reform entitlements in the right way. And you've got to get revenue through tax reform." Ryan defended his plan on "Fox News Sunday," saying Medicare would grow at the same rate as under the president's plan while balancing the budget more quickly. Read more about: Mitt Romney, David Plouffe, Paul Ryan

– David Plouffe is making the talk-show rounds this morning, and CNN reports that he's wasting zero time in bashing Newt Gingrich for accusing President Obama of politicizing the Trayvon Martin killing, and dismissing the GOP nomination race at large as a "clown show." Gingrich "is clearly in the last throes of his political career," said Plouffe, and instead of exiting "with some shred of dignity," has "clearly chosen" to "say these irresponsible, reckless things." "I think the president spoke movingly about this tragedy, as a father," Plouffe said. "So I think those comments were really hard to stomach, really, and I guess trying to appeal to people’s worst instincts." Elsewhere on the Plouffe dog-and-pony show, as per Politico: On Paul Ryan's budget: "If Mitt Romney is the nominee, then this really is going to be the Romney-Ryan plan. He said he's going to rubber-stamp it." On being "confident" health care reform will be upheld by the Supreme Court: "By the end of this decade, we are going to be very glad the Republicans termed this ObamaCare, because when the reality of health care is in place it will be nothing like the kind of fear mongering that was done." On the White House's gay marriage stance: "We don’t even have a platform committee. We are going to work through the platform process."

Strengths and limitations of this study We conducted a large population-based national survey of young adults, using a precise sampling frame. We included exposures to the sudden death of any close contact, to describe the impact of suicide bereavement whether related to the deceased or not. Our primary outcomes were validated measures of self-reported suicidal ideation and suicide attempt occurring after the bereavement, adjusted for prebereavement suicidal behaviour and psychopathology. We compared bereavement by suicide with bereavement due to sudden natural causes, then separately compared those bereaved by suicide with those bereaved due to sudden unnatural death to measure the specific impact of suicide bereavement. Given the possibility of selection bias (favouring higher social classes) and male non-response bias, the results of this study may be more generalisable to young bereaved women than men, and to the more highly educated. Introduction Suicide bereavement describes the period of grief, mourning and adjustment after a suicide death, that is experienced by family members, friends and any other contacts of the deceased affected by the loss.1 It is estimated to affect up to 9% of adolescents2 and 7% of adults3 annually. Since 1989, the WHO has suggested that relatives and close friends of people who die by suicide are a high-risk group for suicide.4 Explanations include the particular psychological trauma of a suicide loss, which involves grief and agonising self-questioning; shared familial and environmental risk; suicide contagion through the process of social modelling1; and the burden of stigma associated with violent losses.1 ,5 Quantitative studies confirm that people bereaved by suicide and other violent deaths perceive greater stigma than other bereaved groups.1 Their qualitative accounts are of others’ distaste or embarrassment over the disturbing nature of an unnatural loss,5 and a loss of community support,6 ,7 with the effect of reducing help seeking and perceptions of the support available.7 As stigma may be more modifiable than other potential explanatory factors, there is interest in understanding its relationship to suicide-related outcomes after negative life events.1 International suicide prevention strategies have placed great emphasis on the provision of support for people bereaved by suicide,1 despite the lack of studies confirming that risk of adverse outcomes applies beyond the effect of any sudden loss.1 ,8 There is also little evidence for effective interventions after suicide.9 Studies comparing people bereaved by suicide with non-bereaved controls support an increased probability of suicide following any bereavement.10 Those using controls bereaved by non-suicide causes go further in supporting an association between sudden bereavement and suicide-related outcomes.10 ,11 However, risk of hospital-treated suicide attempt is similar in adults bereaved by suicide and those bereaved by accidental deaths,12 suggesting that the wider risk factor is bereavement by any unnatural causes. Only study designs separating out control groups bereaved by sudden natural and sudden unnatural causes, adjusted for prebereavement psychopathology, can determine whether adverse outcomes are attributable to violent deaths or more specifically to suicide.1 Our recent systematic review highlighted the lack of such studies.1 It also found that no British studies had investigated suicide-related outcomes after suicide bereavement,13 and no studies using bereaved controls had measured the impact of peer suicide.1 This is despite widespread concern about the susceptibility of young people to social modelling of self-harm14 ,15 and recent increases in suicides among young men.16 Our objective was to design a study that could investigate whether there is a specific association between suicide bereavement and suicide attempt by making distinct comparisons between bereavement by suicide, unnatural causes and sudden natural causes. Use of routine clinical data was precluded because these record exposure only to mortality of first-degree relatives and cohabitees, and hospital presentations of self-harm. Conversely, survey methods permit ascertainment of exposure to all bereavements, and self-reported suicidality and self-harm, and are therefore a vital tool for investigating risk of suicidal events following suicide bereavement. We therefore undertook a population-based cross-sectional survey comparing the impact of specific modes of self-reported sudden bereavement on non-fatal suicide-related outcomes. Our primary hypothesis was that young adults in the UK who had been bereaved by suicide were at higher risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts than those bereaved by other causes of sudden death. Collecting data on two control groups allowed us to address two research questions. First, comparison with adults bereaved by sudden natural causes of death took into account the sudden nature of the loss. Second, comparison with adults bereaved by sudden unnatural causes took into account the violent nature of the loss. Hypothesis 2 was that suicide bereavement would be a risk factor for four secondary clinical and occupational measures (postbereavement non-suicidal self-harm, depression, occupational drop-out and social dysfunction), reflecting policy concerns about the contribution of bereavement to workplace mental ill health and sickness absence.17 Hypothesis 3 was that the impact of suicide bereavement would extend beyond genetic relatedness to peer suicides, and would therefore not be modified by relatedness to the deceased. Hypothesis 4 was that any associations with clinical or occupational outcomes would be attenuated by perceived stigma, as a marker for reduced help seeking. Methods Study design and participants We invited all young adults working or studying at UK higher education institutions (HEIs) to participate in a closed, online study about sudden bereavement: the UCL Bereavement Study. We anticipated that using the email systems of large institutions would be the best means of accessing hard-to-reach groups, particularly those not normally accessing health services, and avoiding the biases associated with recruiting a help-seeking sample.18 Sampling from a diverse range of colleges, universities, art and drama schools, and agricultural colleges offered unique access to a large defined sample of young adults. All 164 HEIs in the UK in 2010 were invited to participate, following up non-responding HEIs to encourage broad socioeconomic and geographic representation. Over 20% of HEIs (37/164) agreed to take part, with a higher response (40%) from those classified as the more prestigious Russell Group of universities. This provided a sampling frame of 659 572 staff and students. All participants were invited to take part in a survey of ‘the impact of sudden bereavement on young adults’, with the aim of masking them to the specific study hypotheses. There was no accurate way of measuring response, as the denominator of bereaved people was not ascertainable using routine data or survey methods. The majority of participating HEIs agreed to send an individual email invitation with embedded survey link to each staff and student member. For reasons of sensitivity (recent staff/student deaths), 10 HEIs modified this strategy, for example, by emailing students only, using their weekly news digest email, or advertising via staff and student intranet. Inclusion criteria were as follows: people aged 18–40 who, since the age of 10, had experienced sudden bereavement of a close friend or relative. The 18–40 age range was defined to reflect an under-researched group of great policy interest.16 Early childhood bereavements were excluded to minimise recall bias and restrict our focus to adult cognitive processing of life events, using the age threshold for criminal responsibility in England and Wales. A close contact was defined as ‘a relative or friend who mattered to you, and from whom you were able to obtain support, either emotional or practical’. Sudden bereavement was operationalised as ‘a death that could not have been predicted at that time and which occurred suddenly or within a matter of days’. Exposure status was classified by responses to the question: ‘Since you were aged 10 have you experienced a sudden bereavement of someone close to you due to any of the following: (1) sudden natural death (eg, cardiac arrest, epileptic seizure, stroke); (2) sudden unnatural death (eg, road crash, murder or manslaughter, work accident); (3) suicide?’ Mode of death was defined subjectively by the respondent, and not by coroner's verdict or death certificate, as perception of bereavement type was the exposure of interest. In the case of more than one exposure, we adopted a hierarchical approach favouring those bereaved by suicide, for whom we anticipated the lowest base rate. This group were classified as suicide bereaved regardless of other exposures. Those bereaved by more than one non-suicide sudden death were asked to relate their responses to whichever person they had felt closest to, with exposure status classified accordingly. We estimated that a minimum of 466 participants would be required in any one group (two-tailed analysis; 90% power) to detect a doubling of the UK community prevalence of lifetime suicide attempt (6.5%) in young adult samples.19 We chose a relatively large effect size to reflect our comparison to a non-bereaved baseline, lacking prevalence figures for bereaved UK samples. Procedures The questionnaire (see online supplementary material) was designed in consultation with a group of young bereaved adults and bereavement counsellors, who identified important domains to cover in relation to the impact of bereavement, and was piloted with individuals accessing support from national bereavement support organisations. It elicited quantitative data on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, including a personality disorder screen,20 and nine putative confounding variables identified a priori from existing literature and clinical judgement: age, gender, socioeconomic status, other family history of suicide (excluding index bereavement), years since bereavement, kinship to the deceased, prebereavement depression, prebereavement suicide attempt and prebereavement non-suicidal self-harm. These reflected the observed vulnerabilities of people bereaved by suicide, even before the loss,1 which are likely to reflect shared familial and environmental risk. We measured perceived stigma using the stigmatisation subscale of the Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ),6 with items such as ‘Since the death how often did you feel avoided by friends?’ Responses on a Likert-style scale generated scores of 5–25. Our two main outcomes were self-reported suicidal ideation (‘Have you ever thought of taking your life, even though you would not actually do it?’)21 and self-reported suicide attempt (‘Have you ever made an attempt to take your life, by taking an overdose of tablets or in some other way?’).22 These standardised measures were taken from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS),19 a national seven-yearly population survey in England, and were qualified by whether these occurred before or after the sudden bereavement, to derive an incident measure. Our four secondary measures were: postbereavement non-suicidal self-harm (self-poisoning and self-injury without suicidal intent) using a standardised APMS measure22 (adapted as above); depression using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) screen for lifetime depression23 (adapted as above); occupational drop-out (from work or education) using a binary measure developed for this study; and poor social functioning using the Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ).24 Statistical analysis We summarised sample characteristics by exposure group, using χ2 tests (categorical variables) and one-way analysis of variance (continuous variables). We then used multivariable regression to estimate the strength of associations between suicide bereavement and outcomes. We fitted binary models using xtlogit commands in Stata,25 with HEI as random effect, to take into account the clustering effect at HEI level. Each multivariable model included nine prespecified confounding variables, described above. Models used complete case analysis, with a significance threshold of p=0.05 for primary outcomes and p=0.01 for secondary outcomes. Our primary comparison used bereavement by sudden natural causes as the reference category, quantifying risk of adverse outcomes in adults bereaved by suicide, and in adults bereaved by sudden unnatural causes. We conducted a second comparison between adults bereaved by suicide and the reference category of adults bereaved by sudden unnatural causes. We tested hypothesis 3, whether the effect of suicide bereavement was modified by kinship (blood-related vs non-blood-related), by adding an interaction term to all models. Hypothesis 4, whether stigma attenuated associations, was tested by including stigma scores in multivariable models. A series of a priori defined sensitivity analyses were conducted. These assessed the robustness of our main findings when using best-case and worst-case scenarios to impute missing values, and when applying more stringent inclusion criteria (excluding participants from the 10 HEIs that had modified the stipulated recruitment method; excluding participants from the 18 HEIs with participant numbers below the median cluster size). Finally, we conducted a set of four post hoc analyses to describe probability estimates in those bereaved by the death of an older person; in a student-only sample; and in women (as the study was underpowered to add gender as an interaction term to models); and to ascertain whether exposure to more than one mode of sudden bereavement might attenuate associations (by adding this variable to final models). All analyses were conducted using Stata V.12 (StataCorp, Texas, USA). Results A total of 5085 people of the 659 572 sampled responded to the questionnaire by clicking on the survey link, with 91% consenting to participate, and 68% (n=3432) fulfilling eligibility (see figure 1). Overall 18% had been exposed to more than one mode of sudden bereavement (see figure 2), which was significantly more common in the group bereaved by suicide (see table 1). Clustering of participants within the 37 HEIs was minimal for primary outcomes (see table 1). Missing data for model covariates and outcomes were less than 7%. Table 1 Characteristics of participants by type of bereavement exposure Figure 1 Participant flow. Figure 2 Euler diagram showing the combinations of exposures in eligible sample of 3432 respondents. Participant characteristics The sample was primarily female, white and blood-related to the deceased (see table 1). Of those reporting the loss of a non-blood-related contact, 74% described them as a friend, 11% a partner, 4% an ex-partner and 12% a step/adoptive/in-law family member. There were no statistically significant differences between the exposure groups in relation to mean age, gender, self-defined ethnicity, socioeconomic status, level of current social support or personality difficulties. People bereaved by suicide were significantly more likely to report prebereavement psychopathology, and a family history of psychiatric problems. Those bereaved by sudden unnatural causes or by suicide reported a lower mean age of the deceased than those bereaved by sudden natural causes, and were also less likely to report the loss of a blood relative. The mean time elapsed since bereavement was 4.9 years (SD=5.3; range=1 day to 30 years), with no evidence for group differences. In each exposure group, the prevalence of prebereavement suicidal thoughts and non-suicidal self-harm (but not suicide attempt) exceeded estimates for UK population norms in corresponding age groups.19 Bereavement by suicide compared with that by sudden natural causes In comparison with bereavement by sudden natural causes (see table 2), those bereaved by suicide had a greater probability of postbereavement suicide attempt (adjusted OR (AOR)=1.65; 95% CI 1.12 to 2.42; p=0.012), but not of suicidal ideation. The suicide-bereaved group also had a greater probability of occupational drop-out (AOR=1.80; 95% CI 1.20 to 2.71; p=0.005), but there was no evidence for group differences in postbereavement non-suicidal self-harm, depression or social functioning. Table 2 Estimates of the relationship between postbereavement outcomes and bereavement exposure (sudden natural death as reference category) Comparison between bereavement by sudden unnatural causes and the reference category of adults bereaved by sudden natural causes showed no evidence for any group differences. Bereavement by suicide compared with that by sudden unnatural causes When directly compared with bereavement by sudden unnatural death, adults bereaved by suicide had a similar probability of postbereavement suicidal ideation and suicide attempt (see table 3). The probability of poor social functioning was significantly greater in adults bereaved by suicide (AOR=1.46; 95% CI 1.12 to 1.89; p=0.005), but there were no differences in postbereavement non-suicidal self-harm, depression or occupational drop-out. Table 3 Estimates of the relationship between postbereavement outcomes and bereavement exposure (suicide vs sudden unnatural death) Kinship as a potential effect modifier Tests for an interaction between bereavement exposure and kinship to the deceased found that none of the significant or non-significant associations between suicide bereavement and adverse outcomes were modified by relatedness. This was the case even when excluding the 253 respondents who reported the death of a partner, ex-partner or non-blood relative, to describe associations in a group bereaved by peer death. Stigma as a potential confounder Adding stigma scores to adjusted models for significant associations between suicide bereavement and adverse outcomes attenuated ORs, as predicted, with no evidence for group differences between those bereaved by suicide and those bereaved by sudden natural causes in postbereavement suicide attempt (AOR=1.11; 95% CI 0.74 to 1.67; p=0.610) or occupational drop-out (AOR=1.36; 95% CI 0.89 to 2.09; p=0.156), or between those bereaved by suicide and those bereaved by sudden unnatural causes in terms of poor social functioning (AOR=1.06; 95% CI 0.80 to 1.41; p=0.667). Sensitivity analyses Main findings were unchanged after sensitivity analyses simulating worst-case and best-case scenarios for missing values, and after those simulating other potential biases, suggesting that any biases introduced had not resulted in an underestimation or overestimation of the risks. Post hoc sensitivity analyses The magnitude and direction of the association between suicide bereavement and suicide attempt (compared with bereavement by sudden natural causes) were similar after excluding 769 participants bereaved by the death of someone aged over 60 (AOR=1.78; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.71; p=0.008), to exclude deaths that might be less unexpected. They were also unchanged when excluding 399 staff (AOR=1.73; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.59; p=0.007), and in a women-only sample (AOR=1.66; 95% CI 1.09 to 2.53; p=0.018). When compared with women bereaved by sudden unnatural causes, women bereaved by suicide had an increased probability of postbereavement suicide attempt (AOR=1.71; 95% CI 1.04 to 2.85; p=0.036), whereas in the full sample no association was found. When taking into account the higher prevalence of repeated exposure to sudden bereavement in the suicide bereaved group, ORs were attenuated and no significant findings remained. There was therefore no evidence of group differences between the suicide bereaved group and those bereaved by sudden natural causes in relation to postbereavement suicide attempt (AOR=1.53; 95% CI 0.99 to 2.35; p=0.054) or occupational drop-out (AOR=1.54; 95% CI 0.98 to 2.43; p=0.062), or between those bereaved by suicide and those bereaved by sudden unnatural causes in relation to poor social functioning (AOR=1.41; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.84; p=0.013). Discussion Our main finding was of a specific association between bereavement by suicide and subsequent suicide attempt among young adults who experience sudden bereavement. This was not attributable to prebereavement suicidality, despite higher rates of prebereavement psychopathology; a finding in keeping with the literature1 and suggestive of shared familial and environmental risk. Previous studies using non-bereaved controls or heterogeneous bereaved controls were not able to rule out the possibility that exposure to any sudden bereavement explains adverse outcomes. Our study supports a specific association between suicide bereavement and suicide-related outcomes, justifying the inclusion of people bereaved by suicide in national suicide prevention strategies. This study also provides the first evidence that blood relatedness to the deceased does not modify the association between suicide bereavement and suicide attempt, confirming that risk also applies to adults bereaved by peer suicide. Such findings must be interpreted in the context of a highly educated sample, in which exposure to violent losses may be lower than in a more nationally representative (but harder to recruit) sample. The absence of an association between suicide bereavement and suicidal ideation or depression is striking, as is the high prevalence of prebereavement and postbereavement suicidal ideation and depression in all three exposure groups. This may be explained by high baseline rates of depressive and suicidal thoughts among students,26 reducing the chances of detecting a difference. It is also possible that while suicidal thinking after sudden loss is common, suicide bereavement is particularly powerful in precipitating suicide attempt in a suicidal person, whether due to enhanced awareness of means, reduced fear of death or social modelling.27 The non-significant differences in the probability of suicidality and depression when comparing adults bereaved by suicide and by sudden unnatural causes are noteworthy, requiring further studies comparing outcomes in those bereaved by suicide and other unnatural causes. The clinical implications of these findings are that clinicians assessing suicide risk should inquire not only about a history of suicide in blood relatives, but also in friends and non-blood relatives. Employers should be aware of the impact of suicide bereavement on occupational functioning, and make adjustments to promote workplace mental health. The associations between suicide bereavement and adverse outcomes became non-significant when adding perceived stigma. This is an indicator that stigma might be a marker for motivational moderators of suicidality after a negative life event, such as reluctance to seek help, thwarted belongingness or perceived burdensomeness.27 However, further investigation is warranted to determine whether stigma can be said to lie on the causal pathway. This study suggests a role for psychosocial interventions delivered after a potentially traumatic loss to address problem solving and help seeking, and the quality of community support. Although not prehypothesised, the associations were also attenuated by repeated exposure to sudden losses among the suicide bereaved. This is suggestive of a substantial contribution of familial and environmental risk factors for premature death shared with social networks, and a reduced fear of death due to habituation. This acquired capability to attempt suicide27 would require sensitive exploration in a clinical interview. Our study is of policy importance in specifying that friends as well as relatives warrant support after a suicide, addressing the vagueness of suicide prevention strategies on how extensively to offer support.1 The WHO estimates that 800 000 people die by suicide annually,28 and 60 people are now understood to affected by each suicide death.29 This means that 48 million people are bereaved by suicide worldwide every year. Further research describing moderators of risk will help determine whether there is a rationale for screening members of this heterogeneous group. Trials are also needed to identify evidence-based interventions delivered after suicide bereavement to reduce the risk of suicide-related outcomes, including those that address stigma. This study's key strengths are its national population-based sample size, and ability to access those who do not normally participate in research. It is the largest scale survey conducted in any country comparing self-reported suicide-related outcomes in those bereaved by suicide and other mortality causes. Previous studies using national registries have achieved larger sample sizes, but under-recorded exposures and lacked self-reported outcomes such as untreated suicide attempts.10–12 ,30 ,30 ,31 Unlike previous surveys, we tested clear a priori hypotheses, accounted for prebereavement psychopathology, and used standardised measures for seven of eight outcomes. A precise sampling frame accessed a large community sample of young adults, otherwise under-represented in health research, while minimising the biases inherent to using help-seeking groups. Coroner misclassification of suicides as accidental deaths was less of a problem than in other studies as we used the respondent's perception of cause of death, with minimal potential for respondent misclassification. Levels of missing data within models were low, and results were robust to sensitivity analysis simulating non-response and possible selection biases. Chance findings were unlikely as group sizes exceeded the minimum required for adequate power and the significance threshold was more stringent for secondary outcomes than primary. Lack of information on response might be a considered a limitation, but no method permitted accurate estimation of the bereaved denominator. It is reasonable to assume that most non-responders had not been exposed to sudden bereavement, and that a minority were ineligible by age. Our hierarchical approach to classifying suicide exposure may have overestimated the effect of suicide bereavement due to clustering of violent bereavements, but we did not measure number of exposures to each type of bereavement. Our definition of non-suicidal self-harm followed that used for establishing UK population norms,19 but may differ from others given wide international definitional variations. Recall bias may have influenced judgements about the onset and severity of difficulties, particularly among those bereaved by violent causes, with the potential to overestimate risks in these groups. Residual confounding is possible in relation to unmeasured variables such as financial hardship, social modelling, substance misuse and complicated grief (which was not measured as data collection preceded Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5)32). Non-response bias (from men, those most distressed), survivor bias and selection bias (favouring higher social classes) may have resulted in an underestimation of risks due to the higher probability of suicide-related outcomes in disadvantaged men16 and those worst affected by the loss. An HEI sample is not representative of all UK-based young adults, despite inclusion of diverse institutions, and this limits generalisability of findings to those not entering higher education. While selection bias and male non-response bias were equally distributed between the three exposure groups, the results of this study may be more generalisable to young bereaved women than men, and to the more highly educated. Nevertheless, the findings do constitute the best available evidence describing the impact of peer suicide on young adults using appropriate controls. Conclusions Bereavement by suicide is a specific risk factor for suicide attempt when compared with bereavement due to sudden natural causes, whether blood-related to the deceased or not. As the association between suicide bereavement and suicide attempt is attenuated when taking into account perceived stigma, further investigation of the role of stigma and reduced help seeking is warranted. Such work will inform the development of acceptable interventions delivered after potentially traumatic losses. Our findings suggest that suicide risk assessment should extend screening for a family history of suicide to any history of suicide in non-blood relatives and friends. However, until we have evidence-based interventions for this group, the best ways of mitigating this risk of suicide attempt are unclear. ||||| People bereaved by the sudden death of a friend or family member are 65 percent more likely to attempt suicide if the deceased died by suicide than if they died by natural causes People bereaved by the sudden death of a friend or family member are 65% more likely to attempt suicide if the deceased died by suicide than if they died by natural causes. This brings the absolute risk up to 1 in 10, reveals new UCL research funded by the Medical Research Council. The researchers studied 3,432 UK university staff and students aged 18-40 who had been bereaved, to examine the specific impacts associated with bereavement by suicide. The results are published in BMJ Open. As well as the increased risk of suicide attempt, those bereaved by suicide were also 80% more likely to drop out of education or work. In total, 8% of the people bereaved by suicide had dropped out of an educational course or a job since the death. "Our results highlight the profound impact that suicide might have on friends and family members," says study author Dr Alexandra Pitman (UCL Psychiatry). "However, these outcomes are by no means inevitable. If you have been bereaved by suicide, you should know that are not alone and support is available. There is a guide called Help is at Hand, written by people affected by suicide, which offers emotional and practical advice as well as information on organisations that can offer further support. "We know that people can find it difficult to know what to say to someone who has recently been bereaved. However, saying something is often better than saying nothing, and simple gestures like offering practical help with day-to-day activities can mean a lot. For example, when a colleague bereaved by suicide returns to work after compassionate leave then it could be helpful to ask how they are and offer to help them with their workload. Employers should be aware of the significant impact that suicide bereavement has on people's working lives and make adjustments to help their staff return to work." The study also found that people who had been bereaved by suicide tended to perceive more social stigma around the death. When the results were adjusted for perceived social stigma to reflect this, the significant differences in suicide attempts and occupational functioning disappeared. While further research is required, this suggests that addressing the social stigma attached to suicide bereavement might be one way to help to limit its impact on people's lives. "British people can be very uncomfortable talking about death, and suicide in particular is often perceived as a taboo subject," explains Dr Pitman. "However, avoiding the subject can make a bereaved person feel very isolated and stigmatised, and sometimes even blamed for the death. People bereaved by suicide should not be made to feel in any way responsible, and should be treated with the same compassion as people bereaved by any other cause. Suicide is a complex issue and there is often no simple explanation for why someone chooses to take their own life. Although one often hears people refer to a relationship break-up or a redundancy as the trigger for a suicide, this is far too simplistic and in reality it is often a culmination of different life events rather than one individual 'cause'." Previous studies have shown family history of suicide to be a risk factor for suicide attempt, so risk assessments in hospitals, prisons and social care settings are designed to take this into account. However, the new study suggests that a history of suicide among non-blood relatives and friends should also be considered when assessing suicide risk. Asking about the impact of a suicidal loss will also give professionals a sense of how it has affected their day-to-day functioning, and whether feeling stigmatised has prevented them from accessing help. ### ||||| People bereaved by suicide of a friend or family member are 65 per cent more likely to kill themselves than the ones whose relatives died of natural causes, a new study has claimed.People coming in contact with ones displaying self-destructive behaviour are more likely to show a suicidal tendency.It is common among vulnerable people - especially teens and young adults. This is called "suicide contagion." Contagion includes indirect as well as direct exposure to suicide, as Health and Human Services explains. Reading a newspaper article about a famous suicide and not just directly experiencing the death of a friend or an attempt made by a family member might propel someone who is at-risk to follow suit.The researchers from University College London (UCL) studied 3,432 UK university staff and students aged 18-40 who had been bereaved, to examine the specific impacts associated with bereavement by suicide.As well as the increased risk of suicide attempt, those bereaved by suicide were also 80 per cent more likely to drop out of education or work.In total, 8 per cent of the people bereaved by suicide had dropped out of an educational course or a job since the death."Our results highlight the profound impact that suicide might have on friends and family members," said study author Alexandra Pitman from UCL."However, these outcomes are by no means inevitable. If you have been bereaved by suicide, you should know that are not alone and support is available," Mr Pitman said."We know that people can find it difficult to know what to say to someone who has recently been bereaved. However, saying something is often better than saying nothing, and simple gestures like offering practical help with day-to-day activities can mean a lot.The study also found that people who had been bereaved by suicide tended to perceive more social stigma around the death.When the results were adjusted for perceived social stigma to reflect this, the significant differences in suicide attempts and occupational functioning disappeared.This suggests that addressing the social stigma attached to suicide bereavement might be one way to help to limit its impact on people's lives."People bereaved by suicide should not be made to feel in any way responsible, and should be treated with the same compassion as people bereaved by any other cause," said Mr Pitman."Suicide is a complex issue and there is often no simple explanation for why someone chooses to take their own life," Mr Pitman said."Although one often hears people refer to a relationship break-up or a redundancy as the trigger for a suicide, this is far too simplistic and in reality it is often a culmination of different life events rather than one individual 'cause'," she said.Previous studies have shown family history of suicide to be a risk factor for suicide attempt, so risk assessments in hospitals, prisons and social care settings are designed to take this into account. However, the new study suggests that a history of suicide among non-blood relatives and friends should also be considered when assessing suicide risk.The study was published in the journal BMJ Open.

– Dealing with death is difficult enough, but when a loved one takes his or her own life, it becomes even more complex—and it may up the risk of suicide for those left behind, a new study finds. In their findings published in the BMJ Open journal, researchers from University College London studied 3,432 adults ages 18 to 40 who'd been bereaved by a sudden death of a friend or family member. They found that individuals whose deceased loved ones had killed themselves were 65% more likely to attempt suicide themselves (what NDTV refers to as the phenomenon of "suicide contagion") than those affected by a loved one's sudden death by natural causes—or 1 in 10 people in that segment, per a press release. And having someone close to you die by suicide was found to have other repercussions, too: The study discovered that those affected by suicidal deaths were 80% more likely to leave a work or educational situation, per the release. "Our results highlight the profound impact that suicide might have on friends and family members," study author Dr. Alexandra Pitman says in the release. And the social stigma around suicide may be a significant factor affecting a mourning person's outlook. "Suicide in particular is often perceived as a taboo subject," Pitman notes. "Avoiding the subject can make a bereaved person feel very isolated and stigmatized, and sometimes even blamed for the death." That's not to say, though, that having such a tragedy afflict a family member or close friend dooms a person to a similar sad fate. "These outcomes are by no means inevitable," Pitman says. "If you have been bereaved by suicide, you should know that are not alone and support is available." (A Marine unit has lost 14 members to suicide.)

brandy Posted by Oklahoma-born and bred country music superstar Carrie Underwood helped a young fan make an incredible memory and mark a big milestone during her show Saturday night in Louisville, Ky. A 12-year-old fan named Chase apparently made a sign that read “Carrie be my first kiss,” and the Checotah singer-songwriter obliged by bringing him up onstage. After warning the youth that her husband, NFL player Mike Fisher, was in the arena, Underwood asked Chase “OK, how are we going to do this?” Give the boy credit for guts: He replied, “Lip to lip.” So Underwood gave him a kiss square on the lips. You know that’s a moment he won’t ever forget. After the concert, the superstar even posted a picture of the smooch and thanked the boy on Twitter @carrieunderwood: “Thanks, Chase, for the kiss and thanks Louisville for rocking so hard tonight! We had fun! #liptolip” What a sweet, fun, classy moment, that you can share in thanks to that ol’ YouTube magic. Underwood’s “Blown Away Tour” will include home state shows on Oct. 25 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and Nov. 21 at the BOK Center in Tulsa. For more information, go to www.chesapeakearena.com and www.bokcenter.com. -BAM Thank you for joining our conversation on BAM's Blog. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

– Carrie Underwood looked out from a Louisville stage Saturday night and saw a young audience member holding a sign: "Carrie be my first kiss." So the country star called Chase, 12, up on stage and offered to make his dream come true—as long as he didn't mind that her husband would be watching, the Oklahoman reports. "OK, how are we going to do this?" Underwood asked. The bold tween's reply: "Lip to lip." That's exactly what Underwood did, and later tweeted: "Thanks, Chase, for the kiss and thanks Louisville for rocking so hard tonight! We had fun! #liptolip"

In the wake of Friday's massacre at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation say the gunman must have had a substantial amount of target practice before the shootings. They based their assessment on what they call the gunman's “unusually high” hit rate during the attack in the theater. Twelve people were killed, and 58 were injured. The gunman used -- perhaps most notably -- an AR-15 assault-style rifle with a magazine that could hold as many as 100 rounds. But when that weapon jammed, authorities said, he switched to a less powerful weapon. He also carried a 12-gauge shotgun and a Glock .40-caliber pistol, authorities say. Police said they recovered a second Glock from the suspect's car. Among other things, the law enforcement officials said, authorities are searching the suspect's apartment for evidence of a gun range receipt, a brochure, related information he accessed on his computer or phone calls he may have placed to a range. The officials are being briefed on the local investigation, but did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the developing case. Such evidence would go to the gunman's state of mind, the officials said, and provide more evidence of premeditation and that he deliberately planned the attack. For the government, investigators said, such evidence would tend to knock down any defense strategy that the suspect is insane. Or the gunman could have simply gone out to the prairie east of Aurora and practiced alone, much like Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner did before the attack in Arizona last year. PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting One local shooting range owner said the suspect in the Aurora case, James E. Holmes, applied for membership at his club in June. But when the owner, Glenn Rotkovich, called Holmes, he was unnerved by the answering machine message. "It was this very bass, guttural, rambling, incoherent message that was bizarre, at best," Rotkovich told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. "Freakish, maybe." Rotkovich ultimately told his staff not to follow through with Holmes without checking with him, but Holmes never showed up. The next time Rotkovich heard his name, it was on television. Officials monitoring the local investigation in Colorado said the gunman displayed a high degree of marksmanship for an amateur. They said he first fired the shotgun, which would have sprayed a large area of the theater with buckshot or pellets. Then he fired the semiautomatic AR-15 with the 100-round magazine. When that weapon jammed, he started shooting from the Glock pistol, they said. Further, the gunman was shooting in a dark theater after midnight and aiming at moving targets, all amid a canopy of thick gas from canisters he'd set off. That environment, when combined with the kick from the shotgun and the Glock, would make firing with much precision all the harder. To kill 12 people and wound 58 in that kind of chaos would be “unusually high for someone new to this,” one official said. Officials also theorize that the suspect believed police were being drawn to an explosion at his apartment and that time was on his side. When he burst out of the back of the theater, he probably had one of several plans in mind, they said. One, retrieve the second Glock from his white Hyundai and return to the theater, or drive off with the Glock and use it should he come under police fire, officials said. Or, as one official said, “turn the gun on himself.” Instead, police were at the theater within two minutes and arrested the suspect before he reached his car. ALSO: NCAA's slap at Penn State puts focus on NCAA itself Utah GOP activist faces rape, assault charges involving 4 women Amelia Earhart mystery: Expedition comes home with more questions [email protected] ||||| James Holmes seemed well on his way to a career as a scientist. His résumé after he graduated with honors in neuroscience from the University of California-Riverside in 2010 cites experience in the lab dissecting birds, studying their musculature and analyzing data and graphs to measure molecules. A video from a science camp he attended after high school shows him making a presentation about temporal illusions, misfirings in brain cells that lead to misreading the passage of time — the feeling that time stands still. In the video, Holmes refers to "an illusion that allows you to change the past." He was one of six students admitted to the University of Colorado's graduate program in neuroscience last year. He received a $26,000 federal stipend. But neuroscientist David Eagleman says Holmes' credentials were no better than those of an average student. The mass killing suspect is no elite neuroscientist, says Eagleman, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "He was just a second-year grad student," he says. "He didn't know anything." Aurora, Colo., police say Holmes, 24, entered a midnight showing of the movie TheDark Knight Rises early Friday and opened fire with a rifle, shotgun and .40-caliber handgun, killing 12 people and injuring 58. They found his apartment booby-trapped with explosives and chemicals set to explode if someone entered. Eagleman, a former researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., where Holmes attended the eight-week summer camp when he was 18, said the young man had a reputation as a "dolt." Eagleman didn't know Holmes but says the teen parroted his advisers' words in his presentation on temporal illusions. A video of the speech was first reported by ABC News. "He was just given the presentation to read," Eagleman says. "He wasn't any sort of superscientist when he was 18." Stacie Spector, a Salk Institute spokeswoman, confirmed that Holmes attended a summer course at the institute but said that she could not comment further because of privacy concerns. She said the institute did not release the video. John Jacobson, a former researcher at Salk whom Holmes listed as his mentor during the camp, told the Los Angeles Times that the teenager was a "mediocre" student who was stubborn and did not listen to direction. "I saw a shy, pretty socially inept person," he told the newspaper. "I didn't see any behavior that would be indicative of violence then or in the future." Jacobson told the newspaper Holmes "should not have gotten into the summer program. His grades were mediocre. I've heard him described as brilliant. This is extremely inaccurate." He said Holmes' high school transcripts showed Bs and no advanced-placement classes. He was accepted to the camp because he had done computer programming, Jacobson said. He was never Holmes' mentor, he said, but Holmes worked in his lab to write a computer code for an experiment Jacobson was working on. He told the newspaper Holmes never finished it. "What he gave me was a complete mess," Jacobson says. Holmes' résumé suggests he was trained in dissection of birds and mice, performing chemistry tests and attaching small gene tags to cells to target them for treatment. "Recipe-book stuff, literally, that every biology student should learn," Eagleman says. As for the grant, Eagleman says, "Holmes is being depicted as some sort of brilliant researcher who won a rare grant, but there are thousands of research students in this country with such grants. Everyone has one. There is nothing elite about it." (Clarification: In our story published online Wednesday, Eagleman says he did not intend to suggest that all graduate students win research grants.) Holmes had difficulty with a June 7 preliminary exam, given orally by three university faculty members. It is designed to evaluate students' knowledge at the end of the first year. Three days later, Holmes dropped out. ||||| University of Colorado officials disclosed Monday that mass shooting suspect James Holmes was being paid $26,000 a year for his studies, money that could have financed the cache of firearms, ammunition and explosive devices found in his apartment. Holmes, 24, unexpectedly dropped out of an elite neuroscience graduate program June 10 after failing part of his first-year final exam. School officials say they were stunned to learn of his arrest Friday after a shooting rampage at a packed movie house a few miles from campus that left 12 dead and 58 wounded. Police found Holmes' apartment near campus filled with booby-trapped explosive devices. At an initial court appearance Monday morning, Holmes had orange hair and a dazed demeanor, a contrast to the doctoral candidate who arrived at the university with stellar academic credentials and references. He's due back in court July 30, when he is expected to face several first-degree murder charges. "Everybody is in a state of shock," graduate school Dean Barry Shur said. "Everybody is upset. Who wouldn't be?" The program to which Holmes was accepted last fall admits just six students a year. Candidates have top grades and "near perfect" test scores, Shur said. They undergo a background check but no mental examination. "No program requires psychiatric evaluation, to the best of my knowledge," Holmes came with "excellent academic credentials," Shur said at a press briefing Monday flanked by school Chancellor Don Elliman and Executive Vice Chancellor Lilly Marks. Shure and other administrators were at a loss to explain Holmes' motive, especially given Shur's comments that the faculty "tightly monitors" its neuroscience students. Doctoral students receive free tuition, and most get federally sponsored 12-month grants of $26,000, about $500 a week. Holmes, who was not employed, bought an assault rifle, shotgun, two semi-automatic handguns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition in the months leading up to what police called a methodically planned shooting spree. Officials say virtually no doctoral student has an outside job, given the intense nature of the program, which can take four or more years to complete. Holmes has been described as a shy, quiet loner. Shur did not characterize him, but said scientists often immerse themselves in academics and research. "Scientists are quirky people," he said. "There are a lot of intense characters." The preliminary exam, given orally by three professors, is designed to determine a student's basic knowledge and possible weaknesses, not weed anyone out, the officials said. The school would have provided remedial work and retesting if Holmes had sought help, Shur said. But after apparently failing June 7, he dropped out three days later. Campus Police Chief Doug Abraham said Holmes' school identification cards, which provide access to its facilities, were voided June 12. School officials would not say if faculty contacted Holmes after his departure, but Shur said he never received forms from Holmes with an explanation for dropping out. "My understanding is he partially completed the forms but did not fill in his reason for leaving the program," Shur said. School officials repeatedly deflected questions about Holmes' academic performance and details after he dropped out June 10, citing the ongoing criminal investigation into the case, but acknowledged it was unusual to quit. Over the weeks before Holmes left, 90 packages containing ammunition and other items were shipped to the campus. Elliman said there was no way of knowing the volume or content of the shipments, which went directly to Holmes or to a campus mailroom. "We have thousands of packages that come here every day," he said. The suburban Denver campus was on alert Monday, when a suspicious package was found at a professor's office and a second in a campus mailroom, school spokesman Daniel Meyers said. Both buildings were locked down but later reopened. Authorities are checking whether materials from campus labs were used in the explosive devices found in Holmes' apartment.

– The latest in the attempt to better define Aurora shooter James Holmes: He apparently had a lot of target practice, isn't so smart, and may have a thing for prostitutes. From the most to least concrete: Based on Holmes' "unusually high" hit rate, police believe he had extensive target practice in advance of the shootings, reports the Los Angeles Times. To be able to kill or wound 70 moving targets in a dark theater cloaked in gas is no easy feat, and the kick from the shotgun (used to shower the theater with buckshot, or something like it) and Glock (which he switched to after his semiautomatic AR-15 jammed) only added to the difficulty level. Such a hit rate under those circumstances would be "unusually high for someone new to this," said one law enforcement official. So he was a skilled shooter—but was he brilliant? His neuroscience career path, his federal grant, that science camp video may indicate so, but the man Holmes listed as his camp mentor calls him a "mediocre" student; another neuroscientist says he was considered a "dolt," reports USA Today. He "should not have gotten into the summer program. I've heard him described as brilliant. This is extremely inaccurate." As for that $26,000 grant, "Everyone has one.There is nothing elite about it." (Business Insider speculates that the grant money could have paid for his weapons cache.) And then there's the latest from TMZ, which claims Holmes frequented prostitutes in the months before the attack. Click to hear from three women Holmes supposedly "reviewed" online.

Play Facebook Twitter Embed Georgia principal fired over racial remark 0:23 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog The founder of a suburban Atlanta private school who singled out black attendees at a graduation ceremony last week has been fired. Nancy Gordeuk, who also served as principal of TNT Academy in Stone Mountain, was booted by the board of directors after her comments were caught on video and went viral. In a letter obtained by NBC affiliate WXIA, Chairwoman Heidi Anderson said the decision was made "in light of recent events" and that educators would "continue to prioritize support for most of our recent graduates." At the ceremony, Gordeuk mistakenly dismissed attendees before the valedictorian spoke, the station reported. She asked them to return to their seats, then said amid the confusion: "Look who's leaving, all the black people." Gordeuk said later that people were being disruptive when the valedictorian attempted to speak, and that she was frustrated. "When I looked up, all I saw was black families leaving, and thus the comment," she told NBC News. "I didn't know 'black people' was a racist term. I didn't say the N-word or anything like that 'cause that isn't in my vocabulary," Gordeuk added. She also apologized for her "racist comment" and asked for forgiveness. Play Facebook Twitter Embed Georgia Principal Says She's No Racist 1:53 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog IN-DEPTH SOCIAL — Erik Ortiz ||||| × Son of principal in racial controversy joins her in hot seat; but says tweets weren’t his Cartersville, GA — Travis Gordeuk, the son of TNT Academy Principal Nancy Gordeuk, is joining his mother in the hot seat. Recently posted on his Twitter account were a number of controversial statements. In one of them, he used the N-word and said if anyone had a problem with him to, “Come and see me.” Another tweet mentioned his actual address. Gordeuk’s mother was involved in a racial controversy over the weekend at a graduation ceremony. Video shows Nancy Gordeuk standing at the podium in front of a live microphone as she says, “You people are being so rude, to not listen to this speech.” As commotion grows in the audience, she blurts out, “Look who’s leaving, all the black people,” prompting cries from the audience and an even larger exodus. Gordeuk, in a statement to CNN, apologized for her “offensive comment” and said “my emotions got the best of me.” “I deeply apologize for my actions made in the emotional state of trying to let this last student finish his speech. I take a personal interest in the success of every student that comes through our doors without regard to their race, religion or ethnicity.” Travis Gordeuk wasn’t home when CBS46 arrived at his home, but people that live with him said the principal’s son never posted that tweet. Instead, they said his social media accounts were hacked. Neighbors said they’ve never known him to be racist. “He hangs out with a mixed group of people,” said Heidi Carter. People who live next door went on to say that he’s a nice person. ||||| STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — The private school principal who gained national attention for a racially charged comment she made during a graduation ceremony has been fired. Dr. Heidi Anderson, chair of the board of directors at TNT Academy, wrote in a letter sent to the Gwinnett County NAACP that the board voted to dismiss school director Nancy Gordeuk: In light of recent events, the board of directors of TNT Academy has moved to dismiss Nancy Gordeuk as principal. During the coming transition, we will continue to prioritize support for our most recent graduates. Moreover, we will continue our commitment to providing students with the best educational classes, transcription services, and academic credit recovery possible. During last Friday’s graduation celebration, Gordeuk accidentally dismissed attendees before the school valedictorian could give a speech. As people began filing out of the room, she asked them to come back, then said, “Look who’s leaving, all the black people.” Gordeuk later apologized to parents in an email, saying, “The devil was in the house and came out from my mouth. I deeply apologize for my racist comment and hope that forgiveness is in your hearts.” TNT Academy is a non-traditional school for home-schooled students hoping to obtain accredited degrees.

– An Atlanta private school principal who dissed "all the black people" during a graduation ceremony last week is unsurprisingly out of a job. "In light of recent events, the board of directors of TNT Academy has moved to dismiss Nancy Gordeuk as principal," the board says in a statement, per USA Today. After mistakenly dismissing students at the ceremony, Gordeuk said, "Look who's leaving—all the black people." She later apologized and told NBC News, "I didn't know 'black people' was a racist term. I didn't say the N-word or anything like that 'cause that isn't in my vocabulary." Friends of Gordeuk's son, who reportedly posted racist comments online, say his accounts were hacked, per Q13 Fox.

David Neevel doesn’t like the creme in the middle of Oreos, so he built a machine to remove it. Even though his stance on Oreo creme is horribly, tragically, and completely misguided you have to respect a guy who takes action to get what he wants, or to eliminate what he doesn’t want as the case may be. Neevel is a physicist from Portland who is the type of person who sees a problem and solves it — with a hatchet-wielding robot — because that’s how you freaking get things done. A machine that halves Oreos with a hatchet and then removes the creme is admittedly only so useful, but watching Neevel explain the challenges he faced building it is weirdly captivating. He didn’t let things like cold hands, cold cookies, or finding a decent sandwich place near his workshop stop him. David Neevel gets things done. Watch him talk about his machine, his distaste for Oreo creme, and his amazing catchphrase “This creme’s no good, get it off the cookies or something,” in this video from Oreo: This is only the first of what appears to be a series of videos that show Oreo separating machines, and that’s just wonderful. I’d love to see more of these, but I have to say it will be hard to best Mr. Neevel’s personality and mustache. (via YouTube) Relevant to your interests ||||| Abstract Context Relationships between socio-environmental factors and obesity are poorly understood due to a dearth of longitudinal population-level research. The objective of this analysis was to examine 45-year trends in time-use, household management (HM) and energy expenditure in women. Design and Participants Using national time-use data from women 19–64 years of age, we quantified time allocation and household management energy expenditure (HMEE) from 1965 to 2010. HM was defined as the sum of time spent in food preparation, post-meal cleaning activities (e.g., dish-washing), clothing maintenance (e.g., laundry), and general housework. HMEE was calculated using body weights from national surveys and metabolic equivalents. Results The time allocated to HM by women (19–64 yrs) decreased from 25.7 hr/week in 1965 to 13.3 hr/week in 2010 (P<0.001), with non-employed women decreasing by 16.6 hr/week and employed women by 6.7 hr/week (P<0.001). HMEE for non-employed women decreased 42% from 25.1 Mj/week (6004 kilocalories per week) in 1965 to 14.6 Mj/week (3486 kcal/week) in 2010, a decrement of 10.5 Mj/week or 1.5 Mj/day (2518 kcal/week; 360 kcal/day) (P<0.001), whereas employed women demonstrated a 30% decrement of 3.9 Mj/week, 0.55 Mj/day (923 kcal/week, 132 kcal/day) (P<0.001). The time women spent in screen-based media use increased from 8.3 hr/week in 1965 to 16.5 hr/week in 2010 (P<0.001), with non-employed women increasing 9.6 hr/week and employed women 7.5 hr/week (P<0.001). Conclusions From 1965 to 2010, there was a large and significant decrease in the time allocated to HM. By 2010, women allocated 25% more time to screen-based media use than HM (i.e., cooking, cleaning, and laundry combined). The reallocation of time from active pursuits (i.e., housework) to sedentary pastimes (e.g., watching TV) has important health consequences. These results suggest that the decrement in HMEE may have contributed to the increasing prevalence of obesity in women during the last five decades. Citation: Archer E, Shook RP, Thomas DM, Church TS, Katzmarzyk PT, et al. (2013) 45-Year Trends in Women’s Use of Time and Household Management Energy Expenditure. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56620. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056620 Editor: Susanne Breuer Votruba, NIDDK/NIH, United States of America Received: September 20, 2012; Accepted: January 13, 2013; Published: February 20, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Archer et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was funded via an unrestricted research grant from The Coca-Cola Company. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: GAH has received consultancy fees from The Coca-Cola Company. TSC receives honoraria for lectures from scientific, educational, and lay groups. TSC has a book entitled "Move Yourself: The Cooper Clinic Medical Director”s Guide to All the Healing Benefits of Exercise." TSC has received unrestricted research funding Cover Letter from The Coca-Cola Company. TSC has overseen study sites for large pharmaceutical trials funded by Sanofi Aventis, Orexigen, Arena and Amylin. TSC is a member of the Jenny Craig Medical Advisory Board and has served as a consultant to Technogym, Trestle Tree, Vivus, Lockton-Dunning and Neuliven Health. In addition, he serves as the Senior Medical Advisor for Catapult Health. DMT has received honoraria for service on the Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards for Jenny Craig. SNB receives book royalties (<$5,000/year) from Human Kinetics; honoraria for service on the Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards for Clarity, Technogym, Body Media, Santech, and Jenny Craig; and honoraria for lectures and consultations from scientific, educational, and lay groups which are donated to the University of South Carolina or not-for-profit organizations. SNB is a consultant on research projects with the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School and the University of Miami. During the past 5-year period SNB has received research grants from The Coca-Cola Company and Body-Media. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors” adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors. Introduction Despite the significant mortality, morbidity and economic burden engendered by the recent increase in the prevalence of obesity and non-communicable chronic diseases [1], [2], there are few investigations of longitudinal population-level data that allow examination of trends in presumptive risk factors. Etiologies of Obesity and Energy Balance The origins of the obesity epidemic are in dispute [3]. Nevertheless, it is widely accepted that increments in body weight and adiposity, at the most fundamental level, are the result of chronic positive energy balance (i.e., energy expenditure [EE]<energy intake [EI]) [4]. While this imbalance may be engendered via decrements in EE (e.g., diminished physical activity) and/or increments in EI, the imprecision of current methods for measuring population-level EI [5], [6], [7] and EE [8] limits the accurate quantification of the energy balance equation. Therefore, data on population-level trends in risk factors (e.g., physical activity, PA) [9] may provide essential contextual evidence by which to inform public policy. Energy intake and obesity. Given the lack of reliable data on population-level EI [5], [6], [7], recent publications have suggested that superficial food economics (e.g., alterations in food supply or food costs) are responsible for the obesity epidemic [10], [11]. This unidimensional determinism (i.e., economic forces cause obesity) is implausible given two well-established facts. First, humans adapt physiologically and behaviorally to perturbations in energy balance via an array of compensatory homeostatic mechanisms [12], [13], [14], [15], [16] and second, while food supply forces (e.g., availability, price) affect purchase and perhaps utilization and waste, the mere presence of food and over-consumption of food are simply necessary but not sufficient conditions for long-term changes in adiposity [13], [15], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21]. This is most clearly demonstrated in countries in which the food energy supply increased [21], [22], [23] while BMI levels were stable or decreasing [22], [24], [25], and the converse context in early 20th century US in which the food supply was decreasing [26] while BMI was increasing [27]. Given the homeostatic nature of human behavior and energy physiology, and the fact that physical activity and body composition determine nutrient partitioning (i.e., the metabolic fate of the food we consume), we postulate that it is highly unlikely that the obesity epidemic is the result of superficial food economics. Data on population-level trends. The complex, multi-dimensional nature of the obesity epidemic and lack of valid data on population trends in EI [5], [6], [7] necessitates examinations of trends in population-level risk factors if public health policy is to be informed by the best available science. Recent publications have concluded that PA has not declined over the recent past despite two major limitations. First, these studies focused on highly selected, non-representative samples and used indirect, inherently confounded measures of PA such as the physical activity level (PAL) index (which conflates all non-resting EE with PA) [28]. Second, most previous empirical work examined domains of PA that account for only a small portion of total EE [29]. In 2011, Church et al., examined occupational EE via US Bureau of Labor Statistics” surveys that included data on employment and earnings from more than 140,000 businesses, government agencies and >440,000 individual worksites, and found a significant decreasing trend over the past 50 years. They concluded that the reduction in this single domain of PA may account for a considerable portion of the increase in mean body weights for men and women [30]. The present study sought to complement Church et al.”s results by providing longitudinal data on another domain of PA: household management (HM). Since Church et al.”s work on occupational EE explained more of the increase in weight for men than women, and nearly all women (but not the majority of men) perform HM activities on a daily basis [31], we posited that a greater portion of women”s EE may be from HM. To test the hypothesis that trends in the time allocated to HM may contribute to longitudinal decrements in EE and potentially to gains in weight or adiposity, we examined nationally representative time-use diary data sources to analyze 45-year trends in the allocation of time, HM activities (e.g., meal preparation, laundry, and cleaning) and energy expenditure in women. Methods The Allocation of Time Data on women”s” allocation of time were derived from nationally representative time-use diary data from 1965–2010. Time-use data have been demonstrated to be more reliable and valid for non-occupational PA than other traditional surveillance systems [32]. Importantly, this data source provides details that allow an examination of the reallocation of time between activities (i.e., activity displacement). For example, if individuals spend less time cooking and cleaning, they may spend more time exercising, sleeping, or watching television TV. The American Heritage Time Use Study (AHTUS) [33] database was the source of nationally representative historical time-use data, and provided harmonized data on specific activities relevant to HM. The AHTUS dataset was produced specifically to analyze trends in total work output (i.e., paid and unpaid work) [34]. The harmonization process standardized multiple sources of data into a unified context for the purpose of comparative analyses. This process is complex and detailed information is provided by Fisher et al. (2011) [33] and Egerton et al. (2005) [34]. The AHTUS datasets consist of >50,000 diary days from 1965–2010. The number of weighted diaries from women (age 19–64 years) available for analysis were: 1036 for 1960s, 1924 for 1970s, 1420 for 1980s, 4117 for 1990s, 17,885 for 2003–2005, and 23,900 for 2006–2010. Time-use data sources were divided into four areas: 1) paid work, 2) household (e.g., unpaid housework and family care), 3) personal care (e.g., grooming), and 4) free time (e.g., TV viewing, exercise). Time-use data were analyzed for the change in the amount of time spent in each area by examining >90 subcategories of daily activity. Our final analyses included only those activities that significantly affected total daily EE over the 45-year period. For this investigation, household management activities were comprised of the aggregate time spent preparing food (e.g., cooking, washing dishes), general cleaning (e.g., vacuuming), clothing maintenance (i.e., laundry) but not general child or adult care, vehicle or house maintenance (e.g., painting), gardening or lawn care. Screen-based media use was defined as the non-occupational use of television and computer during free time, and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) was defined as sport and exercise participation. Employment status and age. Employment impacts the time allocated to HM [31], [35], [36]. For this study, the terms “employed” and “non-employed” encompassed all women and referred to the respondent”s self-reported employment status based on paid work hours per week. Full time employment was >21 hr of paid work per week for 1965–1990 and >35 hr/week for 1990–2010. Age also impacts HM activities; therefore, the sample was divided into age groups (i.e., <35 years, 35–50 years, >50 years old). Energy expenditure associated with activity. HM consists of numerous tasks of varying intensity and EE. The data used in this study did not have the detail necessary to delineate between the various components of HM. As such, a conservative Metabolic Equivalents (MET) value of 2.8 was assigned to HM activities. This value represents the EE per unit of time and was based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Health Organization and United Nations University (FAO/WHO/UNU) report on human food energy requirements [37], [38] and the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities [39]. Walking (2–4 METs) accounted for the vast majority of LTPA in the AHTUS and US population [40], [41], [42]. Nevertheless, a liberal MET value of 4.5 was used for all LTPA to account for the infrequent occurrence of activities of higher intensity. Energy expenditure and body mass. Increased body mass increases EE at rest and during PA. Since women were heavier in 2010 than in 1965, increments in the body weight used for the estimation of the HMEE and LTPA for each epoch were necessary. These increments were calculated from national surveys (NHES:1960–62; NHANES: 1971–74, 1976–80, 1988–94, 1999–2002 and 2003–2010) for the age group 19 to 64 [43]. The NHANES provides a representative sample of the civilian, non-institutionalized U.S. population via a complex, probability sampling design. The estimated body weights used for each epoch were 1960s = 65 kg; 1970s = 66 kg; 1980s = 69 kg; 1990s = 71 kg; 2005 = 74 kg; 2010 = 75 kg. As per previous research on PA [30] and the 2011 Compendium [39], the estimated EE for each activity and time period was calculated from the equation: EE = (hours in activity per week x MET value for activity x mean body weight). Statistical Analyses Data processing and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS V·19 in 2012. Decade-to-decade contrasts and trend analyses were conducted for HMEE and the allocation of time to HM, screen-based media, LTPA. Analyses accounted for the survey design via the incorporation of weighting to maintain a nationally representative sample. All analyses included adjusted means, and p<0.05 (2-tailed) indicated statistical significance. Discussion From 1965 to 2010, there was a large and significant decline in the time women allocated to HM (figure 1). By the 1990s, women spent more time in screen-based media use (e.g., watching TV) than in cooking, cleaning, laundry and LTPA combined. A major consequence of the 12 hr/week decline in HM was a considerable decrement in HMEE, with non-employed women experiencing the largest decrease (10.5 Mj/week, 1.5 Mj/day; 2518 kcal/week, 360 kcal/day; figure 3). In parallel with the considerable decline in HMEE was a substantial increase in the amount of time spent in screen-based media use (8.3 hr/week), and a smaller but statistically significant increase in LTPA (1.2 hr/week) (figure 4). Technology has played a large part in the decline in HM hr/week [35], [44], [45]. As automation improved the efficiency and decreased the requisite exertion of household tasks, the greatest decrements in HMEE were in individuals who previously allocated the greatest amount of time to HM (e.g., “stay-at-home” moms). Advances in food manufacturing led to an increase in the use of prepackaged, microwaveable meals and a consequent decrease in the time spent preparing food [46], [47]. In 1970, less than 1% of all homes had a microwave oven and <20% a dishwasher; by 2005, more than 90% of homes had a microwave and >60% a dishwasher. Post-meal clean-up was minimized (via disposable food containers) and mechanized (via the dishwasher) so individuals had the freedom to perform other activities (e.g., watch TV). Another development relevant to food preparation was the increased reliance on the food service industry. In 2000, nearly 50% of all food costs were spent on food away from home, compared with <30% in 1965, despite the decreasing relative costs of restaurant foods [46], [48]. One of the most dominant factors in the decrement of HMEE over time appears to be the change in women”s social roles. Early in the 20th century, women allocated the vast majority of their time to unpaid HM activities. Beginning in the 1950s, women began to divide their time between unpaid HM activities and paid employment [49]. From 1950 to 2000, women”s full-time employment increased from 34% to 60% [50] and the full-time employment of mothers with children increased from 19 to 57 percent [36], [51]. This demographic transition lead to a decrease in the time women allocated to HM, child care, and personal care [31], [35], and dramatically decreased the amount of time that working women with children allocated to HM. Mothers who are employed full-time perform less childcare (8 hr/week), less housework (10 hrs/week) and achieve less sleep (~3 hr/week) than non-employed or part-time working mothers. [35], [36], [52] This shift from more active (i.e., energetically costly) activities such as HM to more sedentary occupational activities has an obvious impact of energy expenditure and health. [9], [30], [53] The resulting decrease in HM and HMEE was only partially offset by the increases in LTPA. Energy Balance, Obesity and Health Given the complexity of human behavior and the behavioral and physiological compensatory mechanisms engendered by alterations in energy balance, there are no models that allow valid extrapolations from decreases in HMEE to increments in population-level weight-gain. Nevertheless, the declines in HM-hr/week and HMEE parallel the increments in screen-based media use suggesting that as the overall time and energy spent on PA decreased, the amount of time spent in sedentary behaviors increased. Intergenerational Effects of Inactivity Given the intergenerational effects of inactivity on metabolic function, health and obesity [54], [55], [56], the dramatic decreases in HM and HMEE may result in ever-increasing increments in obesity and NCDs in subsequent generations. Recent research has demonstrated that a majority of pregnant women spend more than 50% of their waking hours in sedentary behavior and that >15% of pregnant women have reported spending more than 5 hr/day in screen-based media use [57], [58]. The trend of the reallocation of time from active behaviors such as HM to sedentary activities has obvious and significant health consequences for future generations [9], [53]. Population Trends and Obesity The confluence of our results and research on other PA domains (e.g., transport [59], occupational [30], housework [44], sedentary behavior [60]) suggests a considerable decrement in total PA and substantial increases in sedentary behavior during the past few decades. This growing body of research suggests that the rise in bodyweight and obesity may be due to decreases in PA alone. In fact, these data from multiple PA domains suggest that the decrement in EE may be so large that current levels of obesity would be significantly higher if compensatory responses (e.g., decreased EI or increased LTPA) were absent. Strengths and Limitations Strengths. This study represents the first detailed analyses of trends in HMEE derived from nationally representative historical time-use databases. HMEE was derived using an empirically supported protocol for the translation of PA into EE [39], [61]. Our results on the allocation of time to HM, LTPA and screen-based media use are in agreement with other research [33], [52], [62], [63]. Furthermore, we used a conservative estimate of the mean intensity of household activities (i.e., 2.8 METs) based on the convention established by the FAO/WHO/UNU in 1985 [37] since the available data did not have the level of detail necessary to calculate EE for each specific component of HM. Importantly, the use of this value facilitates future examinations of HMEE across developed nations. Moreover, our results on activity displacement (i.e., the reallocation of time away from HM to sedentary pursuits) are bolstered by investigations independent of the AHTUS datasets demonstrating decreased HM [64], and Nielsen research that suggests that TV viewing has increased at a rate greater than indicated in our findings [65], [66]. Limitations. The two most significant limitations are the use of harmonized datasets and self-reported data. The harmonization process of the datasets is complex and was not performed by our research group. Nevertheless, the process is quite robust and there are hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and academic texts that used these harmonized datasets (see http://www.timeuse.org). The biases associated with self-reported data are not trivial and limit our results; especially biases induced via social desirability and the cognitive demands of recording the allocation of time. Nonetheless, these biases may be omnipresent and stable, and therefore may not present a significant threat to our analysis of trends. For example, TV viewing was not considered a socially desirable behavior throughout the period of study [66], [67]; as such, the self-reported increments in screen-based media use over five decades lend support to our contention that longitudinal trends may be less affected than analyses of static cross-sectional data. Additionally, our analyses accounted only for the time allocated to HM and not how technological advances (e.g., self-propelled vacuum cleaners, food processors) have altered the effort (i.e., intensity) of HM. Accelerometry and indirect calorimetry research [68], [69], [70] suggest higher estimates for specific components of HM activities than either the 2011 Compendium [39] or FAO/WHO/UNU report [37]. Nevertheless, this limitation does not diminish our estimates of the decrement in HM hr/week and suggests a modest underestimation of HMEE that is supportive of our overall interpretation of decreased PA and HMEE. Implications for Public Health Policy The estimated reductions in HM (>12 hr/week) and HMEE (>7.7 Mj/week; 1850 kcal/week) were not compensated by the observed increases in LTPA (<1.3 hr/week; 1.9 Mj/week; 460 kcal/week); nor can the decrements be adequately compensated by meeting the 2008 federal PA recommendations of 2.5 hr/week of moderate intensity PA (MPA) (~2.3 Mj/week; ~560 kcal/week) [71] or the Institute of Medicine”s recommendation for the maintenance of a healthy weight of 60 minutes/day of MPA (~6.6 Mj/week; 1575 kcal/week) [72]. Future PA recommendations may need to be increased to overcome the total decrement in the various domains of PA (e.g., transport [59], occupational [30]) that some sub-groups (e.g., stay-at-home moms) have experienced over the past half century. Conclusion Physical inactivity is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world [2], [73], [74] and yet is all too often under-emphasized in clinical, educational and public health settings [75], [76], [77]. While the attraction of simple causation in the etiology of obesity is powerful (e.g., economic forces cause obesity), the development of effective strategies and tactics to ameliorate the effects of NCDs and obesity necessitates a broad understanding of the complexities of human behavior and energy metabolism, inclusive of EI, EE and PA. Acknowledgments Disclaimer: Analyses and the inferences in this research are those drawn by the authors, and may not reflect the views of the creators or funders of AHTUS or the collectors of the original surveys harmonized in this dataset. ||||| David Neevel (YouTube) A cookie-favoring physicist has created what appears to be the world's first Oreo separator. David Neevel, an artist and inventor based in Portland, Ore., was commissioned by the popular cookie brand to produce the machine as part of its "Cookies vs. Creme" campaign. "My Oreo machine is based entirely on my dislike for creme and my preference for cookie," Neevel said in a short video that could easily be mistaken for a "Portlandia" sketch. The OSM, as Neevel calls it, was constructed of scrap aluminum, wood, a hatchet and floss in a Portland garage. After the hatchet blade is lowered to split the Oreo, a pair of mechanical arms are dispatched to collect the cookie halves, which are transferred to a router table where the creme is removed. The electric-powered contraption took about two weeks to build. "It was a big time commitment," Neevel said. "I had to work some long hours—I didn't see my girlfriend or my dog for hours at a time." "Outstanding. I applaud your efforts," one YouTube commenter wrote. "For your next design, how about an automatic sock pair singlifier? Three other inventors were commissioned by Oreo to come up with concepts, with the next one slated to be unveiled later this week. Watch Neevel's Oreo separator in action:

– On the verge of the Oreo's 101st anniversary, physicist David Neevel has created a futuristic machine designed to undo Nabisco's great mistake—it separates and removes the icky creme from the otherwise wonderful Oreo. "Once every several generations, an invention comes along that fundamentally alters the course of human civilization," declares the Christian Science Monitor, which likens Neevel's "Oreo Separator Machine" to Gutenberg's printing press and the steam engine. Neevel stars in a humorously dry video demo (Yahoo News likens it to a Portlandia sketch) in which he shares that he worked on his Rube Goldberg-style machine for "0.04 years"—aka, "two weeks"—during which he faced major struggles, like how to keep the back of his neck warm. "It was a big time commitment," he notes, saying he spent "hours at a time" away from his dog and girlfriend, and that he "had to try to find, like, a good sandwich in this part of [Portland, Ore.] and stuff. There were a lot of sacrifices I guess." But jokes aside, the machine, which employs a hatchet and floss, is pretty nifty, and Geekosystem notes that videos of more Oreo-separating machines may be coming.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the arrest of a man in the strangling death of a New York City woman out jogging (all times local): 3:45 p.m. A man arrested in the strangulation death of a New York City woman out on a run last summer is facing a murder charge. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says 20 year-old Chanel Lewis, of Brooklyn, was expected to be arraigned later Sunday. The charge carries a penalty of 25 years to life in prison if he's convicted. No information on an attorney for him was available. Karina Vetrano had gone running near her Queens home on Aug. 2 when she was attacked and strangled. Her father found the 30-year-old's badly beaten body in a secluded marsh. Police arrested Lewis on Saturday and said DNA evidence led investigators to him. The DNA profile of the attacker came from genetic material found under Vetrano's fingernails and on her phone and neck. ___ 12:23 p.m. Police have arrested a man in the strangulation of a New York City woman who had gone out for a run last summer and was found dead in a secluded marsh. Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce says 20-year-old Chanel Lewis, of Brooklyn, made "incriminating statements" when he was arrested Saturday night. Formal charges were pending Sunday. It wasn't immediately clear if Lewis has an attorney. Karina Vetrano was killed Aug. 2 after going for a run not far from her Queens home. Her father later discovered her badly beaten body. Boyce says the encounter that led to 30-year-old Vetrano's death apparently was a chance one. He says DNA evidence led to the arrest. Genetic material found under Vetrano's fingernails and on her phone and neck resulted in a DNA profile. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

– Police may have cracked the murder of a 30-year-old jogger in Queens last summer. Detectives have a suspect in custody after finding a DNA match with evidence at the scene of Karina Vetrano's killing, reports the Daily News. NYPD Chief Robert Boyce identified the suspect on Twitter as Chanel Lewis, 20. Boyce says the Brooklyn man made "incriminating statements" upon his arrest Saturday night, and that the encounter that ended with Vetrano's death looks to be a random one, the AP reports. Vetrano went out for a run on Aug. 2, and her father found her body that night as part of a search team. Lewis reportedly has no criminal history and voluntarily supplied his DNA to investigators. Genetic material was found under Vetrano's fingernails and on her phone and neck, notes the AP. (Vetrano was seen on videotape shortly before her killing.)

Eight-year-old Chloe-May Kabealo, who swam to safety while her mother, sister and brother drowned when their car plunged into a northern NSW river, has said goodbye to her family at their funeral service this afternoon. Hundreds of people farewelled the "heroic" mother Stephanie King, 43, and two of her children: Ella Jane, 11, and seven-year-old Jacob, at Tweed Heads Elevation Church this afternoon. Chloe miraculously escaped the submerged car after it slid off a muddy Tumbulgum road into the Tweed River last Monday, when the region was hit by heavy rains that followed Cyclone Debbie. A mother and her two children who drowned after their car plunged into a northern NSW river have been farewelled at a funeral at Tweed Heads. Picture: 7 News Stephanie King, with Ella Jane (top right), Chloe, and Jacob. Picture: Supplied Local Tumbulgum pastor Rob Stuttle who conducted the service, earlier said the close-knit community were rallying together as the clean-up of the devastated area continued. He said Chloe and her father Matt Kabealo are "coping as best as they can". Pastor Rob Stuttle said Chloe and her father Matt Kabealo are "coping as best as they can". Picture: 7 News Police last week hailed Ms King a hero. "The mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away ... she was with the child, holding the child," Superintendent Wayne Starling told reporters last week. “I have no doubt she would still be alive if she wasn’t trying to save her children.” Police believe Ms King lost consciousness trying to free two of her three children from the crash. Supt Starling said Chloe's miraculous escape was possibly a result of her mother’s desperate efforts. Stephanie King, 43, from Bilambil, died in the accident with two of her children. Photo: Supplied Former police officer Matt Grinham and his family pulled up moments after the accident at Dulguigan Road and tried to help. Mr Grinham dove in to try to find the car, but could not. "Just the helplessness of not being able to find the car. The bubbles were there but we just couldn't get to the car." His son Thomas Grinham said the little girl who swam free was "really upset". "She couldn't say much she just said my mum and little sister and my brother have gone in the river in a car." A photo from the scene. Picture: Peter Fegan 7 News. Emergency services were called after Chloe escaped from the river and ran to a nearby property to raise the alarm. A NSW Ambulance spokesperson told 7 News Online the survivor was taken to Tweed Heads District Hospital. Chloe was treated for multiple lacerations to her legs, abrasions and neck pain. ||||| Video Image Chloe-May talks about terrifying ordeal 0:31 THE young girl who was the sole survivor of a horror crash at Tumbulgum three weeks ago has broken her silence. Courtesy: 9 News AN eight-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a horror crash that killed her mother and two siblings in northern New South Wales has spoken of how she escaped the sinking car. Only three weeks ago, Chloe-May Kabealo’s world changed when she managed to get out of the van her mother, Stephanie King, was driving. The vehicle has plunged into the swollen Tweed River at Tumbulgum, which had flooded following a lashing from Cyclone Debbie. Speaking at a fundraiser for the remaining members of the family — Chloe-May and her dad Matt Kabealo — the eight-year-old told of her miraculous escape. “I unbuckled my seatbelt and I tried to go up for air, and then I just kept floating up out of something and then I got out,” she said. The girl managed to climb out of the river’s bank and run to a nearby farmhouse where she was assisted by locals. “They just took me in and let me get into clean clothes and cleaned up all my cuts on my feet,” she said. Chloe-May said the family had been supported over the past three weeks. “We’ve been having heaps of people saying we’re there for you and all that,” she said. Her father was not holding up so well. “I’m shattered buddy, I’m not holding up,” he told a news reporter at the Tweed Heads fundraiser. “(I’m) just being strong for my daughter. We’re just going to get through it the best we can.” Tweed Byron police co-ordinated the fundraiser which raised more than $10,000 for the grieving family. “Nothing that we do could ever replace Chloe’s two siblings, younger brother and sister, but anything we can do to make their life a little bit better we can,” Senior Constable Brad Foster said. Chloe-May said of her mum and siblings: “They were all loved and they’ll never be forgotten.” ||||| Image copyright facebook Image caption Chloe (bottom left) survived when the car sank, but her mother, brother and sister did not A girl of eight who survived when the car she was in sank in Australia, killing three family members, has described her desperate struggle to raise the alarm. Chloe Kabealo said she had unbuckled her seatbelt and tried to "go up for air", then "just kept floating up out". She said of her lost family members: "They were all loved and they'll never be forgotten." Her father, who was not in the car, said he was "shattered" by the loss. "I'm not holding up," Matt Kabealo said. "I'm just being strong for my daughter." Chloe and her mother, sister and brother were in a car in the small town of Tumbulgum in New South Wales when it slid off a muddy road into a flooded river earlier this month. Chloe escaped and ran to a farmhouse to raise the alarm. Stephanie King, 43, died trying to save her children. Local police superintendent Wayne Starling told reporters from 7 News at the time: "The mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away. "She was with the child, holding the child. I have no doubt she would still be alive if she wasn't trying to save her children." Ella Jane, 11, and seven-year-old Jacob also died. Chloe and Mr Kabealo were speaking at an event raising funds for them. So far efforts have gathered tens of thousands of Australian dollars. "Anything we can do to make their lives a little bit better, we'll try anything we can," local policeman Constable Brad Foster told 7 News. In March last year, a four-month old baby was the sole survivor when a car sank off the coast of Donegal in the Republic Ireland. Advice for escaping a sinking car If a car you are in starts to sink, get out as fast as possible. Do not phone for help or try to retrieve possessions. There is very little time. Open the windows straightaway before contact with water makes the electric system fail or water pressure stops you winding the windows down. If that doesn't work, get the door open, undo your seatbelt and get out. The third option, in last resort, is to pull a headrest out and use the metal part of it to hit the window, hard, in the corner and hopefully break it open. If you are underwater when you leave the car, push away from it, and if you don't know for sure which way is up, check what direction bubbles are floating in and swim that way. sources: Popular Mechanics, The Art of Manliness and Top Gear

– Chloe Kabealo unbuckled her seatbelt after the car her mother was driving slid off a muddy Australia road into a flooded river and tried to "go up for air," then "just kept floating up out." That's how the 8-year-old survived the crash as the car sank, a harrowing experience she relived at a fundraising event this week, the BBC reports—but her mother, 11-year-old sister, and 7-year-old brother all drowned. "I'm not holding up," Chloe's dad, Matt, who was not in the car, said at the event. "I'm just being strong for my daughter." Chloe ran to a nearby farmhouse to get help, but rescuers couldn't save Stephanie King, 43, who was found to have died while trying in vain to save her other two children. "The mother was trying to get one of her children out of the car when she passed away," the local police superintendent told 7 News after the crash three weeks ago. "She was with the child, holding the child. I have no doubt she would still be alive if she wasn't trying to save her children." The fundraising event raised more than $10,000 for the family, news.com.au reports.

The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds) The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public.

– If President Obama absolutely killed Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," Mitt Romney has apparently responded by just plain murdering a patriotic standard. The Republican candidate was caught on camera last night at a Florida campaign rally warbling "America the Beautiful," which the Washington Post notes he has often called his favorite patriotic hymn. The unguarded moment on the eve of the primary is a departure for Romney, but the clip prompts Pier Morgan over at CNN to joke, "I think this could be an actual issue."

___ Tearing down the statue of Joe Paterno does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky's horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State Community. We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth. The Freeh report, though it has been accepted by the media as the definitive conclusion on the Sandusky scandal, is the equivalent of an indictment _ a charging document written by a prosecutor _ and an incomplete and unofficial one at that. To those who truly want to know the truth about Sandusky, it should matter that Joe Paterno has never had a hearing; that his legal counsel has never been able to interview key witnesses, all of whom are represented by lawyers and therefore unavailable; that there has never been an opportunity to review critical evidence which has not been made public; that selective evidence and the opinion of Mr Freeh is treated as the equivalent of a fair trial. Despite this obviously flawed and one-sided presentation, the University believes it must acquiesce and accept that Joe Paterno has been given a fair and complete hearing. We think the better course would have been for the University to take a strong stand in support of due process so that the complete truth can be uncovered. It is not the University's responsibility to defend or protect Joe Paterno. But they at least should have acknowledged that important legal cases are still pending and that the record on Joe Paterno, the Board and other key players is far from complete. ___ Source: Paterno family ||||| The NCAA announced Sunday that it will levy "corrective and punitive measures" against Penn State in the wake of the child sex-abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and a scathing report that found school leaders covered up allegations against the now-convicted former assistant football coach. FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno walks off the field after warmups before an NCAA college football game against Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. NCAA president Mark... (Associated Press) FILE - This Oct. 24, 2011 file photo shows NCAA President Mark Emmert speaking during the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics meeting in Washington. Emmert says he isn't ruling out the possibility... (Associated Press) The NCAA released no details, saying they would be disclosed on Monday morning by NCAA President Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, the chairman of the NCAA's executive committee and Oregon State's president. Sandusky is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of 45 criminal counts for abusing 10 boys over a number of years. A report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that the late coach Joe Paterno and three former administrators _ President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz _ "repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse." Emmert as recently as last week would not rule out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program in the wake of the scandal, adding that he had "never seen anything as egregious." The last time the NCAA shut down a football program with the so-called "death penalty" was in the 1980s, when SMU was forced to drop the sport because of extra benefits violations. After the NCAA suspended the SMU program for a year, the school decided not to play in 1988, either, as it tried to regroup. Current NCAA rules limit the penalty to colleges already on probation that commit another major violation. But NCAA leaders have indicated in recent months they are willing to use harsher penalties for the worst offenses. That includes postseason and TV bans, which haven't been used extensively since the 1980s. "This is completely different than an impermissible benefits scandal like (what) happened at SMU, or anything else we've dealt with. This is as systemic a cultural problem as it is a football problem. There have been people that said this wasn't a football scandal," Emmert told PBS. "Well, it was more than a football scandal, much more than a football scandal. It was that but much more. And we'll have to figure out exactly what the right penalties are. I don't know that past precedent makes particularly good sense in this case, because it's really an unprecedented problem." Emmert told Penn State (http://www.psu.edu/ur/2011/NCAA.pdf) in November that the organization would be examining the "exercise of institutional control" within the athletic department, and said it was clear that "deceitful and dishonest behavior" could be considered a violation of ethics rules. So, too, could a failure to exhibit moral values Ohio State is banned from playing in a bowl game this season as a result of the "failure to monitor" charge that followed coach Jim Tressel's admission that he knew several of his star players were trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos in violation of NCAA rules and did not report it. The Buckeyes also vacated the 2010 season and were hit with NCAA probation and a loss of scholarships. Southern California was banned from the postseason for two years and stripped of 30 scholarships following the Reggie Bush scandal. Still pending before the NCAA is the Miami case involving booster Nevin Shapiro. Bob Williams, the NCAA's vice president of communications, said after the Freeh report was released that Penn State needed to answer "four key questions, concerning compliance with institutional control and ethics policies." Likely of particular interest to the NCAA were the report's conclusions that the school had "decentralized and uneven" oversight of compliance issues _ laws, regulations, policies and procedures. "Certain departments monitored their own compliance issues with very limited resources," the report found. Ensuring compliance with the federal Clery Act, which requires the reporting of crimes, was handled by someone with "minimal time." "One of the most challenging tasks confronting the university," the report added, "is an open, honest and thorough examination of the culture that underlies the failure of Penn State's most powerful leaders to respond appropriately to Sandusky's crimes." Penn State President Rodney Erickson said after the report that the school was "in much better position to respond" to the NCAA"s request.

– Even as Penn State took down Joe Paterno's statue this morning, the NCAA is getting ready to levy "unprecedented" penalties against the university, an NCAA source tells CBS News. "I've never seen anything like it," the source says. The NCAA itself confirmed that "corrective and punitive measures" would be announced tomorrow morning, though it had no further details, notes the AP. NCAA President Mark Emmert recently hinted that the so-called "death penalty" is on the table for Penn State's storied football program, saying of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal, "I've never seen anything as egregious." Paterno's family, meanwhile, said in a statement that taking down his statue "does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky's horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State Community."

A reigning beauty queen and her sister went missing just days before she was scheduled to fly to London for the Miss World competition. Miss Honduras, María José Alvarado, 19, and her sister, Sofia Trinidad, vanished after attending a friend’s birthday party late Thursday night near their hometown of Santa Barbara, according to several reports. Police initially said the disappearance was not being treated as a crime but later confirmed that four people had been arrested and were under questioning, the Telegraph reported. “They include the owner of the party venue and Sofia Trinidad's boyfriend. They are being investigated,” Police Chief Jose Coello said, according to the British news site. Pageant director Eduardo Zablah told told CNN affiliate Televicentro that the young women were last seen stepping into a vehicle after the party. Alvarado had been spending a few days with her parents before setting off for the United Kingdom. "Open your hearts and understand my pain," her mother pleaded Sunday night, the Telegraph reported. "There is an all-powerful God that sees everything, and I hope you set them free." Alvarado was crowned Miss Honduras on April 26 in San Pedro Sula after defeating 18 other contestants. Her Miss World profile says she is a student who aspires to work as a diplomat for her country and enjoys playing sports in her spare time. The Miss World contest is slated to start on Thursday and culminate in the crowning of a new winner on Dec. 14. ||||| TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduran authorities are holding four people for questioning about the disappearance of Maria Jose Alvarado, Miss Honduras 2014, and her sister four days ago in a city near the Guatemala border. Police spokesman Lt. Joseph Coello says one of the detained, Plutarco Ruiz, is the boyfriend of Alvarado's sister, Sofia, who is also missing. The two women were last seen in a spa in Santa Barbara, about 240 miles (400 kilometers) west of Tegucigalpa, where they had gone to celebrate Ruiz's birthday. Coello said Monday the case is being treated as a disappearance. There has been no ransom request. Alvarado, 19, was crowned Miss Honduras in April and is expected to compete in the Miss World Pageant in London next month. She was supposed to leave for London on Sunday. ||||| Police in Honduras are hunting for a missing beauty queen due to fly to London later this week for Miss World 2014. Reigning Miss Honduras, Maria Jose Alvarado, vanished with her sister, Sofia Trinidad, after a party last Thursday. The pair had been celebrating a friend's birthday near their home town of Santa Barbara, where student Alvarado, 19, was spending time with her parents before flying to Britain to represent her country. The missing women were last seen getting into a vehicle as they left the party. Police chief Jose Coello originally said they were not treating the pair's disappearance as a crime. But it emerged on Monday four people including Trinidad's boyfriend had been arrested and were being questioned as the last-known people to see them alive. Mr Coello confirmed: "Four people are under arrest. They include the owner of the party venue and Sofia Trinidad's boyfriend. They are being investigated." The case has caused consternation in the notoriously violent central American country, home to the most dangerous city on the planet. San Pedro Sula, just over 30 miles from Santa Barbara, is the murder capital of the world with more than 1,200 killings a year among its nearly one million inhabitants. Its murder rate of 169 per 100,000 people far surpasses anything in North America or much larger cities like Lagos or Sao Paulo. Alvarado describes herself on a Miss World website profile as an aspiring diplomat who enjoys playing volleyball and football in her spare time. She beat 18 contestants to win the Miss Honduras crown in April. She missed an appointment on Sunday evening to try on the dress she hopes to win Miss World with. The women's mother Teresa de Jesus pleaded last night: "Open your hearts and understand my pain. "There is an all-powerful God that sees everything and I hope you set them free." Miss World is due to start on Thursday, with 120 contestants competing for the crown. The grand finale takes place on December 14 at ExCeL London. Swiss-born medical student Carina Tyrrell, 24, a qualified ski instructor and competition level gymnast, is representing England. Scotland is represented by media and marketing student Ellie McKeating, 20, from Glasgow. Ireland's representative is business studies student Jessica Hayes, 20, from Cork.

– Honduran police have apprehended four people in the case of a beauty queen who went missing mere weeks before she was supposed to compete for the Miss World title, the Telegraph reports. Maria Jose Alvarado, the reigning Miss Honduras, hasn't been seen since attending a party in Honduras on Thursday. She went with her sister, Sofia, to celebrate the birthday of her sister's boyfriend at a spa near the town of Santa Barbara, the AP reports. The two women reportedly got in a vehicle afterward and disappeared. Among those under arrest are the sister's boyfriend, Plutarco Ruiz, and the owner of the venue where the party was held. "They are being investigated," says a police chief. The vanishing is a hot topic in Honduras, which the Telegraph calls "notoriously violent" and "home to the most dangerous city on the planet." That city is San Pedro Sula, which logs more than 1,200 murders annually among a population of 1 million. It's also about 30 miles away from Santa Barbara. "Open your hearts and understand my pain," says Alvarado's mother. "There is an all-powerful God that sees everything and I hope you set them free." Alvarado, who was supposed to fly to London Sunday and try on her Miss World dress, says on her pageant profile that she likes playing sports and hopes to be a Honduran diplomat one day, Yahoo reports. (This beauty queen was accused of stealing a $100,000 crown.)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Triple suicide bombers hit a pair of mosques crowded with worshippers in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Friday, killing 46 and injuring 100 others, according to medical officials. The attackers targeted mosques controlled by Shiite rebels. A report on the rebel-owned Al-Masirah TV channel said the bombers attacked the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques during midday prayers on Friday, traditionally the most crowded time of the week. There was no immediate casualty report. It added that hospitals were urging citizens to donate blood. Witnesses said that at least two suicide bombers attacked inside the Badr mosque. One walked inside the mosque and detonated his device, causing panic as dozens of worshippers rushed toward the outside gates. A second suicide bomber then attacked amid the panicked crowds trying to escape. One witness at the al-Hashoosh mosque, located in Sanaa's northern district, said that he was thrown two meters away by the blast. "The heads, legs and arms of the dead people were scattered on the floor of the mosque," Mohammed al-Ansi told The Associated Press, adding, "blood is running like a river." Al-Ansi added that many of those who didn't die in the explosion were seriously injured by shattered glass falling from the mosque's windows. He recalled running for the door along with other survivors and hearing one man screaming, "come back, save the injured!" The Shiite TV network aired footage from inside al-Hashoosh mosque, where screaming volunteers were using bloodied blankets to carry away victims. One of the dead included a small child. Corpses were lined up on the mosque floor and carried away in pick-up trucks. The attacks come a day after intense gun battles in the southern city of Aden, between rival troops loyal to Yemen's former and current president, left 13 dead and forced closure of the city's international airport. The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, swept down from their northern strongholds and seized the capital in September. Allied with ousted former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, they now control at least nine of Yemen's 21 provinces. Earlier this year they put Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the western-backed president, under house arrest. Hadi has since fled to the southern city of Aden, where he established a temporary capital and maintains he is still the legitimate president. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Yemen is home to a powerful al-Qaida branch, but there has also been a growing presence among supporters of the Islamic State group. Some IS supporters on social media claimed the group carried out the bombing. The claim could not be confirmed, but if true it would be group's first major attack in Yemen. ||||| Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) The Sunni terror group ISIS purportedly claimed it committed Friday's bombings that killed scores of people at two mosques frequented by Shiite rebels in Yemen's capital -- an attack that would mark ISIS's first large-scale attack in the Arabian Peninsula country. At least 137 people were killed and 357 wounded when suicide bombers, pretending to be disabled and hiding explosives under casts, attacked the mosques in Sanaa, according to Yemen's state-run Saba news agency. Video distributed by Reuters showed people removing bodies from one of the mosques, where a carpeted floor was littered with debris. Houthi fighters carry the body of a man killed in Sanaa on March 20. Houthi fighters carry the body of a man killed in Sanaa on March 20. People stand amid bodies covered with blankets in a mosque after a suicide attack in Sanaa on March 20. People stand amid bodies covered with blankets in a mosque after a suicide attack in Sanaa on March 20. A wounded man lies on a bed at a hospital after the bombings in Sanaa on March 20. A wounded man lies on a bed at a hospital after the bombings in Sanaa on March 20. Men carry the body of a man killed in the March 20 attacks. Men carry the body of a man killed in the March 20 attacks. The body of a person killed in the attacks is carried to a hospital in Sanaa on March 20. The body of a person killed in the attacks is carried to a hospital in Sanaa on March 20. Houthi fighters stand near a damaged car after bombings in Sanaa on March 20. The attacks started with suicide bombings inside the buildings, followed shortly by explosions outside, two senior Houthi leaders said. Houthi fighters stand near a damaged car after bombings in Sanaa on March 20. The attacks started with suicide bombings inside the buildings, followed shortly by explosions outside, two senior Houthi leaders said. A casualty is wheeled to a hospital after the bombing attacks in Sanaa on March 20. A casualty is wheeled to a hospital after the bombing attacks in Sanaa on March 20. Armed men inspect damage after an explosion at Al Badr mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday, March 20. Deadly explosions in Yemen's capital rocked two mosques serving a minority Muslim group that recently conquered the city. The mosques serve members of the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam, which is followed by the Houthi rebels who recently took control of the capital. Armed men inspect damage after an explosion at Al Badr mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday, March 20. Deadly explosions in Yemen's capital rocked two mosques serving a minority Muslim group that recently conquered the city. The mosques serve members of the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam, which is followed by the Houthi rebels who recently took control of the capital. If ISIS committed the attack, it would be not only a new challenge to the minority Houthis who took control of Sanaa weeks ago, but also a challenge to ISIS's rival, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Sunni extremists more associated with Yemen. It would also illustrate a seemingly expanding focus for ISIS, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq and earlier this week claimed responsibility for Wednesday's killings of tourists at a museum in Tunisia Regardless, Friday's attacks marked one of the worst days of recent violence during a complicated struggle for control of Yemen, where Houthi rebels -- Shiites in a predominantly Sunni country -- already faced resistance from AQAP and from supporters of ousted President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. A written statement, purportedly from ISIS, claimed that ISIS executed Friday's attacks, calling them "a tip of an iceberg." The statement, posted on a site that previously carried ISIS proclamations, said five suicide bombers targeted Houthis in Sanaa. A separate audio message, also posted on ISIS-affiliated websites, claimed five ISIS suicide bombers killed dozens of "Houthi infidels." The voice is similar to one featured in Thursday's audio message in which ISIS claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunisia CNN cannot independently verify the legitimacy of Friday's statements. Among those killed in Sanaa was prominent Houthi religious leader Murtatha Al Mahathwari, Saba reported. A separate explosion rocked a government compound in the Houthi stronghold city of Saada -- 180 kilometers (112 miles) northeast of Sanaa -- killing two people and seriously wounding a third, according to Abu Khalil Al Ameri, a local Houthi security official. If ISIS executed Friday's bombings, it would be a "big deal indeed," in part because ISIS was thought to have only a fledgling presence in Yemen, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. "The dominant group there is al Qaeda in Yemen. ISIS and al Qaeda in Yemen can't stand each other," Cruickshank said. "But ... whoever is responsible, I think, (is) trying plunge the country into civil war." That's a complication for a number of parties, including the United States, which until the Houthis took Sanaa had counted on the Yemeni government for support in its long-running battle against AQAP. Blasts inside, outside mosques In Friday's assaults at Al Badr mosque and Al Hashoosh mosque in Sanaa, the first blasts happened inside the buildings, followed two minutes later by explosions outside, perhaps to target those fleeing the preliminary blasts, two senior Houthi leaders in Sanaa said. At Al Badr mosque, the outdoor explosion was another suicide bombing; at Al Hashoosh mosque, the exterior blast was a car bomb, the two leaders said. "We check people and watch at times, but it's a mosque, and we can't check everyone who enters," said Ali Al Emad, a Houthi security worker at Al Hashoosh mosque. The mosques serve members of the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam, the sect to which the rebel Houthi militants belong. Among the wounded are 40 people who are in critical condition; they will be sent to Jordan for treatment, reported Saba, which is controlled by the Houthis. AQAP, which last year vowed to attack Houthi loyalists throughout Yemen, issued a statement saying it had nothing to do with Friday's bombings. Houthis have Sanaa, launched airstrike in Aden The mosque attacks came six months after the Houthis -- who have long felt marginalized by the majority Sunnis in Yemen and have battled the central government for more than a decade -- entered Sanaa. That sparked battles that left than 300 people dead before a ceasefire was agreed to that month. The Houthis gradually took control, seizing the presidential palace in January and forcing President Hadi to resign. Hadi initially was put under house arrest, but he escaped last month, fleeing to the southern port city of Aden and declaring himself still President. The Houthis took control of military forces stationed near Sanaa, including the air force, as they overtook the central government there in January. Though the Houthis hold sway in Yemen's north, they have less influence in the south. Clashes between Houthi-controlled forces and military units still loyal to Hadi stepped up this week in Aden, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Sanaa. Thursday, a Yemeni jet commanded by the Houthis fired missiles at a palace where Hadi was taking refuge in Aden, injuring no one but marking an escalation in the fighting. The jet flew from Sanaa to the palace in Aden, where the jet conducted the strikes, a senior air force official said on condition of anonymity. Hadi was at the palace compound when the first missile struck the grounds, but he fled safely, a Hadi aide said, also on condition of anonymity. A second missile struck near the compound but, like the first, injured no one, two officials in Aden said. The airstrikes came on the same day that opposing Yemeni military forces -- those loyal to the Houthis, and those led by officers loyal to Hadi -- battled in Aden, leaving at least 13 people dead and 21 others injured, Aden Gov. AbdulAziz Hobtour said. Some of the forces loyal to the Houthis also are loyal to Hadi's predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who resigned in 2012 after months of "Arab Spring" protests inspired in part by a 2011 revolution in Egypt. Hadi was Saleh's vice president before taking over. Houthi takeover stunned West The United States, which still considers Hadi to be Yemen's legitimate President, "strongly condemns" both Friday's mosque bombings and Thursday's airstrikes in Yemen and expressed its condolences to the victims' families and loved ones, according to a White House statement. "This unconscionable attack on Muslim worshipers during Friday prayers only further highlights the depth of the terrorists' depravity and the threat they pose to the people of Yemen, the region, and the world," read the statement. "Today's attacks underscore that terrorism affects all Yemenis and that Yemen and its people must remain unified to confront these challenges." An earlier statement from U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke specifically called on "the Houthis, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and their allies to stop their violent incitement and undermining of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi ... the way forward for Yemen must be through a political solution." Officials in Saudi Arabia urged all Yemeni political groups to take part in talks in Riyadh, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said. King Salman ordered medical aid be sent to the victims in Sanaa and Aden, SPA reported, and said his country was ready to receive anyone critically wounded in the attacks. The Houthi takeover of Sanaa stunned governments of Western nations, including the United States, which had a long relationship with Yemen's leader and worked with the regime to target AQAP militants. U.S. officials frequently say AQAP is one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world, based on its attempts to attack U.S. interests, including an attempt to blow up an American jetliner over Detroit in December 2009. The United States, along with most European and Persian Gulf countries, suspended operations in their embassies this year after the Houthis took Sanaa. But the United States' anti-AQAP drone program in Yemen continued, with a U.S. drone strike killing senior AQAP cleric Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari and three other people in Shabwa province on January 31. ||||| SANAA (Reuters) - At least 24 people were killed when suicide bombers blew themselves up in two mosques in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday during noon prayers, security and medical sources told Reuters. The mosques are known to be used mainly by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group which has seized control of the government. Yemen is torn by a power struggle between the Iranian-backed Houthis in the north and the U.N.-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has set up a rival seat in the south with Gulf Arab support. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

– Triple suicide bombers hit a pair of mosques crowded with worshippers in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, today, causing heavy casualties, according to witnesses. The attackers targeted mosques frequented by Shiite rebels, who've controlled the capital since September. A report on the rebel-owned al-Masirah TV channel said the bombers attacked the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques during midday prayers, traditionally the most crowded time of the week. Casualty numbers differ, with Reuters reporting at least 16 have been killed; CNN says 25, AP says 46, and AFP claims at least 55 have died, according to medics. The attacks come a day after intense gun battles in the southern city of Aden, between rival troops loyal to Yemen's former and current president, left 13 dead and forced closure of the city's international airport. Witnesses said that at least two suicide bombers attacked inside the Badr mosque. One walked inside the mosque and detonated his device, causing panic as dozens of worshippers rushed toward the outside gates. A second suicide bomber then attacked amid panicked crowds trying to escape. One witness at the al-Hashoosh mosque, located in Sanaa's northern district, said that he was thrown 6 feet by the blast. "The heads, legs, and arms of the dead people were scattered on the floor of the mosque," Mohammed al-Ansi told the AP, adding, "Blood is running like a river." Al-Ansi added that many of those who didn't die in the explosion were seriously injured by shattered glass falling from the mosque's windows. The Shiite TV network aired footage from inside al-Hashoosh mosque, where screaming volunteers used bloodied blankets to carry victims. Among the dead: a small child.

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Marshal's office shows Adel Daoud, of Hillside, Ill. Daoud is charged with terrorism for allegedly trying to set off what he thought was a car bomb Sept. 14, 2012, near a downtown Chicago bar. (AP/AP) Four days before a sweeping government surveillance law was set to expire last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairman of the chamber’s Intelligence Committee, took to the Senate floor. She touted the law’s value by listing some of the terrorist attacks it had helped thwart, including “a plot to bomb a downtown Chicago bar” that fall. “So I believe the FISA Amendments Act is important,” the California Democrat said before a vote to extend the 2008 law, “and these cases show the program has worked.” Today, however, the government is refusing to say whether that law was used to develop evidence to charge Adel Daoud, a 19-year-old Chicago man accused of the bomb plot. And Daoud’s lawyers said in a motion filed Friday that the reason is simple. The government, they said, wants to avoid a constitutional challenge to the law, which governs a National Security Agency surveillance program that has once again become the focus of national debate over its reach into Americans’ private communications. “Whenever it is good for the government to brag about its success, it speaks loudly and publicly,” lawyers Thomas Durkin and Joshua Herman wrote in their motion. “When a criminal defendant’s constitutional rights are at stake, however, it quickly and unequivocally clams up under the guise of State Secrets.” If the government acknowledged that it had used evidence derived from the FISA Amendments Act, Daoud would have standing to challenge the law’s constitutionality. Specifically, Daoud’s lawyers would be able to take on a provision known as Section 702. The law permits the interception of foreign targets’ ­e-mails and phone calls without an individual warrant, including when the foreigners are in communication with Americans or legal residents. The U.S. Supreme Court in February rejected a constitutional challenge to Section 702 by a group of journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates, saying they had no standing to sue because they had not proved that their communications had been intercepted. But the court also said that if the government intends to use information derived from the Section 702 surveillance in a prosecution “it must provide advance notice of its intent,” and a defendant may challenge the lawfulness of the surveillance. The government assured the court that it would give such notice to criminal defendants. In a filing this month in Chicago, U.S. Attorney Gary S. Shapiro refused to say whether the evidence was obtained under Section 702. Instead, he said, the government told Daoud the evidence was acquired pursuant to a traditional FISA court order, rather than under the expanded surveillance program authorized in 2008. A traditional order requires the government to go to a FISA judge and show probable cause that the target is an agent of a foreign power. Daoud’s attorneys say in their pleading that the government is being disingenuous. “We believe it is clear that the evidence . . . came from Section 702,” Durkin said in an interview. “Either Senator Feinstein’s information was correct in December 2012, or she was given wrong information. The government has never disputed what she said.” A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office had no comment but noted that the office had replied to Daoud’s initial request for notice earlier this month in Shapiro’s filing. “The most troubling part of the case is the government seems to be trying to hide the ball,” said Alex Abdo, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued the Supreme Court case on behalf of the journalists, lawyers and activists. “They told the Supreme Court not to worry about reviewing the FISA Amendments Act because it would get reviewed in a criminal case. They said if they used the evidence in a criminal case, they’d give notice. Now they’re telling criminal defendants they don’t have to tell them. It’s a game of three-card monte with the privacy rights of millions of Americans.” Abdo said the original FISA statute, passed in 1978, requires the government to notify defendants when evidence being used against them is derived from surveillance authorized by the law. The court, he said, should require the government to abide by the law. “Otherwise,” he said, “the most sweeping surveillance program ever enacted by Congress will never be reviewed in public by a court.” Similarly, Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at American University, said, “Everyone knows the role that Section 702 is playing in a case like this.” But, he said, “thanks in part to the Supreme Court, the government can use Section 702 and then never have to defend its constitutionality.” The central problem with Section 702, critics say, is its breadth and lack of individual warrants. The law targets non-U.S. persons “reasonably believed” to be located outside the United States but does not require that the government obtain a warrant before intercepting communications. Moreover, the purpose of the collection is “foreign intelligence,” a broad category that may include everything from information on terrorism to nuclear proliferation to what a European journalist is writing on human rights abuses or an African businessman is saying about global financial risk, experts say. According to a criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent, Daoud received an e-mail in February 2012 regarding his registration with an online jihadi forum overseas. In May 2012, Daoud sent himself a link for nine issues of Inspire magazine, an online publication put out by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an al-Qaeda affiliate. That same month, two FBI undercover employees posing as jihadists contacted Daoud online in response to material he had posted. Between July and September, an undercover FBI agent met Daoud in Chicago and helped him plan the attack. Daoud was arrested in September after he attempted to detonate a bomb placed in a jeep outside a Chicago bar with a remote-triggering device. Durkin said that he thought the FBI used surveillance powers under Section 702 to identify Daoud and then got a traditional FISA order to conduct its sting against him. “Nonetheless,” he said in the motion Friday, “the government’s interest in confusing these two issues is obvious. If it can avoid giving proper notice to defendants, as it seeks to do here, the government can avoid a challenge to the [FISA Amendments Act] altogether.” U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman has set a trial date for February. ||||| Lawyers in Chicago terror case question what sparked investigation Attorneys for Adel Daoud wrote that prosecutors are purposely hiding information to avoid a possible battle over the constitutionality of the secret spying program, which was authorized by Congress in 2008 under an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Lawyers for a west suburban teenager charged with plotting to set off a bomb outside a downtown Chicago bar accused prosecutors Friday of dodging questions about whether the investigation was sparked by a massive government surveillance program. From left, Defense attorney Thomas Durkin and father of the defendant Adel Daoud, speak with members of the press before attending a hearing for Daoud at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Sept. 17, 2012. (Armando L. Sanchez ) Daoud's attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, said he is asking only for a yes or no on whether evidence in his case was derived from the expanded law, not for the highly classified content or details of the searches. Prosecutors wrote in an earlier filing that they have no obligation to disclose the information unless ordered by the judge presiding over Daoud's case. The surveillance programs — including one that collects U.S. phone records and another that tracks Internet use by foreigners with possible links to terrorism — were exposed earlier this month by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked details to news organizations. In the ensuing uproar, government officials have defended the programs as a highly effective weapon against terrorism. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee earlier this week, an FBI official said Internet surveillance was pivotal in the arrest of Najibullah Zazi in 2009 for plotting to bomb a New York subway. The filing by Daoud's attorney scolded the government for trying to have it both ways. "Whenever it is good for the government to brag about its success, it speaks loudly and publicly," Durkin wrote. "When a criminal defendant's constitutional rights are at stake, however, it quickly and unequivocally clams up under the guise of state secrets." Daoud, 19, of Hillside, came under FBI scrutiny after posting messages online about killing Americans, authorities have said. FBI analysts posing as terrorists exchanged messages with him and ultimately helped him plan an attack. Daoud was arrested in September after being accused of trying to detonate what he thought was a powerful car bomb outside a bar in the Loop. Daoud, who has pleaded not guilty, is set to go on trial in February in federal court in Chicago. [email protected]

– Adel Daoud is a Chicago 19-year-old accused by the feds of trying to detonate a bomb outside a Chicago bar in 2012. His case, however, could serve as the first constitutional challenge to the government's sweeping surveillance techniques, reports the Washington Post. In a court filing yesterday, attorneys for the terror suspect demanded to know whether federal authorities used their expanded powers under a 2008 amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to nab him. “Whenever it is good for the government to brag about its success, it speaks loudly and publicly,” they wrote, as per the Chicago Tribune. "When a criminal defendant’s constitutional rights are at stake, however, it quickly and unequivocally clams up under the guise of State Secrets.” Federal prosecutors say they're not obligated to say whether they used the law, and a judge will have the final say, reports WLS-TV. So did they use it? Here's a hint: Last year, when the Senate was debating whether to renew the 2008 law—it's formally known as the FISA Amendments Act—Dianne Feinstein made her case in favor by asserting that it had helped stop "a plot to bomb a downtown Chicago bar." If the judge rules that the government must acknowledge it used the FAA, Daoud's attorney's would then be able to challenge its constitutionality.

America Researchers Think There's A Warm Ocean On Enceladus i itoggle caption NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Saturn's moon Enceladus is a mystery. From Earth it looks tiny and cold, and yet it's not a dead hunk of rock. Passing spacecraft see trenches and ridges, similar to Earth's, and in 2005 NASA's Cassini mission spotted ice geysers streaming from its south pole. "The moon is actually alive in a sense," says Sean Hsu with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Beneath the surface, most researchers believe it even has a liquid ocean. Now Hsu and his colleagues have found new evidence that it's a downright balmy ocean. i itoggle caption NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA/JPL-Caltech The team used the Cassini spacecraft, which orbits Saturn, to detect tiny particles of silica floating in space. It's not sand exactly, but researchers think the particles did come from the bottom of Enceladus' ocean. The silica particles could only be made if that ocean were hot. "We think that the temperature at least in some part of the ocean must be higher than 190 degrees Fahrenheit," Hsu says. "If you could swim a little bit further from the really hot part then it could be comfy." In fact, 190°F is cooler than many hydrothermal vents at the bottom of Earth's oceans. Hsu says experiments on Earth also suggest the ocean is similar in salinity and pH to oceans here. The evidence, published in the journal Nature, is somewhat circumstantial. The theory is that the silica formed and then dissolved in seawater beneath Enceladus' icy crust. It then left the moon through geysers, and filled Saturn's E-ring. From the E-ring, the silica eventually wound up in the giant planet's magnetosphere, which is where Cassini saw it. "It's not like they flew through the plumes of Enceladus and measured these particles," says Bill McKinnon, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. Nevertheless, he and other independent researchers think the hypothesis has a reasonable chance of being right. "It's very hard to make silica in the Saturn system except if you have a warm wet environment," says John Spencer, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. Enceladus is the most likely place. Why is tiny Enceladus so warm? Spencer suspects it's the gravitational pull of Saturn and some of its other moons. Their attraction could tug the water and rock inside Enceladus, causing it to slosh around and heat up. But current models show that gravity alone can't explain the warm oceans, says McKinnon. He thinks something else could be generating that energy. "The most exciting possibility is that there's ongoing chemical reactions between the rock inside Enceladus and the water," McKinnon says. Those chemical reactions could generate heat, and possibly create conditions for life. Some primitive organisms on our planet live off energy from ocean vents on earth without ever seeing the sun. The energy heating Enceladus' oceans "could be exploited by simple living systems, as happens on the Earth," McKinnon says. Right now, such speculation is still pretty far-fetched, but more clues are coming. Later this year, the Cassini spacecraft will skim past Enceladus at a distance of just 30 miles. It should provide one of the best opportunities yet to learn about what's going on inside. ||||| Move over, Europa. It looks as though the most life-friendly habitat ever discovered outside of Earth is Enceladus—Saturn's sixth-largest moon. Astrophysicists working with NASA's Saturn sweeping Cassini spacecraft have just announced that Enceladus has a warm ocean at its southern pole with ongoing hydrothermal activity—the first ever discovered outside of Earth. This new research, published in the journal Nature, builds upon last year's discovery of the moon's 6-mile-deep ocean, which is also believed to contain many of the chemicals commonly associated with life. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below "We now have very strong evidence that there is a hot hydrothermal environment at the base of Enceladus's ocean, perhaps like those where we believe life began on Earth," says Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist at Cornell University who works with the Cassini spacecraft but was not involved in the new research. "This is yet another discovery in a series of really remarkable findings that have come one by one, to tell us that this may be the place to go look for life in the outer solar system." The clues in the rings Sean Hsu, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder who helped to lead the team behind this new discovery, says the discovery happened in what was perhaps a counterintuitive way. He and his colleagues estimated the temperature, salinity, and approximate pH of Enceladus's ocean by studying the dust in Saturn's outermost ring. Really. "We've known from quite early on that Enceladus was the source of the material in Saturn's [outermost] ring… based on the ring's composition" Hsu says, "although we didn't know the exact mechanism for the material transfer." But the 2005 discovery of 125-mile-high icy geysers shouted out to scientists how Enceladus flung material skyward. Enceladus's heat is created by gravitational friction from the pull of Saturn and its other moons Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Hsu and his team analyzed a class of dust nanoparticles in this outermost ring. Using Cassini's mass spectrometer tool, they showed that these dust particles were made mostly of silica, and that they were the skeletons of evaporated geyser-flung saltwater. These particles point toward warm waters on Enceladus. How? It turns out that the exact size range and makeup of the silicate particles gives the researchers a stunningly accurate blueprint of the conditions that forged them. For example, if Enceladus's ocean were really salty (say, over 4 percent, which is a bit more than Earth's oceans) then the silicate particles would have chemically clumped together, former bigger lumps than were found. Here's what these particles revealed about Enceladus's deep ocean: The water is less than 4 percent salinity, has a pH between 8.5 and 10.5 (Earth's ranged between 8.0 to 8.3 before the industrial revolution), and is at least 200 degrees Fahrenheit at hot springs at the bottom of the ocean where the particles are forged. Outside of hydrothermal activity, no other known process could make these uniformly small silica particles, the scientists say. Life on Enceladus? With temperate, vent-warmed waters that contain nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, and various other chemicals required for Earth-like life, Enceladus could very much look like the Lost City hydrothermal field under the Atlantic Ocean—an environment where many scientists believe life first originated on Earth. That's a far cry from the scientific state of affairs 15 years ago, when scientists were sure Enceladus was a lump of boring, uneventful rock. This idea would have been laughable. But while Hsu says Enceladus looks tantalizingly habitable, it's not clear whether life could (or does) exist on the moon. "An important consideration is the timescale of the Enceladus's ocean's hydrothermal activities," Hsu says. That is, we just don't know how long Enceladus's hydrothermal activity has gone on. Unlike thermal activity on Earth, which is powered by our hot, churning core, Enceladus's heat is created by gravitational friction from the pull of Saturn and its other moons. But Cornell's Lunine says the question as to whether Enceladus's ocean does or doesn't contain life is one we could answer, and soon. All of the new information we're gleaning about Enceladus (and all of Saturn's moons) comes from the Cassini spacecraft, which was developed in the late '80s and early '90s. Despite carrying outdated tech and instruments, it's revolutionizing the way we think about the possibility of life in other parts of the solar system. Lunine is currently working on a proposal for an update to the Cassini mission, using a new spacecraft with both modern day technology and specialized machinery designed to seek out the bio-signs of life. "If we go back to Enceladus and build upon the Cassini results with the instruments of today, the short answer is, we know that we'll be able to look for life frozen in the [geyser] particles, and really nail this habitability question," Lunine says. Read next: Inside the epic 8-year journey to Ceres ||||| LOS ANGELES (AP) — New research suggests there are hot springs bubbling beneath the icy surface of a tiny Saturn moon. This June 28, 2009 image provided by NASA, taken by the international Cassini spacecraft, shows Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. A new study published online Wednesday, March 11, 2015, in the journal... (Associated Press) If confirmed, it would make the moon Enceladus (ehn-SEHL'-uh-duhs) the only other known body in the solar system besides Earth where hot water and rocks interact underground. That activity would make the moon an even more attractive place in the hunt for microbial life. On Earth, scientists have found weird life forms living in hydrothermal vents on the ocean bottom where there's no sunlight. The research comes from Cassini, a NASA-European spacecraft that launched in 1997 to explore Saturn and its numerous moons from orbit. It previously uncovered a vast ocean beneath Enceladus and a giant plume of gas and ice streaming from cracks in the south polar region. In the latest study, a group led by Cassini team member Sean Hsu of the University of Colorado in Boulder used spacecraft observations and computer modeling to show that the plume is connected to what's happening on the lunar sea floor. Judging by their size and makeup, the team believes particles in the plume are the result of hot water coming into contact with rocks on the ocean floor. The resulting mineral-rich water then shoots up through the icy crust and erupts into space in a plume of gas and ice. Some particles settle around Saturn, replenishing its biggest ring. The new work also suggests that the ocean is deeper than previous estimates — more than 30 miles deep below the icy crust. It did not provide details on how big the ocean might be, but the Cassini team last year said it could be as big as or even bigger than North America's Lake Superior. Cassini should get a better glimpse of the plume later this year when it flies through it, passing within 30 miles above Enceladus' surface. The findings were published online Wednesday in the journal Nature. In an accompanying editorial, Gabriel Tobie of France's University of Nantes said the environment beneath Enceladus appears similar to the underwater system of hot springs and towering spires nicknamed "Lost City" in the mid-Atlantic. It would take future missions such as a lander on the surface of Enceladus to "fully reveal the secrets of its hot springs," he wrote. ___ Contact the reporter on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

– Thanks to the Cassini spacecraft, we already knew that one of Saturn's moons has a big ocean. Now things have gotten more interesting on Enceladus. It turns out that the ocean is not only warm, it seems to have the same kind of hydrothermal activity going on as oceans on Earth, reports NASA. Bottom line: "This may be the place to go look for life in the outer solar system," says a Cornell scientist not involved with the new study in Nature. That would be microbial life, under conditions similar to those in a network of hot springs under the Atlantic Ocean known as the "Lost City," reports AP. Some scientists think that ancient hydrothermal field yielded the first life on our planet. Some extra-terrestrial sleuthing resulted in the Enceladus discovery: Knowing that a geyser shooting up from the moon's south pole sends up dust particles that settle on Saturn's outer ring, researchers analyzed the outer ring. They discovered that the dust particles were mostly silica, explains Popular Mechanics, and the makeup of that silica yielded details about the ocean in which they were formed. "We think that the temperature at least in some part of the ocean must be higher than 190 degrees Fahrenheit," team member Sean Hsu tells NPR. "If you could swim a little bit further from the really hot part then it could be comfy." The only way to "nail the habitability question" is to send up a new spacecraft to Enceladus with more modern instruments, says the Cornell researcher. He's already working on the proposal. (Read about how Pluto might rejoin the planet club.)

A storm poised to dump up to 3 feet of snow from New York City to Boston and beyond beginning Friday could be one for the record books, forecasters warned, as residents scurried to stock up on food and water and road crews readied salt and sand. A worker walks up towards a plow smoothing a large salt pile at Eastern Salt Company in Chelsea, Mass., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in preparation for a major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast.... (Associated Press) Kelly Pomerleau of Andover Small Engine Service repairs a snow blower for a customer in Andover, Mass., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in preparation for a major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast.... (Associated Press) Municipal trucks fill up with salt, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 in Portsmouth, N.H. as the Northeast prepares for a snowstorm later this week. The National Weather Service says the snow will start falling... (Associated Press) This image made available by NOAA shows storm systems over the eastern half of the United States on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013 at 11:15 EST. A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike... (Associated Press) Chris Oppenberg of Andover Small Engine Service assembles a home generator for a customer in Andover, Mass., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in preparation for a major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast.... (Associated Press) A pair of storms will combine off the Northeast coast, bringing heavy snow and strong winds throughout New England. Another storm will move into the West, bringing rain and high elevation snow from California... (Associated Press) Before the first snowflake had fallen, Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other towns and cities in New England and upstate New York towns canceled school Friday, and airlines scratched more than 2,600 flights through Saturday, with the disruptions from the blizzard certain to ripple across the U.S. "This one doesn't come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm," said Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. "Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don't plan on leaving." The snow began falling Friday morning in some areas, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts could reach 75 mph. Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy in October. Boston could get up to 3 feet of snow, while New York City was expecting 10 to 12 inches. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000 tons of salt were being put on standby. To the south, Philadelphia was looking at a possible 2 to 5 inches. "We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," Bloomberg said, adding that at least the bad weather is arriving on a weekend, when the traffic is lighter and snowplows can clean up the streets more easily. Amtrak said its Northeast trains will stop running Friday afternoon. The organizers of New York's Fashion Week _ a closely watched series of fashion shows held under a big tent _ said they will have extra crews to help with snow removal and will turn up the heat and add an extra layer to the venue. Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, including Hartford, New Haven, Conn., and Providence. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine. In New England, it could prove to be among the top 10 snowstorms in history, and perhaps even break Boston's record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003, forecasters said. The last major snowfall in southern New England was well over a year ago _ the Halloween storm of 2011. Dunham said southern New England has seen less than half its normal snowfall this season, but "we're going to catch up in a heck of a hurry." He added: "Everybody's going to get plastered with snow." Diane Lopes was among the shoppers who packed a supermarket Thursday in the coastal fishing city of Gloucester, Mass. She said she went to a different grocery earlier in the day but it was too crowded. Lopes said she has strep throat and normally wouldn't leave the house but had to stock up on basic foods _ "and lots of wine." She chuckled at the excitement the storm was creating in a place where snow is routine. "Why are us New Englanders so crazy, right?" she said. At a Shaw's supermarket in Belmont, Mass., Susan Lichtenstein stocked up, with memories of a 1978 blizzard on her mind. "This is panic shopping, so bread, milk, a snow shovel in case our snow shovel breaks," she said. In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College student Evan Diamond and other members of the ski team were getting ready for races at the Ivy League school's winter carnival. "We're pretty excited about it because this has been an unusual winter for us," he said. "We've been going back and forth between having really solid cold snaps and then the rain washing everything away." But he said the snow might be too much of a good thing this weekend: "For skiing, we like to have a nice hard surface, so it will be kind of tough to get the hill ready." The governors of Connecticut and Massachusetts ordered nonessential state workers to stay home Friday and urged travelers to stay home. Terrance Rodriguez, a doorman at a luxury apartment complex in Boston, took the forecast in stride. "It's just another day in Boston. It's to be expected. We're in a town where it's going to snow," he said. "It's like doomsday prep. It doesn't need to be. People just take it to the extreme." ___ Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Lyme, N.H., Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, Vt., Jay Lindsay in Gloucester, Mass., and Denise Lavoie, Rodrique Ngowi and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report. ||||| As snow began falling on Friday morning, local authorities from New York City to Maine were making preparations for what forecasters said could be the biggest blizzard for some cities in the Northeast in a century. Airlines began announcing the suspension of flights out of New York and Boston airports starting Friday night, as thousands of workers readied their plows, checked their stocks of salt and braced for what will most likely be a cold, wet weekend. Amtrak announced that it would suspend northbound service out of Penn Station in New York and southbound service out of Boston beginning early Friday afternoon. Gas stations in parts of New York City and New Jersey had long lines Thursday night, according to local residents, a signal, perhaps, that many were taking storm warnings seriously. More than 2,200 flights for Friday had been canceled, according to the Web site FlightAware, the majority originating or departing from the areas affected by the storm. By late Thursday night, schools across New York and Connecticut had announced they would close, or dismiss students early. On Long Island, where some forecasts said there could be more than 18 inches of snow, the power company, which has received heavy criticism for its response to Hurricane Sandy, promised customers that they were prepared. The city of Boston, where forecasts called for more than two feet of snow to fall by Saturday, announced that it would close all schools on Friday, joining other localities in trying to get ahead of the storm and keep people off the roads. “We are taking this storm very seriously and you should take this storm very seriously,” said Jerome Hauer, the New York State Commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, at an afternoon news conference. “If you don’t have to go to work tomorrow, we suggest that you do not,” he said. “If you do, we suggest that you plan for an early departure.” The latest forecasts, he said, called for between 12 and 20 inches of snow in the New York City region and wind gusts that could exceed 60 miles per hour. However, with the storm still some distance away, forecasters warned that predictions could change. The first sign of the storm will be a dusting of light snow that is expected to start falling across the region Friday morning. At some point Friday night, the arctic jet stream will drop down from Canada and intersect with the polar jet stream, which usually travels through the lower 48 states. “They will cross somewhere between New Jersey and Nantucket,” said Tim Morrin, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. “That is where the center of the storm will deepen and explosively develop.” If the current models hold, the storm could rival the blizzard of 1978 in New England, when more than 27 inches of snow fell in Boston and surrounding cities. That storm, which occurred on a weekday, resulted in dozens of deaths and crippled the region for days. Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said more than 20 agencies had gathered at the agency’s operations center in Framingham, Mass., where they were preparing for a historic storm. “From our perspective, this is a very severe, blizzard-type storm that we haven’t had for quite a long time,” Mr. Judge said. “Worst-case scenario, this will be the worst one that we’ve dealt with in many, many years. I can’t even come up with something comparable.” Officials prepared for debris management, snow removal and supplies distribution, he said, as well as widespread power failures, which he said were the major concern. “People will lose their heat when they lose their power, and they’re certainly much more in harm’s way than at other times of the year,” he said. Marc Santora reported from New York. Jess Bidgood and Katharine Q. Seelye contributed reporting from Boston. ||||| A powerful blizzard is pummeling Massachusetts tonight with heavy snow and howling winds as residents hunker down in their homes. The potentially historic storm is expected to continue into the morning, dumping more than 2 feet of snow in some areas, whipping winds up to 70 miles per hour, and battering the coast with giant waves. Thank you for reading BostonGlobe.com. You have reached the monthly limit for free articles — to continue reading, get unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com now for just 99¢ for 8 weeks. Unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com includes: The FULL story all day: Enjoy all of the high-quality, in-depth journalism in the print edition of the Boston Globe — plus breaking news that's updated 24/7. Enjoy of the high-quality, in-depth journalism in the print edition of the Boston Globe — plus breaking news that's updated 24/7. A truly reader-friendly format: It's online news that looks and reads just like the newspaper — uncluttered, uninterrupted. It's online news that looks and reads just like the newspaper — uncluttered, uninterrupted. Breakthrough technology: The responsive design automatically adapts content so it always reads perfectly on the digital device of your choice. GET STARTED TODAY! Free access for home delivery subscribers. Just need to link your home delivery account; one easy step. Link my home delivery account BostonGlobe.com Subscriber Log In E-mail Password Remember me Forgot your password? Contact us for help Phone 888-MY-GLOBE Mon-Fri 8:00 a.m.- 6 p.m., Sat-Sun 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Chat Start a chat Mon-Fri 7:00 a.m.- 6 p.m., Sat-Sun 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. E-mail [email protected] ||||| By: Shaun Tanner, 10:57 PM GMT on February 04, 2015 I live in California. More specifically, I live in San Jose, CA which is about 60 miles south of San Francisco. In case you haven't heard, California is in a devastating drought brought on by 3 years of well below normal rainfall and snowfall (Figure 1). This, of course, is big news for many residents living within the state, and is having huge implications not only for residential use, but for agriculture use as well. Farmers are running out of water, which wil... ||||| A blizzard is expected to hit the Northeastern U.S. Are you there? Send in time-lapse videos and photographs of the storm. But please stay safe New York (CNN) -- Stores across the Northeast were packed with shoppers as people prepared for what could be a historic blizzard set to arrive on Friday. In Reading, Massachusetts, residents were preparing for several feet of snow that could leave them stuck in their homes for days. "It's a zoo in there. There's nothing left on the shelves. ... I think I got every bottle of water that they had in stock," Elizabeth Fraiser told CNN afilliate WHDH. At the Home Depot, another resident said she had essential supplies but wanted to be doubly sure she was ready. "I have a lot of it, but just want to be prepared. You never know," Joanna Spinosa said. A picture posted on the website of CNN affiliate WCVB showed long lines at a gas station in Boston. Travelers looking up flight details on airline websites were seeing the word "Canceled" over and over. And it wasn't just affecting travelers in the Northeast. Nearly 3,300 flights were canceled in anticipation of the storm as emergency crews geared up for inclement weather, most of which was expected late Friday into Saturday. According to the flight-tracking website Flight Aware, airports from Logan in Boston to O'Hare in Chicago to Reagan National in Washington were seeing significant number of flights -- inbound and outbound -- called off for Friday. More than 60 U.S. airports reported flight cancellations, Flight Aware said. Amtrak canceled many trips in the Northeast corridor. The rail transit company said on its website that northbound service from New York's Penn Station would be suspended after 1 p.m Friday. Two ferocious storm systems are expected to converge across the Northeast on Friday and spawn nightmares for a large swath of the country. A wintry blast churning across the nation and a cold front barreling up the East Coast will unite and could dump as much as a foot of snow in New York and up to 3 feet in Boston. Boston could see snowfall of 2 to 3 inches per hour, as frigid gusts swirl across the region. The system has already drawn comparisons to the "Great Blizzard" of 1978, when thousands were stranded as fast-moving snow drifts blanketed highways and left several people dead. The most severe weather is expected to hit Massachusetts between 2 and 5 p.m. on Friday. Gov. Deval Patrick announced Thursday that all non-emergency workers should work from home. He canceled all school classes on Friday. "Be a good neighbor. Check on the elderly," he said, advising residents not to bring portable stoves, charcoal or gas grill indoors out of concern for potential fire hazards or carbon monoxide poisoning. All vehicles must be off the roads by noon on Friday, and Boston's public rail system will halt service at 3:30 p.m. A fleet of 600 snow removers will be manned by municipal workers and contractors as authorities gear up for what they say could be a 36-hour storm. "We are hearty New Englanders and used to these kinds of storms, but I also want to remind people to use common sense and stay off the streets," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Forecasters warned of potential white-out conditions across New England and parts of New York. "If you are on the highway and you are stuck, you are putting yourself in danger," said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. Meanwhile, residents stocked up after authorities announced that public schools across several New England states would not hold classes Friday. "They're coming in buying shovels, ice melts and sleds," said Atton Shipman, who works at Back Bay Hardware in Boston. Social media was abuzz with chatter about the incoming weather. "Just a reminder of what the ground looks like in case anyone forgets in a couple of days," tweeted Ryan Pickering, after posting a close-up photo of a Rhode Island roadway. Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency officials said that they were busy salting roadways. "Travel may become nearly impossible with blowing/drifting snow and near zero visibility during the height of the storm (Friday afternoon into Saturday morning)," the agency said in a statement. "Motorized vehicles are asked to stay off the roads if they can during the storm to allow snow plows to clear the roads." Crews began preparing snow plows at Logan International Airport, where officials said the storm is expected to cause more flight delays and cancellations. United Airlines said customers in storm-affected cities will be allowed to reschedule their itineraries "with a one-time date or time change, and the airline will waive the change fees." Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest and other airlines offered their customers similar assurances. In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy said utility companies were bringing additional crews from out of state to deal with potential power outages. Metro-North rail lines could also be closed at any time should winds exceed 40 mph. The Connecticut National Guard has moved equipment to staging places, including several Black Hawk helicopters at Bradley International Airport north of Hartford. In Rhode Island, 300 members of a military police brigade were scheduled to drill on Saturday and Sunday but the drill has been moved up because of the storm. A snow emergency went into effect in the southern Connecticut city of Stamford, beginning at 5 p.m. In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the timing of the storm could actually benefit municipal workers. "If it's going to happen, having it happen Friday overnight into Saturday is probably as good timing as we could have," Bloomberg said. "The sanitation department then has the advantage of being able to clean the streets when there's normally less traffic." New York's Air National Guard unit on Long Island has some snowmobiles it can deploy to help with search and rescue or emergency transportation. If Gov. Andrew Cuomo were to order the National Guard to assist, each of New York's Guard's six operating areas will be ready to deploy 10 Humvees and 40 troops trained in disaster response. By late Thursday, the National Weather Service had issued a blizzard warning from 6 a.m. Friday until 1 p.m. Saturday, with wind gusts up to 50 mph, creating dangerous driving conditions with visibilities near zero in white-out conditions. Consolidated Edison, a main utility company for the New York region, said it is preparing additional crews to deal with potential power outages and advised customers to stay clear of downed power lines. Long island Power Authority, which received intense criticism over its handling of Superstorm Sandy, said it was preparing. Record-breaking snowfall could hit Hartford, Connecticut, as well. "We expect snow and then rain, and severe coastal flooding," said CNN meteorologist Sarah Dillingham. Wind will also be a major concern. Gusts could reach 75 mph along Cape Cod and 55 mph in the Long Island Sound and cause coastal flooding, with tides rising about three to five feet. As more miserable weather slams the region, those affected by Superstorm Sandy will be further hampered by high winds, cold temperatures and more beach erosion. Parts of the region are under a blizzard watch. In New Hampshire, there are people who actually want a lot of snow. "Natural snow definitely gets people to remind them that there are winter activities," Lori Rowell, director of marketing for Pats Peak ski resort in Henniker, told CNN affiliate WBZ. Steve Livingston said he usually sells 30 to 35 snowmobiles a week at his shop, but he hasn't sold any in the past week. Sales have been super slow," said Livingston, owner of Livingston's Arctic Cat in Hillsborough. "I hope we get as much snow as we can possibly deal with. That would be like a hot summer day for Hampton Beach for us." CNN's Larry Shaughnessy contributed to this report. ||||| A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the Northeast with a vengeance Friday, with 1 to 2 feet of snow feared along the densely populated Interstate 95 corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond. Kelly Pomerleau of Andover Small Engine Service repairs a snow blower for a customer in Andover, Mass., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in preparation for a major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast.... (Associated Press) Municipal trucks fill up with salt, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 in Portsmouth, N.H. as the Northeast prepares for a snowstorm later this week. The National Weather Service says the snow will start falling... (Associated Press) Chris Oppenberg of Andover Small Engine Service assembles a home generator for a customer in Andover, Mass., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in preparation for a major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast.... (Associated Press) A pair of storms will combine off the Northeast coast, bringing heavy snow and strong winds throughout New England. Another storm will move into the West, bringing rain and high elevation snow from California... (Associated Press) From Pennsylvania to Maine, people rushed to stock up on food, shovels and other supplies, and road crews readied salt and sand, halfway through what had been a merciful winter. Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other New England cities called off school on Friday, and airlines canceled more than 1,700 flights, with the disruptions certain to ripple across the U.S. Forecasters said this could one for the record books. "This one doesn't come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm," said Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. "Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don't plan on leaving." The snow is expected to start Friday morning, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts could reach 65 mph. Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy in October. Boston could get more than 2 feet of snow, while New York City was expecting 10 to 14 inches. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000 tons of salt were being put on standby. "We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," Bloomberg said, adding that at least the bad weather is arriving on a weekend, when the traffic is lighter and snowplows can clean up the streets more easily. Amtrak said its Northeast trains will stop running Friday afternoon. The organizers of New York's Fashion Week _ a closely watched series of fashion shows held under a big tent _ said they will have extra crews to help with snow removal and will turn up the heat and add an extra layer to the venue. Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, including Hartford, New Haven, Conn., and Providence. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine. In New England, it could prove to be among the top 10 snowstorms in history, and perhaps even break Boston's record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003, forecasters said. The last major snowfall in southern New England was well over a year ago _ the Halloween storm of 2011. Dunham said southern New England has seen less than half its normal snowfall this season, but "we're going to catch up in a heck of a hurry." He added: "Everybody's going to get plastered with snow." Diane Lopes was among the shoppers who packed a supermarket Thursday in the coastal fishing city of Gloucester, Mass. She said she went to a different grocery earlier in the day but it was too crowded. Lopes said she has strep throat and normally wouldn't leave the house but had to stock up on basic foods _ "and lots of wine." She chuckled at the excitement the storm was creating in a place where snow is routine. "Why are us New Englanders so crazy, right?" she said. At a Shaw's supermarket in Belmont, Mass., Susan Lichtenstein stocked up, with memories of a 1978 blizzard on her mind. "This is panic shopping, so bread, milk, a snow shovel in case our snow shovel breaks," she said. In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College student Evan Diamond and other members of the ski team were getting ready for races at the Ivy League school's winter carnival. "We're pretty excited about it because this has been an unusual winter for us," he said. "We've been going back and forth between having really solid cold snaps and then the rain washing everything away." But he said the snow might be too much of a good thing this weekend: "For skiing, we like to have a nice hard surface, so it will be kind of tough to get the hill ready." Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ordered non-emergency state employees to work from home on Friday and urged private employers to do the same. Terrance Rodriguez, a doorman at a luxury apartment complex in Boston, took the forecast in stride. "It's just another day in Boston. It's to be expected. We're in a town where it's going to snow," he said. "It's like doomsday prep. It doesn't need to be. People just take it to the extreme." ___ Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Lyme, N.H., Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, Vt., Jay Lindsay in Gloucester, Mass., and Denise Lavoie, Rodrique Ngowi and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report.

– The blizzard barreling toward the Northeast is still on track to bury New England and New York City later today, reports AP. The big airlines have canceled nearly 3,000 flights so far, reports CNN, and that number is only going to grow. Boston could get three feet of snow and New York City could get a foot and a half, according to the latest forecasts; both cities and other surrounding areas are bracing for the storm. Boston's Logan Airport and transit system will shut down this afternoon, the Globe reports; Amtrak and Greyhound routes between NYC and Boston are being suspended; schools have been closed; utility companies are prepping. The snow is expected to start in the morning, get heaviest at night, and continue into tomorrow morning. Weather Underground's liveblog reports that light snow has started falling in upstate New York; residents of that state and New Jersey were filling up their tanks last night, reports the New York Times, which notes this could be the biggest blizzard in a century for some areas. "This is going to be a dangerous winter storm," says a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. "Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don't plan on leaving."

Acidic wastewater from an abandoned mine above Silverton coursed its way through La Plata County on Thursday, turning the Animas River orange-brown, forcing the city of Durango to stop pumping raw water from the river and persuading the sheriff to close the river to public use. Residents lined the banks of the Animas River on Thursday afternoon to watch the toxic wastewater as it flowed through Durango city limits. But the sludge slowed as it snaked its way through the oxbow in the Animas Valley, and the murk didn't arrive until after 8 p.m. The accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Gold King Mine in San Juan County. A mining and safety team working on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency triggered the discharge, according to a news release issued by the EPA. The EPA's team was working with heavy equipment to secure and consolidate a safe way to enter the mine and access contaminated water, said Richard Mylott, a spokesman for the EPA in Denver. The project was intended to pump and treat the water and reduce metal pollution flowing out of the mine into Cement Creek, he said. The disaster released about 1 million gallons of acidic water containing sediment and metals flowing as an orange-colored discharge downstream through Cement Creek and into the Animas River. River closure The Animas River was closed to tubers, rafters and kayakers Thursday as the toxic plume made its way through Durango. The closure went into effect at 3 p.m., and it will remain in effect indefinitely until the river is deemed safe, said La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith. Government officials aren't certain what toxins and at what levels toxins are present in the river, and, therefore, decided it was best to close the river to public use. The closure, which applies to all flotation devices, is in effect for the entire stretch of the Animas River in La Plata County. “This decision was made in the interest of public health after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, San Juan Basin Health Department and representatives of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe,” Smith said. “EPA test results of the Animas River are expected within 24-48 hours, and the order will be re-evaluated at that time.” City to conserve water The city of Durango stopped pumping water out of the Animas River on Wednesday to prevent contaminating the city reservoir. The Animas is an important secondary source of water for the city during the summer, and residents need to conserve as much water as possible over the next few days until the water is safe to use, said Steve Salka, the city's utilities director. No formal water restrictions were issued. At south City Market, Sean Lumen, who was hoisting bottled water onto emptied shelves, said if customers continued to buy water at Thursday's rate, the store would run out sometime Friday. At Albertsons, front-end manager Shelley Osborn said she initially thought people were buying up bottled water at an unusually rapid rate because it was on sale. Aaron Memro, grocery manager, estimated Albertsons sold two pallets of water Thursday – far more than usual. During the emergency, Salka will not send raw water to Hillcrest Golf Club or Fort Lewis College for grounds use. The city also will not water any city-owned parks for the next three days to help conserve, he said. On hot summer days, the city can use up to 9.2 million gallons a day. But the city can pump only 5.3 million gallons a day out of the Florida River. The city reservoir was about 4.5 feet below capacity on Wednesday, Salka said. “This couldn't happen at a worse time for me, so I have to be really cautious,” he said. Fish habitat The EPA downplayed the potential effects on aquatic life, saying there are long-standing water-quality impairment issues associated with heavy metals in Cement Creek and upper portions of the Animas River. As a result, there are no fish populations in the Cement Creek watershed, and fish populations have historically been impaired for several miles downstream of Silverton in the Animas River, the release said. Colorado Parks and Wildlife placed four cages containing fish in the Animas River to monitor what happens to them, said spokesman Joe Lewandowski. The cages were placed at 32nd Street, the fish hatchery, Dallabetta Park and the High Bridge. “We'll see if those fish survive,” Lewandowski said. “We're also monitoring to make sure we don't get infiltration into the hatchery, because that could be a problem.” Peter Butler, co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group and former chairman of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, said it remains to be seen whether the toxic metal concentrations flowing downriver will impact the few fish species living below Bakers Bridge. But if the plume does have a negative impact on aquatic life, Butler estimated that fish would die within hours of contact with the plume. The contaminated water made its way to Bakers Bridge in La Plata County by Thursday morning and hit town by Thursday evening. The material was expected to cross the New Mexico state line between 4 and 5 a.m. Friday and arrive in Farmington on Friday evening. Farmington city officials shut down all water-supply intake pumps to avoid contamination and advised citizens to stay out of the river until the discoloration has passed. Local officials asked all agricultural water users to shut off water intakes. What's in the water? Butler said the water being discharged from Gold King carried high concentrations of iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc and copper. While he didn't know precisely the metal levels in the water that surged out of Gold King on Wednesday, Butler said: “I'm sure they were really high.” Though Gold King has no record of emitting mercury, Butler said “when old mines open up like that, mercury sometimes drains out. Possibly, some other metals might have been released, like lead and arsenic. But there's no evidence of that at this point.” Butler said Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety scientist Kirstin Brown had tested pH levels – the telltale measure of acidity in water – in the Animas River at Trimble Lane when the toxic plume arrived. The pH level dropped from 7.8 to 5.8. “That's a pretty big drop,” Butler said. Silverton does not use water from Cement Creek, so its water source remained uncontaminated, said William Tookey, the San Juan County administrator who met Thursday with EPA officials. The Animas River was looking healthier about 24 hours after the discharge in Silverton, he said. Gold King problems This is not the first time there has been a water-related accident at one of the mines, but it did come as a surprise to the town, Tookey said. He was not sure if the release would change attitudes toward the EPA in town. For years, some town residents and local officials have been opposed to a Superfund listing. “Since it was the EPA that was responsible for this, it may make people less likely to be open to them,” he said. Butler said everyone invested in improving the Animas River's water quality wanted to get into Gold King, because, for years, it has been one of the two biggest contributors of heavy-metal loads in the Animas Basin. “They had a plan for handling the mine pool, but something went wrong, and it all came blowing out,” Butler said. EPA teams will be sampling and investigating downstream locations over the next several days to confirm the release has passed and poses no additional concerns for aquatic life or water users. ||||| DENVER (AP) — A plume of orange-ish muck from million-gallon mine waste spill in Colorado was headed down river to New Mexico, prompting communities along the water route to take precautions until the sludge passes. People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in water colored from a mine waste spill. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a cleanup team was working with... (Associated Press) Dan Bender, with the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, takes a water sample from the Animas River near Durango, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a cleanup... (Associated Press) Officials emphasized that there was no threat to drinking water from the spill. But downstream water agencies were warned to avoid Animas River water until the plume passes, said David Ostrander, director of the EPA's emergency response program in Denver. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a cleanup team was working with heavy equipment Wednesday to secure an entrance to the Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado. Workers instead released an estimated 1 million gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek. "The project was intended to pump and treat the water and reduce metals pollution flowing out of the mine," agency spokesman Rich Mylott said in a statement. The creek runs into the Animas, which then flows into the San Juan River in New Mexico and joins the Colorado River in Utah. Officials weren't sure how long it would take the plume to dissipate, Ostrander said. The acidic sludge is made of heavy metal and soil, which could irritate the skin, he said. The EPA was testing the plume to see which metals were released. Previous contamination from the mine sent iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc and copper into the water, said Peter Butler, co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group. Earlier Thursday, the EPA said in a statement that the polluted water "was held behind unconsolidated debris near an abandoned mine portal." As the plume headed toward New Mexico, that state's governor said the EPA waited too long to tell her about the problem. Gov. Susana Martinez is disturbed by the lack of information provided by the agency to New Mexico's environmental agencies, said Chris Sanchez, a spokesman for the governor. Sanchez said that the state was not told of the spill until almost a full day after it happened. The plume made its way to Durango on Thursday afternoon, prompting La Plata County health officials to warn rafters and others to avoid the water. The scenic waterway was the backdrop for parts of the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and is popular with summer boaters. Durango stopped pumping water out of the Animas River on Wednesday to make sure none of the waste could be sucked up into the city reservoir. It also suspended the transfers of raw water to a local golf course and Fort Lewis College. Pet owners were advised to keep dogs and livestock out of the Animas. "It's really, really ugly," Butch Knowlton, La Plata County's director of emergency preparedness, told The Durango Herald. "Any kind of recreational activity on the river needs to be suspended." In Farmington, New Mexico, city officials shut down water-supply intake pumps to avoid contamination and advised citizens to stay out of the river until the discoloration has passed. Don Cooper, emergency manager in San Juan County, said people should not panic because the EPA had told the county the spill would not harm people and that the primary pollutants were iron and zinc. "It's not going to look pretty, but it's not a killer," Cooper told The (Farmington) Daily Times. The impact on wildlife wasn't clear. There are no fish in the Cement Creek watershed because of longstanding problems with water quality, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment said. Colorado Parks and Wildlife was placing cages containing fish in the Animas River to monitor what happens to them, spokesman Joe Lewandowski said. "We'll see if those fish survive," Lewandowski said. "We're also monitoring to make sure we don't get infiltration into the hatchery, because that could be a problem." The U.S. Fish & Wildlife office in suburban Denver did not immediately return a call asking about the spill. Durango resident Lisa Shaefer said she was near the mine Wednesday when a mine bulwark broke and sent a torrent of water downstream that raised the water level 2 to 3 feet in Cement Creek. The initial wall of water carried rocks and debris and made a roar as it pushed through a culvert, she said. "What came down was the filthiest yellow mustard water you've ever seen," she told the newspaper. ___ Information from: KIQX-FM, http://www.radiodurango.com ||||| About 1 million gallons of mine waste spilled into a Colorado waterway on Wednesday, turning the water bright orange and prompting officials to warn residents to avoid recreational use of the Animas River. San Juan County health officials say the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety were investigating another contamination when they “unexpectedly triggered a large release of mine waste water into the upper portions of Cement Creek.” Cement Creek is a tributary of the Animas River. Residents in parts of Colorado have been urged to cut back on water use and avoid the Animas River until officials are sure the river is free from contamination. According to a release by San Juan County Health Department, the waste contains “high levels of sediment and metals.” Residents in Durango, Colo. were bracing for the contaminated spillage to reach their area on Thursday afternoon. According to the Durango Herald, the city has stopped watering local parks for at least three days and is urging residents to conserve water until they’re sure their supply isn’t contaminated. The city has also ceased pumping water to a local college and golf course.

– Colorado's Animas River isn't always bright orange, but that's how it looks today after the EPA accidentally spilled a million gallons of mine waste into a tributary. Officials in San Juan County say state officials and the EPA were actually trying to access contaminated water at Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado on Wednesday when they "unexpectedly triggered a large release of mine waste water into the upper portions of Cement Creek," report Time and the Durango Herald. The acidic water—described by one witness as "the filthiest yellow mustard water you've ever seen"—contains sediment and metals that could irritate the skin, reports the AP. There's no risk to drinking water, but residents of communities along the river have been urged to cut back on water usage until the plume moves on. Yesterday the plume reached Durango, Colo., which had stopped pumping water out of the river on Wednesday. "It's really, really ugly," says a La Plata County official. "Any kind of recreational activity on the river needs to be suspended." The waste is now making its way to New Mexico, as the Animas River meets up with the San Juan River in that state before the San Juan joins the Colorado River in Utah. Officials have placed cages of fish in the river to identify any ill effects and are testing the water to identify the specific metals released. An expert guesses the water contains high concentrations of iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc, and copper, based on previous contamination. It may also contain mercury, lead, and arsenic, he says, "but there's no evidence of that at this point." (One Texas town recently experienced a creepy water problem.)

SINGAPORE: The 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim has significant brain injury , infection in lungs and abdomen and she is currently struggling against all odds at Mount Elizabeth Hospital where her condition continues to be "extremely critical", the hospital said on Thursday."Our medical team's investigations upon her arrival at the hospital yesterday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant brain injury," said Dr Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer, Mount Elizabeth Hospital.In a statement, Dr Loh said, "The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life."Briefing reporters here on girl's condition, Loh said, "As at 28 December, 11am (8:30 IST) the patient continues to remain in an extremely critical condition."The girl, who was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus on December 16, was brought here in an air ambulance yesterday and admitted to the intensive care unit.She had undergone three surgeries at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, where she remained on ventilator support during most part of the treatment. Doctors removed major part of her intestines which had become gangrenous."A multi-disciplinary team of specialists has been working tirelessly to treat her since her arrival, and is doing everything possible to stabilise her condition over the next few days," Dr Loh said."The High Commission of India has been fully supportive in helping the hospital and her family, and ensuring that the best care is made available," he added.The security was tightened at the hospital, favoured by well-heeled patients, with each visitor screened before being allowed into the ICU.In Delhi, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi stressed that no time should be lost in bringing the perpetrators of such barbarous act to justice.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured that those found guilty of lapses in the aftermath of the incident will not be spared."We are committed to bringing the guilty to justice as soon as possible," Singh said, adding that best possible medical care was being provided to the victim.The victim's father, who flew in with her, said he was reassured that the best is being done for his daughter.The girl's family members do not speak English and rely on interpreters to communicate with hospital staff, the Strait Times newspaper reported.The High Commission of India has assigned a liaison officer with the family. ||||| The victim of a gang-rape in New Delhi fought for her life at a Singapore hospital Friday as officials in the Indian state of Punjab fired and suspended police officers accused of ignoring the rape of another woman, who then committed suicide. Indian authorities have been accused of belittling rape victims and refusing to file cases against their attackers, further deterring victims _ already under societal pressure to keep the assaults quiet _ from reporting the crimes. However, the gang-rape of the 23-year-old student on a moving bus in the capital two weeks ago has brought new focus on police and community attitudes toward woman in India. Demonstrators in New Delhi have demanded stronger protections for women and stronger punishment for rapists. Authorities in Punjab took action Thursday when an 18-year-old woman killed herself by drinking poison a month after she told police she was gang-raped. State authorities suspended one police officer and fired two others on accusations they delayed investigating and taking action in the case. The three accused in the rape were only arrested Thursday night, a month after the crime was reported. "This is a very sensitive crime, I have taken it very seriously," said Paramjit Singh Gill, a top police officer in the city of Patiala. The Press Trust of India reported that the woman was raped Nov. 13 and reported the attack to police Nov. 27. But police harassed the girl, asked her embarrassing questions and took no action against the accused, PTI reported, citing police sources. Authorities in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh also suspended a police officer on accusations he refused to register a rape complaint from a woman who said she had been attacked by a driver. Meanwhile, doctors in Singapore said the New Delhi gang-rape victim remained in extremely critical condition, had suffered a heart attack, a lung and abdominal infection and `'significant" brain injury. `'The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life," said Mount Elizabeth Hospital chief executive Dr. Kelvin Loh. Police have arrested six people in connection with the attack, which left the victim with severe internal injuries. `'We wish she recovers and comes back to us and that no time is lost in bringing the perpetrators of such a barbaric act to justice," said Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress Party. Other politicians have come under fire for comments insulting the protesters and diminishing the crime. On Friday, Abhijit Mukherjee, a national lawmaker and the son of India's president, apologized for calling the protesters `'highly dented and painted" women, who go from discos to demonstrations. `'I tender my unconditional apology to all the people whose sentiments got hurt," he told NDTV news. ___ Follow Ravi Nessman at twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ravinessman

– The New Delhi woman whose rape set off huge protests is now "fighting for her life" in a Singapore hospital, its chief executive says. "In addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant brain injury." She has already been through three surgeries in India, the Times of India notes. Meanwhile, another woman who reported a gang rape has committed suicide, the AP reports. Two officers have now been fired and one suspended in that case; insiders say that instead of responding to the case, police harassed the 18-year-old after she reported it on Nov. 27. The three suspects in the attack weren't arrested until last night. Another police officer has been suspended in a third rape case after he reportedly refused to register the allegations against a driver.

* Top investigator put on leave for misleading public * He said up to 60 people murdered and their fat extracted By Terry Wade LIMA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Peru suspended its top organized crime investigator on Tuesday after he misled the country by saying he had caught a gang of serial killers who acted out an ancient Andean legend and sold their victims’ fat. Eusebio Felix was put on leave from his job for telling Peruvians last month that four suspected murderers apprehended by police were "Pishtacos" — the legendary killers who roam the Andes mountains extracting fat from travelers. In the legend, the Pishtacos strung-up the torsos of their victims above candles and heated them to collect fat. Police initially said the gang murdered up to 60 victims and exported their fat for thousands of dollars a liter to Italian cosmetics makers. In the end, there may have been only one victim. When they announced their big find, police held a news conference and displayed what they said was human fat stored in an empty bottle of Inca Kola, the electric-yellow soft drink popular in the Andes. They also showed a video of police pulling body parts from a shallow grave at a house in the mountainous region of Huanuco. But on Tuesday, after weeks of doubts about the case, police in Lima, the capital, said the investigation had been botched. General Miguel Hidalgo, the head of Peru’s police, said he was embarrassed. "This affects the image and respectability of the police," he said. Police in Huanuco, who complain they were excluded from the inquiry, said there was only one murder victim and that he was linked to the cocaine trade. They believe the four alleged killers, who are still in custody, may have bottled his fat to intimidate their rivals in an area rife with drug trafficking and violence. Police have been harshly criticized. Anthropologists said investigators foolishly believed the Pishtacos legend when searching for a motive for the murder, and then played on people’s fears by turning the legend into reality. "It seems a myth that has been in Peruvian culture for a long time was used to explain a very strange crime," said Juan Rivera of the Catholic University in Lima. Politicians blamed the police for scaring away tourists. "This has been a ruse of bad taste," said Jorge Espinoza, president of the region of Huanuco. Doctors said it would be pointless to kill people to harvest their fat when it could be easily collected from plastic surgery clinics that perform tummy tucks. "We wouldn’t throw out hundreds of liters of human fat if it were worth $15,000 a liter," said Julio Castro of Peru’s board of medicine. Others said fat spoils too quickly to be useful. (Additional reporting by Carlos Valdez and Enrique Mandujano; Editing by Eric Beech) (([email protected]; +51 1 221 2130; Reuters Messaging: [email protected])) ||||| By Dan Collyns BBC News, Lima Police had displayed what they said were bottles of human fat to reporters Peru's police chief has suspended a top investigator for saying he had caught a gang who were murdering people to sell their fat. Last month, top organised crime investigator Felix Murga said police had arrested four suspects who confessed to murdering up to 60 people. He said they were selling their fat for thousands of dollars a litre. But the macabre tale now appears to be nothing more than a tall story - or a big fat lie. 'Sold-on' In an extraordinary press conference, police showed two bottles of what they said was human fat and a photo of a decapitated head. Mr Murga told journalists how four suspects had confessed to gruesome murders reviving an Andean legend about the Pishtacos - mythical killers who murdered people on lonely roads to collect their fat. But two weeks later a complete lack of evidence showed the police account to be more fiction that fact. As a result Peru's chief of police, Miguel Hidalgo, announced Mr Murga would be put on indefinite leave from his job for sullying the reputation of his unit. Initial doubts were compounded when police from the region where the crimes were alleged to have taken place said they knew nothing about a gang of murderers killing people for their fat. They were only able to corroborate one of the dozens of alleged disappearances in a region where drug-trafficking and violence is rife. Mr Murga and the head of the anti-kidnapping unit had also claimed the fat was sold for thousands of dollars in the European black market supplying the cosmetics industry, but could not confirm any sales. Medical experts dismissed this theory, saying human fat had no monetary value and injecting it from one person to another would be potentially life-threatening. Some anthropologists say the police's story deliberately played on an old Peruvian myth to explain crimes which the police had failed to investigate fully. Other observers say this story was just one of many embellished or invented news stories used as a smokescreen which are intended to distract the general public from the real issues facing Peru. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version

– The Peruvian cop who claimed to have busted a crime ring that killed dozens of people to harvest their fat has been suspended for lying. Felix Murga, the country's top organized crime investigator, said that a gang had killed 60 people to sell their fat at $15,000 a liter. Investigators now believe there was just one victim and his murder was linked to drug trafficking, the BBC reports. Murga appears to have revived an ancient Andean legend of killers who roam the mountains extracting fat from travelers, say authorities, who blame him for damaging the police force's reputation and scaring tourists away. "This has been a ruse of bad taste," a local politician tells Reuters.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Turing Pharmaceuticals boss Martin Shkreli had previously defended the price riise Judging by social media, Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, may be the most hated man in America right now. He's been called a "morally bankrupt sociopath", a "scumbag" a "garbage monster" and "everything that is wrong with capitalism." And those are some of the tamer comments. So how did a rap music-loving, former hedge fund manager suddenly become the target of online ridicule and even death threats? His company recently acquired the rights to Daraprim. Developed in the 1950s, the drug is the best treatment for a relatively rare parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis. People with weakened immune systems, such as Aids patients, have come to rely on the drug, which until recently cost about $13.50 (£8.80) a dose. But Mr Shkreli announced he was raising the price to $750 a pill. The more than 5,000% increase and his brash defence of the decision has made him a pariah among patients-rights groups, politicians and hundreds of Twitter users. Other drugs companies have made similar moves raising the price of niche products, but few have so publicly and so unapologetically answered critics. The backlash became so pitched on Tuesday that Mr Shkreli agreed to lower the price of Daraprim to an "affordable level". Image copyright Twitter Image caption Martin Shkreli, seen here in an August Twitter post, has aggressively answered critics Humble beginnings Martin Shkreli, the son of Albanian and Croatian immigrants, grew up in a working-class community in Brooklyn, New York. He skipped several grades in school and received a degree in business from New York's Baruch College in 2004. At 17, he began his first internship at Cramer Berkowitz & Co, the hedge fund founded by television personality Jim Cramer. In 2006, Mr Shkreli started his own hedge fund, Elea Capital Management. The fund closed a year later after a $2.3m lawsuit from Lehman Brothers, which collapsed before it could collect on the ruling. After Elea, Mr Shkreli started MSMB Capital Management in 2008. The fund would be his launch pad for founding biotech firms including Turing. Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Shkreli moved into the pharmaceutical industry after working as a hedge fund manager A rocky start in pharmaceuticals Turing was not Mr Shkreli's first foray into the pharmaceutical industry. In 2011, he founded biotech firm Retrophin, with the goal of focusing on medicines for rare diseases. He was ousted as head of the company in 2014 amidst allegations he improperly handled legal settlements. A year later the company filed a $65m lawsuit that claimed Mr Shkreli created Retrophin and took it public simply to pay off investors in his old hedge fund, MSMB when the fund went under. Mr Shkreli has denied the accusations. "They are sort of concocting this wild and crazy and unlikely story to swindle me out of the money," he told the New York Times. On August 4, 2017, a jury found Mr Shkreli guilty of three of eight counts, including securities fraud, in a criminal case brought by US prosecutors. But they cleared him of allegations that he had looted Retrophin to make payments for the hedge funds. The civil suit brought by Retrophin remained pending as of 4 August. Image caption Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to Daraprim in August A second chance Turing Pharmaceuticals was launched in February 2015 after Mr Shkreli was forced out of Retrophin. The business claims its goal is to focus on treatments for serious diseases for which there are limited options. "We are dedicated to helping patients, who often have no effective treatment options," a statement on Turing's website said. The company only has two products on the market Daraprim and Vecamyl, which treats hypertension. Mr Shkreli has argued the Daraprim price increase was warranted because the drug is highly specialised; he likened the Daraprim to an Aston Martin previously being sold at the price of a bicycle. The additional profits he said will be used to make improvements to the 62-year-old drug recipe. Image copyright Twitter Image caption One of Shkreli's first tweets about the Dramaprim controversy Mr Shkreli did not take the criticism of his company's actions lightly. On Sunday, he sent out a hostile tweet accusing the media of singling him out. "And it seems like the media immediately points a finger at me. So I point one back at em, but not the index or pinkie," he wrote, quoting an Eminem song. His tone later softened following several TV interviews where he claimed the profits of the drug would be used to create a better product. All of the negative attention may have finally had an effect on Mr Shkreli. His Twitter account, which had sparred with critics for days, went dark and then Mr Shkreli agreed to lower the price. "We've agreed to lower the price on Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit," he told ABC News. "We think these changes will be welcomed." ||||| America is outraged — outraged! — that Turing Pharmaceuticals hiked the cost of a drug called Daraprim by 5,000% last month. (The drug is used to fight infections in patients suffering from AIDS and other conditions.) What took everyone so long? Turing CEO Martin Shkreli is a repeat moral offender. He pulled off similar price hikes at his previous company, before getting fired and sued for $65 million. But there's a much bigger problem than Shkreli here: The skyrocketing cost of generic drugs. It's nothing new. And it hadn't gotten much attention until this week, partly because most pharma companies aren't run by evil executives who happily explain they're making a profit by over-charging AIDS patients. Here's an incredible sentence from an ABC News report from this past May — on three other generic drugs that have seen their prices skyrocket in the past year. The cost of the generic blood pressure medication captopril jumped more than 2,700 percent, the asthma drug albuterol sulfate went up more than 3,400 percent and the antibiotic doxycycline jumped a whopping 6,300 percent, according to National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) statistics. One 49-year-old patient suffering from a painful condition called endometriosis said the cost of her treatment had grown 6,500% between 2010 and 2015. She now spends about $115 per day on a generic painkiller called fentanyl citrate, which is forcing her to deplete her retirement savings. "I realized if I wanted to keep my job and my life, I was going to have to find a way to pay for this," she told ABC News. "I started taking money out of my IRA, and that’s how we had to pay for it." There's a mix of reasons for these soaring prices, but the most important factor is that companies like Turing are cornering the market on certain generic drugs, and then using their near-monopoly power to hike prices. So why doesn't another firm try and compete, especially given that the patent on a drug like Daraprim has lapsed? Well, maybe 10,000 people use Daraprim every year. And as Sarah Kliff wisely reports for Vox, there isn't enough market demand for these generic drugs to motivate a new competitor to enter the field. And given the relatively small numbers of people affected by each of these drug hikes, there hasn't been much attention on the issue — even though the National Community Pharmacists Association has flagged dozens of generic drugs that have seen their costs similarly skyrocket in the past year. The Daraprim scandal exploded this week for several reasons. An odious pharma executive straight out of central casting. Hillary Clinton's speech, further calling attention to the problem. And — by Google News' count — more than 3,600 articles dedicated to the controversy. But the Daraprim scandal is now over. Two days after the story detonated in the pages of the New York Times, Turing Pharmaceuticals will dramatically reduce its planned price hike to Daraprim, Shkreli told NBC News on Tuesday night. He didn't make clear what the new price would be, only that it would be lowered to a level for Turing to make a "small profit." The real trick wasn't getting Turing Pharmaceuticals to back down. The sheer weight of the news cycle did that this week. (By Tuesday morning, the news about Turing and Shkreli was even trending around the world. "¿Por qué este hombre es el más odiado de internet?" asked writers at Sopitas.com, a Mexican website.) The hard part is achieving lasting reform. And no one agrees on how to do that. Take Hillary Clinton's new proposal to reform the prescription drug industry, which was hailed by her supporters but panned by some policy experts. Harvard's Amitabh Chandra tells the New York Times that Clinton's proposal to force pharma companies to reinvest profits into R&D is "astonishingly naïve"; there's no evidence that pharma firms aren't doing enough research, and pushing them to spend more upfront would seem to do little to lower the actual costs of drugs. Meanwhile at Forbes, Avik Roy contends that Clinton's plan would actually lower the incentive for new companies to enter the market, by reducing the patent life on innovative drugs. Instead, the most promising solution is probably pushing on regulators, not singling out pharma companies. Writing in the NEJM last year, Jonathan Alpern and coauthors suggested that FDA needed to dramatically speed up its process to encourage new generic manufacturers; the agency on average needs 10 months just to process a new application to produce a drug. "[W]e believe that special pathways should be created to promote competition and permit the private market to function more efficiently," Alpern and his coauthors wrote. Getting FDA to change its regulations is a slow process. There won't be any TV-ready villains; just rounds of public comment and dry testimony. And the rules won't be fixed by a few days of negative headlines. But if you care about this issue — if you're offended by what Turing tried to do to Daraprim — remember your outrage. Keep it close. You'll need it for the long slog to come in the months ahead. -- Follow @ddiamond Sign up for Dan's free newsletter. From the archives: Also on Forbes:

– The drug company CEO called the "most hated man in America right now" by the BBC says he's misunderstood—but that he'll lower the price of Daraprim in response to the firestorm of criticism. "There were mistakes made with respect to helping people understand why we took this action," Turing Pharmaceuticals chief Martin Shkreli, who raised the price of the toxoplasmosis drug from $13.50 a pill to $750, tells NBC News. "I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people." The 32-year-old former hedge fund boss says it's "very easy to see a large drug price increase and say, 'Gosh, those people must be gouging,'" but that drug pricing is "very hard stuff" for people to understand. Shkreli admits that the drug is cheap to make, but he says the price has to cover "the quality control, the regulatory costs, and all of the other things that come with having a drug company." Shkreli is an "odious pharma executive straight out of central casting," but his company is far from the only one buying up relatively obscure drugs and massively increasing the price, writes Dan Diamond at Forbes. The same thing has happened to dozens of other drugs over the last year, and while media attention forced Shkreli to back down, "the hard part is achieving lasting reform," he writes. (A huge increase in the price of a tuberculosis drug has also been rolled back.)

The restaurant chain Golden Corral was a hot topic on Reddit Monday morning as images surfaced of purported disgusting kitchen conditions and a video by an alleged employee charged that the chain keeps its meat by the dumpster. A Reddit user named GCWhistleblower posted four pictures of a kitchen overflowing with garbage near food that is spilling out of boxes. The caption: "Just an average day for a Golden Corral Employee, best working conditions ever!" SEE ALSO: Taco Bell Employee Who Licked Taco Shells Is Getting Fired That, coupled with the video above, has prompted a subReddit devoted to the chain. A rep from the chain offered the following statement: A video was recently posted showing an incident of improper food handling at our Port Orange, Fla., location. None of these items were served to a single customer. All were destroyed within the hour at the direction of management. Brandon Huber, the employee who made the video, participated in the disposal of the food. The following day, the father of the employee, posted an offer to sell the video for $5,000, which was not accepted. The manager involved in the improper storage was terminated for failing to follow approved food handling procedures. Huber could not be reached for comment. The barrage comes after images of a Taco Bell employee licking some taco shells emerged on Facebook last month. In general, restaurant chains appear uniquely vulnerable to such charges. The first such example of this phenomenon appears to be a Domino's Pizza YouTube scandal in 2009 that showed a couple of rogue employees doing disgusting things to pizzas intended for customers. Such incidences illustrate how images and videos on social media can undo millions of dollars in advertising. Image courtesy of Flickr, Rob_rob2001 ||||| Golden Corral cook Brandon Huber actually likes his job at the national buffet chain's Port Orange, Florida, location. That's why he tried going directly to Golden Corral management first before reaching out to the media about his restaurant's ironic efforts to avoid receiving poor health inspection marks. But after being turned down by a number of news outlets, Huber decided to speak directly to the Internet about his branch's practice of storing both raw and cooked foods near the dumpster ahead of the health inspector's visit. "I'm an employee, I've been working here for a long time, and I don't think this is right," Huber informed his viewers in the fast-rising video. The young man is being compared to whistleblower Edward Snowden, albeit with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but the blowback Golden Corral is likely to receive from this bad practice is no joke. UPDATE: Golden Corral has just responded to Huber's claims in the video's comments section (thanks Lamont!): UPDATE 2: Huber filmed a follow-up video briefly discussing why he chose to bring this practice to light. In an official statement sent to Gawker, Golden Corral reiterated its claim that the food was destroyed without being served to customers, and that Huber personally participated in the food's disposal. They further allege that Huber's dad tried to sell the video to the company for $5,000 — an offer that was rejected. As for ramifications, Metro Corral Partners says the manager was terminated "for failing to follow approved food handling procedures." No word yet on Huber's current employment status.

– Food chains around the country must rue the day someone decided to add cameras to phones. Golden Corral is the latest to have its dirty ground beef aired online, as Reddit exploded this morning in reaction to a video from one employee showing all manner of meat camped out near the dumpster in what he alleged was an attempt to hide it from food inspectors, Mashable reports. "I've been working here for a long time, and I don't think this is right," says cook Brandon Huber, who shows his face and identifies himself on camera. Golden Corral later commented on the video, saying that the food was never served to customers, that it was thrown away immediately, and that the manager at the restaurant was terminated, Gawker reports. It also accuses Huber of trying to sell the video, and says he participated in disposing of the food.

Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. In April 2012, two days before George Zimmerman was arrested for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, he huddled with a fellow neighborhood watch volunteer, Frank Taaffe. According to Taaffe, who disclosed the meeting on Fox News, Zimmerman asked him to share “several talking points” with the media. Taaffe obliged. Indeed, as Zimmerman’s legal drama unfolded over the next year and a half, Taaffe emerged as his most visible and outspoken defender. He gave hundreds of interviews to media outlets, ranging from the New York Times to Fox News to CNN, and made near-daily appearances on cable news shows during Zimmerman’s trial. Taaffe used this platform to cast Martin as a drug-addled hoodlum and Zimmerman as a community-minded do-gooder (“the best neighbor you would want to have”) who had every reason to suspect the black teen was up to mischief. He also railed against Zimmerman’s critics, whom he accused of staging a witch hunt. “It’s really sad that he has already been convicted in the public media and has already been sentenced to the gas chamber,” he lamented in an interview with NBC’s Miami affiliate last year. Taaffe was hardly the ideal person to be weighing in on a case suffused with racial angst—or commenting on criminal-justice matters, period. A Mother Jones investigation has found that the 56-year-old New York native has a lengthy criminal record that includes charges of domestic violence and burglary, and a history of airing virulently racist views. Just last Sunday, he appeared on The White Voice, a weekly podcast hosted by a man named Joe Adams, who has deep, long-standing ties to white-power groups and has authored a manual called Save The White People Handbook. (Sample quote: “A mutt makes a great pet and a mulatto makes a great slave.”) During a previous White Voice appearance, on July 27, Taaffe argued that whites and blacks have no business mingling. (“They don’t want to be with us and we don’t want to be with them.”) Taaffe also opined that if Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin, he was justified in doing so because “young black males” had burglarized homes in their neighborhood. “What if I—a middle-aged white man—wore a hoodie and went through Trayvon Martin’s neighborhood?” he asked defiantly. Adams replied that “no sane white person” would dare walk down their “local Marcus Garvey Boulevard.” “I’d only be there for one or two things,” Taaffe shot back. “And I’m sure the vice squad would want to be interested in that.” “This trial is waking up white America, man,” Taaffe told The White Voice. Later, Taaffe accused African Americans of committing “self-genocide” by failing to address the “ills and diseases that are festering” in the black community—especially the absence of black fathers, which “leaves young black males growing up without direction.” And he bemoaned the fact that some white women choose to date black men, saying that they invariably end up becoming single mothers. “Guess who winds up paying the tab on that? You and me and the rest of America,” Taaffe grumbled. “It’s called entitlement, man. It’s called food stamps. It’s called welfare.” By the end of the show, Taaffe was so worked up that he was calling for a revolution. “This trial is waking up white America, man,” he said. “I’m fed up with the bullshit and the glad-handing to this one group of people who now control what we do and say. Come on, man, wake up America!” Taaffe’s private Twitter feed (@pinsones) also reeks of racial animus. In one tweet, he bashed Michael Skolnik, who directs hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons’ political operations, saying “how much nigga cock do u suck an one day or maybe u like it pounded up ur hebe ass.” In another he wrote, “the only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them.” Asked about his history of racially charged remarks, Taaffe made no apologies. “There is a thing called First Amendment speech,” he said. “I have freedom to opine on current social issues, and I’m not going to be restricted.” He reeled off statistics about black crime and out-of-wedlock births. “I’m not going on some Tom Metzger-David Duke tangent,” he added. “I’m merely echoing the suppressed voices in this country that have been beleaguered by affirmative action and crimes committed by that particular group of people.” These kinds of extreme racial views infused Taaffe’s media commentary. He told the New York Times that his gated community had been burglarized by “Trayvon-like dudes with their pants down” and taunted his black fellow talk show guests with race-tinged jibes. On a recent episode of HLN’s Dr. Drew on Call, the topic turned to racial profiling. Taaffe shouted down a fellow panelist and launched into a bizarre diatribe: “You know, Whitey, us…we’ve had a little bit of slavery, too,” he said. “Back in 1964 or 1965, then-President Johnson signed an executive order; it was called affirmative action. And you want to talk about slavery?” Taaffe’s fellow guests seemed stunned that he’d been given a national platform to broadcast these ideas. “It’s like every word that comes out of his mouth is a turd falling in my drink,” said African American radio personality Brian Copeland. “I don’t understand why he’s allowed to go on like he does.” CNN and its sister network, HLN, have repeatedly invited Taaffe to weigh in on legal and technical aspects of the Zimmerman case, from the implications of witness testimony to the meaning of forensic evidence, such as the grass stains found on Martin’s pants. Taaffe sparred on-air with attorneys about the finer points of criminal law and tangled with forensic experts—including Lawrence Kobilinsky, the chair of the science department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice—over whether the small quantity of THC in Martin’s blood could have made him violent. (Taaffe insisted that it could; Kobilinsky called this argument a “red herring.”) When Valerie Rao, Jacksonville, Florida’s chief medical examiner, testified during the trial that Zimmerman’s injuries were minor enough to be treated with Band-Aids—an assertion that cast doubt on Zimmerman’s claims that Martin had bashed his head repeatedly on the sidewalk—Taaffe appeared on the Nancy Grace show and argued that Rao was dead wrong. “George was experiencing trauma!” Taaffe insisted. “He was having many concussions with each blow to his head. And he was entering into a state of unconsciousness where he was seeing his life flash before him.” After the prosecution released surveillance video from 7-Eleven showing Martin behaving normally as he shopped for Skittles and Arizona Ice Tea just before his death, Taaffe went on HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell show and muddied the water. Something could have happened in the intervening minutes to change Martin’s mood, he argued. “Also, they found a cigarette lighter and $40 on him,” Taaffe said, ominously. “He wasn’t employed. You know, who gave him the $40?” Taaffe isn’t the first member of Zimmerman’s circle to be caught making racially charged statements. In March, Zimmerman’s brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr. (another outspoken defender), tweeted a photo of a black Georgia teenager who allegedly murdered a one-year-old boy with a gunshot to the face, alongside a picture of Trayvon Martin. Both teens were flipping off the camera. The caption read, “A picture speaks a thousand words. Any questions?” Taaffe has been arrested or faced criminal charges nearly a dozen times and logged at least two convictions. In Taaffe’s case, though, the comments about blacks’ supposed criminality are thick with irony. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange County Clerk of Courts, Taaffe has been arrested or faced criminal charges nearly a dozen times and logged at least two convictions. Last year, Taaffe was taken into custody for driving under the influence. He pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving related to alcohol use and received six months’ probation. He’s also been charged with battery and two cases of “repeat violence.” (Taaffe told Mother Jones that these were “frivolous” charges filed by “disgruntled” former coworkers.) Many of the other entries on Taaffe’s rap sheet stem from domestic-violence complaints filed by his second wife and their son. In 2000, he was arrested for burglary—the very crime he alleges “young black males” were committing in his community—after allegedly swiping some papers from his ex-wife’s home. Taaffe pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of trespassing, and was sentenced to nine months in prison*. According to police reports, he was later charged with stalking and with child abuse after his son, William, jumped out of a moving car, allegedly to escape his father’s angry, profanity-laced tirade. Taaffe maintains these charges stemmed from false complaints filed by his then-wife, who persuaded William to corroborate the accusations so she could get more assets in their divorce. “She used my son as leverage against me for her own personal and monetary gain,” he told Mother Jones. Taaffe—who has railed against absentee black fathers—was a marginal figure in the lives in his own children. Vincent, his eldest son from his first marriage, who died in a car crash last year, didn’t speak to him. (Taaffe says this was because Vincent was outraged over his involvement in the Zimmerman case: “I was ostracized by members of my own family for supporting George.”) William, who struggled with addiction and emotional problems after his parents’ brutal divorce, cycled in and out of rehab before dying of a drug overdose in 2008. According to a source close to the family who provided photocopies, he left behind an angst-filled notebook, with these words scrawled across the final pages: “Fuck you, Dad, I never thought a father could be so bad…I’m your son, the one you ditched.” Now that the Zimmerman trial is over, Taaffe has no plans to abandon his crusade. He recently launched a website, where he intends to blog about issues including affirmative action and criminal justice. And he has teamed up with The White Voice to peddle “Taaffe’s Got Your Back!” T-shirts, which feature a photo of Taaffe snarling and brandishing his fist. (“All of the profits go to Frank,” The White Voice‘s website notes.) Taaffe told Mother Jones that he’s also “looking into” the case of Michael Dunn, the Jacksonville man who is accused of fatally shooting an unarmed black 17-year-old at a gas station after arguing with the teen over loud music. “My work is not done yet. I have a myriad of cases that people are calling me to help them on,” Taaffe said. “If we all took the time to stand up for people who we believe in our heart of hearts were innocent, this country would be a much greater place.” Additional reporting by Lawrence D. Elliott. Clarification: Taaffe says he was sentenced to home confinement rather than prison. The Orange County Clerk of Courts office disputes this assertion, saying he was sentenced to 9 months in an Orange County, Florida jail. ||||| One of George Zimmerman's most outspoken supporters in the days surrounding his murder trial has changed course, testifying Wednesday in front of a grand jury that Zimmerman could have called him and made racially charged comments. In 2012, shortly after Zimmerman claimed he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in self-defense in his Sanford gated community, friend Frank Taaffe said, "I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist." On Wednesday, Taffe, said he's had a change of heart, saying he testified against Zimmerman in front of the grand jury that will decide whether Zimmerman will face federal charges for violating Martin's civil rights. File Video: Neighbor says George Zimmerman 'is not a racist' Raw Video: Zimmerman supporter changes course, testifies Evidence Photos: Bloodied George Zimmerman, gun used in shooting Taaffe said his flip came after he got a call from an unknown number two years ago by a man claiming to be Zimmerman. He said the man made a racist comment about Martin, which he first thought was a prank call at the time, but now he's not so sure. Taaffe said he had already publicly defended Zimmerman on national television when the call came. He said he faced death threats, but claimed Wednesday that his personal losses have led him to identify more with the Martins. Taaffe now views the mystery call differently, he said. Taaffe said he told the FBI about the call in June, saying he now believes Zimmerman did racially target Trayvon, but he waffled about whether he believes Zimmerman was really the mystery caller. "People knew my phone number so it could've been anybody," said Taaffe. "I brought it up and they wanted me to go on the record with what this alleged George said with this phone call from unknown destination." Taaffe said he hopes to make amends with the Martin family through his testimony but also admitted to Channel 9 he has a lot more to gain from his change of heart about Zimmerman. ||||| Tom DeLay: I have a ‘right’ to not serve gay sinners because they ‘undermine’ my religious liberty Court clerk won’t cough up transcript after Georgia judge and deputies call witness the N-word Texas cop caught on video punching Air Force veteran — after she says she’s pregnant Florida pastor rants: God wants men to rule women — but men can’t rejoice without being sued WATCH: All hell breaks loose when gay Irishman calls Westboro church for advice on getting into heaven How I spent 16 years in an abusive, conservative Christian cult — and finally escaped Judge cuts child rapist’s sentence by 15 years, saying he had not meant to hurt the 3-year-old victim Frank Taafe (WFTV) One of George Zimmerman’s most outspoken supporters has apparently changed his story. Frank Taaffe testified Wednesday before a grand jury that Zimmerman may have called him and made racially charged comments in a phone call shortly after he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012. He told the grand jury that he received a call from an unknown number two years ago from a man who made racist comments about Martin. At the time, he thought it was a prank call and disregarded the comments, but now he suspects the call may have come from his neighbor and friend, Zimmerman. A federal grand jury is hearing evidence in the case to decide whether Zimmerman – who was acquitted of murder charges in the case – will face federal charges for violating the unarmed teen’s civil rights. Taaffe defended Zimmerman on national TV shortly after the fatal shooting, saying his friend was not a racist. He said he has received death threats for his defense of Zimmerman. Taaffe did not testify during Zimmerman’s previous trial. But he decided to tell the FBI about the call earlier this year after both of his sons died recently, which allowed him to identify more strongly with Martin’s family. Taaffe told investigators that he now believes Zimmerman targeted the teen due to his race. “In my heart of hearts, I do believe that,” Taaffe said. He said Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, should never have followed the teen he suspected of criminal wrongdoing. “If there’s a young man that’s not doing anything but talking on the phone, in the rain, sauntering about, let it go,” Taaffe said. “You know, that’s why we have law enforcement — let them handle it.” However, he cannot say for certain whether his friend made the remarks in the call. “People knew my phone number so it could have been anybody,” Taaffe said. “I brought it up and they wanted me to go on the record with what this alleged George said with this phone call from unknown destination.” Taaffe told reporters Wednesday that he hoped his grand jury testimony would “make amends” with the Martin family. He said his support for Zimmerman had caused his daughter, a U.S. Marine, to be ostracized – which had damaged their relationship. “I miss her and I love her,” Taaffe said. “She’s my only child I’ve got left.” Watch this video report posted online by WFTV-TV: ||||| A man who once called George Zimmerman a friend, speaking out in support of him before and during his lengthy trial, now says he’s had a change of heart. George Zimmerman’s former neighbor and fellow neighborhood watch volunteer says he wants to clear his conscience. Frank Taaffe says he now believes Zimmerman should have been found guilty in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. He was once one of George Zimmerman’s most outspoken advocates, but now former neighborhood watch volunteer, Frank Taaffe says his opinion about Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict has changed. "What I know of George and his tendencies and also my opinion is that he racially profiled Trayvon Martin that night because if that had been a white kid on a cell phone, walking through our neighborhood, he wouldn’t have stayed on him the way he did and that’s a fact and I believe that in my heart," said Taaffe. This is very different from what Taaffe told News 13 numerous times after the shooting, including during an interview back in May 2012 when he said, "That George Zimmerman in a position in a volunteer role wanted to ensure the safety of the community he lived in and he became the victim." But today, Taaffe claims he just wants to clear his conscience, "I can only ask for the country to forgive me and today I believe that he racially profiled him based on the color of his skin. Reporter: Some people may wonder what does Frank Taaffe have to gain by doing this? Are you working on a book? No book. A TV show? No. I’m just working on me right now and getting right with God.” Taaffe says his brother’s death last month and the death of his two sons over the past two years has changed him. Taaffe says he has a message for Trayvon Martin’s parents, "I’m sorry that you lost your son, I know what that’s like and I wish things had been different." Both George Zimmerman and his brother Robert declined to comment. George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder last July. The Department of Justice has an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin, to see if any of his civil rights were violated.

– "I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist" are words that Frank Taaffe now regrets saying about former pal George Zimmerman. Just two years ago, when the media frenzy was at a fever pitch following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Taaffe made an aggressive showing in front of the cameras, defending his neighbor and saying "[Zimmerman] became the victim," as reported by News 13. Now, as a grand jury hears a case this week to decide whether Zimmerman will face federal charges for violating Trayvon's civil rights, Taaffe—who testified before the grand jury yesterday—is saying that Zimmerman was probably in the wrong and just might be a racist after all, based on a mysterious phone call he received shortly after Martin's death, Raw Story reports. Taaffe didn't recognize the number, and the caller, who said his name was "George," made a racially charged comment about Martin, Taaffe says. At first Taaffe thought it was a prank—"People knew my phone number, so it could've been anybody," he tells WFTV. He's not sure if it was Zimmerman, but he finally told investigators about it in June to make "amends to the Martin family" after his own two children and a brother died recently, and to mend things with his surviving child, who was "ostracized" for his Zimmerman advocacy. (Taaffe's somewhat-confusing explanation of all this is shown in the video here.) He now thinks Zimmerman racially profiled Trayvon, saying, "In my heart of hearts, I do believe that." Even more bizarre: his own reported racist rantings and criminal rap sheet, according to a 2013 Mother Jones article.

Sen. Max Baucus Max BaucusWyden unveils business tax proposal College endowments under scrutiny The chaotic fight for ObamaCare MORE (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller Jay RockefellerLobbying world Overnight Tech: Senators place holds on FCC commissioner Overnight Tech: Senate panel to vote on Dem FCC commissioner MORE (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Commerce Committee, who both represent states with significant coal industries, would like to proceed cautiously. ADVERTISEMENT “Most of the country doesn’t know what cap-and-trade is. They have no idea. I would say half the Senate have no idea what cap-and-trade is and could not explain it,” Rockefeller told The Hill on Tuesday. He said climate legislation should not reach the floor before July of next year, putting the controversial bill on the schedule only months before Election Day. “You have to get this stuff out to the American people before you change their lives, and we are not paying any attention to that,” Rockefeller said. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer Barbara BoxerArmy of Sanders supporters fuming over Wasserman Schultz Sanders pans chemical safety reform deal Sanders fans plan rallies near Dem convention MORE (D-Calif.) and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry John KerryGlobal Magnitsky's power to protect Obama must act to protect Palestinian youth Tough choice for vulnerable GOP senators: Embrace or reject Trump MORE (D-Mass.) would like to pass the bill as soon as possible. “I’d love to get it done tomorrow,” said Boxer, who acknowledged others are less intent on moving that quickly. In the middle is Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Natural Resources Committee whose home-state coal interests are not as significant as Baucus’s and Rockefeller’s but whose constituents are not as liberal as Boxer’s and Kerry’s. A sixth chairwoman with jurisdiction, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) of the Agriculture Committee, told The Hill earlier this month that the Senate should focus on jobs and the economy. Hanging in the balance is one of President Barack Obama Barack ObamaObama goes golfing on Friday Okla. introduces Obama impeachment measure over bathroom directive Adviser: Obama will keep low profile after term ends MORE’s top domestic priorities, as well as the president’s credibility among potential signatories to an international climate pact. Five of the six chairmen tried to patch up their differences Monday during a meeting in the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Harry ReidLake Mead hits record low water level Dems: Warren ready to get off sidelines Clinton: 'There is no way I won't be' nominee MORE (D-Nev.), who is trying to bring his senior colleagues together before sketching out a plan on how to proceed in 2010, when lawmakers will work with one eye on the midterm elections. Lincoln was traveling and unable to attend the meeting. “We’ve got all kinds of difference of perspective of where the Senate is and where the votes are and where the Senate should try to move,” Bingaman said of his meeting with the other chairmen. Rockefeller said his state would be the most affected and that his residents need more time to know what the bill is about. “Right now they don’t, and therefore they are terrified and furious, and I don’t blame them,” he said. This, however, may be a bid to push climate change legislation into 2011. Democratic leaders and Democratic centrists facing reelection, such as Lincoln and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), might prefer a postponement to a tough vote on a controversial climate bill shortly before Election Day. A Republican leadership aide said that a vote on climate change in July or August would be a political gift for Republicans. “There would be nothing better than for us to talk about over the summer than Democrats pushing a huge new energy tax,” the aide said. Baucus, who was the only Democrat to vote against Boxer’s climate bill in the Environment and Public Works Committee earlier this month, would also prefer to proceed more slowly on a broad bill next year, according to a Democratic source familiar with talks among the chairmen. ADVERTISEMENT Boxer noted, however, that Baucus told her he would mark up a climate change bill in the Finance Committee in January. The move suggests Baucus may be trying to lay down his legislative marker in the debate before it leaves him behind. Baucus unveiled his healthcare bill shortly before Obama delivered a major healthcare address to a joint session of Congress. Senate sources on the Finance Committee said that Baucus felt he had to put his bill in the mix before the president weighed in or otherwise risked losing influence in negotiations. A final climate law next year is critical for Obama administration officials, who will be negotiating the details of an international emissions accord to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. did not join. Failure by the U.S. to enact domestic limits would hinder U.S. leverage to help craft a binding global agreement. The next round of United Nations climate talks begin Dec. 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Obama and other heads of state have conceded those talks will not yield a complete, legally binding agreement, but hope they will result in a political accord that sets the stage for final talks next year. Boxer said that the hoped-for political accord next month in Copenhagen could help provide momentum for Senate action, easing fears among lawmakers that developing nations will not take meaningful steps on emissions. She said her “clear impression” is that everyone in the Senate is working to get a bill passed in 2010. At the moment, Reid appears to be siding with Boxer on timing. When asked Tuesday about the timing for climate change legislation, he told reporters that “we are going to try to do that sometime in the spring.” But that goal could easily slip, just as Reid’s targets for healthcare reform legislation have slid repeatedly this year. Senate Democrats will be hard-pressed to take up climate change legislation before May, because Reid has told colleagues that he will give higher priority to financial regulatory reform and a jobs bill. ADVERTISEMENT “Sen. Reid is talking about doing financial reform and a jobs bill before [getting] to this,” Boxer told reporters at a Tuesday briefing. Lincoln said she did not think climate change legislation does much to address unemployment, while an energy bill passed out of the Senate Energy Committee does. “I’m not in a hurry to do that,” she said of climate change legislation. “I think the energy bill we did in the Senate Energy Committee gets us a long way toward job creation and moving us from an old-energy economy to a new-energy economy, which is really what the objective is — lowering carbon output and lessening dependence on foreign oil.” Bingaman, the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he would be willing to pass energy legislation separately from a cap-and-trade bill to address climate change. ||||| Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty. Legislation on health care, overhauling financial markets and job creation will be considered before the Senate takes up a measure to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to climate change, Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday. Climate legislation will be taken up "some time in the spring," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Tuesday after a Democratic caucus meeting. Enlarge Image Close Associated Press A front-end loader piles manure at a Kersey, Colo., feedlot in August. Technology was being tested there to turn cattle manure into energy. The delay was "just a matter of reality, they can't get anything done at this time," said Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who has previously supported climate legislation. He has said he wouldn't support the current Senate proposal because of disagreements over its handling of nuclear energy. The climate-bill delay sidetracks one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities. Mr. Obama has said action to curb greenhouse gases would unleash investment in clean-energy technology and create jobs. White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said Tuesday Mr. Obama was working with lawmakers to move the legislation as quickly as possible. "This is an economic opportunity for the nation that will create millions of clean energy jobs while reducing our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and it's an opportunity that other countries like China and India are racing to take advantage of," Mr. LaBolt said in an email. Momentum for a climate bill has been undermined by fears that capping carbon-dioxide emissions -- the inevitable product of burning oil and coal -- would slow economic growth, raise energy costs and compel changes in the way Americans live. "It's really big, really, really hard, and is going to make a lot of people mad," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.). Democrats looking ahead to the 2010 midterm elections are concerned about a backlash from voters in industrial and heartland states dependent on coal. Republicans are portraying Democrats' "cap and trade" proposals, which call for capping overall U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and allowing companies to buy and trade permits to emit those gases, as a "cap and tax" scheme. Meanwhile, the administration is moving ahead with a plan to have the Environmental Protection Agency declare greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, a danger to public health. That would trigger potential regulations that could affect a wide swath of the economy. Earlier this week, Mr. Obama and other world leaders scaled back ambitions for a global climate summit next month in Copenhagen. United Nations leaders had called for a new, binding global agreement in Copenhagen to set caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. But at a meeting in Asia, leaders including Mr. Obama said they would try instead to use the Copenhagen gathering to forge an agreement that is "politically binding," with specific commitments by countries to reduce emissions and help poor countries fight climate change. A legally binding deal would come later; diplomats point to mid-to-late-2010. The Senate Finance Committee likely won't begin deliberations on the climate bill until January, according to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), one of its sponsors. The bill was passed by the environment panel earlier this month. The Commerce Committee may also weigh in on some of the bill's provisions. The panel's chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.V.), is opposed to strong emissions limits. "By the time we turn around, it's March," Ms. Boxer said of the likely timetable. The House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a climate bill in June, with dozens of Democratic lawmakers from industrial and coal-dependent states voting no. Write to Ian Talley at [email protected] Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A4

– Senate Democrats have announced that they won't be debating a major climate bill until sometime in the spring. The delay, which reduces America's bargaining power at next month's Copenhagen conference, reflects weakening support for the controversial "cap-and-trade" bill as unemployment remains high, the Wall Street Journal notes. The bill strategy calls for capping overall greenhouse-gas emissions, but would allow companies to buy and trade permits allowing certain amounts of emissions. President Obama is working with Senate leaders to get the bill through as quickly as possible, said a White House spokesman. The delay, however, has raised fears that the Senate may end up putting off debating the bill for as long as 2011 to avoid holding a vote just before next year's midterm elections. "There would be nothing better than for us to talk about over the summer than Democrats pushing a huge new energy tax,” one Republican leadership aide told The Hill.

J. K. Rowling had more magic up her sleeve after all. Mulholland Books 'Robert Galbraith' is a pseudonym. Over the weekend the Sunday Times (London) disclosed that she is the author of "The Cuckoo's Calling," a well-reviewed crime novel issued in April under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The book, which features a private investigator named Cormoran Strike, who lost a leg in Afghanistan, quickly zoomed up the charts Sunday after Ms. Rowling was identified as the writer. The author had originally been described as having served in the military, where his experiences helped shape the novel. The book was published in the U.S. by Mulholland Books, an imprint of Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group, and by a sister imprint in the U.K. By early Sunday afternoon, the physical edition ranked No. 1 at Barnes & Noble Inc.'s online store and at Amazon.com Inc. in the U.S. A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman described the title as a slow seller until Ms. Rowling was identified as the author. After J.K. Rowling was unmasked as Robert Galbraith, the author of "The Cuckoo's Calling," the book quickly zoomed up the charts. Jeffrey Trachtenberg reports on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images. By late Sunday afternoon, "The Cuckoo's Calling" was temporarily out of stock online at BarnesandNoble.com, while Amazon said that the title "usually ships within 10 to 14 days." A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble noted there is still "some availability" in stores." Mulholland will publish a second book in the series next summer, said Reagan Arthur, publisher of Hachette's Little, Brown & Co., in a prepared statement. She also said that "The Cuckoo's Calling" is being reprinted and that the edition will state that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling. An independent retailer in the Midwest said she understood Ms. Rowling's desire for a clean slate. "I think she did this so that she could write freely without expectations from her audience," said Sarah Bagby, owner of Watermark Books & Café in Wichita, Kan., which stocked the book when it came out in April. A spokeswoman for Ms. Rowling confirmed the author's identity via an email but declined further comment. Ms. Rowling is best known for her wildly popular seven Harry Potter novels, all of which were made into films. Although her first adult novel, "The Casual Vacancy," received mixed reviews last fall, it proved popular with readers. On Sunday, Michael Pietsch, chief executive of the Hachette Book Group, said "The Casual Vacancy" has sold more than a million hardcover copies in North America since publication and was the group's biggest selling hardcover title in 2012. Earlier this year, a "rich list" published by the Sunday Times, which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp, estimated Ms. Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($846 million). The Harry Potter series has sold more than 450 million physical copies world-wide, according to Scholastic Corp., which publishes the books in the U.S. Scholastic is in the process of issuing new fancy paperbacks with new cover illustrations. Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at [email protected] A version of this article appeared July 15, 2013, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Poof! It's J.K. Rowling. ||||| (CNN) -- "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling donned an invisibility cloak of her own for her new novel. In top-secret fashion, she published "The Cuckoo's Calling" under the name Robert Galbraith. Her publisher, Mulholland Books -- an imprint of Little, Brown and Company -- described the author as a former member of the Special Investigative Branch of the Royal Military Police. "He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry," the publisher's website said. "The idea for (protagonist) Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world. 'Robert Galbraith' is a pseudonym." The Sunday Times, curious about who this mystery novelist really was, connected the dots -- noting that "he" used an agent, editor and publisher who had worked with Rowling. "I hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience!" Rowling said in a statement. "It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation and pure pleasure to get feedback from publishers and readers under a different name. Social class, swearing and sex permeate Rowling's 'Casual Vacancy' "The upside of being rumbled is that I can publicly thank my editor David Shelley, who has been a true partner in crime, all those people at Little, Brown who have been working so hard on 'The Cuckoo's Calling' without realizing that I wrote it, and the writers and reviewers, both in the newspapers and online, who have been so generous to the novel. "And to those who have asked for a sequel, Robert fully intends to keep writing the series, although he will probably continue to turn down personal appearances." Rowling's daring leap While the novel received praise before the secret was out, the disclosure that Rowling was the author -- to little surprise -- skyrocketed the book's sales. Reagan Arthur, publisher of Little, Brown and Company. said a reprint of the book is underway and will carry a revised author biography that reads 'Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J. K. Rowling.' " On Amazon.com, sales soared more than 507,000% after Rowling acknowledged being the author. The fast facts on J. K. Rowling CNN's Lindsay Isaac and Joseph Netto contributed to this report. ||||| (Photo Credit: John Bazemore / AP Photo) If you lie about being awarded military honors for profit, you can now be subject to criminal prosecution, according to a new law signed by President Obama today. The Stolen Valor Act of 2013, introduced in January by Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), "makes it a Federal crime for an individual to fraudulently hold oneself out to be a recipient of any of several specified military decorations or medals with the intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit," the White House said today, announcing the signing. The law was the latest attempt by the government to help protect real military heroes from phonies. The original iteration of the bill, the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, had been in effect for six years before the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional. At the time, the law was written to say it was a crime simply to lie about military service and awards - a broad characterization the Supreme Court said violated a person's First Amendment right to free speech. READ: Stolen Valor 'More Than Just Lying,' SEAL Watchdog Says A new version of the bill, introduced by Heck in late 2012, narrowed the act to say the liar must be attempting to somehow materially profit from the lies, making the would-be crime more akin to fraud. A tweaked version of that bill was reintroduced in 2013. President Obama took a hard stance against military phonies last year when he announced a new government website to track awards for legitimate heroes. "It may no longer be a crime for con artists to pass themselves off as heroes, but one thing is certain - it is contemptible," he said in reference to the Supreme Court's ruling in 2012. "…[N]o American hero should ever have their valor stolen." CLICK HERE to visit the Department of Defense's website listing the top military honor winners.

– JK Rowling embarked on quite the flight of fancy when inventing her pseudonym Robert Galbraith—and that might prove controversial. Galbraith's bio claims that he spent "several years with the Royal Military Police" and that the protagonist of his novel—one-legged Afghanistan veteran Cormoran Strike—"grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends." Indeed, Rowling created a full backstory for her alter ego, who apparently eventually found himself in the RMP's plain-clothes Special Investigative Branch, before leaving for the civilian security industry. While so far Rowling's invention appears to be flying under the radar, fake military service claims often prove contentious. In the US, it's even illegal to profit from them, thanks to the new Stolen Valor Act, which was signed into law last month to replace an earlier version struck down by the Supreme Court. Then again, Rowling probably could have profited more without the pseudonym; since the reveal, sales of The Cuckoo's Calling exploded 507,000% at Amazon, reports CNN, and it's now out of stock online at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. (A rep for the latter told the Wall Street Journal it wasn't a big seller pre-reveal.) A new edition is coming that will acknowledge Galbraith as a pseudonym for Rowling.

Phone-Hacking Trial Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News of the World’ intercepted Kate Middleton and Prince Harry's voicemails, prosecutors alleged in a London court on Thursday. Kate Middleton and Prince Harry had their phones hacked by Rupert Murdoch’s biggest selling newspaper, a court in London heard on Thursday. It is the first time the Murdoch media empire has been accused of illegally accessing the phone of a member of the royal family: previous allegations have centered on the hacking of phones used by royal aides. The now-shuttered Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, is accused of accessing Middleton’s voicemails to gain embarrassing personal details about her and Prince William. The court heard that a series of private messages that were intended to be shared only by the two young lovers have recently been unearthed as part of the police investigation. "Hi, baby. It's me," began one of the messages left by her then boyfriend, Prince William, in 2006. In another, he calls her "babykins". In a message that was allegedly left on Harry’s phone, William, the future King of England assumed a falsetto voice and pretended to be his brother’s girlfriend Chelsy Davy. “I really miss you,” he joked. “Hopefully I'll see you very soon you big hairy fat ginger.” The jury was told by the prosecution lawyer, Anthony Edis QC, about eight voicemail messages recorded by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who has pleaded guilty to a second charge of phone hacking earlier this year. The explosive allegations are the latest in a series of damning claims of corrupt and illegal practices that the prosecution says were endemic at the News of the World. In prosecution evidence in mid-November, the jury at the Old Bailey were shown a note seized from Mulcaire on his arrest in 2006, entitled “target evaluation.” Eighteen names were on the list including Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, then private secretary to Prince William and Harry; Helen Asprey, another royal aide; and Mark Dyer, a royal equerry to Charles and his two sons. Recent evidence has alleged the Sunday tabloid targeted Patrick Harverson, Prince Charles’s communications secretary. Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge are the highest profile alleged victims of phone hacking to emerge during the first two months in the trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and five others. In recent weeks the jury at the Old Bailey in Central London has heard allegations that the tentacles of Murdoch’s newspaper reached right inside Buckingham Palace. When the home of Clive Goodman, the former royal correspondent for News of the World, was raided by police in August 2006, police say they discovered 15 royal phone directories, which listed the numbers of the entire royal family, staff and close friends. The jury have since been shown several timelines of admissions or ‘agreed facts’ between defense and prosecution that show the Sunday tabloid sourced a number of its royal stories from phone hacking. In 2006, the paper accused Prince Harry of cheating in exams at the Sandhurst military academy after a message on his private secretary’s phone was allegedly intercepted. However, palace officials were not informed of this apparent security lapse about the royal directories until Goodman’s re-arrest in the light of the phone hacking scandal in 2011. The alleged breaches heard in court on Thursday were the most serious yet. In a transcript of one of the messages, William was quoted as saying to Middleton: “Hi, baby. Um, sorry, I’ve just got back in off my night navigation exercise,” the jury were told. "I’ve been running around the woods of Aldershot chasing shadows and getting horribly lost, and I walked into some other regiment’s ambush, which was slightly embarrassing because I nearly got shot.” The jury were then shown emails Clive Goodman sent to his editors at the News of the World explaining how William "got shot on a night exercise." Goodman's Blackadder columns in January 2006 are alleged to have relied on the exclusive revelations that William calls Kate “babykins” and a description of the military training accident. Prosecutor Andrew Edis alleged that the stories were linked to payments of around $5000 to 'Matey'--an alias for private investigator Mulcaire. Earlier this month the court heard that Andy Coulson, who replaced Rebekah Brooks as editor of News of the World 2003 was warned by Goodman about the risks they were taking by acquiring the phone directories, let alone using them to hack phones. “These people will not be paid in anything other than cash because if they're discovered selling stuff to us they end up on criminal charges, as could we,” Goodman allegedly wrote to Coulson, in an email read in court. Coulson, who is alleged to have been conducting an affair with Rebekah Brooks at the time, later became Prime Minister David Cameron’s head of communications at Number Ten Downing Street. In other evidence the prosecution claims that Rebekah Brooks, during her time as editor of the best-selling British daily paper, the Sun, approved over $60,000 of payments to a former Ministry of Defence employee, Bettina Jordan-Barber, who—the prosecution alleges—was the source of several stories about the royal princes as they attended the military training academy at Sandhurst. ||||| Story highlights Prosecutor reads transcripts of messages between Prince William, Kate Middleton Evidence is revealed in phone-hacking trial of former News of the World editors Several hundred attempts made to hack phones of UK princes' aides, court told earlier The British tabloid News of the World hacked Kate Middleton's phone while she was dating Prince William, a prosecutor told a London court Thursday in a trial of the defunct newspaper's executives, according to the British Press Association. In one voicemail message that William left Kate -- the transcript of which was read in court by the prosecutor -- the prince calls his future wife "Babykins" and says he was almost shot by blank rounds during a military training exercise, the PA reported. The date of the message wasn't immediately clear, though the couple weren't yet married at the time, the PA reported. Middleton became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married William in April 2011. The transcript, dug up during a police investigation into the newspaper's alleged hacking practices, was one of several messages between the couple that were read at London's Old Bailey court, the PA reported. The revelation came at the trial of former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson and the paper's former managing editor, Stuart Kuttner. All are accused of conspiring between October 2000 and August 2006 "to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority." They deny the charges. JUST WATCHED Report: Kate Middleton's phone hacked Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Report: Kate Middleton's phone hacked 02:19 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family Britain's Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge pose for a photo with their children, Princess Charlotte and Prince George in the French Alps on Thursday, March 3. Hide Caption 1 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family Britain's Prince William poses with Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, during a family Christmas photo released on Friday, December 18. Hide Caption 2 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family Princess Charlotte plays with a stuffed dog in this photo taken by her mother in early November. Hide Caption 3 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family William and Catherine pose with their children at Charlotte's christening in July. Hide Caption 4 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family Princess Charlotte is seen with her big brother for the first time in a photo released by Kensington Palace in June. Hide Caption 5 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family William and Catherine present their newborn daughter as they leave a London hospital in May. Hide Caption 6 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family In March, William and Catherine visit a center dedicated to community learning in London. Hide Caption 7 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The royal family celebrates Prince George's first birthday with a trip to the Natural History Museum in July 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The royal family waves to a crowd before boarding a plance in Wellington, New Zealand, in April 2014. They went on a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand. Hide Caption 9 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The royal couple attends the Tusk Conservation Awards at the Royal Society in London in September 2013. Hide Caption 10 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family William and Catherine start an ultra marathon in Holyhead, Wales, in August 2013. It was Catherine's first public appearance since the birth of Prince George. Hide Caption 11 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The couple are pictured with their newborn boy, Prince George, in 2013. The new parents released two family photographs taken by Michael Middleton, Catherine's father. Hide Caption 12 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The Duke and Duchess and their newborn son depart St. Mary's Hospital in London in July 2013. Hide Caption 13 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family In June 2013, William, Catherine and Prince Harry arrive at Westminster Abbey for a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Hide Caption 14 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family In April 2013, Harry, Catherine and William make magic on the set used to depict Diagon Alley in the "Harry Potter" films. Hide Caption 15 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The couple attends a St. Patrick's Day parade as they visit Aldershot, England, in March 2013. Hide Caption 16 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family In September 2012, the couple drank coconut milk from a tree that Queen Elizabeth II planted decades ago in the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu. Hide Caption 17 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family Catherine and William celebrate during cycling events at the Olympic Games in London in August 2012. Hide Caption 18 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The Queen, William and Catherine stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the finale of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 2012. Hide Caption 19 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family As part of their charity work, the couple attended a "healthy living cookery session" in London in December 2011. Hide Caption 20 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The newly married royal couple watches a rodeo demonstration at a government reception in Calgary, Alberta, in July 2011. Hide Caption 21 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family Catherine shovels soil during a tree-planting ceremony in Ottawa in July 2011. Hide Caption 22 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family You can feel the love as the happy couple attends a Snowbirds air show during Canada Day celebrations in July 2011. Hide Caption 23 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama meet with the royal couple at Buckingham Palace in May 2011. Hide Caption 24 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The newlyweds walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace the day after their wedding in April 2011. Hide Caption 25 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family After their wedding on April 29, 2011, the couple drove from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House in a vintage Aston Martin. Hide Caption 26 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family William and Catherine kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their wedding ceremony in London. Hide Caption 27 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The pair returned to their alma mater in St. Andrews, Scotland, in February 2011. They launched a fundraising campaign for a new scholarship. Hide Caption 28 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The couple poses for photographers to mark their engagement in November 2010. Catherine received the engagement ring that belonged to William's late mother, Diana. Hide Caption 29 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The couple cheers on the English rugby team during the Six Nations Championship match in London in February 2007. Hide Caption 30 of 31 31 photos: Will and Kate's royal family The couple takes a photo after graduating from the University of St. Andrews in June 2005. They met at school and even shared a house with others while students. Hide Caption 31 of 31 JUST WATCHED Explain it to me: UK tabloid scandal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Explain it to me: UK tabloid scandal 03:36 Glenn Mulcaire, a former private investigator for News International -- the then parent company of News of the World -- was convicted of phone hacking in 2006 and has already pleaded guilty to hacking charges in the current case. Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup have also pleaded guilty in the case. Jurors were told that Ian Edmondson, who is also charged with conspiring to hack phones between October 2000 and August 2006, is "currently unfit" and will take no further part in the trial, the PA reported. He will be tried at a later date, the judge said. Brooks, her husband, Charlie Brooks, and her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter also face a separate set of charges of conspiring to obstruct the police investigation into phone hacking. Brooks is also accused of conspiring with others to commit misconduct in public office. Coulson faces a similar charge, the PA reported. Among the allegations made in the trial previously: A police investigator testified that several hundred attempts were made to hack the cellphones of aides to princes Charles, William and Harry. Hacking allegations against the News of the World prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to set up an independent inquiry, led by Lord Justice Leveson, to make recommendations on journalistic ethics and examine the relationship of the media with the public, police and politicians.

– Prosecutors told a London court today that Rupert Murdoch's News of the World hacked the phones of Kate Middleton and Prince Harry, marking the first time the now-closed tabloid has been accused of hacking the phone of an actual member of the British royal family—as opposed to an aide. Voicemails on Middleton's phone were intercepted by the newspaper and heard by the court today, including one from 2006 in which Prince William calls her "baby" and another in which he calls her "babykins," the Daily Beast reports. In one of the messages, William tells Kate he was nearly shot by blanks while going through military training, CNN reports. The court also heard an intercepted voicemail of Prince Harry's, in which William spoke in falsetto, pretending to be Harry's then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy. In total, Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who has pleaded guilty to phone hacking in the case, recorded about eight messages, the prosecution says.

Image copyright University of Louisville Image caption A portion of a music manuscript for Happy Birthday's predecessor - "Good Morning to All" The company collecting royalties for Happy Birthday To You does not hold a valid copyright to the song, a US federal judge has ruled. Warner/Chappell acquired the copyright - which was originally filed in 1935 - in 1988. But judge George King ruled that the original copyright was only granted for specific arrangements of the music, not the song itself. The tune was composed by two Kentucky sisters in 1893. Mildred and Patty Hill called their version Good Morning To All, which later evolved into the song that is popularly sung at birthday parties around the world. Warner/Chappell had been collecting fees since 1988, when it bought Birch Tree Group, the successor to Clayton F Summy Co, which claimed the original copyright. It is thought to have made $2 million (£1.3 million) a year by charging every time the song was used in a film, television episode, advertisement or other public performance. The case against the publishers was launched in 2013 by Rupa Marya and Robert Siegel, who are making a film about the song. When Warner asked for $1,500 (£970) for the right to use Happy Birthday To You in the film, Ms Marya and Mr Siegel argued the song was in the public domain and should not be subject to copyright fees. Judge King ruled that Summy had never acquired copyright to the song's words. 'Thrilled' "The Hill sisters gave Summy Co the rights to the melody, and the rights to piano arrangements based on the melody, but never any rights to the lyrics," he said. Mark Rifkin, one of lawyers who acted for the plaintiffs, said he was "thrilled" by the judge's decision. "We did exhaustive historical research and none of it showed that the publisher owned anything other than copyrights to four very specific piano arrangements," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "In the second part of the case, which hopefully we'll get to start very soon, we're going to be asking the court to order Warner to return all the money that's been collected from everyone who has had to pay a licensing fee or royalty to use the song... at least going back to 1988." "If they've collected $2m a year over that period, that's a large sum of money." After the ruling was announced, Warner/Chappell said: "We are looking at the court's lengthy opinion and considering our options." Despite the ruling, the song still remains under copyright in the UK and other countries - and caution should be exercised over its use, says intellectual property lawyer Mark Owen. "As elements of the song are still potentially within the maximum copyright term it may be the case that someone still owns some rights to it," said Mr Owen, a partner at law firm Taylor Wessing. "There are also complex questions as to what the impact of this ruling may be on uses outside the US, so film-makers here should not now rush into using the song without considering the impact of this judgment carefully." ||||| LOS ANGELES (AP) — The music publishing company that has been collecting royalties on the song "Happy Birthday To You" for years does not hold a valid copyright on the lyrics to the tune that is one of the mostly widely sung in the world, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. FILE- In this July 25, 2015, file photo, Terrance Jackson, left, Doris Ware, second from left, and Beverly Booker, right, sing "Happy Birthday To You" to Bernice Williams, seated, as she celebrates her... (Associated Press) File-This July 18, 2013, file photo shows a group of kindergarten children singing Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. The music publishing... (Associated Press) U.S. District Judge George H. King determined the song's original copyright, obtained by the Clayton F. Summy Co. from the song's writers, only covered specific piano arrangements of the song and not its lyrics. The basic tune of the song, derived from another popular children's song, "Good Morning to All," has long been in the public domain. King's decision comes in a lawsuit filed two years ago by Good Morning To You Productions Corp., which is working on a documentary film tentatively titled "Happy Birthday." The company challenged the copyright now held by Warner/Chappell Music Inc., arguing that the song should be "dedicated to public use and in the public domain." "Because Summy Co. never acquired the rights to the 'Happy Birthday' lyrics, defendants, as Summy Co.'s purported successors-in-interest, do not own a valid copyright in the Happy Birthday lyrics," King concluded in his 43-page ruling. The lawsuit also asked for monetary damages and restitution of more than $5 million in licensing fees it said in 2013 that Warner/Chappell had collected from thousands of people and groups who've paid to use the song over the years. Marshall Lamm, a spokesman for one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, said that issue would be determined later. In the meantime, one of the suit's co-plaintiffs, Ruypa Marya of the music group Ruypa & The April Fishes, praised Tuesday's decision. "I hope we can start reimagining copyright law to do what it's supposed to do — protect the creations of people who make stuff so that we can continue to make more stuff," said Marya, who added she paid Warner/Chappell $455 to include "Happy Birthday To You" on a live album during which members of her band and audience sang the song to her the night before her birthday. Warner/Chappell has said it doesn't try to collect royalties from just anyone singing the song but those who use it in a commercial enterprise. "We are looking at the court's lengthy opinion and considering our options," Warner/Chappell said in a statement following Tuesday's ruling. In his ruling King went into great detail about the history of "Happy Birthday To You" and its derivation from "Good Morning to All." That song was written by sisters Mildred Hill and Patty Hill sometime before 1893, the judge said, adding that the sisters assigned the rights to it and other songs to Clayton F. Summy, who copyrighted and published them in a book titled "Song Stories for the Kindergarten." "The origins of the lyrics to Happy Birthday (the 'Happy Birthday lyrics') are less clear," the judge continued, adding the first known reference to them appeared in a 1901 article in the Inland Educator and Indiana School Journal. The full lyrics themselves, King said, didn't appear in print until 1911. Since then, they have become the most famous lyrics in the English language, according to Guinness World Records. The song is also sung in countless other languages around the world. Warner/Chappell, which eventually acquired the song's copyright from Summy, argued that its predecessor had registered a copyright to "Happy Birthday To You" in 1935 that gave it the rights to all of the song. "Our record does not contain any contractual agreement from 1935 or before between the Hill sisters and Summy Co. concerning the publication and registration of these works," the judge said. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| More than two years after a documentary filmmaker challenged the copyright to the simple lyrics of the song "Happy Birthday," a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the copyright is invalid. The result could undo Warner/Chappell's lucrative licensing business around the song, once estimated to be $2 million per year. The company is likely to appeal the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. US District Judge George King held that the two sisters who authored the song, Patty and Mildred Hill, gave the melody and piano arrangements to Summy Co., which was eventually acquired by Warner/Chappell. But King wrote that there's no evidence they ever transferred a copyright on the words. "Defendants ask us to find that the Hill sisters eventually gave Summy Co. the rights in the lyrics to exploit and protect, but this assertion has no support in the record," King wrote. The idea that any of the Hill sisters' deals with Summy resulted in a transfer of the copyright on the lyrics is "implausible and unreasonable." Good Morning To You The lyrics of "Happy Birthday" are based on an earlier children's song called "Good Morning To You." There's wide agreement that the Hill sisters sold "Good Morning To You," along with other songs, to Clayton Summy in 1893. "Good Morning To You" has the same tune as "Happy Birthday." Its lyrics are: Good morning to you Good morning to you Good morning dear children Good morning to all. The origin of the "Happy Birthday" lyrics is unclear, but they were written after "Good Morning To You." Newspapers reference the singing of a Happy Birthday song in 1901 and 1909, and "Happy Birthday" appeared in a songbook in 1911, without crediting anyone with the lyrics. 1920's songbooks similarly published the work without a credit, with one exception. Further Reading Filmmakers fighting “Happy Birthday” copyright find their “smoking gun” Who's the real author? Lawyers representing plaintiffs, including filmmaker Jennifer Nelson, who made a film about the "Happy Birthday" song, challenged "nearly every aspect of this narrative," the judge noted. Nelson and her lawyers said the lyrics could have been written by someone else, the common law rights had been lost from repeated publications, and there was never a proper transfer to Summy. King found merit in multiple prongs of the plaintiffs' argument. In his view, it isn't clear what was copyrighted in 1935, since the "new matter" mentioned a piano arrangement—so the Copyright Office may not have seen Summy as trying to copyright the song lyrics at all. "[T]he registration is flawed in any event," wrote King. "Given this facial and material mistake in the registration certificate, we cannot presume (1) that Patty authored the lyrics or (2) that Summy Co. had any rights to the lyrics." As to the authorship matter, King thought the situation was muddled enough that a trial might be appropriate. The 1911 and 1920s songbooks were copyrighted by other authors, and Patty Hill never publicly claimed she had written "Happy Birthday" until she was deposed in a 1935 copyright lawsuit. One possibility is that Hill wrote the song, and then waited 40 years to take credit for it. On the other hand, "a reasonable fact finder could also find that the Happy Birthday lyrics were written by someone else... and that Patty’s 1935 claim to authorship was a post hoc attempt to take credit for the words that had long since become more famous and popular than the ones she wrote for the classic melody," King wrote. King also ruled that the 1927 songbook that plaintiffs called a "Smoking Gun," called The Everyday Song Book, wasn't the slam dunk they thought it was. "As Defendants point out, there is no direct evidence that the Hill sisters had authorized Summy Co. to grant permission for the publication of the lyrics in The Everyday Song Book." Three Agreements The Hill sisters, and later their foundation, struck three deals with the Summy Co. The Second Agreement, described only in pleadings from a 1942 lawsuit, is what allegedly transferred the rights of "Happy Birthday." The First Agreement didn't include rights to movies or dramatic performances, since at the time of that deal "sound motion pictures were unknown commercially." The Second Agreement remedied that, giving Jessica Hill, sister and heir to Patty and Mildred Hill, an entitlement to 50 percent of revenue from performance of the works worldwide. From what little is known about the Second Agreement, the idea that it related to the lyrics "is not supported by any explicit description of the agreement" and is "implausible," King wrote. Warner/Chappell's argument that the lyrics could have been transferred in the Third Agreement is "circular," he concludes. The Third Agreement is in the court record and "contains no reference to the transfer of the 'Happy Birthday' lyrics." That means Summy Co. never got the rights to the lyrics, and they're now in the public domain. The lawsuit also has requested restitution of the millions in licensing fees paid by various companies and individuals over the years. A spokesperson for the plaintiffs told The Associated Press that issue will be resolved at a later time. "We are looking at the court's lengthy opinion and considering our options," Warner/Chappell told AP in a statement. Jennifer Nelson had to pay a synchronization license of $1,500 to Warner/Chappell to include the song in her movie. Another artist who was added as a named plaintiff later, musician Ruypa Marya, told AP she had to pay $455 to include "Happy Birthday To You" in a live album in which her bandmates sang the song to her. "I hope we can start reimagining copyright law to do what it's supposed to do—protect the creations of people who make stuff so that we can continue to make more stuff," Marya told the newswire.

– You can now sing "Happy Birthday" anywhere you like without fear of copyright lawyers pouncing. A federal judge has ruled that Warner/Chappell, which has been making around $2 million a year from "Happy Birthday to You," doesn't have the rights to the song and never did, reports the Los Angeles Times. The judge ruled that a copyright filed in 1935 and acquired by Warner in 1988 only covered specific piano arrangements of the tune and not the lyrics, the BBC reports. The song started out as "Good Morning to All," written by a Kentucky schoolteacher and her sister in the 1890s, and the judge found that there was no evidence that the sisters had even written the better-known lyrics, Ars Technica reports. Warner wasn't in the habit of sending lawyers to raid birthday parties, but it did expect to get paid whenever the song was used in ads, movies, or any other profit-making enterprise. Plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit included the makers of a documentary about the song and singer Rupa Marya, who had to pay $455 for including it on a live album. "I hope we can start reimagining copyright law to do what it's supposed to do—protect the creations of people who make stuff so that we can continue to make more stuff," she tells the AP. Lawyers say they now plan to make the suit a class-action one to force Warner to pay back some of the royalties, the Times reports.

A San Francisco judge's scathing ruling ordering Wells Fargo to pay its customers $203 million for manipulating debit transactions to maximize overdraft fees might be just the start of troubles for the bank. U.S. District Judge William Alsup's 90-page opinion Tuesday described Wells Fargo's motive as profiteering and said the San Francisco-based bank's goal was to "maximize the number of overdrafts and squeeze as much as possible" out of customers. But the hefty tab represents only what Wells owes its California customers. That figure is far smaller than the potential bill from a separate suit in which Wells' clients in other states have accused the bank of the same unfair practices. That case, consolidated in federal court in Miami, includes similar claims against 30 other lending institutions, including Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, Union Bank and U.S. Bank. The crux of the claims is that the banks processed debit transactions from the largest to the smallest, instead of the order in which they occurred, depleting accounts faster and boosting the number of overdrafts, which cost as much as $35 per transaction. Billions in overdraft fees Wells Fargo garnered more than $1.4 billion in overdraft fees just in California from 2005 to 2007, according to court documents. Nationwide, banks and credit unions collected almost $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Wells Fargo, which continues to follow the "high-low" practice that it has had in place since 1998, said it would appeal Alsup's decision. Wells representatives declined to forecast what the ruling might mean in the Florida matter, other than to say that the California order was not in line with the facts and that the bank's transactions have been "consistent with the laws and rules of governing regulatory authorities." "We have found that high-low gives priority to larger payments and have found that those are the customers' priority payments ... it gives priority to larger transactions," said Richele Messick, spokeswoman for Wells Fargo. Messick said that many transactions are received by the bank in a random order without a time stamp, and therefore, the bank needed to determine an order in which to process them. Effect on other case Richard Heimann, lead attorney for the Wells Fargo customers in California, also is representing plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit in Florida. Heimann said Alsup's order could affect the outcome of that case, even though the judge there is not legally bound to follow it. "The decision may very well be influential because it was based on a well-regarded justice's review of a full evidentiary record," Heimann said. "There's no doubt that the defendants' lawyers had been waiting to see the outcome of (the California) case and will be concerned about what it will portend for the case in Florida." Heimann noted that representatives from several banks named in the Florida suit sat in on the California court proceedings. The Florida action is not scheduled to go to trial until the fall of 2011, but its timeline is not affected by Wells Fargo's appeal of Alsup's decision. As part of his ruling Tuesday, Alsup also found that Wells' improper debit processing was exacerbated by the murky manner in which it explained the practice to customers. "In shaping the reasonable expectations of its customers, the bank should have prominently disclosed its high-to-low scheme ...," Alsup wrote. "`````````````The bank's 'disclosures' on posting order, however, were buried 20-or-so pages into a 60-plus-page document of single-spaced, ten-point font text." He proceeded to say that Wells' internal documents showed that the bank's practices were intentional and meant to generate profit. New regulations Alsup's decision comes just as new federal regulations are set to kick in. They will require banks to obtain customers' permission to provide overdraft protection. Historically, most banks have automatically provided the service, unless customers opt out. Now, customers who do not agree to the service - and its fees - won't be able to make purchases if they do not have sufficient funds. This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle ||||| A federal judge in California ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to change what he called "unfair and deceptive business practices" that led customers into paying multiple overdraft fees, and to pay $203 million back to customers. In a decision handed down late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. That helped drain customer bank accounts faster and drive up overdraft fees, a policy Alsup referred to as "gouging and profiteering." Wells Fargo adopted the policies beginning in 2001, and they became widespread across the banking industry. It is unclear how the ruling would apply to the rest of the industry. The ruling detailed the experiences of two Wells Fargo customers who used their debit cards for multiple small purchases, and were then charged hundreds in overdraft fees because the order the purchases were cleared by the bank depended on the amounts. The judge found the customers, who were part of a class action, were not properly informed of the bank's policies on processing payments and were unaware the bank would allow debit purchases to go through when their accounts were overdrawn. "Internal bank memos and e-mails leave no doubt that, overdraft revenue being a big profit center, the bank's dominant, indeed sole, motive was to maximize the number of overdrafts," Alsup wrote. That policy would "squeeze as much as possible" from customers with overdrafts, in particular from the 4 percent of customers who paid what he called "a whopping 40 percent of its total overdraft and returned-item revenue." The judge dismissed Wells Fargo's arguments that customers wanted and benefited from the policies, and detailed evidence he said showed efforts to obscure the practices in statements and other materials. Wells Fargo's online banking system, for example, would display pending purchases in chronological order, "leading customers to believe that the processing would take place in that order." "The supposed net benefit of high-to-low resequencing is utterly speculative," he wrote. "Its bone-crushing multiplication of additional overdraft penalties, however, is categorically assured." Alsup also criticized the bank for allowing overdraft purchases after accounts had been drained by offering a "shadow line of credit" that customers were unaware existed. The decision noted that the Federal Reserve has outlawed some of the practices detailed in the case, most notably debit card overdrafts permitted without customers agreeing to accept overdraft protection. Judge Alsup ordered Wells Fargo to stop posting transactions in high-to-low order by Nov. 30 and to reverse overdraft fees charged to customers from Nov. 15, 2004, to June 30, 2008, as a result of the policy. A study cited in the decision by a Wells Fargo witness put the restitution at "close to $203 million." Wells Fargo spokeswoman Richele Messick said the bank is "disappointed" with the ruling. "We don't believe the ruling is in line with the facts of this case and we plan to appeal," she said. Messick noted that Wells Fargo changed its policies earlier this year, and customers can no longer incur more than four overdraft charges in one day. Wells Fargo shares closed Wednesday trading down $1.47, or 5.3 percent, at $26.30, as the broader markets dropped sharply on economic concerns, with banks being particularly hard hit. The case, heard in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, is Gutierrez vs. Wells Fargo. (This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling of spokeswoman's name to Richele sted Rochele.)

– Wells Fargo is guilty of gouging and profiteering and needs to return $203 million in overdraft fees to customers, a San Francisco judge ruled yesterday. The bank's practice of processing transactions from the largest to the smallest instead of in the order in which they occurred is clearly designed to maximize the number of overdrafts and "squeeze as much as possible" out of customers, the judge wrote in his sternly worded decision. The judge ordered the bank to change its "unfair and deceptive" practices, which in some cases caused customers to be charged 10 $35 overdraft fees for going just a few dollars over the limit, the AP reports. Wells Fargo says it is disappointed by the decision and plans to appeal. If the decision stands, it could be just the tip of a very costly iceberg for Wells Fargo, the San Francisco Chronicle notes. The $203M million only applies to California customers, and a similar class-action suit representing customers in other states will go to trial next year.

A family frantically rushing to catch a flight on their way to their loved one's funeral received a surprise gift from two Delta pilots. J.W. Short's (Jay) last wish was to be buried with his family in Bolivar, Tennessee. After losing his battle with lung cancer at the age of 56 on December 16, his family worked diligently to make that last wish come true. Short's wife booked flights from their home in Phoenix, Arizona, to make their way to Memphis so they could attend the funeral in Bolivar. Jay's body had been placed on a flight from Arizona to Memphis on Saturday, December 19, just one day before his funeral. "After a long ordeal to get everything taken care of, he (Jay) was finally on a flight Saturday morning and the funeral was scheduled Sunday," Short's wife, Marcia, said. "We booked our flight on Delta also to leave Saturday afternoon. Our three children and I sat on the tarmac at Sky Harbor in Phoenix, Arizona for an hour waiting for the okay to fly due to some damage to the cargo doors." The delay caused problems for the family when they reached their connecting flight in St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota. "The delay gave us seven minutes to get to the gate. With only two minutes to spare, we got to the gate and the attendant was not at the podium. The sky way was pulling away from the plane," Marcia said. She said she and her children began waving to the pilot and the ground crew trying to get their attention. "We are pleading for them to not take off. The attendant came out of the sky way and said there was nothing she could do, as the door had already been closed. We continued to plead," Marcia said. "If we did not get on that flight, we would miss the funeral. We had to get to Memphis." Marci said she and her son continued waving at the pilots and ground crew while her two daughters stood crying. She said the attendant contacted her supervisor and the supervisor said there was nothing they could do. The family was told they would be put on a flight to Atlanta and then they could drive from Atlanta to the funeral in Bolivar, Tennessee. "This was not going to work and the plane was still outside the window. My son still waving his arms and pleading with the pilot through the floor to ceiling windows. I was crying and attempting to console my girls when the phone rang," Marcia said. "The pilot was pulling back to the gate to let us board the plane." Marci and her family made it to Bolivar and the funeral for her husband of 32 years, thanks to two Delta pilots who turned their plane around for them. "These pilots did not have to pull back to the gate," Marcia said. As for the reason why the pilots chose to turn around, the family is not sure if they realized the reason the family was upset or not, but are thankful they were led to do something that is almost unheard of in the airline industry. "I don't know if they (attendants) told the pilot what was going on. I am assuming the pilots may have called and asked what was going on," Ginger Short, Jay's sister who lives in Bolivar, said. "They just don't do that." Although the family does not know the first names of the pilots, they were able to see their names on their ID badges. "Pilots Adams and Anderson of flight DL 3955 on December 19, 2015 from MPLS-St Paul to Memphis on Delta Airlines have blessed my family and gave us a gift that no one else could. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and may you both be blessed ten fold," Marcia said. Copyright 2015 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved. ||||| An Arizona family faced with a horrible tragedy is praising a pilot for displaying an act of human kindness unusual in the airline industry: delaying takeoff in order to allow them to make the funeral of a beloved family member. The family ran into a problem familiar to many travelers -- a flight delay -- on their way to Tennessee. The family was headed to the funeral of Jay W. Short, a 56-year-old husband and father of three who died on Dec. 16 after losing a battle to lung cancer about five months after being diagnosed. A 90-minute delay in the family’s flight from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport left them with about 7 minutes to make a connecting flight in Minneapolis, which was the last plane flying to Memphis that day. The funeral was scheduled for the following morning. "This was our last chance to say goodbye to my dad and if we missed the flight we would [have] missed the funeral," Nicole Short-Wibel, Jay’s daughter, told ABC News. By the time the family dashed to the gate in the Minneapolis Airport, the door to the jet way was closed and the Tennessee-bound plane was taxiing toward the runway. It was then that airport workers delivered the news to the family -- it was too late to make it on board. "My son and I are waving our arms at the pilots and the ground crew as my two daughters are crying their eyes out. We are pleading for them to not take off," Marcia Short, Jay’s wife, wrote in a post that was displayed on her daughter’s Facebook page. "If we did not get on that flight we would miss the funeral. We had to get to Memphis." The pilot, Capt. Adam Cohen, saw the desperation on their faces through the airport windows. That’s when he made an unprecedented move -- turning the plane back to ensure the family made it on board. Cohen flies for Endeavor Air, a regional airline carrier owned by Delta Air Lines. Marcia Short said on Facebook that Cohen and his first officer "Blessed my family and gave us a gift that no one else could. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts." "It meant the world," Short-Wibel said. Cohen’s decision and the attention it has received has not gone unnoticed by his employer. "This Endeavor Air pilot’s decision to return to the gate in this special circumstance is a great reflection of the human touch we want all Delta customers to experience when flying with us," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. Cohen said that helping the family had a big impact on him and the crew. "This is something we’ll take with us, knowing we made a difference," Cohen said. "Little moments like this to us are big to these customers and keep them coming back to Delta, but at the end of the day, it also keeps us going." While Delta praised Cohen's decision, airline analysts said it's one that could have gotten him in trouble with his employer if it had worked out differently. In order for the pilot to hold the flight, he had to risk "the censure of his company," ABC News Aviation analyst John Nance said. "The door is always closed on time because the most important thing to airlines is on time departure records," said Nance.

– In the week before Christmas, one Delta Air Lines pilot gave a grieving Arizona family a "gift that no one else could," Tucson News Now reports. Father of three Jay Short died after a battle with lung cancer Dec. 16. Three days later, his family was attempting to fly to Tennessee for the funeral scheduled for the next morning. But a 90-minute delay at the Phoenix airport left them only seven minutes to make their connecting flight in Minnesota, according to ABC News. "This was our last chance to say goodbye to my dad, and if we missed the flight we would [have] missed the funeral," Jay's daughter says. But when they arrived at the gate, the last plane of the day to Memphis was pulling away from the gate. "My son [was] waving his arms and pleading with the pilot through the floor to ceiling windows," News Now quotes Marcia. "I was crying and attempting to console my girls when the phone rang. The pilot was pulling back to the gate to let us board the plane." According to ABC, Capt. Adam Cohen saw the "desperation on their faces" through the gate's windows and decided to turn the plane around. Airline experts point out Cohen could have easily gotten in trouble for the unusual decision, though in this case, Delta has only praised the move. "This is something we’ll take with us, knowing we made a difference," Cohen tells ABC. (Another pilot ordered pizza for his stuck passengers.)

The son of Milwaukee County's chief medical examiner died this week of an suspected drug overdose. Adam Peterson, 29, on Monday became one of the more than 140 people whose death in Milwaukee County is believed to be related to narcotics. Peterson was staying on the 2700 block of West Clybourn Street in Milwaukee and was found by a friend laying face down on a floor. First responders administered Narcan, a drug used as an antidote to opiates. He did not react to the drug and was pronounced dead at around 7:30 p.m., an investigative report said. Peterson is the son of Dr. Brian Peterson, who heads the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office. Data released from the office on Wednesday showed that this year is on track to outpace the previous five in heroin-related deaths and will exceed the number of deaths classified as homicides in each of the four years from 2011 to 2014. There have been 71 overdose deaths in the county in the previous seven weeks, officials said. Back in April, WISN 12 partnered with IMPACT, a Milwaukee organization which assists residents through health and productivity issues, including drug addiction, on an awareness campaign. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, contact IMPACT at 866-211-3380. Photos: 25 facts about heroin The 25 heroin facts in this slideshow are provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. More ||||| Seventy deaths in seven weeks drive unprecedented drug toll. (Photo: Journal Sentinel) Earlier this month, Brian Peterson tried to give those gathered at a local opioid round-table discussion a sense of the scale of drug-related deaths in Milwaukee. While homicides, motor vehicle and infant sleep-related deaths have loomed large in the news, Milwaukee's chief medical examiner said, when all three are added together "that's less than the number of overdoses we've had." On Thursday, Peterson's office announced that 70 people have died from probable drug overdoses in Milwaukee County in the past seven weeks. One of them was Peterson's son. Adam Peterson, 29, died Monday at a friend's apartment in the 2700 block of W. Clybourn St., according to a medical examiner's report. Peterson, according to the report, had a history of drug use and was believed to be homeless when he died. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who hosted the round-table discussion, said: “I was sitting at the same table as Brian two weeks ago in Milwaukee discussing the trail of tragedies and heartbreak that addiction leaves in its wake. No family is immune. My prayers go out to Brian and his family at this time. I will continue to fight this fight for all those who have lost loved ones.” According to the report: Adam Peterson had been staying at the apartment for several days. His roommate told police he awoke from a nap around 6:45 p.m. and found Peterson face down on the floor, vomit coming from his mouth. An emergency medical team was unable to resuscitate Peterson, who was pronounced dead shortly before 7:30 p.m. In a messenger-style bag that belonged to Peterson, investigators found a plastic bag that contained topiramate, which is a nerve pain and anticonvulsant medication, and citalopram, which is used to treat depression. A razor blade and a small bag containing cotton balls were also found on the floor. ARCHIVE: Side Effects - Money, Medicine, and Patients At the discussion hosted by Johnson at Milwaukee Area Technical College, Brian Peterson said that one out of three cases autopsied in one month earlier this year were overdose cases. The ages of the dead spanned "63 years or so at the high end, down to 1 year old," he said. "We had a 1-year-old found dead on a mattress of methadone poisoning," he said. "Unfortunately, that's not uncommon either." The job of the medical examiner, he said, "is to help with clean data to help everybody understand." "We're kind of the last responders," he said. On Thursday, Peterson, who became the county's medical examiner in 2008, had no comment and asked for privacy for himself and his family. His office described the number of deaths announced Thursday as "unprecedented." "We have tossed out our projected number of total drug-related deaths for 2016," said Karen Domagalski, the medical examiner's office's operations manager. The office had estimated that there would be a record 288 deaths in 2016, she said. As of July 27, there had been 168 confirmed deaths, more than the total for 2012. A record 254 people died from drug-related causes in 2015. Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Read or Share this story: http://on.jsonl.in/2d3dbPy

– There have been more than 160 drug-related deaths in Milwaukee County, Wis., this year, 70 of them in the last seven weeks, and that is more than just a grim statistic for Chief Medical Examiner Brian Peterson. His own son, Adam Peterson, a 29-year-old with a history of drug use, was found on the floor of a friend's apartment Monday and was pronounced dead after failing to respond to anti-overdose drug Narcan, WISN reports. Brian Peterson, who has asked for privacy, told a conference earlier this month that his office was dealing with more overdose deaths than murders, car accident deaths, and sleep-related infant deaths combined, the Journal Sentinel reports. "We had a 1-year-old found dead on a mattress of methadone poisoning," Peterson told the round table. "Unfortunately, that's not uncommon either." He described medical examiners as "kind of the last responders," whose job it is "to help with clean data to help everybody understand." "I was sitting at the same table as Brian two weeks ago in Milwaukee discussing the trail of tragedies and heartbreak that addiction leaves in its wake," Sen. Ron Johnson tells the Journal Sentinel. "No family is immune. My prayers go out to Brian and his family at this time. I will continue to fight this fight for all those who have lost loved ones." (This small city in West Virginia had to deal with 27 overdoses in less than five hours.)

MOSCOW Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden's father arrived in Moscow on Thursday to see his son, who was granted asylum in Russia after leaking details of government surveillance programs. Speaking at Sheremetyevo airport, where his fugitive son was stranded for weeks this summer, Lon Snowden said he had no direct contact with Edward Snowden for months, but felt "extreme gratitude that my son is safe and secure and he's free". The younger Snowden, 30, is wanted in the United States on espionage charges and Russia's decision to grant him temporary asylum aggravated already tense relations between Moscow and Washington. Russian authorities and the Russian lawyer who is assisting Snowden, Anatoly Kucherena, have not disclosed his location. "I am his father, I love my son and I certainly hope I will have an opportunity to see my son," Lon Snowden said. He told reporters he was "not sure my son will be returning to the U.S. again". Snowden's revelations about the reach and methods of the U.S. National Security Agency, including the monitoring of vast volumes of Internet traffic and phone records, have upset U.S. allies from Germany to Brazil. They sparked an international furore, with admirers calling him a human rights champion and critics denouncing him as a traitor. JOB SEARCH Lon Snowden said he did not know his son's intentions, but believed he had not been involved in the publication of any information since he arrived in Russia and was "simply trying to remain healthy and safe". Directly from the airport, he and the lawyer drove to a state television studio to give an exclusive live interview, indicating the visit was under strong government control. Kucherena expressed hope the former intelligence contractor would soon find a job in Russia - possibly in IT or the human rights sector - because he had largely run out of savings and was living modestly, mainly off donations. He said the American was living under security and avoiding publicity because of the U.S. chase after him. Kucherena later said father and son would meet on Thursday but that Lon Snowden would first have to travel "quite a number of kilometers", echoing previous coy statements intended to keep people guessing about the younger Snowden's location. He said that Lon Snowden would be in Russia for a few days and "as he is here for the first time, I have prepared an entire program so that he can meet with his son and get more closely acquainted with our country," state newswire Itar-Tass reported. Snowden, who worked as a systems administrator at a U.S. National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, fled to Hong Kong in June and then flew to Moscow. President Vladimir Putin rejected U.S. pleas to hand him over, but denied Russia had any role in Snowden's disclosures or that its intelligence agencies were working with him in any way. He has used the case to accuse the United States of preaching to the world about rights and freedoms it does not uphold at home. (Additional reporting by Alessandra Prentice and Gabriela Baczynska; Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lon Snowden says he is extremely thankful to Russia for granting asylum to his son The father of fugitive former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is in Russia to visit his son. Lon Snowden told journalists in Moscow he felt "extreme gratitude that my son is safe and secure and he's free". He later met his son, local media say. Edward Snowden was granted asylum in Russia in August after weeks spent in a transit zone at Moscow airport when the US revoked his travel documents. The 30-year-old leaked many thousands of US intelligence documents. The information, published in The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers, revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by both US and British intelligence. In the US, Edward Snowden faces charges of theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified intelligence. Each of the charges carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, Edward Snowden met four former US security officials in Russia late on Wednesday, it has emerged. The officials - who now campaign against what they describe as the misuse of state secrecy - said they had presented Mr Snowden with the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence award. The award is given annually by a group of retired CIA officers. The officials told Russian media Mr Snowden had no regrets about leaking the classified files and was convinced he had done the right thing. "He's remarkably centred," ex-FBI agent Coleen Rowley told state-funded RT television. 'Legal options' Lon Snowden, arriving at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday, was met by his son's Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena. Image caption Edward Snowden is living in a secret location in Russia "I'm here to learn more about my son's situation," Mr Snowden told reporters. "My hope is to learn more about his circumstances and his health and to discuss legal options." "If the opportunity presents itself, I certainly hope that I have the opportunity to see my son," he said in televised remarks. "I'm not sure that my son will be returning to the US. That's his decision, he's an adult." Lon Snowden later visited his son, but the place and time of the meeting "are not being been revealed for security reasons", said Russia's state-run TV channels Rossiya 24 and Channel One. Lon Snowden has in the past praised his son for speaking "the truth" and making great sacrifices, and has spoken of his concern that he would not face a fair trial if he returned to the US. Edward Snowden accessed many of the documents while working for the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii, where he had been living with his girlfriend. As the revelations became public, Mr Snowden fled to Hong Kong where, with his consent, The Guardian revealed his identity in June. To escape US attempts to extradite him, Mr Snowden moved on to Russia where he remained in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport until Russia granted him asylum. Russia's move added to already tense relations with the US. Washington cancelled a bilateral summit in September. ||||| Moscow (CNN) -- The father of NSA leaker Edward Snowden told reporters in Moscow that he thinks his son deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. He arrived there Thursday for his first visit with his son since the former government IT contractor fled the United States after leaking National Security Agency spy program details to the media. Members of the European Parliament nominated Snowden in September for the Andrei Sakharov Prize, which honors figures who stand up to oppressive powers. The prize was awarded to Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai on Thursday. "Edward took the Sakharov prize nomination very calmly," Lon Snowden told reporters at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. "He wanted to expose the injustices in the American system, and wasn't doing it with any awards in mind." Edward Snowden collected information on spy programs, in which the NSA mined phone and Internet metadata from thousands of people inside and outside of the United States. He exposed the program to the media. Anticipating legal consequences, he initially fled to Hong Kong in late May but flew to Moscow on June 23. He was holed up at the airport for more than five weeks. U.S. authorities have charged him with espionage and theft of government property. Snowden received asylum in Russia on August 1 and left the airport. Snowden's father: 'I know my son. I know he loves his country' Low profile Lon Snowden's visit to Russia seems shrouded in mystery, as Edward Snowden is keeping information about himself close to the vest. "I've had no direct contact with my son despite previous reports, so I really have no idea what his intentions are," Lon Snowden told reporters at the airport. Snowden the son has kept a low profile, apparently not even telling his father where in Russia he is living. "I cannot answer the question if Edward is in Moscow," Lon Snowden said. "I don't know that. I haven't been informed where Edward is right now." His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, also has not disclosed Snowden's location. But he told reporters that he had met with him Wednesday. It appears that Snowden is settling in to his new surroundings. He has been living from savings and donations but has had some job offers, Kucherena said. "I am confident that he would find a high-paying job. He is very capable." He is also learning Russian and soaking in Russian culture, Kucherena said. And he has a girlfriend. The lawyer earlier told reporters that Edward Snowden may hold a news conference soon, but later reversed that, saying the former contractor had no intention of speaking publicly. Since the movie "The Fifth Estate" came out, which is based on the experiences of WikiLeaker Julian Assange, producers have contacted Snowden about telling his story on film. But he does not seem interested at the time. Defending his son As in the past, Lon Snowden defended his son's actions Thursday, calling him a "whistle-blower" who is "not leaking information." "I don't think the American public knows all the details of what my son did," he said. Snowden has said that he does not expect his son to receive a fair trial in the United States and would not want him to come home, until that changes. "I'm not sure that my son will be returning to the U.S. again. That's his decision. He is an adult," the elder Snowden told reporters. He thanked the Russian people and President Vladimir Putin for taking his son in. "I consider Edward to be absolutely safe in Russia. He is comfortable here," he said. Lon Snowden has received a visa for multiple entries into the country. "I hope to return to Russia many times," he said. Father Lon carefully separated his own interests from Edward Snowden's, speaking of getting on with his own life in the United States, while his son moves on with his in Russia. But he in no way distanced himself from the younger Snowden. He told reporters: "I am his father. I love my son." Snowden: My father and his legal team do not speak for me CNN's Boriana Milanova contributed to this report.

– With Edward Snowden's lawyer in tow, dad Lon Snowden arrived in Russia early today in the hope of seeing his fugitive son. "I am his father, I love my son, and I certainly hope I will have an opportunity to see my son," he told Reuters, though his real purpose is "to learn more about his circumstances and his health and to discuss legal options," the BBC reports. Speaking from the same airport in which Edward Snowden was stranded for weeks, Lon said he wasn't in contact with his son, but noted a reunion in the US was unlikely. "I am not sure my son will be returning to the US again," he noted. "That's his decision." Neither the elder Snowden, nor his son's Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, would give any details about when and where a meeting would take place, but Kucherena did share some details of Edward's new life in Russia. He still hasn't found a job and is living modestly, mostly on donations since he's run out of his savings, Reuters notes. As to reports of NSA leaks to come: "I really have no idea what his intentions are," Lon Snowden said, but as of now, he is "not leaking information," CNN reports.

The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds) The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. ||||| As you may have heard, Goldman Sachs is being sued for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly misleading investors about a deal that Goldman helped structure and sell. In the civil suit, the SEC specifically faulted Goldman for failing to disclose that a hedge fund was helping create the investment while betting big the deal would fail. According to the SEC, Goldman Sachs knew about the hedge fund’s bets, knew it played a significant role in choosing the assets in the portfolio, and yet did not tell investors about it. (Goldman Sachs has called the SEC’s accusations “completely unfounded in law and fact.” And in another more detailed statement, it said it “did not structure a portfolio that was designed to lose money.”) As we reported at ProPublica last week, many other major investment banks were doing a similar thing. Investment banks including JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch (now part of Bank of America), Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and UBS also created CDOs that a hedge fund named Magnetar was both helping create and betting would fail. (Update 4/17: Magnetar denies it was making such bets.) Those investment banks marketed and sold the CDOs to investors without disclosing Magnetar’s role or the hedge fund’s interests. Here is a list of the banks that were involved in Magnetar deals, along with links to many of the prospectuses on the deals, which skip over Magnetar’s role. In all, investment banks created at least 30 CDOs with Magnetar, worth roughly $40 billion overall. Goldman’s 25 Abacus CDOs—one of which is the basis of the SEC’s lawsuit—amounted to $10.9 billion. Our reporter Jake Bernstein explained the investment banks’ disclosure failures on Chicago Public Radio’s “This American Life”: The role of Magnetar, both as equity investor and in their bets against the very CDOs they helped create, were not disclosed in any way to investors in the written documents about the deals. Not the marketing materials, not the prospectuses, not in the hundreds of pages that an investor could get to see information about the deal was it disclosed that it was in fact Magnetar who’d helped create the deal, and who’d bet against. That is, of course, along the lines of what the SEC is suing Goldman Sachs for now. The SEC’s suit also says CDOs like the ones Goldman built “contributed to the recent financial crisis by magnifying losses associated with the downturn in the United States housing market.” Notably, the SEC did not sue the hedge fund involved in Goldman’s Abacus deals—Paulson & Co.—or its manager, John Paulson. Instead, it’s going after Goldman. And as we pointed out in our reporting, there’s no evidence that what Magentar did was illegal. We’ve called the major banks involved in Magnetar CDO deals to see if they were concerned about similar lawsuits. Thus far, Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche, Wells Fargo (which bought Wachovia) and UBS have responded and have all declined our requests for comment. Here is Magnetar’s response to our original reporting. Read ProPublica’s full Magnetar story. ProPublica’s Ryan Knutson contributed to this report.

– The SEC's fraud suit against Goldman Sachs might be just the tip of the iceberg, because other investment banks engaged in exactly the same sleight of hand, Pro Publica reports. Goldman is accused of failing to disclose that a hedge fund was both helping to create, and betting against, the investments Goldman was selling. But several other investment banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup all did the same thing. The SEC is already investigating some of these other deals, the Wall Street Journal adds. The agency says it'll sue if it believes banks misrepresented securities to their clients. Indeed, Rabobank already sued Merrill Lynch last year, alleging that Merrill did just that with some securities that the hedge fund Magnetar helped create and bet against. When the Goldman case came out, Rabobank issued a statement saying it was “the same type of fraudulent conduct” Merrill had engaged in.

“It’s a giant step in terms of conception,” said Theodore Couloumbis, a vice president of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, in Athens. “But it’s a baby step in terms of realization or implementation.” European political leaders have pressed Greece for months to commit to a thorough overhaul of its bloated, state-led economy, and they hailed the vote on Wednesday as offering hope that the debt crisis was manageable. Photo Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany welcomed the development as “really good news,” while the president of the European Commission , José Manuel Barroso , and the European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy , said in a joint statement that Greece had taken “a vital step back — from the very grave scenario of default.” They urged Greek lawmakers to pass the second vote on Thursday on carrying out the measures, adding that “it would also allow for work to proceed rapidly on a second package of financial assistance, enabling the country to move forward and restoring hope to the Greek people.” Officials have promised that they will make more money available to help stimulate growth in Greece if it sticks to its austerity pledges. Europe has much at stake in making the new bailout a success because several other countries that use the euro face similar, if less immediate, problems of high debt, widespread unemployment and little or no growth. Ultimately, many economists say, the sovereign debt of Greece and some other countries will have to be restructured, with their creditors accepting a discount on the debts’ face value. European officials have so far sought to avoid taking that step. “If Europe comes together with an appropriate framework, that will enable a default to be avoided,” said Joseph E. Stiglitz , the Nobel-winning economist. “But there’s every sign that Europe won’t do that, so the likelihood of a problem down the line is very significant.” Kenneth S. Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund , who is now a Harvard professor, said the Greek vote and the infusion of aid would only buy a little time. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “It’s certainly kicking the can down the road,” Professor Rogoff said. “Greece is basically being bribed not to default. But as long as Greece doesn’t grow briskly for a sustained period, it’s in hot water.” Hope is also in short supply among many Greeks, who said that the first round of austerity imposed after Greece’s first bailout last year had worsened rather than improved their plight, and that the second round demanded even deeper cuts in many areas. “Of course things will get worse,” said Thimios Vilias, 35, who said his two-year contract at an insurance company would run out soon and who came out to protest on Wednesday. “The measures won’t do any good for Greece. We have more debt, more debt, more debt, and we have no work,” Mr. Vilias added. Video The measures approved on Wednesday will at least on paper lead to the dismantling of a big part of the economy’s state-run sector. They call for the privatization of 50 billion euros, or about $72 billion, in state assets, including ports, telecommunications concerns, real estate and stakes in the public power corporation. They also include one billion euros, or about $1.4 billion, in cuts in the defense sector over the next five years; more than two billion euros, or $2.9 billion, in cuts to the health sector through 2015 by reducing regulated prices for drugs; tax increases on heating oil and the self-employed; and a shrinking of permanent and temporary public-sector employment. They do not, however, provide for changing the Greek Constitution, which states that public-sector workers on permanent contracts have lifetime tenure. Since last year, Greece has cut the wages of its 800,000 public workers — a quarter of the work force — by more than 10 percent. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. After days of heated debate, Mr. Papandreou won by a simple majority, 155 to 138, with all but one lawmaker from his Socialist Party voting in favor and only one conservative opposition deputy breaking ranks to support the measure. Perhaps the greatest challenge for the government will be to modernize the country’s confusing tax code, and to collect the billions of dollars in tax revenue that analysts say is at the heart of the country’s solvency problems. At his first news conference as newly appointed finance minister after a cabinet reshuffle this month, even Evangelos Venizelos acknowledged that the new changes were emergency measures that did not constitute a new tax plan. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “It is not the new national taxation policy, it is not the modern complete taxation system that takes into consideration everything and that eradicates injustice and contradiction,” Mr. Venizelos said. Mr. Papandreou is also running low on political capital, having failed to form a coalition government with the center-right opposition after a revolt in the Socialist Party. It is unclear if he can hold onto power long enough to see the austerity plan through. “This only buys Greece time to get the serious work done,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist of High Frequency Economics in New York. “But now they have to make the debt situation sustainable beyond August. Much depends on whether the government will stay the course, and when there are new elections, whether a new government decides to stick with the austerity measures this government passed, which is not certain,” Mr. Weinberg added. ||||| Anti-austerity protesters set up roadblocks as they attempt to block streets leading to the parliament in Athens June 29, 2011. Greece's parliament looked increasingly likely to approve unpopular austerity measures on Wednesday, despite violent protests, to secure international funds to prevent the euro zone's first sovereign default. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police firing tear gas fought running battles with stone-throwing protesters outside parliament on Wednesday as signs grew the government would succeed in pushing through an austerity plan demanded by creditors. With Greece risking bankruptcy if the measures are blocked, parliament was due to vote in the afternoon on the mix of spending cuts, tax increases and privatizations to be implemented as conditions for a massive bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Tens of thousands of protesters, many of them waving Greek flags and beating drums, packed Syntagma Square outside parliament as a 48-hour general strike that began on Tuesday brought central Athens to a standstill. "Dissolve parliament," read one banner. Demonstrations turned violent for a second day when a surge in the crowd overturned metal barriers, forcing back a line of riot police, who responded with flash bombs and tear gas. "Cops, pigs, murderers!" chanted the crowd at a line of white-helmeted riot police as tear gas projectiles turned the air outside parliament white. A line of protesters joined hands in a traditional Greek dance in front of police lines. Inside parliament, the government of Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou inched closer to securing the majority it needs to pass the law as a member of the conservative opposition said she would vote for the 28 billion euro ($39.7 billion) package. Late on Tuesday, one of three rebel Socialist (PASOK) lawmakers climbed down, saying he would support the measures. "I have made the decision to vote for the plan because national interests are more important than our own dignity," the deputy, Thomas Robopoulos, told Reuters. A parliamentary official said the vote would probably take place between 2 and 5 p.m. (1100-1400 GMT). One communist deputy was pelted with yoghurt as protesters tried to block several avenues around parliament to prevent the vote. At least three people were treated for minor injuries as protesters skirmished with police. The communist-affiliated PAME labor group held a rally in the morning and several other meetings were expected during the day, culminating in a major demonstration by public service union ADEDY and private sector union GSEE at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT). Greece's central bank governor, George Provopoulos, warned that a "no" vote would be suicidal for Greece. "For parliament to vote against this package would be a crime - the country would be voting for its suicide," he told the Financial Times. BITTER RESENTMENT The measures demanded by international lenders as the price for continuing to support Athens have wrought bitter resentment in a Greek population coping with the deepest recession since the 1970s and now facing years of grim austerity. Another PASOK rebel, Panagiotis Kouroublis, said he still objected to the plan but declined to say whether he would vote against it. "I will speak to the parliament later and you will hear what I have to say," he told Alter TV. "Nothing is more important than my dignity and my love for my country." The Socialists hold a narrow majority with 155 seats in the 300-member legislature and with Robopoulos, the most prominent of a handful of potential rebels, backtracking on his opposition, chances of the vote going through improved. In a sign of growing optimism on financial markets about the outcome, Greek bank stocks opened up 3 percent on Wednesday, while Greek bond yields fell. However, even with approval on Wednesday, there will still be a risk of lawmakers rejecting detailed austerity bills in votes on Thursday on the implementation of different elements of the plan, such as tax rises and the sale of state assets. "Will there be a way to compensate households for the heating fuel increase? Will there be exemptions for agriculture to help it be competitive? I am waiting for answers to see what I will do in the implementation law," said Socialist MP Mihalis Tzelepis, reflecting the anger within the party. The EU and the IMF have said the entire plan must be passed this week for Greece to obtain the next, 12 billion euro ($17.3 billion) tranche of emergency loans under the bailout. Greek officials have said the country needs the money by mid-July to continue paying its debts. Despite heavy international pressure, the center-right opposition declared it would vote against the package but close attention was being paid to a splinter group of conservative deputies led by former foreign minister Dora Bakoyanis. Bakoyanis, who broke party ranks to vote in favor of Greece's first EU/IMF bailout last year, said on Wednesday she would abstain from voting this time. The other four deputies in her group would vote according to their consciences. "The government cannot govern and apply the program and the political opposition is lying, this is the problem. It does not dare to tell people that there are no magic solutions, that sacrifices are necessary," Bakoyanis said. (Additional reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Ingrid Melander; writing by James Mackenzie and Daniel Flynn; editing by Mark Heinrich)

– Things got ugly in the streets of Athens today, as Greece’s parliament began voting on austerity measures—needed to keep the nation out of default—that looked increasingly likely to pass. Police firing tear gas fought what Reuters describes as “running battles” with protesters, who threw firebombs, rocks, and firecrackers, and knocked over barricades. Other protesters remained peaceful—one group broke into a traditional dance in front of police lines. One of the two remaining members of the ruling Socialist Party publicly opposing the austerity measures changed his mind today, as did one opposition legislator. That stoked expectations that the bill will pass and had European stock markets climbing, the New York Times reports. Protesters, naturally, were less enthused. “They’ll be the worst criminals in history” if the vote passes, one 57-year-old pharmacist opined. “We want to see them hanged.”

NASA is asking everyday terrestrials to come up with cosmic solutions to a very down-to-earth problem: how to deal with human waste when you’re trapped in a space suit for up to a week. The American space agency has launched a competition for participants to invent a hands-free system that routes and collects waste away from the astronaut’s body for up to six days. Inventors have the chance of winning $30,000, and have until Dec. 20 to submit their best “space poop” ideas. “I can tell you that space flight is not always glamorous,” said astronaut Rick Mastracchio, a veteran of Space Shuttle Soyuz, and Space Station missions speaking in a video promoting NASA’s call to action. “People need to go to the bathroom even in a spacecraft.” During spaceflight astronauts can be in their suits for more than 10 hours at a time. But with NASA planning on sending humans deeper into space, future missions will require the advancement of new technology to keep the astronauts alive and well. Currently, crews wear an absorbent diaper but these would not be suitable for flights longer than a day, according to a description on the contest’s website HeroX. While it goes without saying that nobody in their right mind would want to wear a diaper for a week, the issue is more than a matter of squeamishness, it’s a matter of life or death. Mastracchio said it is vital that the waste needs to be treated otherwise it could harm or even kill the astronaut. “Given enough time, infection, and even sepsis can set in. This is the problem we are asking you to help us with.” NASA said it aims to test the winning ideas in the next year and roll out successful systems in the next three. ||||| NASA vowed to award up to three $30,000 prizes for the most promising in-suit waste management systems When you've got to go, but you're out there in space, zipped up in a spacesuit, with no toilet in sight and a crew of other astronauts around, what do you do? NASA has launched a contest for inventors to solve this uncomfortable issue, and promises to award $30,000 to the best "space poop" solutions. Inventors have until December 20 to submit designs for a personalized waste-wicking system that will handle everything, hands-free, for a period of up to six days. "The old standby solution consisted of diapers," said the description of contest details at www.herox.com/SpacePoop. "However, the diaper is only a very temporary solution, and doesn't provide a healthy/protective option longer than one day." Sometimes, astronauts have to wait even longer. The two men and one woman who packed themselves into a Russian Soyuz space capsule last week had to wait two full days between launching from Kazakhstan and arriving at the International Space Station. The Soyuz is equipped with a portable toilet, which looks like an air-powered pee jug. On future missions to deep space destinations like an asteroid or Mars, NASA suspects it could take up to 144 hours, or six days, to get to a proper toilet. In emergency situations, astronauts may need to zip themselves into a fully pressurized, bulky orange spacesuit, complete with helmet and gloves. "While sealed, it is impossible for an astronaut to access their own body, even to scratch their nose," NASA said. That's where the inventors come in. Astronauts need some way to clear away urine, fecal matter and menstrual blood efficiently, or they risk infection. The problem is that in weightlessness, fluids can blob up and stick to surfaces, while solids float in the air. "You don't want any of these solids and fluids stuck to your body for six days," NASA said, recalling how easy babies can get diaper rash. Currently, while at the International Space Station, astronauts use a toilet contraption that includes a vacuum and a tube to help evacuate fecal matter. To urinate, they use a funnel attached to a hose that can be adapted for a sitting or standing position, and uses air to move urine away. NASA vowed to award up to three $30,000 prizes for the most promising in-suit waste management systems. The goal is to test them within a year and fully implement them within three years. NASA says the first human missions to Mars could take place by the 2030s. Explore further: Soyuz capsule docks with International Space Station ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Why would you ever need to know? Because of the Space Poop Challenge, that’s why. It’s a $30,000 incentive prize for a NASA-worthy system for spacesuits that routes human waste away from the body, hands-free. It could be the difference between life and death for astronauts in emergency situations that require extended (like days) periods of time spent contained to their spacesuit. Check out the challenge guidelines to learn more about the details of this challenge, and read on for some interesting factoids about dealing with bodily functions in space. Space is an extreme and unsafe environment even before you consider the issue of, um, using the bathroom. But that’s just it -- we have to consider that issue. So before you go running off to make space travel history by drumming up new solutions, let’s talk about the current situation in space. There are two space-age toilets on the ISS, located in the Tranquility and Zvezda modules. The second commode was put in just a few years ago, after the first unit was having some problems. Effectively managing human waste is critical for the health and safety of astronauts in space. Our terrestrial toilets use gravity to flush everything away, but doing your business in the weightlessness of outer space gets tricky. So, how exactly does one go number one, or number two, in space? The Amazing Zero-G John The toilets on the ISS are so different from yours, astronauts actually need some supplemental potty training to figure them out. And they're astronauts. Without getting into the nitty-gritty, let’s just say that relieving oneself in space these days is a lot better than it used to be. Today, going to the restroom in zero-g is a quick process, but it looks more complicated than using a car. Luckily, they get to practice on training toilets before blastoff (pun intended). There seem to be a lot of steps involved, so you probably don't want to be in a hurry. Liquid and solid waste are handled differently: there's a somewhat normal-looking toilet seat, along with what's known as a “urine hose.” The hole in the toilet seat is smaller than usual, so apparently, it can be a bit tough to get the alignment right at first. Women and men are equal here when it comes to number two, using the same setup, but urinating requires different … attachments. Space toilets use suction instead of gravity, for both urine and solid waste. You don't really sit in space, because you don't weight anything, so astronauts need to either strap themselves in or use handles to hold themselves down. You can actually check out a guided tour of the toilet cabin on the ISS, given by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti: Out of Sight, Out of Mind? On Earth, we get to flush our waste away and never see it again (unless something goes horribly wrong). But on the ISS, it's not that simple. Urine and solid waste are collected and dealt with separately. Urine and other waste water goes through a very advanced filtration and purification process, before it ends up being used again for - you guessed it - drinking water. In case you needed more proof, the space program really isn’t for the faint of heart. Think you could swing it? Before you answer, you should also know that the water they end up drinking is actually purer than the water most of us drink on a daily basis. I guess that's worth the view. Solid waste ends up getting packed up, compressed and sent off to burn up in the atmosphere like a shooting star. Make a wish! Astronauts try to take care of all their business on the space station, rather than in their spacesuits. But when nature calls on a spacewalk, they have to use the equivalent of an adult diaper for space travelers. Wearing a diaper is a reasonable solution for short term waste management for launch, reentry, and spacewalks, but future long distance missions might require astronauts to remain in a protective suit for up to 6 days. That’s a long time no matter how you slice it, and a diaper is simply not a safe or sustainable waste management tool. NASA is working on this challenge themselves, but as we prepare our species for interplanetary travel, they could use some help from the crowd with these kinds of details! The Space Poop Challenge As hard as it is for astronauts to use the toilet in the pressurized environments like ISS, it is an even bigger challenge when you have to wear a spacesuit (particularly if you have to wear it for more than a few hours), This is why the Space Poop Challenge is offering up to $30,000 for the best ideas to create a system that will collect waste and route it away from an astronaut's body, hands-free, while wearing a spacesuit. Check out the Space Poop Challenge page to learn more, get registered, and take your place in the annals of space travel history! ||||| NASA has initiated a "Space Poop Challenge," and is calling on innovators to come up with new designs for a spacesuit waste management system. Sometimes the "call of nature" is really urgent – and if you're in a spacesuit, you can't easily rush to the bathroom. That's why NASA has created the "Space Poop Challenge." The agency is asking innovators to create fecal, urine and menstrual management systems for spacesuits, that would work for up to six days. Up to $30,000 in prize money is up for grabs. NASA astronauts wear diapers to take care of their bodily needs while they're launching, landing or spacewalking. However, these diapers are only good for a few hours; sitting in poop, urine or menstrual fluid for more than that is bad for your health, and your backside, besides. [How to Pee in Space (and What to Do If the Toilet Breaks)] "Future missions may require long-duration waste management for use by a pressurized suited crew member," NASA wrote in a statement on HeroX, a website where people or organizations can host incentive-based competitions. "In the event of cabin depressurization or other contingency, crew members may need to take refuge in their launch and entry suits for a long-duration: 144 hours," according to the statement. "The crew member will have less than 60 minutes to get into and seal their spacesuit. To ensure the crew member's safety, the solution [proposed system] needs to take no more than five minutes [to set up and integrate with the spacesuit]." Further complicating the challenge is the requirement that the system work in microgravity, in a pressurized spacesuit. This means would-be designers need to contend with floating water and debris that everybody really, really wants to keep far away from human orifices or vital spacesuit systems. The new system will be designed for NASA's Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit, an improvement on the orange spacesuit used for shuttle launches and landings. That suit is expected to be used by astronauts on the Orion spacecraft. The submission deadline for the Space Poop Challenge is Dec. 20, and winners will be announced Jan. 31, 2017. You can see all the guidelines and rules on this website. https://herox.com/SpacePoop/ Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. ||||| Published on May 8, 2015 ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti shows how to use the most unglamorous but often asked-about part of living on the International Space Station: the toilet. A fan creates suction to avoid smells and floating waste. Solid waste is stored and put in cargo ferries to burn up when the spacecraft leaves the Space Station. The astronaut urine is recycled – into drinking water. Follow Samantha via http://samanthacristoforetti.esa.int/ ||||| Challenge Overview The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeks proposed solutions for urine, fecal and menstrual management systems to be used in the crew’s launch and entry suits over a continuous duration of up to 144 hours. An in-suit waste management system would be beneficial for contingency scenarios or for any long duration tasks. Waste management systems should address fecal, urine, and/or menstrual waste management in a pressurized survival suit environment for six days while protecting the safety and health of crew members. Solutions should provide for urine collection of up to 1L per day per crew member, for a total of 6 days. Fecal collection rates should be targeted for 75 grams of fecal mass and 75 mL fecal volume per crewmember per day for a total of 6 days duration. Menstrual collection systems should handle up to 80 mL over 6 days. NASA will award the Solutions it judges to be the most promising for implementation and use on missions in the next three or four years. NASA will consider collaborating with winners and/or other competitors, subject to NASA rules and regulations for contract procurement. Background Spaceflight launch and entry suits are worn for launch and entry activities to protect the crew from any off-nominal events. Up until now, a crew member could be in their launch and entry suit for more than 10 hours at a time leading up to either a launch or landing scenario, and former astronauts have worn diapers in case they need to relieve themselves. The diaper is only used temporarily until the crew has successfully launched from or returned to Earth. It is eventually removed along with the launch and entry suit. Future missions may require long-duration waste management for use by a pressurized suited crew member. In the event of cabin depressurization or other contingency, crew members may need to take refuge in their launch and entry suits for a long-duration (144-hour). The crew member will have less than 60 minutes to get into and seal their spacesuit. To ensure the crew member’s safety, the Solution needs to take no more than 5 minutes of that time. The crew member will remain in their suit at a pressure of 4.3 PSID and in 100% oxygen environment, with a few tasks to complete inside the depressurized vehicle prior to vehicle. A system to route and collect human waste away from the body without the use of hands, that operates in the prescribed environment, is being sought to keep astronauts alive and healthy over 144 hours. Current commercial products that provide urine waste management utilize gravity to route and collect urine away from the body. Some require the use of hands, and most are not meant to be used for 144 hours. No commercial products have been found that provide fecal waste management for a 144-hour period with or without the use of hands. While the implemented Solution can be discarded after each mission, it does have to function well for 6 days and multiple bowel and bladder evacuations. ABOUT POOPING IN SPACE…. This challenge does not require you to be working in a field involving microgravity or to fully understand how the body and fluids work in a microgravity environment. We are going to tell you a bit about what ‘s different. First, microgravity is what you might call “Zero Gravity”. Think vacuum. In a vacuum, solids, liquids and gases do not act the way they do on earth, where they are influenced by earth’s gravity. You probably have no problem imagining things floating around in space. Yes, sometimes solids, liquids, and gases do this. But they also might cling to the nearest surface due to surface tension. Imagine taking a shower up in space and having a glob of water under your armpit. Also, on earth, solids and liquids would likely mix together at least a little when in contact. Maybe not in microgravity. As for your bodily functions. Well, in space there is no gravity to direct your urine away from your body when you release it. Same for poop. There is no gravity to pull it away when you release it. Menstrual fluid? At least some of it will exit a woman’s body. You don’t want that traveling around your suit. And don’t forget, you can’t always count on poop being solid, especially if you are up in space and nervous about the fact that your vehicle cabin has depressurized. You don’t want any of these solids and fluids stuck to your body for 6 days. If you have ever taken care of a baby, you know how easy it is to get diaper rash. Left untreated, that can turn into a dangerous infection. You don’t want fecal matter getting into the urethra or the vagina, causing urinary tract or vaginal infections. Of course, you don’t want them to migrate to mouth, nose, ears or cuts. The point? Your Solution has to keep all of these materials away from the body, its orifices, and the spacesuit air inlet/outlet orifices. How has NASA handled this in the past? Well, for one thing, they weren’t handling it for 6 days. Maybe a few hours. In the recent past, astronauts have worn an extremely absorbent adult diaper. Most of the time the diaper is there for emergencies. Prior to that, men wore Urine Collection and Transfer Assembly (UCTA) and Fecal Collection Systems (FCS). Women have never had anything besides the adult diaper while wearing a suit. When not wearing a suit, but within the vehicle, women had a choice of 3 versions of cup-type urine collection systems that used air flow to effectively cause urine to swirl away from a woman’s body. No matter how you look at it, getting rid of wastes has been complicated, crude, uncomfortable, and messy, even with the use of hands. And now we are saying that you don’t have use of your hands – at least not inside the suit next to your body. ABOUT THE SPACE SUIT You will design a solution that can be incorporated into the orange Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit (MACES). MACES has been adapted for missions of longer duration than the original Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES) was designed for. The whole suit, including the gloves, is pressurized to 4.3 PSID to enable the body to function properly. Without pressure the body swells, loses most of its circulation, and of course, causes extreme pain. The gloves are attached by metal bearings to the sleeves to ensure a proper seal. Once the suit is sealed, it must remain sealed until the astronaut enters another pressurized environment. While sealed, it is impossible for an astronaut to access their own body, even to scratch their nose. Gas (100% oxygen) enters at 4.5 cubic feet per minute through a waist level connector to fill the 2” space between the astronaut’s body and the suit, and circulates out through another waist level connector to be cleaned and brought back to the suit. A mesh cover protects against particles getting into the air connectors. If they did get inside, they could easily block the flow of air. This gas supply is clearly a very precious commodity. While a very small amount is lost to leakage, the Solution must not add to this leakage. However, careful use of 1000 cubic centimeters per minute (0.01 cubic feet per minute) over a period of 3 minutes per use would not jeopardize the integrity of the suit. The suit allows the astronauts to move around, get into tight spaces, and sit down and buckle up for long periods of time. Your Solution should be comfortable in all of these situations. Finally, a small power sources of up to 28V with current below 100mA could be provided inside or outside of the suit. To learn more about the functionality of space suits in general, see NASA’s What is a Space Suit and Wikipedia’s Space Suit. To read the detailed specifications of the MACES, click here. PLANS FOR THE WINNING SOLUTIONS NASA is ideally looking for Solutions that are comprised of technologies at a minimum Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of level 4, such that the Solution can be tested within 1 year and fully implemented within 3 years. However, for breakthrough innovations, NASA will consider Solutions that are at a lower TRL and therefore a longer implementation timeline. NASA will consider collaborating with winners and/or other competitors, subject to NASA rules and regulations for contract procurement. Prizes The challenge offers up to $30,000 USD in prizes to innovative solutions for long duration waste management in a microgravity environment. NASA will award up to three prizes for the best ideas. NASA will award the Solutions it judges to be the most promising for implementation and use on missions in the next three or four years. How do I win? To be eligible for an award, the solution must, at minimum: Keep urine and/or fecal waste away from a crew member’s body for a minimum of 144 hours while in a space suit Operate in a microgravity scenario Operate within a full launch and entry suit at an internal pressure of 4.3 PSID and 100% oxygen environment which cannot be opened for manual access within the 144 hour time period Operate while a crew member is moving, bending, and/or seated and strapped into a chair Manage at least one of the three following human wastes for up to 6 days Manage up to 1L per day of urine per crew member (based on planned liquid intake during mission) Manage up to 75 grams of fecal mass and 75mL fecal volume per crew member (based on planned food intake during mission). Fecal matter may range from liquid to solid, but the Solution is not required to handle uncontrollable, ongoing diarrhea. Manage up to 80 mL of menstrual fluid over 6 days Require less than five minutes for a crew member to, on their own, set up and secure the Solution to their body, prior to, or along with, getting into their launch and entry suit. Operate effectively for both men and women of varying size and weight within the range of 1% to 99% on the Airforce ANSUR anthropometric database. Please refer to the Resource Page and this document for ranges in relevant measurements for your solution, which might include, but not be limited to: waist circumference (24.2 to 43.5”), Buttock circumference (33.1 to 45.2”), Hip breadth, sitting (31.5 to 46.5”), Waist back (15.4 to 22”) and Waist depth (5.9” to 11.8”). The Solution may include a variety of approaches, including, but not limited to: Using different management systems for urine versus fecal versus menstruation output and/or males versus females or by size or weight Integrating all hardware into one garment that is easy to don Keeping collected urine and fecal matter inside the suit or routing it outside the suit, allowing for customization for each crew member, etc. The judging panel will rank the eligible Solutions submitted against the following criteria: Criteria Description Percent Importance Soundness and Technical Readiness of the design Likelihood that the Solution will work as described to satisfy the minimum requirements with a minimum of risk. This includes the technical readiness level (TLR) of the design. 20 Gas Conservation Effectiveness at ensuring the conservation of gas in the crew member’s suit 10 Health and Safety Level of health and safety the Solution will provide to the crew member including dryness and prevention of pain, infection and permanent injury 15 Suit Integrity Effectiveness ensuring the integrity of the crew member’s suit, including the number of entry/exit points required 15 Speed Ease and feasibility of integrating the Solution with the body and the suit within 5 minutes. 10 Ease of Use/ Constraints Ease of use given the constraints required for using (e.g., clean shaven, limitations on timing of waste elimination, requirement to be near a specific technology, etc.) 10 Comfort Level of physical, emotional, and psychological comfort the crew member will experience using the Solution, including while donning, moving around, and seated and strapped in 10 Ease of Incorporation Ease of incorporating into existing suits and vehicle, 5 Other Benefits Other benefits that the judges identify or the competitor points out that do not fall into the above categories. Could also include judge preferences, such as for simplicity. 5 Participation Eligibility: The Prize is open to individuals, age 18 or older, private teams, public teams, and collegiate teams. Individual competitors and teams may originate from any country, as long as United States federal sanctions do not prohibit participation (see: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx). If you are a NASA employee, a Government contractor, or employed by a Government Contractor, your participation in this challenge may be restricted. Submissions must be made in English. All challenge-related communication will be in English. No specific qualifications or expertise in the field of microgravity or waste management is required. Prize organizers encourage outside individuals and non-expert teams to compete and propose new solutions. To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the challenge as defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement, which will be made available upon registration. Intellectual Property Innovators who are awarded a prize for their submission must agree to grant NASA a royalty free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, world-wide license in all Intellectual Property demonstrated by the winning/awarded submissions. See the Challenge-Specific Agreement, which will be made available upon registration, for full details on intellectual property. Registration and Submissions: Submissions must be made online (only), via upload to the HeroX.com website, on or before 11:59pm EST on December 20th, 2016. All uploads must be in PDF format. No late submissions will be accepted. Selection of Winners: Based on the winning criteria, prizes will be awarded per the weighted Judging Criteria section above. Judging Panel: The determination of the winners will be made by HeroX based on evaluation by relevant NASA specialists. Additional Information

– Pooping in space "isn't glamorous, but it is necessary for survival," an astronaut explains—yet it's presenting quite a challenge for NASA. See, while the International Space Station has a pretty fancy toilet, an astronaut must wear a diaper during launch and landing activities or while spacewalking. But as NASA looks toward future missions in deep space, it's also looking for a way for astronauts to relieve themselves while remaining in their space suits for up to six days, reports Time. That's where you come in. The agency is offering a $30,000 prize in a "space poop challenge" if someone can create "a system inside a space suit that collects human waste for up to 144 hours and routes it away from the body, without the use of hands." There are plenty of stipulations. For example, the system "needs to take no more than five minutes [to set up]" as an astronaut might be forced to jump into their suit quickly in an emergency, per Space.com. While such a challenge might seem humorous, a solution "could be the difference between life and death," notes the contest website. "You don't want any of these solids and fluids stuck to your body for six days," NASA adds in a release. "Given enough time, infection, and even sepsis can set in," says astronaut Rick Mastracchio in a video. Inventors have until Dec. 20 to submit their entries. NASA plans to test the top entries next year, with a solution executed within three years. (A scientist thinks humans could get to Mars in a month.)

THE Alaska Senate race won't be officially decided until later this month—officials have to go through all the ballots, smoothing out the grizzly-bear tooth-marks and brushing off stray eagle feathers—but as of this morning, it looks like Lisa Murkowski has accomplished the unlikely feat of being elected as a write-in candidate. Ms Murkowski is the incumbent, but lost the Republican primary this year to the tea-party candidate Joe Miller, who is pals with and was heavily promoted by Sarah Palin. The outcome won't affect the balance of power in the Senate, but it is a blow to Mrs Palin, who presented herself as a political kingmaker this election season, with decidedly mixed results. If there were any race in which Mrs Palin's influence should have tipped the scales, it would have been this one. This is her home state, she never stops talking about it, she used to be the governor of it, Mr Miller did get through the Republican primary, the Murkowski brand does have a lot of baggage in Alaska and, for pete's sake, Ms Murkowski had to run as a write-in. That her candidate lost is a measure of Mrs Palin's own reduced standing in Alaska. The past two years have taken her further from the state, physically and philosophically—Mrs Palin is more socially conservative than the state as a whole, and I doubt many Alaskans share the normative cultural anxiety that recurs in her public statements. Outside of Alaska, though, the picture is not much better. Mrs Palin endorsed 60 candidates around the country; as of now, with a handful of races still uncalled, slightly fewer than half of them won. And I'm hesitant to look at endorsements as a measure of influence, because the value of most endorsements is marginal at most; Mary Fallin, a Republican congresswoman from Oklahoma, hardly needed Mrs Palin's touch to pick up the governor's house from the term-limited Democrat Brad Henry. Looking over the year, Mrs Palin was most effective when she brought a much-needed infusion of money and attention to a lagging candidate early in the process, as with Nikki Haley in South Carolina and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware—but the effects did not always carry through to election day. On balance, Mrs Palin undermined her potential credibility by focusing on politics rather than policy, by gambling on a slew of high-profile endorsements (which kept her on television, at campaign events) rather than trying to find and nurture a handful of intellectual or philosophical protegees. Her "mama grizzlies" concept was a clever bit of branding, but the campaign never advanced beyond identity politics. Having defined herself as an intrinsically political figure, Mrs Palin is bound by the rules of that game. And so she emerges from the 2010 cycle as a diminished national figure. This is partly the natural career progression of an also-ran: you get a special standing as the face of the opposition, until the next election cycle creates a new set of faces. So now the spotlight swings to people like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, who in addition to being the face of the opposition are actually, having been in elected, in a position to do something about it. As for Mrs Palin, we won't hear so much from her until she makes a decision about 2012. (Photo credit: AFP) ||||| Sarah Palin endorsed 60 candidates this year, but when dust settled Wednesday morning, the biggest beneficiary of the “Sarah Palin effect” was not necessarily the candidates themselves, but the Palin brand. Of the 34 candidates Palin endorsed for the House, only 15 won, a less-than-stellar average for someone vying to be the difference-maker in Republican politics. Text Size - + reset POLITICO 44 She did endorse one giant killer, Vicky Hartzler, who took down veteran Democrat and House Armed Services Chairman Committee Ike Skelton of Missouri. Michael Grimm, who took out New York Democrat Michael McMahon, gave Palin another marquee win. But on the Senate side, only five of her 12 choices were successful – with the most embarrassing stumble potentially being her home-state pick of Joe Miller, who is knotted with Palin foe Lisa Murkowski in a tight battle that could end in a weeks-long recount. GOP strategists and observers, however, emphasize that Palin didn’t necessarily choose whom to support based on electability – rather, she backed candidates who aligned with her philosophically. In doing so, she continued to boost the brand that has made her a star among conservatives and raised her name identification with everyone else, regardless of the final scorecard. “I think the process has done enough,” said Ed Rollins, Republican campaign consultant and former chairman of Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. “She's got the most valuable asset anybody can have in politics, and that's name ID — she has negatives, sure, because she's such a polarizing figure — but among the grassroots, the people who will vote in primaries, she's a star.” Rollins likened Palin’s 2010 push to Richard Nixon’s campaign swing across the country in 1966, when Nixon positioned himself for another presidential run in 1968 after his loss to John F. Kennedy by stumping for congressional candidates nationwide, helping to lift the GOP to a 47-seat gain. “No one remembers who won or lost, only that he was out there,” Rollins said. Palin has gone beyond just putting herself “out there,” though. Other potential GOP 2012 presidential hopefuls have hit the trail hard, including Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, but none have drawn the sort of attention and media craze as Palin. Among Republican campaign observers, many believe only Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, has done better building goodwill for himself this cycle with an eye toward the next. And though Tuesday’s tally — 27 victories, 15 losses and eight undecided races in all, following 10 primary losses — did not make a clearer case for a Palin presidential run, her supporters feel excited about what her involvement has done to conservative candidates across the country and what she could do in two years. Many point to Palin's decision not to surround herself with a deep professional staff as one of the reasons she deserves the credit for her outsized influence, but also an explanation as to why she didn't enjoy a higher success rate Tuesday. Palin seems to have been the architect of many of her own decisions — which some say earns her more loyalty from her chosen candidates but also affected her win total. Perhaps no two races were more symbolic of Palin's mixed efforts to take down prominent progressives than her candidates’ success in taking down a 30-year veteran like Skelton, and her failure in Massachusetts, where Sean Bielat fell significantly short of knocking off House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank. In Senate contests, she supported Rand Paul, Pat Toomey and John Boozman; but she also backed Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell and John Raese.

– Sarah Palin is looking like one of the biggest non-Democratic losers in the midterm elections, according to some analysts. High-profile losses among the candidates she endorsed, especially in Alaska, where Lisa Murkowski appears bound for victory as a write-in candidate, are likely to undermine her credibility, the Economist notes. It predicts that we'll be hearing less from Palin—at least until she makes her 2012 ambitions clear—as the spotlight turns to rising stars who have actually been elected, like Rand Paul and Marc Rubio. GOP strategists, however, say that while Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" may not have been big winners, the Palin brand definitely came out ahead. "She's got the most valuable asset anybody can have in politics, and that's name ID," Republican campaign consultant Ed Rollins tells Politico, comparing Palin's efforts in 2010 to Richard Nixon's campaigning on behalf of GOP candidates in 1966 ahead of his successful bid for the White House in 1968 . "No one remembers who won or lost, only that he was out there," Rollins says.

Read next: The Apple TV review. Starting today, millions of people in the US can buy HBO without cable. HBO Now has officially launched across Apple TV and iOS. Subscriptions can be purchased directly through iTunes — your first month is free — and the HBO Now iPhone app hints that Cablevision will begin selling the service very soon. So now that it's here, what's HBO's standalone service like to use? Well, it's very familiar. It's HBO Go sans cable. In other words, it's exactly what we were anticipating, and that's fine. Setting up an account We had some trouble registering for the service in the immediate moments after it went live this morning. Things seem to be settling now, but some users are still experiencing problems. As you go through the set-up process, you'll agree to a bunch of fine print most people will probably ignore. But there's some interesting stuff in there. For one, HBO is reserving the right to change the amount of simultaneous streams that customers can watch whenever it chooses and without warning. HBO may change the maximum number of simultaneous streams and/or registered devices that you may use at any time. HBO reserves the right to shut down password sharing Should login sharing become a real problem that eats into HBO Now's success, the company has given itself full allowance to get much stricter about where and when you can watch. But don't be alarmed just yet. Knowing that this is a service for cord cutters, HBO is at least partially open to the idea of users sharing HBO Now between family members. Another section of the user agreement mentions that you can add "authorized users" who can use the service under your own account. HBO warns that this should only be used for people living in the same household, but will that be something it somehow tries to enforce? There's no telling right now. It's just what you'd expect (for now) Once you successfully register, you'll find that the HBO Now app on Apple TV is largely identical to HBO Go. And there's no reason it shouldn't be; HBO has made clear from the start that Now would offer its full vault of original shows and catalog movies. You're not losing anything here compared to cable customers, nor should you expect to get anything extra. At least, not yet. Fast Company's interview with CEO Richard Plepler hints that HBO Now may eventually offer programming that won't appear on the main, linear network. Those possibilities are exciting, but they're not here at launch. Aside from the home screen, HBO Now's main navigation bar is divided into six sections: Watchlist, Series, Movies, More, Search, and Settings. Aside from "More," which is where you'll find HBO sports and comedy specials, they're all pretty self explanatory. From anywhere in the app, you can add shows and movies to your Watchlist. Series is where you'll find HBO's long history of acclaimed original shows like The Sopranos or current hits like Game of Thrones. As for movies, HBO has a pretty extensive collection of on-demand films, and helpfully gives you the precise date when each one will be leaving the service. As usual with Apple TV apps, navigating around is dead simple. It's incredibly user friendly and obvious; select any show or movie and you can start playing it instantly, watch a brief preview, add it to your watch list, or hit "more" for cast and crew information. So the Apple TV channel is functional, but also a bit bland and inelegant. Especially in the movies section, expect to find yourself scrolling through large grids of icons, which has become another hallmark of the Apple TV experience. None of that's a huge annoyance on iPhone or iPad, where things are laid out better and browsing content is faster and more efficient since you're swiping through everything. The Apple TV experience is a bit boring, but it works just fine If HBO Go is any indication, the company will have more freedom to experiment with menus and user interface whenever Now inevitably reaches other living room boxes and game consoles. (See: HBO Go on PlayStation 4.) Still, it's perfectly usable on Apple TV, and you're here for the content more so than the app itself. Playback seems to work just fine. Streams start up promptly and display in HD without any noticeable buffering or freezing issues, so MLB Advanced Media seems to be doing a decent job handling the backend of HBO's standalone service. So far, anyway. We'll see how things hold up Sunday night when the internet is in full Game of Thrones mode. Reliability may go out the window. If you're in Apple's ecosystem, it's a no brainer Signing up for the free month's trial of HBO Now is something of a no brainer. This is something people have spent years waiting for, and it won't take long to decide whether HBO's content library is worth your $14.99 each month. And even then, remember that there's no commitment involved, so you can theoretically come and go whenever your favorite HBO shows are in-season. Obviously the company would prefer you stick with it, but there's nothing that says you have to. At launch, HBO Now on Apple TV is just what we expected it to be. It's HBO Go without the costly cable package. If you don't have any Apple devices around, jumping in right now might not make the most sense. Cord cutting Android users will need to keep borrowing someone else's HBO Go login for now. In the months ahead, HBO Now should develop into a richer experience and one available on many more devices. But for right now, all you need is the internet — and Apple. Thankfully, an Apple TV will only cost you 69 bucks. ||||| HBO Now, the new standalone version of HBO that doesn’t require a cable subscription, is finally here. The app launches exclusively on Apple devices—iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV to be specific—so if you have one of those then legal, non-moocher, cable-free HBO is just a few taps away. Unlike just stealing HBO credentials from your parents or partner, HBO Now costs $15 a month, but also helps you foster the delusion that you are truly a Good Person who pays for content, and not at all a thief. And if you sign up this month, you’ll get a free 30-day trial. Just enough time to see the beginning but not the end of this season’s Game of Thrones. Advertisement For now, the HBO app is exclusive to iOS but there are some ways around it. Once you download the HBO Now app on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV and sign up, you can also watch on any computer at HBONow.com. And if you don’t have an iOS device but you do have Cablevision’s Optimum Online, you can buy it through that and then just watch on the website. Obviously the app will be coming to other places eventually (one can only assume Android, Xbox, and nearly every set-top box, much like HBO Go), but for now it’s iOS, Cablevision or nothing. But even with those artificial and temporary constraints, the days of HBO without the cable are finally here. ||||| Time Warner Inc.’s Home Box Office unit said Tuesday that its stand-alone streaming service HBO Now is available to users of Apple Inc. products and customers of Cablevision Systems Corp.’s Optimum Online. About 2,000 titles are available through the service for $14.99 a month. The company is offering a 30-day free trial to customers who sign up in April. The launch comes in time for the premiere of the fifth season of “Game of Thrones” on Sunday. ...

– It's another win for cord-cutters, but in this case they'll still need some ties to Apple or Cablevision. Customers of either company now have access to HBO Now, a stand-alone streaming service that offers HBO content for $15 a month, reports the Wall Street Journal. Those who sign up in April can try it out for free the first month. (Everyone's pointing out that HBO made the service available ahead of Sunday's premiere of the new Game of Thrones season.) Apple customers can get HBO Now though an app on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod, or via Apple TV. Subscribers to Cablevision's Optimum Online also can get it via an app. Some quick reaction: "It's HBO Go without the costly cable package," writes Chris Welch at the Verge. "If you don't have any Apple devices around, jumping in right now might not make the most sense. Cord cutting Android users will need to keep borrowing someone else's HBO Go login for now." "Obviously the app will be coming to other places eventually (one can only assume Android, Xbox, and nearly every set-top box, much like HBO Go), but for now it’s iOS, Cablevision or nothing," writes Eric Limer at Gizmodo. "But even with those artificial and temporary constraints, the days of HBO without the cable are finally here."

WASHINGTON — Just days into his new position as President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn found himself in a meeting that any White House official would dread. Face to face with F.B.I. agents, he was grilled about a phone call he had had with Russia’s ambassador. What exactly Mr. Flynn said has not been disclosed, but current and former government officials said on Tuesday that investigators had come away believing that he was not entirely forthcoming. Soon after, the acting attorney general decided to notify the White House, setting in motion a chain of events that cost Mr. Flynn his job and thrust Mr. Trump’s fledgling administration into a fresh crisis. Mr. Flynn’s rise and fall followed familiar patterns in Washington, where ambitious figures secure positions of great authority only to lose them in a blizzard of contradictions, recriminations and scandal. But rarely has an official at such a high level risen and fallen in such a dizzyingly short time, in this case just 24 days after Mr. Flynn arrived in the West Wing to take his corner office. Given his short stay at the top, Mr. Flynn’s case might be quickly forgotten as an isolated episode if it did not raise other questions, particularly about what the president knew and when. Even more broadly, it underscores lingering uncertainty about the relationship between the Trump administration and Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, a subject of great interest given American intelligence reports of Moscow’s intervention in last year’s elections in the United States. ||||| Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said the media helped force Michael Flynn out of his post as President Trump’s national security adviser. “We have a political assassination that’s taken place here,�? he said on his radio show Tuesday while discussing Flynn’s resignation the day before. "The media’s going to try as hard they can not to let go of this, because now they’ve got their scalp." “They think they have blood in the water, they’ve got a scalp and they think they can get another and then another and then another and then another until finally they get Trump.�? ADVERTISEMENT Limbaugh said extensive news coverage of Flynn’s past phone conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak is the latest evidence the media will constantly impede the Trump administration. “They have become the full-fledged resistance to Trump and they have decided that that’s going to be their modus operandi for the next four years,�? he said. "They’re not gonna do the news. They have now mobilized and made it official, they’re even talking about it, some of them are, on [the] cable networks." “I mean, they disguise the words they use, but the impact is clear that they are going to do everything they can to get Trump out of Washington and out of the White House and out of office.�? Flynn resigned late Monday amid reports he misled senior White House officials about his discussions with Kislyak before Trump entered office. The retired Army lieutenant general blamed the “fast pace of events�? for why he “inadvertently�? gave “incomplete information�? to Vice President Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PenceQueen Elizabeth offers condolences to Hurricane Harvey victims Trump proclaims Sunday 'National Day of Prayer' for Harvey victims Pence goes hands-on clearing debris in Texas MORE and others about the talks. He said just before resigning that he spoke with the ambassador specifically about the 35 Russian officials that were expelled from the U.S. as part of the Obama administration's sanctions but that "no lines were crossed." Reports emerged last week that Flynn and Kislyak discussed sanctions against Russia during a series of phone calls in December. Pence had previously denied Flynn and Kislyak ever spoke about sanctions. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday Trump asked for Flynn’s resignation once the president’s faith in his adviser “eroded�? following the reports. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Is losing a top job in 24 days a record? Leading members of the US Republican Party have joined calls for a wide investigation into the former national security adviser's links with Russia. Michael Flynn quit on Monday over claims he discussed US sanctions with Russia before Donald Trump took office. On Tuesday, a White House spokesman said Mr Trump knew weeks ago there were problems with the Russia phone calls. But calls for an independent investigation have encountered a cold response from some senior Republicans. The development came as the New York Times reported that phone records and intercepted calls show members of Mr Trump's presidential campaign, as well as other Trump associates, "had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election". However, officials spoken to by the newspaper said they had not yet seen evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia on the hacking of the Democratic National Committee or to influence the election. As well as an FBI investigation, both the Senate and House intelligence committees are already examining Russian involvement in the election. It is not yet clear whether the latest claims will be included in their scope. Why Mr Flynn resigned He stood down over allegations he discussed US sanctions with a Russian envoy in December, before Mr Trump took office. The conversations took place about the time that then-President Barack Obama was imposing retaliatory measures on Russia following reports it attempted to sway the US election in Mr Trump's favour. Mr Flynn could have broken a law - known as the Logan Act - by conducting US diplomacy as a private citizen, before he was appointed as national security adviser. More on the Flynn scandal The retired army lieutenant-general initially denied having discussed sanctions with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Vice-President Mike Pence publicly denied the allegations on his behalf. The White House admitted it had been warned about the contacts on 26 January but President Trump initially concluded Mr Flynn had not broken any law. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption White House press secretary Sean Spicer: "What this came down to, was a matter of trust" White House lawyers then conducted a review and questioned Mr Flynn before reaching the same conclusion as Mr Trump, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, but the trust had gone. "In the end, it was misleading the vice-president that made the situation unsustainable," White House Counsellor Kellyanne Conway said on Tuesday. Mr Flynn was also reportedly questioned by FBI agents in his first days as national security adviser, according to US media. What Mr Flynn says In an interview conducted with the conservative website The Daily Caller on Monday, but published only on Tuesday, Mr Flynn said he "crossed no lines" in his conversation with the ambassador. He said he discussed the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats over alleged hacking ahead of the election, but "it wasn't about sanctions". He said he was concerned that the apparently classified information had been leaked. "In some of these cases, you're talking about stuff that's taken off of a classified system and given to a reporter," he said. "That's a crime." However, in his resignation letter, Mr Flynn said "the fast pace of events" during the presidential transition meant that he had "inadvertently briefed the vice-president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador". How are Republicans reacting? Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kellyanne Conway said Gen Flynn either "misled" or "could not completely recall" his conversation In his first public comments about the controversy, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday: "The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N Korea etc?" US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told reporters on Tuesday he wanted to examine the leaks, and said the FBI should explain why Mr Flynn's conversation had been recorded. But the Senate's second-ranking Republican,John Cornyn, and other Republican senators have called for an investigation into Mr Trump's connections with Russian officials. Republican John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Mr Flynn's resignation was a "troubling indication of the dysfunction of the current national security apparatus", which raised questions about Mr Trump's intentions towards Russia. Meanwhile, the Senate's most senior Republican, Mitch McConnell, said the intelligence committee was already looking into Russian influence on the election, indicating there was no need for a new investigative panel. And Russia? Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not be commenting on the resignation. "This is the internal affair of the Americans, the internal affair of the Trump administration," he added. "It's nothing to do with us." Image copyright AP Image caption Mr Flynn was pictured dining with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in December 2015 What will America's allies think? - by BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus Gen Flynn's resignation comes just as senior US officials are mounting a major effort to reassure uncertain allies in Europe about the Trump administration's intentions. The new US Defence Secretary General James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice-President Mike Pence are all in Europe over the coming days. Gen Mattis is in the vanguard - he meets his Nato counterparts in Brussels on Wednesday. There will be few tears shed within the alliance over Gen Flynn. His was widely seen as a bizarre and destabilising appointment. But his demise and the rumbling row over team Trump's contacts with Russia continues to cause unease at Nato where many governments wonder at the Trump administration's resolve in standing up to what they see as a new assertiveness from Moscow. Many key US officials are still to be appointed and the continuing chaos at the heart of the Trump administration is a cause for concern among Nato countries whatever reassurance the heavyweight US diplomatic trio may bring. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The US public has "serious questions" about US-Russia ties, says congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi What happens next? Democrat Adam Schiff, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has said Mr Flynn's departure will not end questions about contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia. But there are various ways that these questions could be answered. Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives have demanded a classified briefing to Congress on Michael Flynn by the justice department and FBI. Several House Democrats had already called on Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz to launch an investigation into Mr Flynn's ties to Russia. More on Trump's first 100 days: ||||| (CNN) The White House struggled Tuesday to answer an avalanche of questions over national security adviser Michael Flynn's resignation. Flynn was asked to quit Monday after it became public that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed US sanctions during pre-inauguration phone calls with the Kremlin's man in Washington, Sergey Kislyak. In new developments Tuesday, it emerged that President Donald Trump was told on January 26 -- more than two weeks ago -- that the Justice Department had concerns about Flynn's conduct. Pence did not find out he had been misled until February 9, according to two administration officials. "It's not that he was being left out. It was a legal review," one source said. When Pence began his inquiry based on Washington Post reporting , "the timeline moved fast," the source said. A subsequent review by White House counsel Donald McGahn found that he had not broken the law in his conversations with the Russian envoy. If Flynn discussed detailed policy with the Russian envoy, he could have theoretically infringed the Logan Act that prevents private citizens negotiating with foreign governments over their disputes with the United States. JUST WATCHED Paul Ryan: Trump right to ask Flynn to resign Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Paul Ryan: Trump right to ask Flynn to resign 00:56 Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said Flynn's resignation was precipitated not by misconduct but by a gradual erosion of the President's confidence in him, including over a "series of other questionable instances." "The level of trust between the President and Gen. Flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change," Spicer told reporters Tuesday during his daily briefing. "The President was very concerned that Gen. Flynn had misled the vice president and others." A senior administration official later told CNN the other "questionable instances" included Flynn's request for a security clearance for his son during the transition. He requested the clearance without telling Pence, who at the time was in charge of the transition. Trump's growing skepticism about Flynn, however, did not prevent the national security adviser from spending the weekend before his ouster with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Spicer's attempts to put out the firestorm are unlikely to end the saga, not least because several prominent Republicans on Tuesday joined Democrats in calling for congressional probes into Trump's ties to Moscow, an explosive issue given allegations by the US intelligence community that the Kremlin intervened in the presidential election to help him. Tuesday's developments also left key questions in the intrigue unanswered -- including why it took Trump more than two weeks to push Flynn out after he learned that his national security adviser had not told the truth to Pence. Flynn was eventually asked to resign on a dramatic day of confusion and conflicting messages from the West Wing, hours after the publication of a Washington Post report that revealed the Justice Department's warning to the White House counsel's office. Adding to the drama, a White House official said on Tuesday afternoon that the FBI, which is already investigating alleged contacts between Trump surrogates and Russian officials and intermediaries, interviewed Flynn in the early days of the administration about the calls to the Russian ambassador. The cloud of suspicion still lingering over the White House due to the Flynn affair comes as the new administration is embroiled in multiple controversies and internal staff are infighting as it struggles to find its feet. It also thrusts Trump's relationship and admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin back in the spotlight. Many Washington power players have been astonished by the President's frequent defenses of the Russian leader and determination to improve relations with the Kremlin, despite Moscow's turn to Cold War-style confrontational policies in recent years. Those questions are prompting Republican senators to get more aggressive in searching for answers, despite some resistance to a wider probe in the House. Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was "highly likely" that the chamber's intelligence committee would look at allegations that Flynn spoke about sanctions with Kislyak. JUST WATCHED Graham vows fight to last breath for sanctions Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Graham vows fight to last breath for sanctions 01:58 Sens. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican, Roy Blunt and Lindsey Graham also called for an investigation. "I think Congress needs to be informed of what actually Gen. Flynn said to the Russian ambassador about lifting sanctions," Graham told CNN's Kate Bolduan on "At This Hour." "And I want to know, 'Did General Flynn do this by himself or was he directed by somebody to do it?' " the South Carolina Republican added. Democrats on Capitol Hill already smell blood, and are demanding congressional probes. "Let's be clear -- right now, there are way more questions than answers on President Trump's relationship with Russia," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, told reporters. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee said, "The American people deserve to know at whose direction Gen. Flynn was acting when he made these calls, and why the White House waited until these reports were public to take action." But the President and some House Republicans pushed back, trying to focus attention on the source of disclosures about Flynn's contacts with Russia that appear to have emerged from intelligence surveillance of the Russian Embassy. "The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?" Trump tweeted in his first public reaction to Flynn's departure. The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017 House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes said the focus of any investigation should be how news of Flynn's calls leaked out. Democrats and some Republicans are also asking whether Trump instructed Flynn to talk to the Russian ambassador last year about sanctions imposed by the Obama administration to punish alleged Russian interference in the presidential election. Russia did not respond in its normally aggressive way to the expulsion of alleged agents from its diplomatic posts in the US and the closure of several compounds allegedly used for espionage activities, leading to suspicion that it believed that the Trump administration would act in a way more conducive to Moscow's position. But Spicer insisted Trump had given no instructions to Flynn to talk about sanctions with Russia. "Absolutely not, no, no, no," Spicer said. Correction: In an earlier version of the story, a reference to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's comments should have made clear he was talking about allegations surrounding Michael Flynn. ||||| Speaking to reporters, Feb. 14, White House press secretary discussed the events leading up to the resignation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn from the Trump administration. Here are some key moments from that briefing. (Reuters) Vice President Pence first learned that former national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled him about the nature of his contact with a Russian official on Feb. 9, a full two weeks after other White House officials were briefed on the matter, an aide to Pence said on Tuesday. The timing indicates that Pence would have become aware of the controversy around the same time that a Washington Post report was published, detailing the degree to which Flynn had been in contact with the Russian ambassador to the United States on the issue of sanctions, Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said. “What I would tell you is that the vice president became aware of incomplete information that he had received on Feb. 9, last Thursday night, based on media accounts,” Lotter said. “He did an inquiry based on those media accounts.” In a January television interview, Pence said that Flynn had told him the issue of sanctions did not come up in his conversations with the Russian ambassador. The revelation adds a new layer to the confusion within the White House as it seeks to explain why it took more than two weeks for Flynn to resign his post, even though senior officials, including the president, were aware that he had not told Pence the truth. President Trump had been aware for “weeks” that Flynn had misled Pence and other officials, but did not act until Monday night, forcing the national security adviser to resign, the White House said on Tuesday. White House counsel Don McGahn told Trump in a briefing late last month that Flynn, despite his claims to the contrary, had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Trump was briefed “immediately” after the Justice Department informed McGahn about the discrepancy, Spicer told reporters Tuesday. Sally Q. Yates, the acting attorney general at the time, and a senior career national security official at the Justice Department had informed McGahn at his office about their concerns on Jan. 26, according to a person familiar with the briefing. Spicer said the president and a small group of senior aides were briefed by McGahn about Flynn that same day. “We've been reviewing and evaluating this issue with respect to General Flynn on a daily basis for a few weeks, trying to ascertain the truth,” Spicer said. [Justice Department warned White House that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail, officials say] The comments contrast with the impression Trump gave Friday aboard Air Force One that he was not familiar with a Washington Post report that revealed that Flynn had not told the truth about the calls. “I don't know about that. I haven't seen it. What report is that? I haven't seen that. I'll look into that,” Trump told reporters on the plane. Spicer said Tuesday that Trump was responding only to a question about The Post report and was not speaking about the overall issue of Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador. The White House Counsel's Office conducted a “review” of the legal issues and determined that “there was not a legal issue but rather a trust issue,” Spicer said. “The president was very concerned that General Flynn had misled the vice president and others. The president must have complete and unwavering trust of the person in that position.” At the start of the daily White House briefing, Feb. 14, press secretary Sean Spicer spoke about the resignation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. (Reuters) [Michael Flynn resigns as national security adviser] Spicer said that “the evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of a series of other issues is what led the president to ask for General Flynn's resignation.” He added that the president had an “instinctive” belief that Flynn had not broken any laws, which was later “confirmed” by an inquiry led by the White House Counsel's Office. But the scrutiny of Flynn's contacts with Russian officials promises to continue despite his resignation. In the first days of the new Trump administration, FBI agents interviewed Flynn about his communications with Kislyak, according to current and former officials. The interview, which was first reported by the New York Times, could expose Flynn to possible charges if he denied to the agents, as he had earlier to Pence and other incoming Trump officials, that he had discussed with Kislyak sanctions imposed by the Obama administration for what it said was Russia’s interference in the November elections. Lying to the FBI is a felony offense, and the agents were presumably in possession of a transcript of Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak when they questioned him. In an interview with the Daily Caller, which he granted before his resignation, Flynn said he did not discuss anything inappropriate with the Russian ambassador. “If I did, believe me, the FBI would be down my throat, my clearances would be pulled,” he said. “There were no lines crossed.” Flynn told the Daily Caller: “It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out.” He was referring to the expulsion by the Obama administration of 35 Russians it said were intelligence operatives using diplomatic cover. “It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that,” Flynn said. For Obama officials at the time, even the promise to review the expulsions would have raised a red flag. The White House has offered conflicting accounts over the past day about whether Flynn's decision to resign was his own or done at the request of the president, adding to the confusion over how the administration viewed Flynn's actions. Senior officials told reporters Monday night that Flynn offered his resignation voluntarily. And White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on the “Today” show Tuesday morning that Flynn “had resigned” and was not forced to quit. “The president is very loyal. He’s a very loyal person,” Conway said. “And by nighttime, Mike Flynn had decided it was best to resign. He knew he became a lightning rod, and he made that decision.” Spicer, however, said repeatedly at Tuesday's briefing that Trump asked Flynn to leave. Spicer also said that Trump was not concerned with the nature of the conversations that Flynn had with the Russian ambassador but that the lack of trust created an “unsustainable” situation. “The president has no problem with the fact that he acted in accord with what his job was supposed to be,” Spicer said. National security officials monitored the calls of the Russian ambassador as part of routine surveillance of foreign officials in the United States. Spicer declined to say whether the president would declassify and release transcripts of Flynn's call with Kislyak. “It is inappropriate for me to comment on those at this time,” Spicer said. “It is not an issue that has come up.” Ashley Parker contributed to this report. ||||| Legal experts said it is highly unlikely Michael Flynn would ever be prosecuted for violating the Logan Act, a 218-year-old criminal law prohibiting private individuals from embarking on negotiations with foreign governments. | Getty Flynn’s statements to FBI under scrutiny Just-ousted National Security Adviser Mike Flynn could be in legal trouble if his statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. turn out to be inaccurate, lawyers said Tuesday. While Flynn has acknowledged “inadvertently” giving “incomplete information” to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, he has been less clear about what account of the episode he gave to the FBI. Story Continued Below In an interview shortly before Flynn was asked to resign Monday, the retired general said nothing about his late December contact with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak verged into the improper. “If I did, believe me, the FBI would be down my throat, my clearances would be pulled. There were no lines crossed,” Flynn told the Daily Caller. Legal experts said it is highly unlikely Flynn would ever be prosecuted for violating the Logan Act, a 218-year-old criminal law prohibiting private individuals from embarking on negotiations with foreign governments. No one has ever faced such a charge. However, Flynn did have a legal obligation to be truthful with the FBI about any contacts with the Russians. “He is at serious risk of being prosecuted if he told the FBI what he told the Vice President,” said former Obama White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen, now with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Just because you’re not going to charge him with the Logan Act, there’s certainly nothing to preclude you from going forward under 1001,” said former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg, referring to a U.S. criminal code felony provision prohibiting making knowing and willful false statements “in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States.” A genuinely faulty memory is a valid defense to a false statement charge, but Zeidenberg said it’s hard to see how Flynn could have been mistaken under these circumstances. “How did his memory go from I didn’t talk to the Russians about sanctions to I don’t remember if I talked to the Russians about the sanctions,” the ex-prosecutor said. “These interview are very close in time to the event, not a year and a half later….It’s not the type of thing that you would forget.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that White House counsel Don McGahn explored Flynn’s actions and concluded there was no law broken. “We had to review whether there was a legal issue, which the White House Counsel concluded there was not,” said Spicer, carefully avoiding any mention of whether McGahn looked at whether any crimes may have been committed. Of course, any decision about criminal charges is ultimately made by the Justice Department, not the White House. Spicer said that when acting Attorney General Sally Yates visited McGahn on Jan. 26, she was simply alerting the White House to intelligence about Flynn, not disclosing any investigation. “She said, we wanted to give you a head's up that there may be information, okay? She could not confirm there was an investigation,” Spicer said. A lawyer who handles security clearance background check disputes for government employees, Mark Zaid, said most misstatements in that context don’t lead to a criminal charge. “I’d say 98 out of 100 times, nothing ever happens, not criminally. Maybe there’s an administrative matter with the clearance, but every once in a while the government gets all worked up and all of a sudden somebody gets prosecuted for lying” in a background check, said Zaid. One puzzling aspect of Flynn’s case is that as a former Defense Intelligence Agency director and veteran intelligence officer it seems likely he would be aware that conversations with foreign ambassadors of countries seen as hostile to the U.S. are routinely recorded. “As a former DIA director, he would know that ambassadors are under surveillance, so presumably he would not say something so stupid that it would get him into trouble,” said Zaid, who is handling Freedom of Information lawsuits for some POLITICO reporters. Still, people sometimes act in ways that don’t seem logical in retrospect, Zeidenberg noted. “He may not be thinking at that moment that there may be a transcript somewhere that may cross me up. It seems kind of dumb but maybe he didn’t think through the ramifications or implications of what he was saying,” said Zeidenberg, now with law firm Arent Fox. False statement charges typically tend to be brought with other more substantive charges, although that is not always the case. Sometimes the false-statement charge is filed as part of a plea bargain that avoids a trial on other, more serious claims. That’s what happened last year with Marine Gen. James Cartwright, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He pled guilty to a single false-statement felony charge after getting caught up in an investigation into leaks about U.S. use of the Stuxnet virus to impede Iran’s nuclear program. Prosecutors said they agreed to the plea bargain in order to avoid a contested public trial on an Espionage Act charge of transmitting classified information to journalists. President Barack Obama pardoned Cartwright before he was sentenced. A special prosecutor investigating the leak of a CIA operative’s identity turned to the false-statement statute and similar laws to indict Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis Libby, even though Libby was never charged with leaking. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison after a jury convicted him on four felony counts. President George W. Bush commuted the prison term, but never granted a pardon. The FBI has a record of aggressively pursuing false statements by potential appointees for senior jobs, at least in some instances. In 1997, former Clinton administration Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros was indicted in 18 felony counts, including false-statement and obstruction charges, stemming from statements he made to the FBI about payments to a mistress. During an FBI background inquiry, Cisneros acknowledged some payments to the mistress, but understated them and said they had ceased when they had not. On the eve of trial in 1999, the independent counsel handling the case and Cisneros entered a plea deal where he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor false statement count. He paid a $10,000 fine, but later received a pardon from Clinton. The prosecution was widely criticized as excessive, but FBI officials said it was critical to preserve the integrity of the FBI’s background check process. Zeidenberg said he wouldn’t predict a prosecution of Flynn, but he cautioned against ruling it out. “I could see a case like that brought by the U.S. Attorney’s office in D.C.,” the ex-prosecutor said. “I wouldn’t presume one way or another, but I wouldn’t assume they would never prosecute a case like that.” Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report. ||||| In the final hours before his resignation, now-former White House National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn said he “crossed no lines” in his discussion with Russia’s ambassador, but ultimately he was most concerned about the steady stream of leaks to reporters based on classified information. “In some of these cases, you’re talking about stuff that’s taken off of a classified system and given to a reporter. That’s a crime,” Flynn told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group during a telephone interview from his White House office on Monday. “You call them leaks. It’s a criminal act. This is a crime. It’s not just a wink and a nod,” Flynn said. “Over the weekend,” Bloomberg’s Eli Lake reports, Flynn “was instructed not to speak to the press when he was in the fight for his political life. His staff was not even allowed to review the transcripts of his call to the Russian ambassador.” On Monday morning, he spoke with TheDCNF at length, saying he was told to “go out and talk more.” “He [President Donald Trump] expressed confidence,” Flynn told TheDCNF, just hours before his resignation. “That’s when he told me that we need to go out and talk more. So I’m going to do that.” “I haven’t been fighting back because I’m not that kind of guy. I’m behind the scenes. I’ve always been behind the scenes. But this is ridiculous. It’s so out of control. I’ve become an international celebrity for all the wrong reasons.” Flynn said he didn’t know where the leaks originated. “One has to wonder, ‘Are they coming out of people in the National Security Council? Are they coming out of people in the intel community? Or State? Or Defense?'” The politicization of intelligence and the release of classified information for use against political opponents is likely to spark a fierce firestorm in Washington. President Donald Trump tweeted early Tuesday on leaks from officials within his administration, saying, “The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at his daily briefing on Tuesday that the president “is clearly upset” about leaks and that past leaks affected earlier administrations, including Obama’s. “People who are entrusted with national security secrets, classified information, are leaking it out. That’s a real concern for this president,” he said. “We have to wonder that people who work for our government, who are entrusted with classified information, decisional-based materials are leaking that information out. That, I do believe is a big story.” Spicer did not spell out any steps Trump might take to stem the flow of leaks, however. Before his post in the administration, Flynn was in charge of military intelligence in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was appointed to the highest levels within military intelligence, including as director of intelligence for the U.S. Central Command. After that, he was director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). President Barack Obama fired him as DIA director in 2014 after Flynn delivered testimony before Congress that was at odds with Obama’s contention that radical Islamic terrorism, including ISIS, was not a major threat. Since then, Obama administration officials have openly held low regard for him. Since Trump and Flynn entered the White House, anonymous sources have given select reporters information about telephone intercepts conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). The classified information secretly given to reporters purportedly showed that Flynn discussed sanctions on Dec. 29, when 35 Russian diplomats were being expelled that same day by the outgoing Obama administration. Other intelligence leaks have revealed Trump’s private discussions with heads of state soon after he became president-elect. In a Feb. 9 story, The Washington Post cited unnamed “current and former U.S. officials” who accused Flynn of violating the law in a Dec. 29 telephone conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislvak. Flynn called the leaks of classified information against government officials “unprecedented,” and predicted those would be the focus of future congressional investigations. “Members of Congress are very concerned because these are leaks from classified systems. The House and Senate are looking into those things, as they should,” he told TheDCNF. The issue of government leaks is an issue for House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. On Monday, Nunes told Bloomberg News that he views leaks about Flynn’s private conversation as part of a pattern. “There does appear to be a well-orchestrated effort to attack Flynn and others in the administration,” said Nunes, who is a California Republican. “From the leaking of phone calls between the president and foreign leaders to what appears to be high-level [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] information, to the leaking of American citizens being denied security clearances, it looks like a pattern.” A Wall Street Journal editorial Tuesday asked, “Did U.S. spooks have a court order to listen to his conversations?” Former intelligence and military officers told TheDCNF they agree Flynn was the victim of a highly orchestrated “disinformation campaign” generated by current and former intelligence officers, many with loyalties to former President Obama. Intelligence officials are supposed to use their expertise in psychological warfare and disinformation campaigns against enemy states, but never against an occupant of the Oval Office. “Who pulled the NSA tapes on Mike Flynn?” asked retired Col. James Waurishuk, a 30-year intelligence officer who once served in the National Security Council. “Who compiled it? Who released it?” the retired Special Forces veteran asked in an interview with TheDCNF. Waurishuk argued the many leaks meant the public is seeing the politicization of intelligence. “There are those in the intelligence community that are more concerned with their agendas than with national security,” he said. “Notice how the intelligence community can leak Flynn’s conversation, but there are no leaks on Hillary Clinton and Benghazi,” he added. Another former intelligence official, retired Col. James Williamson, told TheDCNF, “What is illegal is that Flynn has his conversations eavesdropped on. Who at NSA leaked the transcript?” Williamson called it an “egregious overstep” by current and former intelligence officials. Flynn insisted that he crossed no lines in his telephone conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak: “If I did, believe me, the FBI would be down my throat, my clearances would be pulled. There were no lines crossed.” Flynn said there was a brief discussion of the 35 Russian diplomats who were being expelled by Obama in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 campaign. “It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” Flynn said. “So that’s what it turned out to be. It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that.” Flynn said he apologized to Vice President Mike Pence about his earlier contention that there were no discussions about the expulsion order, which was part of the Obama sanctions. “For the vice president, I feel terrible. I put him in a position. He’s a man of incredible integrity. I think the world of him. He is so good for our country,” he said. “I should have said, ‘I don’t know. I can’t recall,’ which is the truth. Looking back, that’s what I should have done.” The December conversation “was not to relieve sanctions. It was basically to say, ‘Look, we’re coming into office in a couple of weeks. Give us some time to take a look at everything.’” Before he submitted his resignation, Flynn said the president urged him early Monday morning to speak out more frequently. Flynn has been silent since tendering his resignation. 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– President Trump knew that Mike Flynn had misled VP Mike Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador weeks before Pence was informed, it emerged Tuesday as the national security adviser's resignation continued to rock the administration. Pence spokesman Marc Lotter tells the Washington Post that the vice president "became aware of incomplete information" on Feb. 9 following a Post story on the issue. The White House, however, says Trump and other top administration officials were briefed on the Justice Department's concerns about Flynn at least two weeks earlier. "It's not that he was being left out. It was a legal review," an administration source tells CNN. In other developments: The FBI interviewed Flynn in late January after it warned the Trump administration that he could be blackmailed, the New York Times reports. If authorities determine that he lied during that interview, he could face felony charges. In an interview with the Daily Caller hours before his resignation, Flynn insisted there were "no lines crossed" in his conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. "It wasn't about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out," Flynn said, referring to former President Obama's expulsion of Russian diplomats in December. "It was basically, 'Look, I know this happened. We'll review everything.' I never said anything such as, 'We're going to review sanctions,' or anything like that." Legal experts tell Politico that Flynn faces a real risk of prosecution if he wasn't truthful with the FBI, and claiming to have forgotten parts of the conversation probably won't work. Lawyer Mark Zaid says a puzzling aspect of the case is that, as a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Flynn must have known that conversations with ambassadors from countries like Russia would be under surveillance. Republican senators are among those calling for a full investigation of the Flynn affair, but he still has his defenders, including Rush Limbaugh. On Tuesday, the radio host described pressure on Flynn as a "political assassination" by the media, the Hill reports. "They think they have blood in the water, they've got a scalp, and they think they can get another and then another and then another and then another until finally they get Trump," he said. The BBC reports that Pence and other top US officials will be in Europe later this week to reassure American allies—though NATO allies will apparently be untroubled by the departure of Flynn, who was seen as "a bizarre and destabilizing appointment."

Aboard the Papal Plane (CNN) Pope Francis said Sunday that Christians owe apologies to gays and others who have been offended or exploited by the church, remarks that some Catholics hailed as a breakthrough in the church's tone toward homosexuality. "I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally," Francis said at a press conference aboard the papal plane returning from Armenia. "The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times -- when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!" As he often does during unscripted moments -- particularly papal news conferences -- the Pope spoke expansively, saying the church should seek forgiveness for a number of historical slights committed in its name. Groundbreaking Moment "I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended," he added, "but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons." The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America magazine, called the Pope's apology to gays and lesbians "a groundbreaking moment." "While St. John Paul II apologized to several groups in 2000 -- the Jewish people, indigenous peoples, immigrants and women, among them -- no pope has ever come close to apologizing to the LGBT community. And the Pope is correct of course. First, because forgiveness is an essential part of the Christian life. And second, because no group feels more marginalized in the church today than LGBT people." The Pope's comments came in response to a question about a German Cardinal who said the Catholic Church should apologize for being "very negative" about gays. The Pope was also asked whether Christians bear some blame for hatred toward the LGBT community, as horrifically demonstrated in the Orlando massacre at a gay night club that killed 49 people on June 12. Repeating the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church about respecting and not discriminating against gays, Pope Francis said that one could condemn certain behavior. "One can condemn, but not for theological reasons, but for reasons of political behavior...Certain manifestations are a bit too offensive for others, no? "But these are things that have nothing to do with the problem. The problem is a person that has a condition, that has good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge? And we must accompany them well." 'Immense Blessing' Francis first uttered that rhetorical question -- Who am I to judge gay people? -- in 2013, also during a news conference on the papal plane. His comments were hailed as a breakthrough for a church that has historically condemned homosexuality, often in harsh terms. Francis has not changed church doctrine that calls homosexual acts sinful, but he has shown a more merciful approach to people on the margins, including gays and lesbians. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group, called the Pope's remarks "an immense blessing of healing." "No pope has said more welcoming words to LGBT people than when Pope Francis today offered his recommendation that the Church -- indeed all Christians -- should apologize for the harm religious traditions have caused to LGBT people. The pope's statement was simple, yet powerful, and it fell from his lips so easily." As is often the case, the Pope's press conference encompassed a number of controversial questions. Here are the Pope's answers about Brexit, former Pope Benedict XVI and why he used the word "genocide" to describe the murder of more than 1 million Armenians in the early 20th century. Brexit "For me, unity is always superior to conflict, but there are different forms of unity and also brotherhood. and here I come to the EU -- brotherhood is better than enmity or distance and bridges are better than walls. "The step which the EU has to take to recover the strength of its roots is a step of creativity and healthy 'separation;' that is, to give more independence, more freedom to the countries of the EU, to think of another form of union, to be creative in jobs, in the economy..." "There is something that is not working in that unwieldy union, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, let's try to jump-start things, to recreate .. today the two key words for the EU are creativity and fecundity." Genocide Pope Francis said that while Turkey has, "a right to protest," he has always used the word genocide, since his time in Argentina, and again last year quoting John Paul II so "it would have sounded very strange," he said, not to use it again. "In Argentina, when you spoke about the extermination of Armenians, one always used the word genocide. I did not know another word ... When I came to Rome, I heard the other words, 'The Great Evil' and the Armenian term which I do not know how to say, and they told me that ... using 'genocide' is offensive, that you have to say something else. I have also spoken about three genocides of the last century, always three, first the Armenian, then Hitler, and the last one is Stalin." "After I heard the tone of the President's speech and also with my past with this word, which I uttered last year in St. Peter's publicly, it would have sounded very strange not to say the same word." Two Popes? In response to a question about whether there are two Popes in the Vatican, a story which had received headlines recently because of a comment by Pope Benedict's personal secretary who said that the Pope Emeritus was part of an "expanded papacy," Francis said, "There is only one Pope." "[Benedict] is the Pope Emeritus, the wise grandpa. He is the man who guards my back with his prayers." ||||| Image copyright EPA Image caption Pope Francis, flanked by Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, addressed journalists on the flight back from Armenia Pope Francis has said that the Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them. He told reporters that the Church had no right to judge the gay community, and should show them respect. The pontiff also said the Church should seek forgiveness from other people it had marginalised - women, the poor, and children forced into labour. The Pope has been hailed by many in the gay community for his positive attitude towards homosexuals. But some conservative Catholics have criticised him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality. Speaking to reporters on his plane returning from Armenia, the Pope said: "I will repeat what the catechism of the Church says, that they [homosexuals] should not be discriminated against, that they should be respected, accompanied pastorally." Pope Francis said the Church should seek forgiveness from those whom it had marginalised. Image copyright EPA Image caption The Pope and Armenian patriarch Catholicos Karekin II released doves of peace near Mt Ararat "I think that the Church not only should apologise... to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologise to the poor as well, to the women who have been exploited, to children who have been exploited by [being forced to] work. It must apologise for having blessed so many weapons." In 2013, Pope Francis reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not. "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" he said then. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Pope Francis speaking to journalists about the EU: "Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water" In other remarks on Sunday, the Pope said he hoped the European Union would be able to recover following the UK's decision to leave. "There is something that is not working in that bulky union, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, let's try to jump-start things, to re-create," he said. Image copyright AP Image caption Thousands of Armenians travelled to see the Pope during his visit During his visit to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the Pope described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman Turkish rule in World War One as "genocide". Turkey has always disputed the numbers killed and angrily rejects the term "genocide". In response, Turkish deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli said the Pope's comments were "very unfortunate" adding it was "possible to see all the reflections and traces of crusader mentality in the actions of the papacy". The Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, later told reporters: "The Pope is on no crusade. He is not trying to organise wars or build walls but he wants to build bridges. He has not said a word against the Turkish people."

– It was quintessential Pope Francis: On a plane journey back from a foreign trip on Sunday, the pontiff made a statement that once would have been considered jaw-droppingly radical. In a response to a reporter's question, Francis said the church should apologize for offending and discriminating against gays over the years, the BBC reports. "I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended," he said, "but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons." Francis stressed that when he says "the church," he means Christians. "The Church is holy, we are sinners!" he said. Francis—who made waves three years ago when he asked: Who am I to judge gays?—has been hailed by gay rights groups for his groundbreaking statements, though he has reaffirmed church policy that actually having gay sex is sinful, the BBC notes. The pope was on his way home from Armenia, where he once again enraged Turkish authorities by describing the mass killing of Armenians a century ago as genocide, reports CNN. He also addressed Britain's vote to leave the EU, saying that while "something ... is not working in that unwieldy union" and EU countries should be given more independence to creatively deal with their problems, "let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Kanye West, prolific entertainer/fashion icon/celebrity/member of the Kardashian family needs our help! Recently, Kanye let us in on his personal struggle. He is 53 million dollars in debt and it doesn't look like he's going to get Mark Zuckerberg's help that he desperately needs. We must open our hearts and wallets for Kanye today. Sure he is personally rich and can buy furs and houses for his family, but without our help, the true genius of Kanye West can't be realized. As Kanye West has told us time and time again he is the "greatest living artist and greatest artist of all time". Great artists need to be supported financially to achieve their full potential. To quote Mr. West, "I am Warhol. I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney. Nike. Google. Now who's gonna be the Medici family and stand up and let me create more!" WE MUST BE THE MEDICI FAMILY TO KANYE. GoFundMe, let us unite! Help spread the word! Share Tweet 300k shares on Facebook shares on Facebook ||||| Add a location to your Tweets When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| While Kanye West may be the most beloved artist of all time, at least by Kanye West himself, he's still human. And humans have bills to pay. Recently, Yeezy tweeted that he's $53 million in debt. I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt... Please pray we overcome... This is my true heart... — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016 While it's unclear whether Kanye is truly in this enormous amount of debt, fans are banding together to help him in his time of so-called need. Funnyman and funny fan Jeremy Piatt, created a GoFundMe page for the artist, which he's aptly titled "Get Kanye Out of Debt". "I'm trying to help out the greatest living artist of our time while he's in need," Piatt told Mashable in an email. "I saw that Kanye is 53 Million Dollars in debt and I knew I had to do anything I could to help, because as all my friends would tell you, I'm just a very giving person." Piatt is modeling his act of good will and support of the arts after the wealthy Italian Medici family, who were known to financially support artists at the time of their reign. "Kanye is the greatest living artist on the planet, he's told us many many many many times," Piatt told Mashable. "The great artists need people to finance them, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo had the Medici family to fund their projects, so why not have the legions of Kanye fans fund his? This is what makes crowd sourcing great! Now we can personally make a difference in the world and help pay for mind blowing art." Image: PHOTOLURE News Agency/Demotix/Corbis While Kanye has yet to reach out to Piatt about obtaining the $35 that has been raised when we published this story, Piatt is hopeful he'll hear from the rapper. "I am trying to reach out to Kanye or his people so the funds can be transferred to him," Piatt says. "I have been in contact with GoFundMe and we've agreed to keep the page up, but I am not able to withdraw any money. The only people who will be able to withdraw money will be Kanye or his team." my dreams brought me into debt and I’m close to seeing the light of day… — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 16, 2016 Here's hoping Piatt's mission to help the artist get out of debt makes its way toward Kanye himself. Ultimately, according to Piatt: "The goal for the page is to raise awareness for supporting the arts, of course I hope that Kanye finds out about it because the money can not be transferred to him unless that happens." ||||| There appears to be some truth to Kanye West’s claim that he has met “all the tech guys”. The Chicago hip-hop mogul this weekend declared he is $53m in debt and requested funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google cofounder Larry Page. He then threw down this 70-character gauntlet: KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) All you guys had meetings with me and no one lifted a finger to help…. The Guardian wasn’t able to determine the true nature of West’s finances, but he does appear to have more than a few friends in Silicon Valley, based on public press accounts and interviews with several tech executives. He frequently shows up at Apple’s southern California office, is friends with rap-obsessed venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, has reportedly dined with an Instagram founder, and has some sort of social relationship with Dropbox chief executive Drew Houston. The interactions go back at least half a decade. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Kanye stopped by the SpaceX rocket factory today. pic.twitter.com/6z7gHBn6 There’s some context here. The entertainment industry and tech have long had a fascination with each other. For music titans such as West, Nas, MC Hammer and Justin Bieber, it’s become a way to grow serious businessperson bona fides. For technologists, it’s the ultimate revenge of the nerds. Some of West’s early interactions with Silicon Valley were well-documented by Gawker’s tech industry gossip site Valleywag. In 2012 and 2013, the producer and rapper began pitching his latest vision, Donda, to investors. It was presented as a sort of hip man’s General Electric that would have its fingers in everything from fashion and publishing to “alternative energy sources” and “hovercrafts”. KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) Here is my Donda chart that I wrote 4 years ago that everyone laughed at… pic.twitter.com/g1po6Z3H55 Perhaps trying to grease the levers of finance, West invited several tech thought leaders to his 2013 engagement party at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, home of the Giants. Horowitz, the cofounder of mega venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, was there, as was Dropbox’s Houston. Another person present: Mahbod Moghadam, the controversial cofounder of Rap Genius, the Andreessen Horowitz-backed company that helps people understand rap lyrics. “They’re tight. It’s cute,” Moghadam, who now works at Everipedia, said of Horowitz and West. Moghadam left Rap Genius in 2014 after comments he made about a mass shooting at the University of California Santa Barbara. “In their defense, I did do a lot of stupid things,” he said. Dropbox and Andreessen Horowitz didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. It couldn’t be learned what relationship, if any, West maintains with executives at some of the biggest Silicon Valley companies, such as Facebook, Twitter, Uber and Alphabet (the artists formerly known as Google), although he has dined with Kevin Systrom, the cofounder of Facebook-owned Instagram. But he does appear to have a working relationship with Apple, a less-than-surprising development given the iPhone maker’s work with streaming music these days – even if he did declare his new album The Life of Pablo would “never never never” be on Apple’s iTunes Store and would be exclusive to the streaming service Tidal. At Apple’s southern California headquarters, where former record executive Jimmy Iovine helps run Apple music, West is sometimes found hanging out in Iovine’s office, a person familiar with the meetings said. In his Twitter posts on 14 February, West asked Zuckerberg for $1bn to help handle his debts and bring Donda, his startup idea, to fruition. As Aaron Levie, the chief executive of Box, noted on Twitter, that’s a lot of money these days, even in Silicon Valley. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. internet The Dumbest GoFundMe Campaigns Ever Ashley Reign 115k votes 18k voters 9.8M views 25 items Follow Embed List Rules Vote up the GoFundMe and crowdfunding campaigns that are so stupid, they're almost insulting. If you've ever been on social media, read the Internet, or had human friends, you probably already know about crowdfunding campaigns like the ones on GoFundMe or Kickstarter. More than likely, you’ve been sent a request or two to help fund worthy causes like paying vet bill of a sickly cat or covering the medical expenses of someone’s grandma. But not everyone in the crowdfunding universe has intentions that are quite so pure. In fact, we’ve gathered a collection of some of the worst GoFundMe campaigns of all time to prove just how weird and greedy society can be. These are some of the worst crowdfunding campaigns the Internet has to offer, featuring everything from stupid GoFundMe campaigns like the one to find out the truth about #deflategate, to a Kickstarter fan project to break up Ciara and Russell Wilson. While some of these dumb things on GoFundMe might actually resonate with some people (like the one to help a lady buy a hedgehog), others are just plain wacky. At the very least, these crowdfunding attempts will help you feel better about your own life. Vote up the best of the worst dumb GoFundMe campaigns ever to hit the web! 1 1,493 1,137 The Fund To Send A Woman Around The World For Spiritual Healing Photo: GoFundMe Traveling the world sounds like an amazing opportunity. And the chance to travel the world on someone else's dime? Even better. This woman - only identified as Rebecca G. - is asking people to help her pay for a $10,000 round-the-world trip so she can advance in her "spiritual journey." Sure. She promises that as she travels she will help others realize their own spiritual journey all while living out her dream. How she plans to help others is unclear. What we do know is that she plans to write a book about it. Yay? The 20 Most Epic Wedding FAILs of All Time The Scariest Animals in the World 2 2,290 8,645 A Fund to Erase This Bad Decision Photo: Tabitha Renea West/via GoFundMe Turns out getting a job was tough for this tattooed New Yorker. To help erase her (really, really, really) terrible decision and hopefully brighten up her job prospects, she started a Turns out getting a job was tough for this tattooed New Yorker. To help erase her (really, really, really) terrible decision and hopefully brighten up her job prospects, she started a GoFundMe campaign to get the 420 tattoo removed from her forehead. Aiming for $800, she raised more than $1,000 in just a few days. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Enlarge Image GoFundMe Don't worry Yeezy, help is on the way. A Kanye West fan in Minnesota has created a GoFundMe page for the rapper, fashion designer and Kim Kardashian's crazier half, a day after the Grammy winner tweeted he was $53 million in debt. West's financial woes are so bad, he publicly begged two tech billionaires for cash. "Kanye West, prolific entertainer/fashion icon/celebrity/member of the Kardashian family needs our help!" Jeremy Piatt wrote on his Help Get Kanye Out of Debt page. "Sure, he is personally rich and can buy furs and houses for his family, but without our help, the true genius of Kanye West can't be realized." The Internet's quickly showed its generosity and support. By Tuesday afternoon -- some 48 hours after West's desperate plea -- a total of $50 had been pledged to the multi-platinum hip-hop star. (That's 0.000094 percent of Kanye's total debt.) Piatt, a graphic designer, is no stranger to Internet fame. The 36-year-old, who made headlines last year for giving NFL helmets a bold makeover, said he was motivated by the desire to help a fellow artist. "The arts must be funded, and without funding great ideas and great masterpieces never get made," Piatt said. "This is a great way for people, not giant corporations, to support great artists and visionaries." A West representative didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Of course, Piatt wasn't alone in trying to organize support for Kanye. A separate GoFundMe campaign, called HELP PAY KANYE'S DEBT!, was organized by Robert Kulik in Washington, D.C. though it appears to have been canceled. "A buck, five-spot, 10-banger, deuce-nil, Franklin... Just give what you can as soon as you can," the campaign read. "We need to relieve his stress, so the "greatest artist of all time" can do what he does best - making the world a better place!" Kulik's campaign raised $0. He didn't respond to an email seeking comment. West recently went on a bizarre Twitter rant in which he pleaded for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet CEO Larry Page to each invest $1 billion in his ideas. West tweeted Sunday that he feels rich people are always "too cool" to ask for help, including lending money. Some in Silicon Valley took note. Box CEO Aaron Levie tweeted: Classic Series A pitch deck line. Yeezy -- that's one of West's nicknames -- also just released his latest album, "The Life of Pablo," and debuted his latest clothing collection at Fashion Week in New York. The album, which was released on the struggling music streaming app Tidal Sunday, was pulled down shortly after it appeared. The album has reportedly been illegally downloaded more than 500,000 times from other sites after many fans said they paid $20 to download the album off Tidal but didn't get it. On one of the tracks, West boasts he's responsible for pop star Taylor Swift's fame. On Monday, Swift artfully responded while accepting a Grammy for best album. "To all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or fame," she said. "But if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and know it was you and the people who love you who put there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world." I guess that's what they call a "mic drop."

– Kanye West is, apparently, $53 million in debt, but he should be able to pay that off in no time thanks to a GoFundMe campaign started by 36-year-old Minnesotan Jeremy Piatt, CNET reports. "Recently, Kanye let us in on his personal struggle. He is 53 million dollars in debt and it doesn't look like he's going to get Mark Zuckerberg's help that he desperately needs," Piatt writes. "We must open our hearts and wallets for Kanye today. Sure he is personally rich and can buy furs and houses for his family, but without our help, the true genius of Kanye West can't be realized." So far, after just a single day of fundraising, $603 has been raised for Kanye (along with a lot of comments like, "How about you get a job?"). Piatt tells Mashable that he's spoken to GoFundMe, and only Kanye or his team will be able to access any money raised. As for Zuckerberg—West specifically asked him, as well as Larry Page, to donate money to the Kanye cause when he went on his Twitter rant, and then went on to imply that he knows other tech giants who should help him. "All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists…," he tweeted, followed by, "All you guys had meetings with me and no one lifted a finger to help…." The Guardian did a little investigation into how many "tech guys" Kanye actually knows, and found that he really does have something of an ongoing relationship with Facebook and Apple; has had meetings with investors in Silicon Valley and even had some of them at one of his parties; has had interactions with an Instagram co-founder, the Dropbox chief executive, a co-founder of Rap Genius, and Elon Musk; and is good friends with venture capitalist Ben Horowitz. (Here are some of the dumbest GoFundMe campaigns ever.)

A man was forcibly removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight Sunday, sparking widespread horror after a video of the incident was posted online: @United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here's how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW — Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017 According to the passenger who filmed the video, United initially asked if four volunteers on the flight from Chicago to Louisville would be willing to give up their seat for $400, a free night in the hotel, and a flight at 3 p.m. Monday. The plane required the seats for flight crew members, who were needed in Louisville in order to arrive in time for their next flights. When no passenger accepted the trade, the airline doubled the offer to $800. When still no one accepted, United reportedly used a computer to randomly choose passengers who had already boarded the flight to be required to give up their seats. After two people willingly left the plane, the man in the video reportedly said he was unwilling to surrender his seat because he was a doctor and had patients to see in the Louisville area Monday morning. He was then aggressively dragged from the plane, his face bloodied by officers forcing him out of his seat. Passengers filmed the incident, and the man can be heard screaming in captured footage. The man was eventually allowed to re-board the plane, which left with a two-hour delay. "Everyone was shocked and appalled," said Audra D. Bridges, who recorded the video and gave her account of the events to The Courier-Journal. "There were several children on the flight as well that were very upset." A spokesperson for United said: "Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologize for the overbook situation." Jeva Lange ||||| United Airlines planes at San Francisco International Airport on July 25, 2013. (Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images) A video posted on Facebook late Sunday evening shows a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville being forcibly removed from the plane before takeoff at O’Hare International Airport. The video, posted by Audra D. Bridges at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, is taken from an aisle seat on a commercial airplane that appears to be preparing to take flight. The 31-second clip shows three men wearing radio equipment and security jackets speaking with a man identified as Elizabethtown doctor David Dao seated on the plane. After a few seconds, one of the men grabs the passenger, who screams, and drags him by his arms toward the front of the plane. The video ends before anything else is shown. A United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago. "Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," the spokesperson said. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. "We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities." More Flight 3411 coverage ►Experts: United bungled removal of passenger ►How often do airlines bump passengers? ►A timeline of United Flight 3411 ►United Airlines was just plain wrong | Joseph Gerth ►United’s stock price down after dragging incident ►Who's the worst for bumping passengers? ►Male High teacher aboard United flight: ‘This didn’t need to happen’ ►David Dao, passenger removed from United flight, now in spotlight ►Jimmy Kimmel rips United with fake ad ►United Airlines video has already become a meme ►Jeff Ruby offers United passenger free steak ►United's fiasco prompts apology, suspension ►United Airlines video has already become a meme ►Security officer placed on leave after United flight incident ►United CEO says passenger dragged from plane was 'an upsetting event' ►Social media explodes after man dragged from plane ►United Airlines had a right to remove that flier. But, was there a better way? Bridges, a Louisville resident, gave her account of the flight Sunday night. Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m. Monday. Passengers were allowed to board the flight, Bridges said, and once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered. Then, she said, a manager came aboard the plane and said a computer would select four people to be taken off the flight. One couple was selected first and left the airplane, she said, before the man in the video was confronted. On Monday, United released a statement from CEO Oscar Munoz: "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation." United CEO response to United Express Flight 3411. pic.twitter.com/rF5gNIvVd0 — United (@united) April 10, 2017 More headlines ►WaterStep en route to Colombia landslide ►Men charged with murder after body found in creek ►2017 Kentucky Derby Festival Queen crowned Bridges said the man became "very upset" and said that he was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning. The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane. The man was able to get back on the plane after initially being taken off – his face was bloody and he seemed disoriented, Bridges said, and he ran to the back of the plane. Passengers asked to get off the plane as a medical crew came on to deal with the passenger, she said, and passengers were then told to go back to the gate so that officials could "tidy up" the plane before taking off. Bridges said the man shown in the video was the only person who was forcibly removed. "Everyone was shocked and appalled," Bridges said. "There were several children on the flight as well that were very upset." The flight was delayed around two hours before it could fly to Louisville, and it arrived in Kentucky later Sunday night. No update was given to the passengers about the condition of the man forcibly removed, Bridges said. The Chicago Department of Aviation said Monday afternoon that it had placed the security officer who pulled the man out of his seat on leave pending a “thorough review” of the situation. The aviation department said in an emailed statement that the incident wasn’t in accordance with its standard operating procedure and the officer’s actions “are obviously not condoned by the Department.” The department confirmed that all three men who were seen on video talking to the man who was removed from the flight were aviation security officers. CLOSE A video posted on Facebook late Sunday evening shows a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville being forcibly removed from the plane before takeoff at O’Hare International Airport. Wochit ►ON THE GO? Download the CJ app for iPhone, Android and iPad ►FOLLOW US: Watch the latest featured video on YouTube Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/2oQjOdX

– People are outraged after video surfaced Sunday night showing a passenger being forcibly and violently removed from a United Airlines flight that had been overbooked. As the Courier-Journal reports, four seats were needed on the Chicago-to-Louisville flight so that crew members could get to Louisville for a flight assignment Monday morning. Passengers were told that volunteers were needed to give up their seats and that they would receive $400, a hotel stay, and a flight the following day. They were told the flight wouldn't take off until four people had given up their seats, but no one volunteered. The airline then doubled the offer to $800 and still no one volunteered. A manager then came on board and used a computer to randomly select passengers who would need to leave the flight. A couple was selected and left, and then the man in the video was selected. He explained that he's a doctor and had patients he needed to see Monday morning, but was told that security would be called if he didn't exit the flight voluntarily. He said he would be calling his lawyer, and eventually, three security officials came onboard, pulled him from his seat, and dragged him down the aisle and off the plane. Passengers say everyone on the flight was appalled, and children onboard were scared. The man got back on the plane, reportedly "disoriented" and with his face bloodied, and ran to the back of the plane. A medical crew came aboard and passengers were asked to return to the gate while the plane was "tidied up." Eventually the plane departed two hours late. United has since apologized for overbooking, the Week reports, but no update has been given on the passenger who was removed. Video of the incident from two different angles is here and here.

Updated 6:30 p.m. Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown has been found guilty in 18 of 22 counts of conspiracy, wire/mail fraud and tax fraud for her role in a scam that bilked $833,000 from donors who thought sham charity One Door for Education was awarding scholarships to disadvantaged students. Only $1,200 actually made it to students’ education. Listen to the story airing on 89.9 WJCT-FM Brown’s charges include seven counts of wire fraud, five of mail fraud, one of conspiracy, and three of falsifying tax returns. She was found not guilty on two mail fraud and two wire fraud charges. Prosecutors argued Brown inflated her charitable giving to receive larger tax refunds and also failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in income she received from One Door and other sources. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tysen Duva and Eric Olshan painted Brown as an egotistical politician who lived beyond her means. Using bank records, checks, letters, emails and hundreds of other documents, prosecutors made the case Brown directed the deposit of $37,000 of One Door cash into her account. They also claimed she was instrumental in planning nine events that cost the sham charity $330,000. Brown’s attorney James Smith crafted a defense that hinged upon the jury believing Brown Chief of Staff Ronnie Simmons was the real mastermind behind the around four-year fraud. Smith told the court Brown was an aging public servant who relied heavily on Simmons and other staff to help keep her personal life in order. Brown, who maintains her innocence, refused to answer questions while leaving court. Her lawyer James Smith read this statement: “While she’s certainly disappointed by today’s verdict, she respects the American justice system and the jury." Smith said he plans to ask for a new trial. “There are a number of motions that we intend to file that we believe will stop this case from going forward to sentencing,” he said. Judge Timothy Corrigan has at least three months to sentence Brown if he rejects Smith’s motions. Corrigan has wide discretion in her punishment because there are no mandatory minimum sentences for Brown’s charges, Smith said. Corrigan will also decide the fate of two Brown associates — former chief of staff Ronnie Simmons and One Door for Education President Carla Wiley — who both testified against her. Simmons told the court he’s hoping for leniency in exchange for his cooperation. Corrine Brown Verdict - Curated tweets by RyanMichaelBenk ​LISTEN | This story is airing on Redux Reporter Ryan Benk can be reached at [email protected], 904-358-6319 or on Twitter @RyanMichaelBenk ||||| Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown Convicted Of Stealing From Phony Charity Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Wallheiser/AP Mark Wallheiser/AP Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has been found guilty of siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from a charity that she and her chief of staff had passed off as a scholarship service for students. The Florida Democrat had faced 22 counts ranging from conspiracy to tax fraud; she was convicted of 18. Of the more than $800,000 she and Elias "Ronnie" Simmons raised for One Door for Education, member station WJCT reports that just $1,200 actually went where they told donors it would: students' education. In roughly five years, prosecutors say, the charity distributed just two scholarships. Prosecutors alleged — and on Thursday, the jury agreed — that Brown and Simmons pocketed the rest of the funds, using them for lavish events such as a golf tournament and luxury boxes for an NFL game and a Beyonce concert. WJCT has more from the courtroom: "Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tysen Duva and Eric Olshan painted Brown as an egotistical politician who lived beyond her means. Using bank records, checks, letters, emails and hundreds of other documents, prosecutors made the case Brown directed the deposit of $37,000 of One Door cash into her account. They also claimed she was instrumental in planning nine events that cost the sham charity $330,000." Brown had argued that the fraud was entirely the doing of Simmons, who earlier pleaded guilty and testified against her. Brown didn't speak after the verdict was rendered, but her attorney James Smith told reporters, "I still have a lot of work to do on this case," referring to the sentencing phase and the motion he plans to file for a new trial. WJCT's Ryan Michael Benk reports the sentencing phase could take 90 days or longer for Brown, who left office earlier this year after losing her re-election bid in the district she had represented for nearly a quarter-century. ||||| Tough words for Corrine Brown from the Justice Department, found guilty today on numerous charges: “Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown violated the public trust, the honor of her position, and the integrity of the American system of government when she abused one of the most powerful positions in the nation for her own personal gain. She shamefully deprived needy children of hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have helped with their education and improved their opportunities for advancement, and she lied to the IRS and the American public about secret cash deposits into her personal bank accounts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco. “The Department of Justice is committed to fighting corruption and fraud wherever we find it, at all levels of government, regardless of their power and influence.” “Former Congresswoman Brown chose greed and personal gain over the sacred trust given to her by the community that she served for many years,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow. “These guilty verdicts underscore our Office's resolve in holding public officials at all levels of government accountable for their actions. In this case, former Congresswoman Brown stole money that was donated on the false promise of helping further the educational goals of underprivileged children.” “Former Congresswoman Brown took an oath year after year to serve others, but instead she exploited the needs of children and deceived her constituents to advance her own personal and political agendas,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Charles Spencer. “Corrupt public officials undermine the integrity of our government and violate the public’s trust, and that is why investigating public corruption remains the FBI’s top criminal priority. I am proud of our special agents, analysts and support personnel who spent countless hours following the money trail in this case, and thank our law enforcement partners at the IRS-CI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for their efforts to hold Brown and her associates accountable for their inexcusable actions.” “Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown failed to deliver and uphold her duty to file true and correct tax returns by lying about her income and charitable contributions to feed her greed. No one is above the law, including those in a position of public trust, and there isn’t a separate standard when it comes to paying taxes, said Chief Richard Weber of the IRS Criminal Investigation. “IRS CI, along with our law enforcement partners, will hold accountable those who violate the tax laws and cheat the taxpayers.” ||||| Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick, Sr., left,) escorts Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown outside the Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse on Thursday, May 11, 2017 in Jacksonville, Fla. Brown was found... (Associated Press) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — After a historic, nearly 25-year career representing Florida in Congress, former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown was found guilty on Thursday of taking money from a charity that was purported to be giving scholarships to poor students. The verdict came after prosecutors outlined a pattern of fraud by Brown, 70, and her top aide that included using hundreds of thousands of dollars from the One Door for Education Foundation for lavish parties, trips and shopping excursions. She was convicted of 18 of the 22 charges against her, including lying on her taxes and on her congressional financial disclosure forms. Wearing a lavender suit, Brown watched the judge read each verdict in a silent courtroom with no visible reaction. She later left the courthouse holding onto the arm of a companion, surrounded by dozens of reporters. A few supporters shouted "We love you Corrine!" and "Keep the Faith!" as she silently made her way to a waiting car. Brown, a Democrat who was one of the first three African Americans to be elected to Congress from Florida since Reconstruction, represented the district that included Jacksonville since 1993. Since her indictment last summer, she had been publicly defiant of the government's charges, saying in a statement she was among black elected officials who have been "persecuted." She had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, including the fraud, but lost re-election last fall after her indictment. "Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown violated the public trust, the honor of her position, and the integrity of the American system of government when she abused one of the most powerful positions in the nation for her own personal gain," Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco, said in a statement after the verdict. Key to the government's conviction was the testimony of Brown's former chief of staff, Elias "Ronnie" Simmons, and the charity's president, Carla Wiley. Both pleaded guilty after their federal indictments for misusing the charity's funds, and testified against Brown. Federal prosecutors said Brown and her associates used One Door to bring in more than $800,000 between 2012 and 2016, including a high-profile golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass. Brown's indictment said the Virginia-based One Door only gave out one scholarship for $1,200 to an unidentified person in Florida. Simmons said Brown ordered him to take cash and checks from One Door's account. On dozens of occasions, Simmons said he was told to take out of One Door's account the maximum $800 from an ATM near his house and deposit hundreds of it in Brown's personal account. Sometimes he kept some for himself. Brown testified in her own defense, saying she was left in the dark about the goings-on with One Door's money, and blamed the theft on Simmons. Brown said she left those details to Simmons and other hired staffers, and said she should have paid more attention to her personal and professional finances. Her attorney, James Smith, said he plans to file a motion for a new trial and said Brown respects the American judicial system and the jury's verdict, even though she disagrees with it. "She's strong and fighting for her innocence," Smith said outside the courthouse. "And she will continue to do that." The judge did not set a date for Brown's sentencing, which could include many years of jail time. ___ Follow Jason Dearen on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen

– Former US Rep. Corrine Brown's "One Door for Education" charity raised $833,000 between 2012 and 2016 to award scholarships to disadvantaged students—but prosecutors say only $1,200 was spent on a total of two scholarships. Brown, a Democrat who represented a Florida district in Congress for 24 years, is facing years in prison after being found guilty on 18 of 22 federal fraud charges, WJCT reports. Prosecutors said Brown and aide Elias Simmons siphoned off the rest of the money raised by the sham charity, spending it on travel, lavish parties, and luxuries like private boxes for NFL games and a Beyonce concert, NPR reports. Prosecutors accused the 70-year-old of choosing "greed and personal gain" over public service. She "shamefully deprived needy children of hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have helped with their education and improved their opportunities for advancement," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco, per the Tampa Bay Times. Brown, who lost her re-election bid after she was indicted last year, maintained her innocence and blamed the theft on Simmons. He pleaded guilty to fraud and testified against Brown, as did the charity's president, Carla Wiley, the AP reports. All three will be sentenced at a later date.

SCHERTZ, Texas - The Bexar County Sheriff says it appears a deadly deputy-involved shooting that claimed the lives of a suspect and a 6-year-old boy was a "tragic accident." Six-year-old Kameron Prescott was killed when deputies opened fire on a woman at a mobile home park following a nearly two-hour manhunt. Authorities say the woman was a wanted felon and car-theft suspect. During a news conference Thursday, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said authorities were looking for a female suspect in the area of Farm to Market 1518 and Schaefer Road after a vehicle was reported stolen just before 11 a.m. The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Amanda Lene Jones. Officials said John Aguillon (27 service years), George Herrera (16 years), Jesse Arias (seven years) and reserve deputy Johnny Longoria (two years) were involved in the shooting. Salazar stated one of the deputies found the suspect in a closet who allegedly told him,"I have a weapon, I'm gonna shoot you." She fled on foot, while the officer pursued her into a wooded area. Salazar said the deputy lost sight of her, so the deputy called for backup. The suspect was found crossing a river, and officers pursued her in "water that was up to their chin." She was threatening harm to several witnesses, leading them to believe she was armed, Salazar said. Deputies later found the female suspect on a porch, after she had broken into a house. She has several felony warrants in her name, Salazar said. Salazar said the deputies fired at and killed the woman at the scene because she placed them "in direct fear of their lives." One of the rounds also went into the house, striking Kameron Prescott in the abdomen. Salazar held a news conference Friday afternoon, providing a chronological breakdown of the events which led up to the shooting and showing a map of the route taken while deputies pursued the suspect into the mobile home park. Salazar said witnesses at the mobile home park also reported seeing the suspect holding an object that may have been a weapon. Salazar said investigators learned the suspect had physically forced her way inside a home where an adult, a minor female, and 6-year-old Kameron Prescott were staying and made threats, including threatening to take the family's car. WATCH: Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar holds a news conference Friday afternoon to provide an update on the investigation. He stated that at some point, the suspect stepped out onto the porch of the home, where she was confronted by five deputies. Salazar said she again threatened to shoot the deputies, which he said was confirmed by the family inside the home. He said the deputies saw her holding something in her hand which they believed was a weapon. Salazar said investigators later found a dark "tubular" object with blood on it below the desk of the home and stated it's likely that she had the object in her hand before the shooting. He said four deputies fired shots. A fifth officer at the scene, a K9 officer, did not fire a weapon. Officials are still searching for a handgun, which they believe may be in a wooded area. He said they have two types of video, helicopter and body cam, but added that the helicopter did not capture the moment the suspect was pointing the object at the deputies. He said the body cam on one of the deputies captured good audio of the incident but because the officer is left-handed and the body cam was on his left shoulder, his firing arm was covering most of the camera. Salazar said the video also shows deputies administering first aid to Prescott right after the shooting. ||||| (CNN) Hours after Kameron Prescott's Christmas party at his Texas school, the 6-year-old boy was fatally shot when deputies opened fire on a suspected car thief, the local sheriff said. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar called Kameron's death Thursday a "tragic accident." No weapon was found after four deputies fired, also killing the suspect, Amanda Lene Jones, 30, whom they believed was armed, Salazar said. A bullet pierced the wall of the mobile home where Kameron lived and lodged in his abdomen, Salazar told reporters. Deputies discovered the wounded boy inside the home, carried him out and administered first aid, Salazar said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. "The deputies are, of course, understandably shaken up," the sheriff said. "Officer-involved shootings are traumatic enough. Add to this the death of an innocent 6-year-old, and it's that much more troubling." A dark-colored pipe with Jones' blood on it was found near her body, Salazar said. The deputies, as well as witnesses who encountered the woman that day, said she threatened to shoot them. Investigators were still searching for a weapon. The killing stunned the small community near San Antonio. First-grade teacher Shanda Ince told CNN affiliate KSAT she couldn't help but wonder how the tragedy might have been averted. "All I can think about right now is what could I have done differently," she said, "had it not been a half day." 'A tragic accident' The deputies who opened fire --- identified as John Aguillon, George Herrera, Jesse Arias and Johnny Longoria, a reservist -- have been placed on administrative leave, the sheriff's office said. The local district attorney is investigating. "Preliminarily, I can tell you it appears as if policies were complied with," Salazar said of the shooting. "Right now, what I'm dealing with is a tragic accident that led to the death of this young man." Parts of the shooting were captured by a body camera worn by one deputy, Salazar said. But the view was obstructed when the deputy raised his rifle to fire. "I'll be honest with you," Salazar said, "it's pretty heartbreaking video for us to see." 'Kameron was a ball of energy' Maria Morales, a counselor at Wiederstein Elementary School, described the slain boy as a kind soul. "Kameron was a ball of energy, happy, smart and could strike up a conversation with anyone," she said. "He also had a great sense of humor and caring heart. He'll be truly missed." Ince called Kameron "the kindest-hearted little boy that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching." "He loved to make everyone laugh," she said in a statement. "He will be missed by all of his classmates and everyone at Wiederstein." Suspect described as 'desperate, maybe on drugs' The incident began Thursday morning when a deputy responding to a report of a stolen vehicle spotted Jones with what he thought was a weapon, Salazar said. Jones, on several occasions, "physically threatened him with that weapon and verbalized to him that she intended to shoot him with that weapon," the sheriff said. The suspect managed to get away, and deputies did not see her again until a couple of hours later, when she turned up at the mobile home park where Kameron lived, Salazar said. She forced her way into Kameron's home, threatened to shoot members of his family and said she was taking their vehicle, the sheriff said, adding that Jones had no apparent ties to the boy or his relatives. When Jones left the home, the deputies were outside, waiting. Salazar said witnesses heard the woman threaten to shoot the law enforcement officers. "Those deputies all report in their statements that she was holding an object in her hand they believed it to be a weapon at the time," Salazar said. 'He loved everybody' Jones' criminal history included at least 13 arrests on charges ranging from drug possession to burglary, KSAT reported. Rhonda Campbell, who also lives in the Pecan Grove Mobile Home Park, told KSAT that Jones' had kicked in her door that morning. She described Jones as "desperate, maybe on drugs." "She was standing right here, demanding my car keys," Campbell told the station. "Well, it took me almost 30 years to get my dream car. She wasn't about to get it." Ince, Kameron's teacher, said she wondered what she could have done differently that morning. "Kameron had the biggest heart of any boy I have ever come across," she told KSAT. "He cared about everybody. He loved everybody. Not one day would go by where he would not hug me and tell me he loved me before he left." ||||| SCHERTZ, Texas - Wiederstein Elementary School in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District is mourning a first-grader who was killed in a deputy-involved shooting. Kameron Prescott was killed Thursday by what appeared to be a stray bullet at his family's home, at the Pecan Grove Mobile Home Park on FM 78. According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, four deputies fired shots outside the home when a woman who they believed was armed with a gun appeared to be reaching for the weapon. The school district's website on Friday reported Kameron's death. "Kameron was the kindest-hearted little boy that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching," said Shanda Ince, Kameron’s first-grade teacher. “He loved to make everyone laugh. He will be missed by all of his classmates and everyone at Wiederstein.” School counselor Maria Morales said Kameron was "a kind soul." “Kameron was a ball of energy, happy, smart and could strike up a conversation with anyone,” she said. “He also had a great sense of humor and caring heart. He’ll be truly missed by his classmates, teachers and the Wiederstein staff.” "The Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District extends its deepest condolences to Kameron’s family, friends, teachers and classmates. We pause to give thanks for his life that ended all too soon, and may we find ways to honor his memory," the article read. The district said that a fund has been established to assist Kameron’s family with expenses. Monetary donations can be made at the two Schertz Bank & Trust branches in Schertz, or by mail to: Kameron Prescott Memorial Fund c/o Schertz Bank & Trust P.O. Box 800 Schertz, Texas 78154 Copyright 2017 by KSAT - All rights reserved.

– Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a 6-year-old boy Thursday in Texas, WOAI reports. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar says four deputies opened fire on 30-year-old Amanda Jones, a suspected car thief, after they "cornered" her outside a mobile home occupied by Kameron Prescott and his family in the town of Schertz. One of the bullets went through the mobile home and hit Kameron in the abdomen. According to CNN, Salazar says deputies performed first aid on the boy, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital. Jones was also killed. "The deputies are, of course, understandably shaken up," Salazar says. He says the shooting is under investigation, but in his opinion the boy's death is "a tragic accident." Salazar says one deputy is "adamant" he saw Jones with a gun and that she threatened to shoot him. He says Jones threatened both police and Kameron's family, who didn't know her, just before deputies opened fire. But investigators haven't been able to locate a gun despite the use of a helicopter and dive team. Salazar says they have found a pipe with Jones' blood on it near the scene of the shooting. One deputy at the scene was wearing a body camera, but he blocked it with his rifle during the shooting. Meanwhile, Kameron is being remembered by those who knew him. "Kameron was a ball of energy, happy, smart, and could strike up a conversation with anyone,” school counselor Maria Morales tells KSAT. “He also had a great sense of humor and caring heart."

CLOSE Wisconsin’s redistricting case isn’t just about Wisconsin. If the group of Democrats suing the Badger State are successful, every state will have to follow new rules when they draw congressional and legislative maps. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The U.S. Supreme Court building. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite) WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court justices showed deep divisions Tuesday over a gerrymandering case from Wisconsin that could have far-reaching national implications. Liberal justices expressed openness to the idea that courts should intervene when lawmakers draw election maps that greatly favor their party. Conservatives were skeptical that judges could come up with a way to determine whether and when legislators had gone too far. In the middle of it all — as expected — was Justice Anthony Kennedy. Both sides see him as the one who will likely cast the deciding vote and they pitched their arguments to him. A three-judge panel last year ruled 2-1 that maps for the Wisconsin Assembly were so heavily Republican that they violated the constitutional rights of Democratic voters. Now, the Supreme Court must decide whether the lower court got the ruling right. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned what would happen to the "precious right to vote" with maps like Wisconsin's that lock in a majority for one party. "If you can stack a legislature in this way, what incentive is there for a voter to exercise his vote?" she asked. "Whether it's a Democratic district or a Republican district, the result — using this map, the result is preordained in most of the districts." I never ask for God to choose sides but with the eroding of our democracy I pray God's will includes #fairMaps! This is for all the marbles! https://t.co/S21Y2rVnmt — Vice Chair,Rep Bowen (@DavidFBowen) October 2, 2017 RELATED: Redistricting case could ripple beyond Wisconsin RELATED: Federal court strikes down GOP-drawn maps RELATED: Court to Wisconsin Republicans: Redraw election maps Chief Justice John Roberts countered that legislatures have long been the ones in most states to determine where political lines are drawn. “The whole point is you’re taking these issues away from democracy and you're throwing them into the courts," he told the attorney for the group of Wisconsin voters who brought the case. If they succeed, the nation's high court will have to decide in case after case whether to toss out maps favoring one party over the other, he said. And the public will suspect the court's rulings are based on partisanship, he warned. “That is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country," he said. The stakes are high for Wisconsin's Democrats, who have been out of power for seven years. The case represents one of their last shots — if not their very last shot — of gaining a foothold in the Legislature in the foreseeable future. But the case could also have a broad national impact. If Wisconsin's maps are thrown out, states will have to follow new rules when they draw congressional and legislative districts, limiting their abilities to give edges to either party. The packed gallery included Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican former governor of California who has championed redistricting reform, and Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), one of the top leaders to sign off on the GOP-friendly maps. The Supreme Court has long wrestled with the question of whether maps can be so one-sided as to violate the Constitution. Both sides focused their arguments on Kennedy, who has written that overly partisan maps can violate the Constitution but that courts have never had a way to measure when that happens. He asked Erin Murphy, an attorney for the Wisconsin Legislature, whether it would violate the Constitution for a state to pass a law that required lawmakers to draw maps that gave maximum advantage to one side (while still complying with traditional redistricting principles). “I’d like the answer to the question," Kennedy said. Murphy said such a law would violate the Constitution, but emphasized that no such law was in effect in this case. Wisconsin Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin — a former Kennedy clerk — argued Wisconsin's maps are constitutionally sound and contended a victory by the Democrats would prompt a slew of litigation across the country. He told the justices the plaintiffs hope to "launch a redistricting revolution" that would force maps around the country to be redrawn. "I would expect that almost every single map drawn by a legislature will be challenged immediately if plaintiffs prevail," he said by email before Tuesday's arguments. Those bringing the case disputed that, saying litigation could advance only in states with the most extreme maps. Paul Smith of the Campaign Legal Center argued the case on behalf of the Democratic voters from Wisconsin. He told the court it was the "only institution" in America that could prevent lawmakers from drawing maps that helped themselves at the expense of voters. “Politicians are never going to fix gerrymandering," he said. "They like gerrymandering.” The map for the Wisconsin Assembly, he said, "is so extreme that it effectively nullifies democracy." The center, based in Washington, D.C., hopes to curb partisan gerrymandering by both sides. Some Republicans — including Schwarzenegger, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — are siding with the Wisconsin Democrats. ”I say it is time to say hasta la vista to gerrymandering and it is time to terminate gerrymandering," Schwarzenegger said on the plaza outside the court. Every 10 years, states must draw new election maps to account for population shifts. In Wisconsin and most other states, politicians get to draw those lines. Republicans took full control of Wisconsin's government in the 2010 elections and used their power to draw maps that greatly favor them. Democratic voters sued in 2015, arguing their voting rights had been violated, and the panel of judges sided with them last year. (Unlike other types of cases, redistricting lawsuits are first heard by a panel of three judges and then go directly to the Supreme Court.) ARCHIVE: Democrats sue state election officials over 2011 redistricting The Supreme Court is expected to rule by summer. Wisconsin is often closely divided, but that doesn't reveal itself in legislative races. In 2012 — a year when Democratic President Barack Obama handily won Wisconsin — Democrats received nearly 52% of the vote in Assembly races, yet took just 39 of the chamber’s 99 seats. In last year's election, Republican Donald Trump topped Democrat Hillary Clinton by the slimmest of margins in the presidential race, but the Republicans laid claim to a 64-35 majority in the Assembly. The Democratic voters who brought the lawsuit contend both sides should have an equal chance to capture the same number of seats. If one side can get 60 seats with 52% of the vote, the other should be able to do the same thing, Smith argued. They proposed a new test to determine whether maps were unfairly one-sided. It counts “wasted votes” — that is, any votes beyond those needed to elect a candidate — to determine the “efficiency gap” of a map. Maps have large efficiency gaps when they spread one party’s voters into districts in a way that creates a significant number of wasted votes for them. Justice Samuel Alito questioned whether courts should adopt a relatively new social science theory rather than waiting for more scholarship. Justice Neil Gorsuch said he was worried new rules would be so vague that states wouldn't know what they were allowed to do. Roberts called the plaintiffs' test “sociological gobbledygook.” Justice Stephen Breyer said the social science measurements may be gobbledygook, but the idea of fairness is not and there are efficient ways for courts to determine what's fair. Justice Elena Kagan said courts should be able to determine if maps are fair by using the same tools lawmakers use to draw maps. Computer programs allow lawmakers to put in place maps they can count on to keep them in power. “When legislatures think about drawing these maps, they’re not only thinking about the next election, they're thinking often — not always — but often about the election after that and the election after that and the election after that," she said. Read or Share this story: https://jsonl.in/2kj7VMp ||||| Today may have been only the second day of the Supreme Court’s new term, but it may also prove to be one of the biggest. The justices heard oral argument in Gill v. Whitford, a challenge to the redistricting plan passed by Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2011. A federal court struck down the plan last year, agreeing with the plaintiffs that it violated the Constitution because it was the product of partisan gerrymandering – that is, the practice of purposely drawing district lines to favor one party and put another at a disadvantage. After roughly an hour of oral argument this morning, the justices seemed to agree that partisan gerrymandering is, as Justice Samuel Alito acknowledged, “distasteful.” But there was no apparent agreement about whether courts could or should get involved in policing the practice. The case arose after Republicans won majorities in both houses of the Wisconsin legislature and captured the governor’s office, giving them control over the maps that were drawn after the 2010 census. In the 2012 elections, Republicans won slightly less than half of the statewide vote, which translated into 60 seats in the state’s 99-seat assembly; by contrast, Democrats won just over half of the statewide vote but garnered only 39 seats. Two years later, Republicans won 52% of the vote and 63 seats, while Democrats won approximately 48% of the vote and 36 seats. A group of challengers argued that the new redistricting plan amounted to an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. They contended that the new plan sought to dilute Democratic votes across the state, using two methods: “cracking,” which divides up supporters of one party among different districts so that they do not form a majority in any of them; and “packing,” which puts large numbers of a party’s supporters in relatively few districts, where they win by large margins. The dispute went to a divided three-judge district court, which Congress has designated as the forum for redistricting challenges. That court regarded the case as an easy one. Although it may sometimes be difficult to tell when politics plays too influential a role in redistricting, the lower court conceded, this case is “far more straightforward”: The Republican-controlled legislature drafted a redistricting plan to lock in the party’s control of the state legislature, even though it could have created a different plan that would have accomplished redistricting goals without giving Republicans such a partisan advantage. The district court may have regarded the case as a “straightforward” one, but few justices seemed to share that sentiment today. That’s not particularly surprising, because the issue of partisan gerrymandering has deeply divided the Supreme Court in the past. Thirteen years ago, the justices rejected a challenge to Pennsylvania’s redistricting plan, with four justices agreeing that courts should decline to review partisan-gerrymandering claims, because it is too hard to come up with a manageable test to determine when politics plays too influential a role in redistricting. Four other justices would have allowed courts to review partisan-gerrymandering claims. That left Justice Anthony Kennedy, who agreed that the Supreme Court should stay out of the Pennsylvania case but suggested that courts could play a role in reviewing partisan-gerrymandering cases in the future if a workable standard could be found. Before the justices got to the merits of the case this morning, they tackled another question: whether the plaintiffs have a legal right – known as “standing” – to challenge the 2010 map at all, particularly because some of them live in heavily Democratic districts. Kennedy (whom many regard as the key vote in the case) acknowledged that the plaintiffs could not point to a specific Supreme Court case in their favor, but he asked Wisconsin Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin whether the plaintiffs might have standing if their claims were grounded in the First Amendment, rather than a right to equal protection of the laws. Kennedy seemed to suggest that they would, telling Tseytlin that such plaintiffs would have a First Amendment interest in having their preferred political party be strong, rather than weak. Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to disagree. He told attorney Paul Smith, who argued on behalf of the plaintiffs challenging the map, that allowing plaintiffs in a partisan-gerrymandering case to challenge an entire map seemed inconsistent with the court’s rule that plaintiffs in racial-gerrymandering cases can only challenge their own districts, not the whole map. Smith countered that the two scenarios are different: In racial-gerrymandering cases, he argued, the claim does attack a specific district; by contrast, a plaintiff in a partisan-gerrymandering claim is challenging the dilution of one party’s votes statewide. If five justices were to agree that the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the whole map, it would allow them to avoid ruling on the merits of the case. But it does not look as though there are five votes for that outcome – especially if, as Kennedy’s comment suggests, he would allow the lawsuit to go forward. And so most of the one-hour argument today was spent on the substance of the case, and in particular on two closely related questions: Should the courts get involved in reviewing partisan-gerrymandering cases at all; and, if so, what standard should they use to review such claims? Roberts made clear that, in his view, the Supreme Court should stay out – for the good of its institutional reputation. He told Smith that if the plaintiffs win, the courts would be flooded with partisan-gerrymandering claims, which would all wind up at the Supreme Court because, unlike in most cases, in which the court can choose which cases to review, the court is generally required to review redistricting challenges. For example, if the Supreme Court rules for the Democrats in a case, Roberts continued, most people will not understand that the decision rests on a complicated calculus. Instead, Roberts posited, the average person will say, “That’s a bunch of baloney,” and chalk the ruling up to a preference for the Democrats. And that, Roberts stressed, will cause very serious harm to the status and perceived integrity of the Supreme Court. Smith pushed back, predicting that any potential harm to the Supreme Court’s reputation would pale in comparison with the harm to democracy if the state prevails. Partisan gerrymandering is already bad, he cautioned, but we are on the “cusp of a more serious problem” because officials drawing redistricting maps now have access to vast amounts of data, and because the electorate is now so polarized that voting has become more predictable than ever. If you uphold the Wisconsin map, he told Roberts ominously, the court will be confronted with a “festival of copycat gerrymandering,” and people will lose faith in democracy altogether. Roberts was unconvinced, telling Smith that his rule would take democracy away from the legislatures based on social science “gobbledygook.” The court’s newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, was relatively quiet, but he appeared to show his cards when he asked Smith to name the source of the Supreme Court’s authority to revise state redistricting maps. The court should be cautious, Gorsuch emphasized, about stepping in here. The plaintiffs seemed to find a more receptive audience in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who told Erin Murphy – arguing on behalf of the Wisconsin legislature – that the “precious right to vote” is at the heart of this case. If legislators can “stack” a legislature, so that the result of the election is “preordained,” she queried, where is the incentive for voters to actually go to the polls? “Society should be concerned,” Ginsburg concluded. Justice Sonia Sotomayor voiced similar concerns. She asked Murphy whether it was okay for one party to “stack the decks, so that for 10 years,” it could garner a minority of the vote but still win a majority of the seats in the legislature. But although the justices spent some time at the 50,000-feet level, contemplating the broader implications of their ruling, much of their time was spent in the weeds, on what Justice Stephen Breyer described as another “hard issue” in the case: If courts are going to get involved with partisan-gerrymandering cases, what are manageable standards that they can apply to evaluate the claims? Breyer offered Tseytlin a five-part test that looked at, among other things, whether one party controls the legislature and the redistricting process; whether the redistricting maps create “partisan asymmetry” – that is, they do not treat the different political parties equally; and whether that asymmetry is “persistent” and extreme. “I suspect,” Breyer told Tseytlin, that the test is manageable. Justice Elena Kagan seemed to agree. She observed that, if the technology now available to legislators is so good that legislators can draw the maps easily, the same techniques can be used on the back end to evaluate what the legislature was considering when it was drawing the maps. This is not “airy fairy,” she stressed, but instead “pretty scientific.” Not surprisingly, Tseytlin disagreed. He maintained that the Supreme Court had already rejected some of these kinds of inquiries in its earlier cases. And he repeated a theme that would resurface throughout the hour: Any “standards” that the court might articulate to evaluate partisan-gerrymandering claims would rely heavily on statistics and battles between each side’s experts. Murphy picked up this theme, reminding the justices that the kinds of standards that the plaintiffs have proposed have identified “false positives” – districts that appear to be the result of gerrymandering but are not – 50% of the time. What, she asked rhetorically, are legislatures supposed to do when confronted with problems like these? Justice Samuel Alito was also skeptical. He told Smith that, although everyone has been looking for a manageable standard, one of the theories on which the plaintiffs relied – known as the “efficiency gap,” which looks at the number of votes “wasted” in each election, either because they are cast for the losing candidate or because the victorious candidate did not need them to win – was not developed until very recently. “Is this the time for us to jump into this,” Alito asked, when there are still so many questions about the theory? Although it was obvious that, for Alito, the answer was “no,” for Smith the answer was “yes.” In the 2004 redistricting case, the court provided a blueprint for future partisan-gerrymandering challengers: They would need to give the court manageable standards to evaluate their claims. And that is exactly what social scientists have done, Smith argued. In this case, the district court used three different social-science standards and concluded that the 2010 Wisconsin map was, for purposes of partisan gerrymandering, one of the worst maps ever. Kagan seemed to be on board with Breyer’s standard, but looked for reassurance that the courts would not be inundated with challenges to other redistricting maps in the future. Smith suggested a variety of measures that seemed to placate Kagan, but not Roberts, who complained that the kind of statistics-based predictions that Smith’s measures would call for had “been a very hazardous exercise” for the court in the past. Alito also complained about the “dozens of uncertainties” in the process that Smith was proposing. Perhaps notably, Kennedy did not ask Smith any questions at all during Smith’s 30 minutes at the lectern – which, although there’s no way to know, would seem to bode well for the challengers. Smith seemed to direct his closing remarks straight at Kennedy, as he told the justices that if they do not act now, it could be too late. We’ll know by the end of June whether and how the court will act. This post was originally published at Howe on the Court. Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Argument analysis: Cautious optimism for challengers in Wisconsin redistricting case?, SCOTUSblog (Oct. 3, 2017, 2:13 PM), http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/10/argument-analysis-cautious-optimism-challengers-wisconsin-redistricting-case/ ||||| Kennedy’s Vote Is in Play on Voting Maps Warped by Politics Image People including Bill Millhouser protesting gerrymandering outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The court was hearing a case based on voting district maps in Wisconsin. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times WASHINGTON — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has long been troubled by extreme partisan gerrymandering, where the party in power draws voting districts to give itself a lopsided advantage in elections. But he has never found a satisfactory way to determine when voting maps are so warped by politics that they cross a constitutional line. After spirited Supreme Court arguments on Tuesday, there was reason to think Justice Kennedy may be ready to join the court’s more liberal members in a groundbreaking decision that could reshape American democracy by letting courts determine when lawmakers have gone too far. Justice Kennedy asked skeptical questions of lawyers defending a Wisconsin legislative map that gave Republicans many more seats in the State Assembly than their statewide vote tallies would have predicted. He asked no questions of the lawyer representing the Democratic voters challenging the map. There was something like consensus among the justices that voting maps drawn by politicians to give advantage to their parties are an unattractive feature of American democracy. But the justices appeared split about whether the court could find a standard for determining when the practice was unconstitutional. “Gerrymandering is distasteful,” said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., “but if we are going to impose a standard on the courts, it has to be something that’s manageable.” Some of the court’s more liberal members said the problem represented a crisis for democracy and that the Supreme Court should step in. “What’s really behind all of this?” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked. She answered her own question: “The precious right to vote.” In extended remarks, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. expressed worry that the court’s authority and legitimacy would be hurt were it to start striking down voting districts in favor of one political party or another. “That is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country,” he said. Paul M. Smith, a lawyer for the Democratic voters, urged the court to act. “You are the only institution in the United States that can solve this problem just as democracy is about to get worse because of the way gerrymandering is getting so much worse,” he told the justices. Without the Supreme Court’s intervention, Mr. Smith said, other states will follow Wisconsin’s lead. The round of redistricting that will follow the 2020 census, he said, “will produce a festival of copycat gerrymandering the likes of which this country has never seen.” The Supreme Court has never struck down an election map on the ground that it was drawn to make sure one political party wins an outsize number of seats. The court has, however, left open the possibility that some kinds of political gamesmanship in redistricting may be too extreme. The problem, Justice Kennedy wrote in a 2004 concurrence, is that no one has devised “a workable standard” to decide when the political gerrymandering has crossed a constitutional line. On Tuesday, he pressed Erin E. Murphy, a lawyer for Wisconsin lawmakers, about whether a state law could require drawing districts to have the maximum number of votes for a given political party. Other justices followed up on the point, and Ms. Murphy gave equivocal answers. Justice Kennedy grew frustrated. “I have to say that I don’t think you ever answered the question,” he said. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Ms. Murphy more fundamental questions. “Could you tell me what the value is to democracy from political gerrymandering?” Justice Sotomayor asked. “How does that help our system of government?” Ms. Murphy said that gerrymandering “produces values in terms of accountability that are valuable so that the people understand who isn’t and who is in power.” That did not seem a sufficient reason, Justice Sotomayor said, “to stack the decks.” Much of the argument concerned various statistical tests for identifying extreme gerrymandering. Misha Tseytlin, Wisconsin’s solicitor general, said the challengers were relying on flimsy and hypothetical social science evidence. Image Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican and the former governor of California, says districts should be drawn by independent commissions rather than politicians. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times “Plaintiffs are asking this court to launch a redistricting revolution based upon their social science metrics,” he said. Chief Justice Roberts told Mr. Smith that courts are poorly equipped to evaluate social science data. “It may be simply my educational background,” the chief justice said of the studies before the court, “but I can only describe it as sociological gobbledygook.” Other justices seemed more comfortable with the studies. “This is not kind of hypothetical, airy-fairy, we guess, and then we guess again,” Justice Elena Kagan said. “I mean, this is pretty scientific by this point.” Justice Sotomayor said that “every single social science metric points in the same direction.” There may be close cases, Justice Kagan said, but this was not one of them. “This map goes pretty much over every line,” she said. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, in remarks that may have been aimed at Justice Kennedy, sketched out a series of criteria that he said amounted to a workable standard. He said courts should act only when there is one-party control of the state government and a map that creates a persistent and unjustified partisan advantage that is “an extreme outlier” when compared to other maps. “I suspect that that’s manageable,” Justice Breyer said. The case, Gill v. Whitford, No. 16-1161, started when Republicans gained complete control of Wisconsin’s government in 2010 for the first time at the beginning of a redistricting cycle in more than 40 years. Lawmakers promptly drew a map for the State Assembly that helped Republicans convert very close statewide vote totals into lopsided legislative majorities. In 2012, after the redistricting, Republicans won 48.6 percent of the statewide vote for Assembly candidates but captured 60 of the Assembly’s 99 seats. Democratic voters sued, saying the maps violated the Constitution. “This is one of the most extreme gerrymanders ever drawn in living memory of the United States,” Mr. Smith said on Tuesday. The case is part of a larger debate over politics in redistricting, one that has taken on new urgency with the advent of sophisticated software. Both parties have engaged in partisan gerrymandering, but these days, Republicans have an advantage following a wave of victories in state legislatures that allowed lawmakers to draw election maps favoring their party. Some critics, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican and the former governor of California, say districts should be drawn by independent commissions rather than politicians. Prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and his first attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., are pushing to undo the redistricting gains Republicans made after the 2010 census when the next census is taken three years from now. Outside the court during the arguments, several dozen activists rallied with signs that read “Equal Districts Under Law” and “Hands off our Districts!” Mr. Schwarzenegger, who attended the argument, said afterward that he is hopeful that the justices will put a stop to partisan gerrymandering. “We are here today to ask the Supreme Court to fix something that the politicians will never do,” he said. “As Einstein said, those who created the problem will not be able to solve it.” Last year, a divided three-judge Federal District Court panel ruled that Republicans in Wisconsin had gone too far. The map, Judge Kenneth F. Ripple wrote for the majority, “was designed to make it more difficult for Democrats, compared to Republicans, to translate their votes into seats.” The decision was the first from a federal court in more than 30 years to reject a voting map as partisan gerrymandering. Wisconsin officials say that the lopsided representation of Republicans in the State Legislature is a product of geography rather than gerrymandering. Democrats have packed themselves into cities, effectively diluting their voting power, while Republicans are more evenly distributed across most states, the brief said. Judge Ripple acknowledged that the distribution of the population explains at least some part of the gap. “Wisconsin’s political geography, particularly the high concentration of Democratic voters in urban centers like Milwaukee and Madison, affords the Republican Party a natural, but modest, advantage in the districting process,” he wrote. But he added that partisan gerrymandering amplified that advantage. Sign Up for the Morning Briefing Get what you need to know to start your day in the United States, Canada and the Americas, delivered to your inbox. SEE SAMPLE Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. 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– Justice Anthony Kennedy may end up casting the deciding vote in one of the Supreme Court's biggest cases this term—and he appears to be leaning toward joining the court's more liberal justices when it comes to reining in gerrymandering. The court heard arguments Tuesday in a redistricting case from Wisconsin, where Democrats say Republicans created districts so lopsided that they violated voters' constitutional rights. Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, seemed skeptical of the arguments made by lawyers defending the Wisconsin voting map and didn't ask any questions at all of the lawyer representing the Democratic voters, which "would seem to bode well for the challengers," SCOTUSBlog notes. Justices including Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it was time for the Supreme Court to step in and stop partisan gerrymandering, though Chief Justice John Roberts said he worried that the court itself would be seen as partisan if it started striking down voting districts, the New York Times reports. That would "cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country," he said. Republicans including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. John McCain are siding with Democrats on the issue. "It is time to say hasta la vista to gerrymandering and it is time to terminate gerrymandering," Schwarzenegger said outside the court, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.