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– Iran's President-elect Hassan Rouhani has begun delivering his message of moderation, calling upon the country's leaders and clergy to stop meddling so much in the private affairs of its citizens. "A strong government does not mean a government that interferes and intervenes in all affairs. It is not a government that limits the lives of people," he said in an address on state TV, Reuters reports. Rouhani has criticized the country's Internet filtering, and chastised state broadcaster IRIB for ignoring important issues. "When IRIB airs the birth of a panda in China but nothing about unpaid workers protesting, it is obvious that the people and youth will ignore it," he reportedly tweeted. Rouhani has also spoken out against enforcement of the country's Islamic dress code, saying he doesn't support religious police cracking down on loose clothing and hairstyles—though he didn't go so far as to say the dress code should end, reports the Guardian. "If a woman or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question," he told a magazine. "In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue." He also says he opposes the segregation of men and women, criticizing politicians who want to ban women from entering soccer stadiums alongside men.

DUBAI (Reuters) - President-elect Hassan Rouhani called on Wednesday for the government and powerful clergy to end interference in the private lives of the Iranian people, free up Internet access and allow state media to be more open about Iran’s problems.

 Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani gestures to the media during a news conference in Tehran June 17, 2013. REUTERS/Fars News/Majid Hagdost

 Rouhani’s comments began to flesh out his message of moderation at home and better relations abroad that contributed to his surprise election victory last month.

 His election prompted a huge outpouring of support from Iranians hungry for change after eight years of domestic security crackdowns and international confrontation under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 “There shouldn’t be any rift or division between the government or the clergy especially at a time when people have pinned their hopes on seeing some sort of change in society,” Rouhani, a mid-ranking cleric, told fellow clergymen in Tehran.

 “A strong government does not mean a government that interferes and intervenes in all affairs. It is not a government that limits the lives of people. This is not a strong government,” said Rouhani who takes office early next month.

 “The power of the government lies in improving popular trust and...offering services, decreasing problems, setting the stage for further development of all citizens to help meet the needs of the people and desire for change,” he said in an address aired on state television.

 Rouhani is bolstered by his popular mandate and the backing of an alliance of moderates and reformers led by former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami - both sidelined by hardliners under Ahmadinejad.

 For now the divided hardline conservative camp has given Rouhani a relatively free ride, repeatedly emphasizing the high turnout in the election as a victory for the system rather than a defeat for themselves and the status quo.

 But with a majority in parliament, strong links to the powerful Revolutionary Guards and a grip on the top jobs in state media and the security apparatus, the hardliners could confound Rouhani’s attempts to foster change, especially if they sense their positions are under direct threat.

 LOOSEN MEDIA CONTROLS

 During his election campaign, Rouhani demanded a loosening of the “security atmosphere” and on Wednesday signaled what steps he wanted to see taken.

 Filtering of the Internet in Iran, stepped up after social media was used to encourage and coordinate large protests following the disputed 2009 presidential election, had proved ineffective, Rouhani said, fittingly, on Twitter.

 “Which important piece of news has filtering been able to black out in recent years?” he asked.

 At the same time, he criticized state broadcaster IRIB for ignoring issues inside Iran.

 The state has a monopoly over terrestrial television in Iran and though satellite receivers are banned and foreign news broadcasts are often blocked, many Iranians tune in to U.S. and Europe-based channels beaming news and entertainment into the Islamic Republic.

 “When IRIB airs the birth of a panda in China but nothing about unpaid workers protesting, it is obvious that the people and youth will ignore it,” Rouhani tweeted.

 The key to whether Rouhani will be able to succeed in his vision of a more open society within the Islamic system will be whether he receives the backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who sits at the top of Iran’s complex hybrid system of clerical rule combined and elements of elected representation.

 A life-long insider in post-revolutionary Iran, Rouhani was for years Khamenei’s personal representative on the National Security Council, managing to maintain the trust of the leader even as other moderates fell out of favor and hardliners moved into the ascendant, especially in the early Ahmadinejad years.

 But the next president will also have to temper the demands of a population that may want change faster than he can deliver.

 Facing potential political opposition at home, an economy incapacitated by tough international sanctions over Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West, Rouhani has repeatedly urged patience.

 “We have a lot of problems facing us. No government in the history of Iran has faced the problems that this government is facing,” Rouhani told the meeting of clerics. “The problems cannot be solved in a matter of days or months.” ||||| Two weeks after his sensational victory Iran's president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, has expressed relatively progressive views about civil liberties, freedom of expression and the internet.

 Social networking sites such as Facebook were, he said, a welcome phenomenon.

 In his most outspoken interview in the Iranian media, Rouhani told Chelcheragh – a popular youth magazine – that he is opposed to segregation of sexes in society, would work to minimise censorship and believes internet filtering is futile.

 "In the age of digital revolution, one cannot live or govern in a quarantine," he said as he made clear he is opposed to the authorities' harsh crackdown on Iranians owning satellite dishes, which millions have installed on rooftops for access to foreign-based TV channels illegal in the country.

 Rouhani, who has promised to put the Islamic republic back on the path of moderation after eight acrimonious years under the outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warned that citizens' rights had been neglected.

 He said he stood in the June presidential election as a candidate critical of the current situation and also because he felt the country was at peril.

 "Today the republican [nature] of our country is overshadowed by a specific interpretation of its Islamic [character]," he said.

 Rouhani's reference to the republican character of Iran's ruling system is a hint that the Islamic republic's legitimacy is meant to come from the popular vote. Rouhani is scheduled to be sworn into office in early August.

 "Some of the principles of our constitution have been emphasised while others were neglected and this is why we are facing an imbalance as a result," he said.

 "The freedom and rights of people have been ignored but those of the rulers have been emphasised … Restricting [people's right] to criticise will only stifle and lead to inefficiency."

 Of internet filtering, Rouhani said some of the measures taken by the authorities to restrict users' access online was not done in good faith and was instead politically motivated.

 "There are political reasons. They have fears of the freedom people have in online atmosphere, this is why they seek to restrict information. But filtering is incapable of producing any [useful] results," he said.

 "Supporters of internet filtering should explain whether they've successfully restricted access to information? Which important piece of news has filtering been able to black out in recent years?"

 He added: "Filtering has not even stopped people from accessing unethical [a reference to pornographic] websites. Widespread online filtering will only increase distrust between people and the state."

 Access to hundreds of thousands of websites is blocked in Iran, including Facebook and Twitter, but millions of Iranians use them via anti-filtering software or virtual private network (VPN) services.

 Despite the filtering, Rouhani's campaign was active on both sites at election time.

 "The virtual space is a tool and it can be an opportunity or a threat," said Rouhani.

 "I remember that [former president] Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani once called social networking websites such as Facebook a welcome phenomenon. Indeed they are."

 Since Rouhani's win, web users in Iran have reported a relative easing of online censorship and say revoked access to VPN accounts has been restored.

 Rouhani also pledged to minimise censorship of artistic and cultural works and said the state – instead of interfering in the affairs of artists and cultural figures – should provide them with security.

 "We should not tighten the red lines all the time, we should show that censorship is not our goal," he said.

 On the question of women wearing the hijab, a contentious issue in a country with millions unhappy about the mandatory religious code, the president-elect said he was against the crackdown against women with loose clothing – but he stopped short of saying it should be left as voluntary.

 Each summer, as the heat bears down and makes it difficult for women and men in Iran to stick to their forced Islamic dress code, the religious police go out on to the streets to watch out for loose hijabs, inappropriate dress or hairstyles.

 "I'm certainly against these actions," said Rouhani, saying a women without a hijab is not necessarily without virtue.

 "If a women or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question … In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue."

 In his interview, Rouhani said he opposed segregation of men and women, including at universities, and criticised the politicians who are against allowing women to enter stadiums to watch football matches along with men.

 Iran's state television, IRIB, the mouthpiece of the country's ruling system, also came under attack from Rouhani.

 "A large population of our youth are ignoring the [state] television because in it they haven't seen the honesty, morality, justice that it merits," he said.

 "When the state TV shows a programme about the birth of a panda in a Chinese zoo but doesn't broadcast anything about workers staging a protest because they haven't been paid for six months … it's obvious that people and the youth will ignore it. The solution is to have freedom of expression.

 "If a day comes that our television shows more news coverage than foreign networks such as BBC, then people will reconcile with it."

 Rouhani has previously criticised the IRIB. During his first post-election speech at the weekend, he said a country which receives its legitimacy from its people should not fear free media.

 He also said: "Injustice is an injustice … it's a double standard to call an injustice in an unfriendly country as an injustice but to label the same thing in a friendly country as not … human rights is same in any place around the world." |||||


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trade deal fight led by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday failed to fully materialize as rival and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton announced a compromise to expand mandatory healthcare funding over the next decade.

 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church during their annual convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 8, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller

 At a meeting of the Democratic Party draft platform committee in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, supporters of Sanders were unable to influence the committee to adopt strong language opposing the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, marking a powerful blow to the efforts by the U.S. senator from Vermont to push the party further to the left.

 “We did everything we could to win that vote,” said Sanders policy adviser Warren Gunnels. “It was very disappointing.”

 Instead of a condemnation specific to the TPP, the committee reached language saying they would oppose “trade agreements that do not support good American jobs.”

 Sanders has headed the effort on the U.S. left to oppose the TPP and trade deals like it, which he says are unfair to American workers. Clinton has also come out as opposed to the agreement.

 Despite Clinton having already secured the requisite delegates to clinch the party’s nomination at the July 25-28 convention, Sanders remains in the race to be the party’s nominee.

 He has indicated that he would hold off on endorsing Clinton for the Nov. 8 general election fight against Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump until she adopted policies and campaign language that more closely resembled his own more liberal tone.

 “I would like to say that while this vote was disappointing, we have won some tremendous victories,” Gunnels said, including securing language in the draft supporting a federal $15 minimum wage, another trademark issue for Sanders.

 On the same day, the Clinton campaign announced changes to its healthcare policy proposal, including increasing mandatory healthcare funding under the Affordable Care Act by $40 billion over the next 10 years, highlighting the significant influence Sanders still yields over the party.

 “We have more work to do to finish our long fight to provide universal, quality, affordable healthcare to everyone in America,” Clinton said in a statement that included her intention to give Americans the choice of a public-option insurance plan and allow for individuals below Medicare age, beginning at 55, to opt in to the U.S. federal program that pays elderly Americans’ hospital bills.

 Sanders has made combating healthcare costs a rallying cry of his campaign and often battled with Clinton during the primary race on how best to reach their shared goal of universal healthcare.

 On Saturday, Sanders praised the updates to Clinton’s proposal as a step in the right direction to “save lives and ease suffering,” indicating, along with the more liberal tone in several parts of the 2016 platform draft, a growing compromise between the two camps.

 For Clinton, an endorsement from Sanders - seen as a champion of the progressive left - could open the door to many of his supporters who have been reluctant to support the more moderate Clinton.

 “The proposal brought forth today by Secretary Clinton, working with our campaign, is an important step forward in expanding healthcare in America - and expanding health insurance and healthcare access to tens of millions of Americans,” he said in a statement.

 Slideshow (2 Images)

 “I congratulate Secretary Clinton for this extremely important initiative.”

 The New York Times reported on Thursday that an endorsement is imminent, and Sanders is expected to officially throw his support behind Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, at a campaign stop in New Hampshire early next week.

 (This story corrects age at which individuals could opt in to Medicare under Clinton plan in paragraph 10) ||||| Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-V.t, right, speaks as Hillary Clinton listens during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York on April 14, 2016. (Photo: Seth Wenig, AP)

 WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton on Saturday announced her plan to expand investments in community health care centers, the second of two proposals in a week apparently aimed at courting supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders ahead of his possible endorsement.

 The presumptive Democratic nominee's proposal would double funding for primary care services at Federally Qualified Health Centers, which serve populations with limited access to health care. Community health care centers have been a key priority for Sanders, I-Vt., who successfully fought for the inclusion of $11 billion in funding for such centers in the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

 Clinton also affirmed her commitment to giving Americans in every state the choice of a "public-option" insurance plan — which she supported during her 2008 presidential campaign and Sanders pushed for during the ACA debate — and allowing people below Medicare age to opt into the programby offering it to those who are 55 and older.

 An hour after her health care announcement, Clinton's campaign announced firm details about her Tuesday campaign event in Portsmouth, N.H., where Sanders is expected to endorse his primary campaign rival. The announcement does not mention Sanders.

 "We have more work to do to finish our long fight to provide universal, quality, affordable health care to everyone in America," Clinton said in a statement. "Already, the Affordable Care Act has expanded coverage to 20 million Americans. As president, I will make sure Republicans never succeed in their attempts to strip away their care and that the remaining uninsured should be able to get the affordable coverage they need to stay healthy."

 Sanders, in a press call timed 15 minutes after Clinton's announcement, said the proposal by Clinton — "working with our campaign" — is an important step forward in expanding access to health care and addressing a crisis in primary health care.

 "It will save lives, it will ease suffering, it will improve health care in America and it will cut health care costs," he said. "It is a significant step forward as we advance toward the goal of health care for for all Americans."

 The announcement follows a higher education proposal Clinton released Wednesday that Sanders called a “bold initiative” to “revolutionize the funding of higher education in America.” That proposal is designed to eliminate college tuition for working families and reduce debt.

 Sanders was asked if he is now in a position to endorse Clinton.

 "It’s fair to say that the Clinton campaign and our campaign are coming closer and closer together in trying to address the major issues facing this country, which is what my campaign was all about, and we look forward to continue working with the Clinton campaign and will have more to say in the very near future," he said.

 Sanders has long called for a "Medicare-for-all" proposal that would grant all Americans access to health care through a single-payer national program. During the primary campaign, Clinton questioned how he'd pay for his proposal and said she wants to defend and build on the progress made by the Affordable Care Act. She accused him during a debate of wanting to "tear (the ACA) up and start over again," a claim he rejected.

 Her proposal Saturday would extend the current mandatory funding for community health centers and expand it by $40 billion over the next 10 years. A Clinton campaign official said the proposal would be fully paid for with savings, innovations and tax reform that closes loopholes and "makes the wealthiest pay their fair share."

 Community health centers provide care for about 25 million people in the United States, more than half of whom are Hispanic or African Americans, according to the Clinton campaign. Sanders said the centers offer savings to the overall health care system of $49 billion a year, and access to health care when people need it avoids costly illnesses, hospital stays and trips to the emergency room.

 "These are good investments for patients and these are very good investments for taxpayers," he said. He said Clinton's efforts to provide Americans with the choice of a public-option insurance plan and to expand Medicare "will get us closer to the day when everyone in America has access to quality, affordable health care.”

 Clinton's announcement came on a day when Democrats in Orlando were finalizing the party platform they will bring to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia later this month.

 The 187-member Platform Committee voted down an amendment by a Sanders supporter that would have blocked a vote in Congress on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation trade pact that Sanders says will hurt U.S. workers and the environment. But they approved an amendment by a Clinton representative that, without explicitly opposing the TPP, says that Democrats will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages and improve national security.

 Platform language aimed at blocking the TPP was a top priority for Sanders. Warren Gunnels, Sanders' policy director, said the campaign is "very disappointed" that the Sanders-backed amendment failed, but he said it's "good news" that virtually everyone who spoke during the debate made it clear they oppose the TPP.

 "Sen. Sanders, Sec. Clinton and the overwhelming majority of Democrats agree: the TPP should not come up for a vote after the election," Gunnels said in a statement. "If Democrats are going to prevail in November we must make clear to the American people that we stand firmly against the TPP. We will continue fighting to protect American jobs and to ensure Congress does not pass this disastrous trade agreement."

 Sanders has said he is prepared to bring amendments to the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia if the party doesn’t take more progressive stances in its platform. A convention floor fight seems unlikely now, given his confirmation that he is preparing to endorse Clinton.

 Follow @ngaudiano on Twitter.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/29qNDpD ||||| Hillary Clinton reaffirmed her support on Saturday for creating a “public option” within Obamacare and allowing people to enroll in Medicare at age 55.

 The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also called for a substantial increase in funding in medical clinics that serve low-income Americans, fully embracing a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

 While Clinton has long supported the creation of new government-run insurance options and reiterated that support several times this year, Saturday’s statement comes three days before she is scheduled to make her first joint campaign appearance with Sanders ― who has championed government-run insurance and federally financed clinics throughout his career and during his own bid for the presidency.

 Sanders, who ran a surprisingly strong but ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination, is expected to endorse Clinton at that Tuesday event. Saturday’s announcement on health policy follows a similar one from Clinton earlier in the week, that she was enhancing her own proposal on college tuition assistance to match the considerably more generous version Sanders had sketched out.

 In describing the proposals to The Huffington Post, senior Clinton campaign aides noted that Sanders had championed these ideas ― and, in particular, that the former Secretary of State’s funding proposal for the clinics matched one that the independent senator had made.

 Already, the Affordable Care Act has expanded coverage to 20 million Americans. Hillary Clinton

 “We have more work to do to finish our long fight to provide universal, quality, affordable health care to everyone in America,” Clinton said in a press release that the campaign circulated late Saturday morning. “Already, the Affordable Care Act has expanded coverage to 20 million Americans. As president, I will make sure Republicans never succeed in their attempts to strip away their care and that the remaining uninsured should be able to get the affordable coverage they need to stay healthy.”

 Sanders said in a conference call shortly afterwards that the announcement was the product of discussion between the two campaigns. He praised Clinton’s proposal in strong, unambiguous terms ― describing it as “an extremely important initiative” and predicting that “it will save lives, it will ease suffering, it will improve health care in America, and it will cut health care costs.”

 The idea of the public option ― as first sketched out by Jacob Hacker, a Yale political scientist ― is to create a separate, government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers offering coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. The hope is that this competition can help keep premiums for all the insurance plans low, particularly if the government-run plan has the ability to dictate low reimbursement rates to doctors, hospitals, drugmakers, and other suppliers of medical care.

 President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders included versions of the public option in their proposals when they first began working on health care reform in 2009. But they ended up jettisoning the idea in response to protests from more conservative Democrats, who were less enthusiastic about government programs and industry groups, like hospitals and insurance companies, that feared what a public option would do to their income streams.

 The idea of a Medicare buy-in has been around for even longer, although it, too, appeared in 2009 when Democrats were drawing up health care legislation. The goal, again, would be to give consumers ― in this case, those older than 55 and at greater risk of becoming sick ― one more insurance option if they can’t get coverage through an employer or an existing government program.

 Clinton has expressed support for both ideas during the 2016 campaign, noting that she had called for them previously. (She made a public option part of her campaign proposal to reform health care in 2008.) But campaign aides said Saturday’s announcement is a reminder of how seriously she takes the idea ― and her determination to promote it as president.

 Jim Young / Reuters U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s call to increase funding for federally run health clinics is a bit more specific, in that she’s put a dollar figure on it. It would be $40 billion over 10 years.

 That might reassure some of the progressive Sanders supporters skeptical of Clinton’s commitment to their values and goals ― and, in some cases, angry at her attacks on Sanders’ proposal to create a single, government-run insurance plan that would provide coverage to all Americans, supplanting private insurance altogether.

 Of course, Clinton’s announcement comes with no policy details. She isn’t answering any of the many complicated questions that either proposal would raise ― like exactly how either the Obamacare public option or Medicare buy-in plan would pay the providers of medical services, or exactly who could enroll in either one.

 Clinton’s call to increase funding for federally run health clinics is a bit more specific, in that she’s put a dollar figure on it. It would be $40 billion over 10 years. She hasn’t identified new revenue or spending cuts to cover the cost of the proposal, but she has said that she will remain true to her pledge to pay for the price of any proposals ― a pledge that she has largely kept in this campaign, independent budget analysts say.

 And while the clinic proposal likely to get a lot less attention than anything Clinton says about the public option of Medicare, the idea, if implemented, could help a great many people get medical care.

 The clinics are the backbone of the nation’s health care safety net, providing primary care to millions of Americans who either have no health insurance or whose insurance doesn’t meet their needs ― a group that, even after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, is large and underserved.

 About one in 14 Americans currently gets health care through a federally funded clinic, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s thanks to annual funding of about $5 billion, a big chunk of which comes from a provision in the Affordable Care Act that Sanders championed.

 “This would be a substantial infusion of funding,” Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, told HuffPost. “More funding for community health centers creates an infrastructure to care for increasing numbers of insured people and also provides resources to reach the remaining uninsured to encourage them to get covered.”

 Federal clinics happen to be one of the few government-run healthcare programs with a history of strong bipartisan support. George W. Bush was a big fan during his presidency, for example. So while both a public option and Medicare buy-in would likely run into the same political opposition that stopped them in 2009,more money for clinics would have a chance of becoming law even with Republicans controlling a house of Congress.

 This article has been updated to include more specific details on Clinton’s proposal and reactions to it. |||||

– Hillary Clinton proposed making a public option insurance plan available to residents in every state and doubling funding for community health centers in an announcement Saturday, USA Today reports. Reuters calls the move evidence as to how much influence the campaign of Bernie Sanders has had on her positions. Clinton campaign aides tell the Huffington Post both proposals are ones that had been pushed for by Sanders. On the heels of Clinton announcing a college tuition plan similar to that of Sanders, Saturday's announcement is expected to clear the way for Sanders to endorse her Tuesday. "It’s fair to say that the Clinton campaign and our campaign are coming closer and closer together," Sanders said Saturday. "[We] will have more to say in the very near future." Clinton's proposal for a public option would create a government-run insurance plan to go up against private insurance plans available through ObamaCare. She supported a public option when she ran for president in 2008, and Sanders fought for one in 2010. Sanders also won $11 billion in funding for community health centers in 2010. A third proposal from Clinton announced Saturday would allow people to enroll in Medicare at 55. The proposals expand health care funding by $40 billion over the next decade. Sanders says Clinton's healthcare plan “will save lives, it will ease suffering, it will improve health care in America, and it will cut health care costs." He had implied in the past that he wouldn't endorse Clinton until her policies got more liberal.


Article:
President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he has Thanksgiving Day dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Associated Press)

 President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he has Thanksgiving Day dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Associated Press)

 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump has returned to his West Palm Beach golf course on another sunny Florida day.

 Trump began his Friday on Twitter, saying Democrats and Republicans "MUST come together, finally, with a major Border Security package, which will include funding for the Wall."

 He says it's "time for action," even though the idea is opposed by many Democrats, who recently won control of the House.

 Trump also calls on Congress to pass criminal justice reform legislation. He says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer "have a real chance to do something so badly needed in our country."

 But Trump tweeted at the wrong account, tagging a Schumer fan instead of the senator.

 For Thanksgiving, Trump called troops, answered reporters' questions, visited a Coast Guard station and had dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club. ||||| President Trump Donald John TrumpAmazon's European workers go on strike for Black Friday GOP makes inroads with Hispanics in Florida Romney to host PAC fundraiser: report MORE in an early-morning tweet the day after Thanksgiving demanded funding for a wall at the southern border as part of a "major Border Security package."

 "Republicans and Democrats MUST come together, finally, with a major Border Security package, which will include funding for the Wall," Trump wrote from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

 Republicans and Democrats MUST come together, finally, with a major Border Security package, which will include funding for the Wall. After 40 years of talk, it is finally time for action. Fix the Border, for once and for all, NOW! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2018

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 Trump has kept the door open to a potential government shutdown if an upcoming deal to fund parts of the government does not include funding for a border wall. Congress has until Dec. 7 to fund the rest of the government after lawmakers punted on seven of the 12 individual funding bills before the end-of-the-fiscal-year deadline.

 Trump over the summer had struck a less bipartisan tone as he told Republican lawmakers to "stop wasting their time" trying to work with Democrats on immigration until they took back more seats in the House and Senate.

 But the GOP lost the House in this month's midterm elections, and liberal lawmakers are vehemently opposed to funding Trump's long-promised border wall.

 Trump in another tweet touted "bipartisan" possibilities for his other legislative priority, criminal justice reform.

 The criminal justice reform bill that Trump has been touting has caused divisions within the GOP. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told the president last week that he did not believe there would be enough floor time to pass the measure in the lame-duck session. |||||Summary:

– The AP reports that President Trump hit the links on his Florida golf course the day after Thanksgiving, but before he did, he rehashed a topic that's long been on his mind, with seeming impatience. "Republicans and Democrats MUST come together, finally, with a major Border Security package, which will include funding for the Wall," he tweeted, referring to the border barrier he wants erected between the US and Mexico. "After 40 years of talk, it is finally time for action. Fix the Border, for once and for all, NOW!" The Hill notes there's a Dec. 7 deadline Congress must meet to fund the remaining parts of government that are still not funded, and Trump has said he'd be OK with shutting down the government if the wall isn't included in any upcoming funding packages. "Could there be a shutdown? There certainly could, and it will be about border security, of which the wall is a part," the president told reporters Thursday, per Reuters, which notes Democrats, who just gained control of the House in the midterms, may now be less amenable to giving in to Trump on this matter. (Trump also threatened he could shut down "the whole border" if he had to.)


– Police are searching for a man who killed a Texas woman in an apparent road-rage shooting in Arlington on Wednesday. Police say Brittany Daniel, 26, was shot while driving on Interstate 30 about 7pm, reports the Dallas Morning News. Daniel's father tells WFAA that his daughter was dropping off coworkers from her housekeeping job when a car began swerving around her. A passenger in Daniel's vehicle says a male passenger in a small car with tinted windows then opened fire. It isn't clear whether Daniel had any interaction with those in the other vehicle before she was shot, but her father says she would likely speak up in such a situation. Police describe the shooter as "a light-skinned black or Hispanic male with dark hair, possibly in his mid-20s," per WFAA. The incident marks the second road-rage-related death of a young Texas woman in the past month. On New Year's Eve, a 20-year-old University of North Texas student was shot and killed while driving in Denton. A 20-year-old US Marine has been arrested in that case.

Expand this summary.

Brittany Daniel (Photo: Facebook)

 ARLINGTON – Police need your help catching the man who was riding in the backseat of a car on a busy highway and shot a stranger. They want an arrest, but no one wants justice more than the victim’s family.

 "A father tries to be there for his kids to protect them always," said a tearful Malcolm Daniel of Fort Worth.

 There's no way a father like him can understand why someone would take his child's life.

 News 8's Jobin Panicker spoke to the passenger who was sitting next to Brittany Daniel when she was shot by a road rage suspect. Daniel would die as her friend tried to get help at the scene.

 "Why?" he cried out. "Why did you do this to our daughter?"

 His daughter was the victim of deadly road rage. It happened at the tail end of Wednesday evening's rush hour on a busy Interstate 30 near the Cooper Street exit. Brittany Daniel, 26, was taking her co-worker home when police say a car driving recklessly pulled up alongside her in the eastbound lanes.

 A Fort Worth woman was killed in a road rage incident on I-30 in Arlington on January 27, 2016. (Photo: WFAA)

 "Apparently the vehicle thought that the victim’s car maybe wasn’t traveling fast enough, so they tried to get around the victim’s car," said Arlington police spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook.

 Jasmine Thomas considers Brittany Daniel her sister and best friend. Thomas says she was getting a ride home from work when the shots were fired.

 Jasmine Thomas (Photo: WFAA)

 "He kept swerving in and out of lanes," Thomas said of the erratic driver. At one point, words were exchanged between Daniel and the occupants of the other vehicle, according to Thomas.

 Cook says seconds after passing Daniel's car, the suspect rolled down his backseat window and started screaming obscenities and then fired at least two shots.

 "We heard two pops. [Brittany] said that she was hit. She managed to pull over and she managed to say that she had been shot and 'Call 911 for me Jasmine,' and I did," Thomas said.

 Brittany Daniel (Photo: Family photo)

 Sadly, when first responders showed up, it was too late to save Brittany Daniel.

 "By the time me and my wife got there, they were telling us that we lost our baby," said her father,, who calls his daughter his "baby girl."

 He's grieving along with Brittany's mother, four brothers, friends, and a large extended family.

 "One minute you're laughing and talking, planning things, and the next minute, she's gone," Thomas said. "Who would have ever seen that coming?"

 Nothing, however, justified killing her.

 "My main goal in life is to try and find this person that’s responsible and make them hope they pay for this," Malcolm Daniel said.

 Malcolm Daniel (Photo: WFAA)

 Police don’t have any surveillance video to help them, so they really need the eyes and ears of the public. They’re asking for anyone driving on I-30 near Cooper Street between 6:45 and 7 p.m. Wednesday who saw or knows something to speak up.

 Police have a vague description of the suspect. He’s a light-skinned black or Hispanic man in his mid-20s. He was sitting in the back of small four-door sedan with tinted windows. The car, they believe, was dark-colored.

 "This is someone that needs to be caught, that needs to be brought to justice," Lt. Cook said.

 Call Arlington police Detective Steve Griesbach at 817-459-5325 if you have any information to help solve this case. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS.

 Read or Share this story: http://on.wfaa.com/1VtDp9U ||||| Arlington police are looking for a man who fatally shot a 26-year-old Fort Worth woman during a suspected road-rage incident Wednesday evening.

 Brittany Daniel was shot between 6:45 and 7 p.m. while she was driving east on Interstate 30 between Cooper and Center streets. She was pronounced dead about 7:30 p.m. at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital.

 A passenger who called police reported that a man who was riding in the back of a car opened fire on her friend and described the incident as road rage.

 Specifics about what led to the shooting were not provided. A detailed description of the gunman was not available, and the only information about the car he was in was that it was a small four-door vehicle with tinted windows.

 Anyone with information about the case may call Detective Steve Griesbach at 817-459-5325. Callers also can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward by contacting Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS. |||||


One woman is dead, dozens of people were hospitalized and three remain in critical condition after the upper level of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in southeast D.C. filled with smoke Monday afternoon.

 Transportation Alternatives to Metro

 A Virginia-bound Yellow Line train was in the tunnel just south of the station around 3:20 p.m. when it stopped for unknown reasons.

 Dozens of people were trapped inside the train's cars as the tunnel filled with thick, black smoke.

 "People could barely breathe," passenger Denzel Hatch said. "They had to evacuate us through the tunnel and walk back through the front. No electricity, no visibility, nothing. Couldn't see anything at first."

 "You're hearing other people crying, you're seeing people passing out... it was a horrific thing to witness," passenger Adjoa Adofo said.

 A young black man had a seizure. Thank God the firefighters had made it on to the train by then. We were trying to escape through the back A video posted by Adjoa, Inc © (@adjyb) on Jan 12, 2015 at 2:13pm PST

 Firefighters gained access to the tunnel at one of the evacuation points at Ninth Street and Maine Avenue SE. One injured firefighter was transported from that location by ambulance.

 A young black man had a seizure. Thank God the firefighters had made it on to the train by then. We were trying to escape through the back A video posted by Adjoa, Inc © (@adjyb) on Jan 12, 2015 at 2:15pm PST

 Pro-ISIS Hackers Hit U.S. Military Twitter, YouTube Accounts

 According to D.C. Fire and EMS, 84 patients were taken to hospitals. Three are in critical but stable condition, two of them at George Washington University Hospital. More than 200 people were evaluated.

 "There was a woman who was in distress on that train, and I'm sorry to say she's passed away," Metro General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Richard Sarles said.

 The woman's cause of death and identity remain unknown.

 "We are all saddened by today's fatality aboard the Metrorail, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the passenger who passed away," a statement from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser read.

 L'Enfant Metro Evacuated Over Smoke

 Though an exact cause of the smoke and fire is unknown, NTSB investigators said there was an electrical arcing involving the third rail and the power supply cables to that rail prior to the fire. There was water along the tracks near the accident scene, which would have helped facilitate smoke along the third rail, investigators said.

 "It was just very smoky in there," passenger Fitz Carter said from aboard a Metro bus while waiting to be taken to a hospital. "We couldn't see anything. The visibility was poor. Right now, there's a lot of burning in my throat and my chest. Everybody got as low as they possibly could to the ground, because that's where the best possibility for oxygen was."

 The FBI is assisting Metro Transit Police in determining a cause, which is standard procedure for incidents in the capital region.

 Metro Riders Exit Tunnel at L'Enfant For Smoke in Tunnel News4's Jackie Bensen reports live outside L'Enfant Metro station Monday afternoon, as rescue crews helped dozens of riders out of the system's tunnels. (Published Monday, Jan. 12, 2015)

 Md. Woman Accused of Stealing Birthday Cake

 Green Line trains are operating on a normal schedule Tuesday. Blue Line trains will replace the Yellow Line from Huntington to Largo Town Center; trains will run every 12 minutes.

 Metro Evacuates L'Enfant Station for Smoke News4's Scott MacFarlane has the latest on the closure of the L'Enfant Metro station in downtown DC, after reports of smoke in the tunnels. (Published Monday, Jan. 12, 2015)

 Sarles is set to retire Friday as Metro's general manager. ||||| Passengers were removed from a Yellow Line Metro train Monday afternoon after it filled with smoke. A rider reports that the train operator said, "there's a problem, nobody move," then the car quickly began to fill with smoke. (Saleh Damiger/Jonathan Rogers)

 The latest: 1 dead, dozens hurt after Metro car fills with smoke

 Earlier coverage from Monday:

 Updated at 8:13 p.m.

 The L’Enfant Plaza Metro station has reopened for Orange, Silver and Blue line service.

 Green and Yellow line service will remain suspended through the end of the day between the Gallery Place and Navy Yard/Pentagon stations. It wasn’t known if service would be restored for the Tuesday morning commute.

 Updated 7:59 p.m.

 A total of 84 people were hospitalized due to the Metro tunnel filling with smoke, including one patient who died, D.C. fire department spokesman Tim Wilson said.

 Up until about 6:30 p.m., D.C. fire officials were saying that only six people had been injured. That number increased sharply when Metro officials briefed reporters.

 Wilson would only say that the officials responsible for briefing reporters were trying to accurately tally the numbers and wanted to wait to confirm them before making public statements.

 Metro Transit Police said that the National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating.

 Updated 6:47 p.m.

 Metro General Manager Richard Sarles said one of the passengers injured in the tunnel incident has died. The woman has not been identified pending notification of next of kin, he said.

 In addition, Sarles said two people were in critical condition at George Washington Hospital; 40 were transported by bus to Howard University Hospital, and another 20 to 25 people were taken to Washington Hospital Center.

 Sarles said that since the incident involved a fatality, the Metropolitan Police Department would now be involved in the investigation.

 Updated: 5:54 p.m.

 Six people were injured, one critically, when smoke filled a Metro tunnel Monday afternoon.

 Tim Wilson, a spokesman for D.C. Fire and EMS, said one person has been transported to an area hospital with a critical injury but he did not know the cause or severity of the injury. Another five people were transported with minor injuries.

 (Related: Scenes of a chaotic day at L’Enfant Plaza)

 A Metrobus at 7th and D streets SW held people from the tunnel and the train station. About 20 appeared to be on board, some being treated by firefighters with oxygen.

 Jonathan Rogers was aboard the Yellow Line train when it came to an abrupt halt as it headed to the Pentagon Station.

 “You could see smoke coming through the doors,” he said. “It started to get scary pretty quick.”

 He said the train operator got on the loudspeaker and urged people to remain calm. He said the plan was to back up the train to the platform of the L’Enfant station.

 1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × ‘Yelling, screaming, kicking’: Images from the smoke-filled train and rescues View Photos One person died in the January Metro incident after scores of riders were trapped aboard a train as it filled with smoke. The probe into the case continues. Caption One person died in the January Metro incident after scores of riders were trapped aboard a train as it filled with smoke. The probe into the case continues. Jan. 12, 2015 Passengers react Monday afternoon as smoke fills a Metro train in a tunnel outside L’Enfant Plaza Metro station. Saleh Damiger Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

 “We’re going to move the train backwards,” Rogers recalled the driver saying.

 But after more time, it became apparent that strategy wasn’t going to work.

 He said passengers remained relatively calm, but as the smoke grew thicker, some began to panic.

 (Related: Alternatives for Metro riders affected by the closure of L’Enfant Plaza station)

 “People started praying,” he said. “Smoke was coming in pretty steadily. Some people were fine and some people were just hurting pretty quickly.”

 He said a man standing next to him, started having breathing problems and sank to the floor.

 Passengers watched out for each other, sharing inhalers with those who were having trouble breathing, he said. After a few more minutes, another woman standing near him said she couldn’t breathe and then passed out. Rogers and other passengers took turns giving her CPR.

 “We just kept doing (CPR), maybe 25 minutes . . . we just kept going. Somebody helped carry her toward the back of the train – that was before the fire fighters arrived.”

 Rogers said it took about 40 minutes before firefighters arrived and began evacuating the train. Passengers walked through the tunnel back to L’Enfant station. He said the air in the tunnel was easier to breathe than the air on the train. On the train, he said the smoked had a chemical smell, but in the tunnel it had the distinct smell of burning wood. Once they got to L’Enfant he saw a lot of ambulances and fire trucks.

 Rogers, who works for the D.C. Department of Transportation, took a Capital BikeShare bike back to his office near the Navy Yard. Normally, he would have taken BikeShare back to his office, but opted to take Metro because it was raining. And then, he’d gotten aboard the Yellow Line by mistake. He meant to catch a Green Line train.

 “The only scary part was not knowing if the smoke was going to stop,” he said.

 Adjoa Adofo, 30, had just gotten off work as a public relations consultant and was on the Yellow line headed to Virginia to go shopping.

 A few minutes after pulling out of the station and into the tunnel, she said the train came to an abrupt halt and smoke came in thorough the closed doors. She said the train was crowded but not packed, with room in the center aisle

 “People were panicking,” said Adofo, who lives nearNavy Yard. “We didn’t know what to do and and we weren’t getting a lot of information.”

 She said the train operator told them there was no fire, just smoke. “That calmed people down a little bit ,” she said. “But smoke continued to come in. The driver told us not to open the doors. That was the big thing. More smoke would come in. But people were panicking. They were trying up open the doors anyway.”

 She said people sat down on the floor to get away from the smoke. She said all the lights were out. “It was black. Pitch black.” She said one young man suffered a seizure and an older man began banging on the doors screaming profanities.

 She said they were there about 30 to 40 minutes. She said the operator told them they were waiting for a train in the station to move so they could return but communication had broken down. Finally she said metro personnel and firefighters got everyone out and they marched single fine back to the station.

 Adofo emerged nearly in tears and said she prayed — Hail Marys and Our Fathers. “I’m just glad that I’m out of there.”

 Saleh Damiger and Sirwan Kajjo said they thought they were “going to die” when they Yellow Line train they were on Monday afternoon filled with smoke.

 Damiger, 43, and Kajjo, 28, both Voice of America employees, got on a Yellow Line train headed toward the Pentagon about 3 p.m. They said the six-car train had gone about 200 feet when it stopped. The train operator said “there’s a problem, nobody move”. The men said the car quickly began to fill will smoke.

 “The train stopped and all of a sudden it filled with smoke. … There was no fire. Lots of smoke only. … People were choking. People were yelling, Damiger said. “It was a lot of smoke. We couldn’t see each other. … One woman, she started to pray. .. We felt like we were almost going to die.”

 Metro employees quickly got onto the train and told passengers to get low to the ground to avoid the smoke.

 “They told us to get down, get down in the floor, stay low … Of course it was dark too,” Kajjo said. “The lights were gone. We couldn’t see.”

 The men said they saw at least two people who appeared to be unconscious. They said they waited about an hour before firefighters arrived and began escorting them off the train and led them out of the tunnel.

 They described the experienced as “harrowing”.

 Metro train riders are seen being shuttled on a Metrobus after commuters were evacuated from the L’Enfant Metro Station when smoke filled a Metro car on Wednesday. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

 No cause of the smoke has been determined. Around 5:40 p.m., Metro spokeswoman Caroline Laurin said that the smoke has now cleared from the station. That is at least in part due to the tunnel fans that Metro workers turned on, she said. But in the event that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction – which workers have not yet confirmed – the smoke may also have abated because Metro shut down the third rail at L’Enfant Plaza.

 As of 5:40 p.m., Green/Yellow line service has been restored at Gallery Place Station for service to/from stations north (toward Greenbelt). Green/Yellow service remains suspended between Gallery Place and Navy Yard/Pentagon.

 Yellow Line riders traveling between Virginia and DC should use the Blue Line as an alternate.

 Andrew Ames, spokesman for the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said the FBI responded to the incident. He said it is standard protocol to respond. “At this point it doesn’t appear to be anything other than a fire.”

 Original post

 L’Enfant Plaza Metro station is closed after officials evacuated it for smoke Monday afternoon, shutting down rail service for a large portion of the Green and Yellow lines.

 Green Line service is suspended between Navy Yard and Mt. Vernon Square. Yellow Line service is suspended between Pentagon City and Mt. Vernon Square, Metro said.

 Blue, Orange and Silver lines trains are bypassing L’Enfant Plaza, but service is not affected at other stops.

 That was easily the worst metro ride of my life pic.twitter.com/a5EnGeRzMQ — Jonathan Rogers (@JRogers202) January 12, 2015

 D.C. fire department spokesman Tim Wilson said that firefighters are on the scene but had found no fire. On Twitter, the firefighters’ union said that a second alarm had sounded.

 Although the event has been labeled a “mass casualty event” that refers strictly to the number of people involved and is not a suggestion that there are numerous injuries or deaths. D.C. Fire and EMS reported via Twitter that people are being removed from a disabled train inside a tunnel and that no serious injuries have been reported.

 Metro spokeswoman Caroline Laurin said that Metro did not know the cause of the smoke.

 Roads near the station were also closed.

 Yellow Line riders can use the Blue Line instead. For Green Line riders, who do not have another Metro option, Metro said at 4:16 p.m. that it was sending shuttle buses to L’Enfant Plaza and Navy Yard.

 Twitter and Instagram users posted smoky photos.

 @IAFF36 L'Enfant Plaza metro scene right now pic.twitter.com/9rHivfPd9y — Kealy Erin Gordon (@Keals2005) January 12, 2015 ||||| One woman died Monday after a Metro station in the nation's capital filled with smoke.

 An untimely House of Cards tweet has earned criticism following an incident at a Washington, D.C., subway station.

 A woman died and 84 people were hospitalized Monday after smoke filled the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in the nation's capital. The crisis came on the same day that the Netflix series' Twitter page posted a message referencing a storyline on the show in which one character pushes another in front of a subway train.

 Read more 'Sleepy Hollow' PR Firm Apologizes for Poorly Timed Headless Day Campaign

 "Consider the slate clean," read the House of Cards tweet. It was accompanied by an image of a fake newspaper headline that stated, "Train Traffic Tragedy."

 A number of Twitter users criticized the show for the timing of the tweet, which has since been deleted. A Netflix rep declined to comment.

 Read more Golden Globes: Kevin Spacey Bleeped While Accepting Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama

 The tweet can be seen below.

 Email: Ryan.Gajewski@pgmedia.org

 Twitter: @_RyanGajewski ||||| The train, which had eight cars, stopped about 800 feet south of the station, and many of the passengers “self-evacuated” before firefighters arrived, Mr. Flanigon said. Some jumped out of the train cars, walked through the darkened tunnel to a vent shaft and climbed a three- or four-story-high staircase to get to ground level. In order for them to do so, the electricity for the third rail was turned off.

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 The train did not derail, and there was no fire onboard, Mr. Flanigon said.

 Emergency crews helped the rest of the passengers leave the smoke-filled train, with riders walking through the tunnel leading back to the busy station, which serves as a transfer point for five of the system’s six lines. L’Enfant Plaza station was evacuated and closed for several hours, and some service on the Yellow and Green Lines was suspended through the end of the day.

 Mayor Muriel Bowser met with some of the injured passengers at George Washington University Hospital on Monday night.

 “We are all saddened by today’s fatality aboard the Metrorail, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the passenger who passed away,” the mayor said in a statement. “I want to thank our brave first responders who assisted passengers during the evacuation and with treatment at the scene.”

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 Officials at MedStar Washington Hospital Center said on Monday night that 11 patients had been treated there and released and that seven remained at the hospital, including one in critical condition and another in serious condition. One firefighter was injured, emergency officials said.

 L’Enfant Plaza stop is near offices for the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Communications Commission and several Smithsonian museums.

 Mr. Flanigon said that investigators would remain at the scene for about a week and that it would take six months to a year for a final report, unless the safety board concludes immediate action is necessary.

 The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority posted a message on its website to inform riders of planned changes to rail service for Tuesday.

 There was still confusion at L’Enfant Plaza station around midnight as dozens of riders were forced to exit trains and had trouble finding the shuttle buses waiting for them on the street. One rider, Dashawn Grimes, said there was no announcement on her train saying there had been an accident. She wandered around looking for a shuttle bus before an employee sent her in the right direction. She boarded the last shuttle bus, which departed around 12:07 a.m.

 “It’s cold out here and there’s no one here, and no one told me where the shuttle bus is,” she said. “It’s just really annoying.” |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– One person died and at least 83 others were hospitalized after smoke filled a Washington, DC, subway station and tunnel during the afternoon rush hour yesterday. Hundreds of people were evacuated from L'Enfant Plaza station—one of the Metro network's busiest—and from a Yellow Line train that was stuck in a tunnel, the Washington Post reports. At least two of the injured are in critical condition, and officials say the name of the woman who died will not be released until next of kin have been notified. The NTSB's investigator in charge says the cause appears to have been an "arcing event" in which electricity jumped from the system's third rail, reports the New York Times. Water in the tunnel may have been a contributing factor, he says. Passengers who were on the stuck train described scenes of panic as the smoke grew thicker before firefighters arrived to help them escape by walking through the tunnel back to the station. "We couldn't see anything. The visibility was poor," a passenger waiting to be taken to a hospital told NBC. "Everybody got as low as they possibly could to the ground, because that's where the best possibility for oxygen was." One firefighter is among the injured. Meanwhile: The Hollywood Reporter picks up on a social media oops from Netflix series House of Cards. In a nod to a season 2 episode, it last night tweeted, "Consider the slate clean," alongside a photo of an empty DC subway station and a fake news headline reading "Train Traffic Tragedy." An odd coincidence: New York City's Penn Station was forced to delay trains early today on the heels of a three-alarm fire that has been dubbed "suspicious." It occurred at a construction site near the Long Island Rail Road concourse's west end around 2:30am. NBC New York reports service was restored to normal three hours later.


– Had Kanye West canceled his tour on a whim, he would have been on the hook for a massive amount of money owed to venues and anyone else with whom he broke a contract. But since he was taken to the hospital with a psychiatric emergency soon after canceling, his insurance policy may have saved him millions of dollars, TMZ reports. The policy covers him in the event an "accident or illness" prevents him from performing, so now he can file a claim to collect. It's not a slam dunk, as coverage can be denied if an undisclosed pre-existing condition is discovered—or if the insurance company finds that the cause of his illness is his own "unreasonable or capricious behavior," a category that would include things like excessive partying, per Billboard. Though it was reported that West was placed on a 51-50 psychiatric hold and committed against his will, a source tells People that's not the case. "He went freely" and "was not restrained," the source says. "There was a small altercation at the gym but he was deemed medically stable and decided to seek medical help at his doctor’s request." The source also echoes previous reports that West is simply dealing with exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Wife Kim Kardashian is by his side at the hospital, a source tells E!. "Their time together was just about support. Kanye will be OK. He has a good set of doctors."

Expand this summary.

Kanye West was not placed on a 51-50 psychiatric hold before he was hospitalized for exhaustion, a source confirms to PEOPLE.

 Despite reports claiming that the rapper was committed against his will, a source tells PEOPLE: “There was a small altercation at the gym but he was deemed medically stable and decided to seek medical help at his doctor’s request.”

 The source adds: “We’re super confident he’s going to pull through.”

 PEOPLE confirmed that West, 39, was hospitalized for exhaustion on Monday afternoon after canceling his Saint Pablo tour.

 “He is exhausted and currently dealing with sleep deprivation,” a source told PEOPLE. “He went to the hospital at will under the advice of his physician. He’s fine.”

 The source added that “he was not restrained” and that “he went freely.”

 Last night, Kim Kardashian West was scheduled to attend the Angel Ball in New York City, but did not attend. It would have marked her first public appearance since she was robbed in Paris in early October.

 The source also told PEOPLE that Kardashian West is “being amazing” as his family and friends support his recovery.

 “Family and friends are around. Kim is being amazing. As are all of his friends and team and inner circle.” ||||| Kim Kardashian is standing by her man.

 Two days after Kanye West voluntarily admitted himself into a Los Angeles area hospital, E! News is learning more about how the Grammy winner's wife is being supportive during a difficult time.

 "She is just holding things down like Kanye did for her when she needed support," a source shared with E! News exclusively. "Kim is doing much better and is strong. This shall pass she believes."

 Before her husband was hospitalized, Kim was scheduled to make her first public appearance since the Paris robbery at the Angel Ball in New York City where her late father Robert Kardashian was being honored.

 She ended up canceling at the last minute and boarded a flight back to Los Angeles Monday evening allowing her to visit Kanye in person soon after. ||||| He'll need a doctor's note.

 Yesterday (Nov. 21), after a rep for Kanye West confirmed that the remaining 21 dates of his Saint Pablo Tour would be canceled, Billboard estimated it would result in the refunding of more than 300,000 tickets, worth $27.3 million. At the time, however, the big unknown was why West canceled the dates, leaving open the question of whether insurance would cover the costs of shutting down the tour.

 Last night, West was placed under observation at a Los Angeles-area hospital, and a source told Billboard he was suffering from exhaustion and sleep deprivation. And while there is little to no further information about West's condition or the specific reasoning for canceling the tour dates, exhaustion raises several possibilities in terms of West's potential financial liabilities.

 Assuming West had insurance for his Saint Pablo Tour, a standard policy within the music industry would cover an "accident to or illness of any insured person which, in the opinion of an independent medical practitioner approved by the underwriters, entirely prevents any insured person from appearing or continuing to appear in any or all of the insured performances or events."

 Essentially, that would require a third party medical practitioner to determine whether or not West's exhaustion would physically allow him to continue. But it also would typically come with exclusions: for instance, if the exhaustion was due to drug use, sexually-transmitted diseases, "unreasonable or capricious behavior" -- which would include cancellations as a result of excessive partying or similar behavior -- and whether there was a pre-existing condition, meaning if the person had a history of exhaustion or a previously-diagnosed and undisclosed illness.

 A fairly textbook example of a situation that would be covered by this type of policy is Lady Gaga's 2013 Born This Way Ball Tour. With 22 dates to go on the trek, Gaga suffered a labral tear in her right hip that required surgery, forcing her to cancel the remaining shows on the tour and causing $25 million worth of ticket refunds. Gaga's injury clearly would have been covered by this type of insurance, including expenses related to shutting down the tour, advertising costs and lost revenues for both the promoter and performer.

 Again, however, West's situation is slightly different, and there is no clear answer.

 "[The policy] is often invoked very quickly for specific injury or illness that is diagnosed easily," says Paul Bassman, president/CEO of Ascend Insurance Brokerage, one of the top insurance firms in the music industry. "Exhaustion would definitely be harder to prove, but I wouldn't say it's impossible."

 Live Nation, the promoter for the Saint Pablo Tour, likely has its own policy, which generally differs from an artist's policy by not carrying exclusions for things like drug use, capricious behavior or other situations, though the independent medical evaluation would still be required. That could leave open a situation where Live Nation would be covered for its own expenses, including its guarantees to West (if they are responsible for paying those guarantees in the event of a cancellation), while if West's condition was not deemed to be covered by his insurance policy, he may still be on the hook.

 For now there is little to do but hope that West is getting the treatment he requires, while any definitive judgment is too early to assess. "We just don't know enough about why he canceled," Bassman adds. "Until more information is available on the specifics of the cancellation, it's not possible to determine whether this will be covered by insurance or not." ||||| Kanye West Psychosis Diagnosis May Trigger Huge Payout

 Kanye West's Psychosis Diagnosis May Trigger Huge Payout

 EXCLUSIVE

 Kanye West is dealing with a medical emergency, but there's a silver lining ... it may have saved him millions of dollars.

 Kanye announced the cancellation of his tour 6 hours before he was handcuffed to a stretcher and hauled off to UCLA Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation.

 The rapper not only reportedly lost around $30 mil for his cut of the remaining concerts, but he's on the hook for venues and others with whom he made contracts.

 TMZ has learned ... Kanye had an insurance policy that covered him in the event illness prevented him from performing. The policy provides the insurance carrier will pay Kanye for not only the money he'd make but the money he was obligated to pay others if "accident or illness ... prevents any Insured Person from appearing or continuing to appear in any or all of the Insured Performance(s) or Event(s)."

 Translation ... Kanye's doctor laid the groundwork for filing a claim under the policy.

 BTW ... the insurance company can deny coverage if Kanye had a preexisting condition that he didn't disclose at the time the policy was issued, or if his illness was caused by his "unreasonable or capricious behavior." |||||


Summarize this article:

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency Wednesday, hours after anti-government demonstrators stormed the country's parliament.

 Speaking on nationwide television, he said the "purpose is to restore peace and order and to stop the spreading of false information to the Thai public."

 Vejjajiva said the measure is effective in Bangkok and nearby provinces and "will limit certain rights of people."

 According to the order, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban has been appointed to administer the emergency law.

 While the prime minister stressed that the measure is not mean to disperse people, the decree bans the gathering of more than five persons who are deemed to instigate an emergency situation.

 It bans the publishing, broadcasting or spreading information considered a threat to national security and it prohibits people from staying in certain areas.

 Thai iReporters share their images

 The emergency allows authorities to take actions without court orders, such as summoning people, arresting and detaining people, and embarking on searches.

 It allows authorities access to any communications, such as fax or telephone and gives them the power to end communications. Authorities are also permitted to stop Thai citizens from leaving the country.

 Demonstrators Wednesday had been keeping a promise to intensify protests unless Vejjajiva dissolves parliament.

 Explainer: What are the protests about?

 The state of emergency was declared a few hours after the protesters stormed into the parliament building and then dispersed to regroup at their main gathering places at Phan Fa Bridge and Rajaprasong Intersection.

 Lawmakers who were inside the parliament building as the protesters began arriving made a quick exit, some climbing over fences.

 A helicopter was dispatched to pick up Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuangsuban and some other officials, Abhisit's office said.

 iReport: Scene from Wednesday demonstration

 The cabinet met to extend the country's Internal Security Act for another two weeks to help maintain order in the capital as the protests show no signs of abating.

 The act has been in effect since March 11, two days before the protesters began their mass demonstrations in Bangkok.

 On Tuesday, Abhisit spoke on television saying the rallies violated the constitution.

 The demonstrators have disregarded all calls to disperse from Bangkok's commercial hub. The nation's tourism minister, Chumpol Silapaarcha, has said the protests could affect tourism by about 10 percent.

 The group, United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, is made up of supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006.

 He fled the country in 2008 while facing trial on corruption charges that he says were politically motivated. He remains hugely popular.

 The protesters say Abhisit was not democratically elected and have demanded that he call elections. ||||| Unrest in Thailand intruded for the second straight year on a summit of Southeast Asian leaders as the Thai prime minister was forced to abandon his trip at the last minute Thursday amid fears of violence.

 One day after declaring a national state of emergency, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced he would skip the 16th annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vietnam to deal with thousands of "Red Shirt" anti-government protesters who have paralyzed parts of the Thai capital.

 The tensions seized the attention of ASEAN leaders, who pride themselves on keeping one another's political affairs out of the limelight.

 "The situation in Bangkok is worrying, and it's a somber backdrop to our discussions," Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said at the summit's opening. "I really hope that the situation there will not lead to violence."

 The Thai upheaval even upstaged concerns about Myanmar's upcoming elections, which have been boycotted by the main opposition party because its leader has been forbidden from participating.

 Myanmar's junta plans to call elections sometime this year, but under the election laws, detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is forbidden from participating.

 Last week, members of her party, the National League for Democracy, announced they would not participate in the polls, the first in 20 years.

 "It's disappointing that, because of the way the election laws have been crafted, it's not possible for the NLD to participate in the elections," Yeo said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting Thursday morning.

 However, he said, it was unlikely that the group would strongly criticize Myanmar's junta.

 "We are not in a position to punish Myanmar," Yeo said. "If China and India remain engaged with Myanmar, then we have to."

 Leaders from the 10 ASEAN nations had planned to focus on economics, where member countries with widely diverging political systems _ ranging from democracies to communism to a military junta _ share more common ground.

 ASEAN hopes to advance its goals of forming a European-style economic community by 2015 and promoting development across the region.

 Last year's summit was hijacked by the same protesters, forcing some visiting leaders to be airlifted out by helicopter. The Red Shirts, who briefly raided Parliament on Wednesday, are calling for Abhisit to dissolve Parliament within 15 days and call new elections. Instead, the prime minister has offered to do so by the end of the year. The Red Shirts claim he took office illegitimately in December 2008 with the help of military pressure on parliament.

 The confrontation is part of the long-running battle between partisans of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted by a 2006 military coup, and those who oppose him. Thaksin was accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the country's revered monarch.

 The demonstrators benefited from Thaksin's populist policies such as cheap health care and village loans.

 ____

 Associated Press writers Margie Mason and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi contributed to this report. |||||

– Thailand's prime minister has canceled an appearance at the annual Southeast Asia summit as rioters threaten to topple his government. Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency yesterday hours after anti-government protesters stormed the country's parliament in Bangkok. The decree bans spreading information that threatens national security and allows authorities to arrest, detain and search people without court order, CNN notes. "The situation in Bangkok is worrying, and it's a somber backdrop to our discussions," Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said as the summit opened today in Vietnam. Last year's summit was hijacked by the same red-shirted Thai protesters, forcing some visiting leaders to be airlifted out by helicopter, notes AP. Protesters have vowed not to disperse until Vejjajiva dissolves parliament. The group, known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.


ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY • A Missouri Ku Klux Klan leader might have been shot in his sleep because he had told his wife he wanted a divorce, St. Francois County Prosecutor Jarrod Mahurin said Monday after filing murder charges.

 “It may have been a marital issue,” he told a reporter. He said Frank Ancona, 51, was shot in the head between 2 and 3 a.m. on Thursday.

 Malissa Ann Ancona, 44, of Leadwood, Mo., and her son, Paul Edward Jinkerson Jr., 24, of Belgrade, Mo., were charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse.

 Jinkerson shot his sleeping stepfather in the bedroom of the victim’s home in Leadwood, sheriff’s Detective Matt Wampler wrote in an affidavit accompanying the charges. Ancona’s body was taken in Jinkerson’s vehicle to an area outside Belgrade, where it was dumped near the Big River, Wampler wrote.

 Ancona called himself an imperial wizard with the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

 A website for that group features an image of Ancona in a white hood and robe standing in front of a burning cross. His wife is shown next to him in another photo.

 The Park Hills Daily Journal said Ancona was reported missing Friday, when his employer called Leadwood police to say that he failed to show up work Wednesday or Thursday. A neighbor said Ancona had a job delivering parts for a St. Louis auto supply company.

 Malissa Ancona told investigators that he had been sent on a trip deliver a part, but the employer denied that, the newspaper said. She told authorities she had last seen her husband Wednesday.

 When investigators searched the Ancona home Saturday, they found “extensive blood evidence” in the master bedroom, officials said. Malissa Ancona told police in a recorded interview that Jinkerson shot her husband, and she helped clean up the blood and tried to cover up the crime, Wampler wrote.

 Mahurin said that both Ancona and Jinkerson were involved in disposal of the body and the cleanup.

 Police also found a safe that had been broken open. Frank Ancona’s guns were missing. Malissa Ancona told police her husband took them and was planning to file for divorce when he returned from his work trip.

 Frank Ancona’s abandoned car, found before his body was, appeared to have been “wiped down,” the prosecutor said, based on a chemical smell. Nearby was a pile of what appeared to be burned clothing, he said.

 Mahurin was not aware of any significance to the site where the body was left, other than it was nearby.

 The prosecutor said Jinkerson did not live with the Anconas but stayed with them occasionally. He called Jinkerson’s relationship with Frank Ancona “so-so,” saying that there had been issues in the past but not lately.

 Both defendants could be arraigned as early as Tuesday, he said. They were held in jail without bail.

 Jinkerson also faces unrelated charges of property damage and attempted stealing, and was jailed over the weekend on a warrant that was issued after he was accused of violating his probation in a 2016 drug possession case.

 Eric Barnhart, a lawyer who represents Jinkerson in other cases, reacted to the murder charge by saying, “I don’t believe it for a second that he did it.” Barnhart said he did not know if he will represent Jinkerson on the murder charge.

 Barnhart also said he did not believe that Jinkerson was involved in any hate groups. The young man was attending a local college, the lawyer said. Jinkerson’s Facebook page says he is studying computer science at Mineral Area College in Park Hills.

 Leadwood police referred a reporter’s questions to the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri Highway Patrol, which were not available for comment.

 On Friday night, Malissa Ancona had said on Facebook that her husband was missing and asked that anyone with information call the police. In online comments the next morning, she thanked friends for their good wishes and wrote, “My heart is breaking.”

 James Russell, 58, who lives next door to the Ancona residence, said the couple had lived there for about five years.

 Russell said he frequently heard Malissa Ancona screaming at her husband. Russell said he did not hear any gunshots on the day in question. But he did hear the banging of metal on metal in the predawn hours. Russell said he presumes that Malissa Ancona was seeking access to her husband’s safe.

 He described Frank Ancona as a good man who was working to change attitudes about the Klan. Russell said Ancona hosted a few small Klan gatherings at the house in recent years, including one in which Ancona and perhaps 10 others wore robes and burned a cross.

 “Everybody is talking about the Klan thing, but they are living in the past,” Russell said, “Frank was trying to improve the Klan and make it a force for good.”

 Ancona has been quoted in stories in the Post-Dispatch about KKK leafletting in Desloge. His group was also at the center of a legal fight over a gathering of members at Fort Davidson State Historic Site, a Civil War battlefield in Pilot Knob, Mo.

 Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate organizations, said that Ancona’s group was “not very significant at all. This was one of the smallest groups out there.”

 Potok said the members received a lot of attention because they frequently handed out leaflets. He said he would be surprised if there were 40 members spread out among chapters in Potosi, Hayden, Idaho and Pennsylvania.

 Ancona had been in a dispute with other Klan leaders, Potok said, who accused Ancona of being secretly Jewish and Malissa Ancona of being a Wiccan. Both were untrue, Potok believes, but the accusations are typical of the Klan world today, which consists of 29 different named organizations, “each one claiming to be the one true Klan and denigrating the others.”

 Tony Rothert, who as legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri had represented Ancona in his court fights, called him a “complicated and conflicted man.” Rothert estimated his followers numbering in the low double digits.

 “I and the (ACLU) found his views abhorrent and would say so. He understood that and recognized how unrealistic his views were at some level,” Rothert added.

 An old Twitter page for Malissa Ancona contains links to Ancona’s group and describes her as a member. Lately on social media, however, she was focused on creating a no-kill shelter for pets.

 Russell, the neighbor, said Frank Ancona grew up in the Potosi area.

 The Ancona home is a small, white frame house in need of repairs. Chicken wire is stapled across the posts of the front porch. Russell said Malissa Ancona had many pet cats, several of which were seen wandering the property Monday. Two dogs were barking inside the home.

 An American flag was nailed to the front porch. Next door, on the other side from Russell’s home, is a blue mobile home where the victim’s father lives. Out back is a white shed bearing two faded flags — the American flag and the Confederate battle flag.

 Family at Frank Ancona’s daughter’s home declined to comment to a reporter.

 Leadwood, a town of about 500 people, is near Park Hills, about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis. As its name implies, it used to be the home of a lead mine and is in the heart of Missouri’s old Lead Belt.

 Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch and The Park Hills Daily Journal contributed to this report. Tim O’Neil reported from Leadwood. ||||| Ku Klux Klan Leader in Missouri Was Fatally Shot in the Head, Coroner Says

 A Ku Klux Klan leader in Missouri whose body was found near a river over the weekend was fatally shot in the head, a coroner said Monday.

 Frank Ancona, 51, who called himself the “imperial wizard” of a local KKK chapter, was shot at close range with a shotgun-type firearm, Washington County Coroner Brian DeClue told TIME. There were no other gunshot wounds on his body, DeClue said.

 It’s unclear what prompted the killing and whether there have been any arrests. Local authorities and prosecutors did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.

 Ancona went missing Friday. His body was discovered the next day by a riverbank near Belgrade, Mo., Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen said in a statement. |||||

Write a summary.

– The wife and stepson of Missouri KKK leader Frank Ancona were charged Monday with his murder. Police say 24-year-old Paul Jinkerson Jr., the son of Ancona's wife, Malissa Ancona, 44, shot 51-year-old Frank Ancona while he was asleep Thursday in his bedroom, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Police say Ancona's body was driven away in Jinkerson's vehicle and dumped. They say Malissa Ancona confessed to that scenario, and told police she helped to clean up and try to hide what happened. Police found "extensive blood evidence" in the master bedroom of the couple's Leadwood home. Ancona and Jinkerson have been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. The body of Ancona, who was reported missing by his employer last week, was found Saturday. The coroner also revealed Monday that Ancona, who identified himself as a KKK imperial wizard, was shot in the head with a shotgun-like weapon at close range and did not have any other bullet wounds on his body, Time reports. Authorities have not speculated publicly on a motive. When police searched the Anconas' home, they found a broken-open safe and discovered Frank Ancona's guns were missing. Malissa Ancona, who was at the home with Jinkerson when police came to search it, per the Daily Journal, claimed her husband had taken them, and that he planned to file for divorce when he got back from his trip. But his family says he wouldn't have taken all his guns with him, and the gun he typically did carry on a daily basis was still at the house. Authorities then searched around his vehicle, which had been found abandoned on Thursday, and found a burn pile.


News article:

A soldier from North Korea who defected to the south has been found with anthrax antibodies in his system, sparking concern at the rogue state's biological weapons capabilities, it has been reported.

 A South Korean intelligence official told local news network Channel A that the unnamed soldier had been either exposed to or vaccinated for anthrax and had developed immunity to the deadly disease.

 "Anthrax antibodies have been found in the North Korean soldier who defected this year," the source told the network.

 The report adds to growing concern that North Korea is developing biological weapons, especially in light of details published in 2015 by the Pyongyang Biological Technology Research Institute suggesting that such weapons are being made.

 Anthrax can kill within 24 hours unless people have been vaccinated or antibiotics are taken. South Korea's military is expected to have an anthrax vaccine developed by the end of 2019, the country's defence ministry said.

 There have been reports that Pyongyang is looking to mount anthrax onto intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US.

 The Japanese newspaper Asahi reported how North Korea is experimenting with heat and pressure equipment to prevent anthrax from dying at high temperatures of over 7,000 degrees generated at the time of an ICBM's re-entry into the atmosphere.

 Earlier in December, a White House report raised fears that North Korea was developing chemical and biological weapons that could be "delivered by missile."

 Meanwhile, just before Christmas, North Korea said it is a "pipe dream" for the United States to think it will give up its nuclear weapons, and called the latest UN sanctions to target the country "an act of war" that violates its sovereignty.

 It followed the hermit nation's launch of their most-advanced missile, the Hwasong-15. ||||| One of the North Korean soldiers who defected across the demilitarized zone was found to have developed antibodies against anthrax, according to a South Korean press report. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

 Dec. 26 (UPI) -- One of the North Korean soldiers who defected to the South in 2017 was found to have antibodies in his bloodstream, a sign Pyongyang possesses anthrax, the acute disease caused by bacteria.

 South Korean authorities did not identify the soldier, who was either exposed to or vaccinated for anthrax, but did confirm he had developed immunity to the deadly disease before he defected, local news network Channel A reported Tuesday.

 "Anthrax antibodies have been found in the North Korean soldier who defected this year," a South Korean intelligence official told the network on the condition of anonymity.

 The discovery of the antibodies is causing concern in Seoul.

 The disease can kill at least 80 percent of those who are exposed to the bacterium in 24 hours, unless antibiotics are taken or vaccination is available.

 But South Korea's military has yet to secure an anthrax vaccine.

 Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo has said an anthrax "vaccine is expected to be developed by the end of 2019," but not sooner, for the South Korean military.

 North Korea has been suspected of developing biological weapons after the regime publicized the works of the Pyongyang Biological Technology Research Institute in 2015, run by the Korean People's Army Unit 810.

 Pyongyang claimed the facility specializes in pesticide research but analysts have said dual-use equipment on the site suggests biological weapons are being manufactured in North Korea.

 The news of possible North Korea anthrax development comes at a time when South Korean newsmagazine Sisa Journal is reporting the U.S. military in the South has continued to test live bacteria at local bases.

 The Joint United States Forces Korea Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition, or JUPITR, is budgeted to receive about $9 million, according to the report.

 The program, aimed to shape biological detection capabilities, is ongoing, according to Sisa.

 Concerns spiked in South Korea after Seoul's defense ministry confirmed the U.S. military in South Korea imported samples of anthrax 15 times since 2009, and a shipment in 2015 exposed as many as 22 people. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Blood tests on at least one of the North Korean soldiers that defected to the South this year have detected something extremely concerning, according to a South Korean TV channel. Channel A, citing an unnamed South Korean military source, says anthrax antibodies were detected in the soldier, suggesting Pyongyang could be ramping up its biological weapon capabilities, UPI reports. According to Channel A, South Korean authorities have confirmed that the soldier is immune to the deadly bacterium, though it's not clear whether his immunity comes from vaccination or exposure. Anthrax can kill within 24 hours if people are not vaccinated, the International Business Times notes, and the South Korean military says its anthrax vaccine will not be ready until the end of 2019. The news adds to concerns about possible biological attacks: The White House released a report last week that said Pyongyang had spent "hundreds of millions of dollars on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that could threaten our homeland," and Japan's Asahi newspaper recently reported that North Korea has been trying to find ways for anthrax to survive the high temperatures that intercontinental ballistic missiles experience.