Article:
Story highlights Foreign Minister defends PM, says Erdogan "always feels the pain of the people"

 PM's aide seen kicking a protester tells Turkish media he regrets not staying calm

 Minister says 283 are confirmed dead after fire inside a mine in western Turkey

 Protesters lay symbolic coffins at government buildings, rail against PM Erdogan

 The image of an aide to Turkey's Prime Minister kicking a man protesting the mine disaster that has claimed nearly 300 lives has prompted outrage -- and has become a symbol of the anger felt against the government.

 The incident occurred as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the western city of Soma a day after the devastating mine fire.

 The man, detained by special forces, can be seen lying on the ground as the suited adviser to Erdogan, identified as Yusuf Yerkel by Turkish media and CNN Turk, aims a kick at him.

 The shocking image outraged many in Turkey, prompting an outpouring of anger on social media, and is seen as symbolizing the increasingly polarizing impact of Erdogan's authority on the country.

 It's been nearly a year since anti-government protests first roiled Istanbul, prompting a response from authorities that was widely criticized as heavy-handed.

 JUST WATCHED Turkish PM's aide kicks a protester Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkish PM's aide kicks a protester 01:38

 JUST WATCHED Mine disaster leaves families devastated Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Mine disaster leaves families devastated 01:08

 JUST WATCHED Mass funeral held for Turkish miners Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Mass funeral held for Turkish miners 02:05

 JUST WATCHED Turkey shaken by mine disaster Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkey shaken by mine disaster 01:40

 Yerkel was quoted by Turkey's semi-official Anadolu news agency as saying that he had been deeply saddened by Wednesday's events. "I am sad that I could not keep my calm in the face of all the provocation, insults, and attacks that I was subjected to that day," he reportedly said.

 Besides the anger prompted by the photo, Erdogan's speech Wednesday to relatives of dead and injured miners was seen as insensitive and drew scathing criticism.

 As public anger mounted through the evening, hundreds took to the streets in anti-government protests in Istanbul and Ankara, with police answering, in some cases, with water cannons and tear gas.

 In Ankara, the nation's capital, some left black coffins in front of the Energy Ministry and the Labor and Social Security ministry buildings. Meanwhile, unions called for strikes across the country on Thursday.

 At the mine, where what has become more of a recovery effort than a rescue continued, the mood was sullen, but there was little sign of the burning anger seen elsewhere over the accident.

 Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the number of coal miners confirmed dead had risen by one to 283, as of Thursday evening.

 Three injured miners remain in the hospital, he said. The recovery operation is expected to continue overnight and into Friday.

 A 'sorrow for the whole Turkish nation'

 President Abdullah Gul offered words of comfort as he visited the western city, a day after his premier attracted public ire.

 The mine fire is a "sorrow for the whole Turkish nation," Gul told reporters, and he offered his condolences to the victims' families.

 Onlookers listened silently until a man interrupted Gul with shouts: "Please, President! Help us, please!"

 An investigation into the disaster has begun, Gul said, adding that he was sure this would "shed light" on what regulations are needed. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he said.

 He commended mining as a precious profession. "There's no doubt that mining and working ... to earn your bread underground perhaps is the most sacred" of undertakings, he told reporters.

 Gul had entered the mine site with an entourage of many dozens of people -- mostly men in dark suits -- walking through a crowd of rescue workers who were standing behind loosely assembled police barricades.

 Rescue and recovery workers retrieved more bodies Thursday from the still smoldering coal mine.

 Resignation marked the workers' faces after they had stood and sat outside the mine for hours, idle and waiting. Some of them passed the time talking on cell phones, others smoking or taking off their hard hats and burying their faces in their hands.

 With hope of finding survivors nearly gone, it appeared there was little they could do.

 Funerals amid grief

 Smoke and fumes are hindering efforts to reach more of those still missing below the surface and lessen the chances that any more will be found alive, even in special "safe" chambers equipped with oxygen and other supplies. Fourteen bodies were found in one such chamber.

 More than a day has passed since anyone was pulled out alive.

 Rescuers saved at least 88 miners in the frantic moments after a power transformer blew up Tuesday during a shift change at the mine, sparking a choking fire deep inside.

 Since then, the bodies of nearly 200 miners who were trapped in the burning shaft nearly a mile underground have been returned to their families.

 "Enough, for the life for me!" yelled one woman -- her arms flailing, tears running down her cheeks. "Let this mine take my life, too!"

 JUST WATCHED Mine rescue efforts temporarily suspended Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Mine rescue efforts temporarily suspended 04:28

 JUST WATCHED Family: 'Let this mine take my life too!' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Family: 'Let this mine take my life too!' 01:00

 Map of the mine location

 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Friends and relatives of dead miners pray at a cemetery on Saturday, May 17. The search for victims of this week's coal mine fire in Soma is now over, with a final death toll of 301, Turkish government officials said Saturday. Hide Caption 1 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Mourners reach out to touch the coffin of a miner recovered from the Soma mine on May 17. Hide Caption 2 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A relative offers her prayers next to the grave of a loved one in Soma on Friday, May 16. Hide Caption 3 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Family members mourn at the grave of a victim on May 16. Hide Caption 4 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A woman attends the burial of victims in Soma on Thursday, May 15. Hide Caption 5 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A woman waits on the ground at the disaster scene Wednesday, May 14. Hide Caption 6 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A man weeps over the body of a miner being pulled from the mine in Soma on May 14. Hide Caption 7 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – People gather near rows of open graves for victims in Soma on May 14. Hide Caption 8 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A rescue worker prepares stretchers for the search for miners on May 14. Hide Caption 9 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, surrounded by security, visits the coal mine on May 14. Hundreds have taken to the streets of Istanbul and Ankara since the disaster in protest of the government and poor safety regulations. Unions have called for strikes across the country on May 15. Hide Caption 10 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – The crowd reacts as rescue workers carry the body of a miner in Soma on May 14. Hide Caption 11 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners and relatives wait for news outside the mine on May 14. Hide Caption 12 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A family member cries as rescue workers carry a survivor from the mine on May 14. Hide Caption 13 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners rest after hours of working with the rescue operation on May 14. Hide Caption 14 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A miner covers his face after being affected by toxic gas during rescue operations on May 14. Hide Caption 15 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers carry a miner to an ambulance on May 14. Hide Caption 16 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers carry a survivor from the mine on May 14. Hide Caption 17 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – People await news about relatives in front of a Soma hospital on May 14. Hide Caption 18 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers continue their efforts on May 14. Hide Caption 19 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners wait outside the mine in the early hours of May 14. Hide Caption 20 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescuers help carry away a miner on May 14. Hide Caption 21 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Relatives try to get information outside a Soma hospital on Tuesday, May 13. Hide Caption 22 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – An injured miner gets pulled from the mine on May 13. Hide Caption 23 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers and relatives gather at the mine on May 13. Hide Caption 24 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – An injured miner is carried out by rescue workers. The mine shaft is about two-thirds of a mile -- or 1 kilometer -- underground, a disaster agency said. Hide Caption 25 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners stand by after the explosion. About 100 rescuers, dozens of ambulances and helicopters were dispatched to the scene. Hide Caption 26 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners and relatives wait outside the mine on May 13. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said officials turned an exit pipe "into a clean air pipe," so "there is fresh air being given in places where there is no fire." Hide Caption 27 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Turkish women await news of their relatives who are trapped underground. Hide Caption 28 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue operations continue at the site of the accident on May 13. Hide Caption 29 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A massive crowd watches as rescuers work into the night. Hide Caption 30 of 30

 JUST WATCHED Turkish opposition demanded mine reforms Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkish opposition demanded mine reforms 01:19

 Funerals took place Thursday in a community stricken with grief.

 Autopsies on dozens of bodies revealed the miners died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

 Erdogan said Wednesday that as many as 120 more were trapped inside the mine, though that was before rescue crews grimly hurried a series of stretchers -- at least some clearly carrying corpses -- past the waiting crowd.

 In his much-criticized speech to the relatives of the dead and injured, the Prime Minister glossed over the issue of mine safety, describing the carnage they had suffered as par for the course in their dangerous business.

 Apparently on the defensive, he rattled off a string of horrible past accidents, even going back to an example from 19th-century Britain.

 As he took a stroll through the city, onlookers showered him with deafening jeers as well as chants of "Resign, Prime Minister!"

 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu defended the government's response and Erdogan during an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.

 "All the efforts will be done to check what was wrong, if there was anything wrong during this disaster or before," he said, stressing the country's standards are "quite high."

 About Erdogan, Davutoglu said: "He was feeling all these pains in his heart. Everybody knows that our Prime Minister is always with the people, and always feels the pain of the people. Otherwise, he wouldn't get such a high support in eight elections in (the) last 10 years."

 Scathing engineers' accusations

 A group of engineers investigating the cause of the inferno made a scandalous accusation.

 "WHAT HAPPENED IN SOMA IS NOT FATE, IT IS MURDER," a local branch of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers wrote in all capital letters at the top of its official statement Wednesday.

 Although the group is not known for any party affiliation and comprises serious experts, such barbs have become common in a country riven with political division, where street protests and water cannons have become a familiar sight.

 The statement also reflects the anguish that has shaken Turkey after what looks to be the deadliest mine disaster in its history.

 The latest death toll already tops a mining accident in the 1990s that took 260 lives.

 The chamber of electricians also contradicted the official version of how the fire started, saying: "The fire was not caused by an electrical situation as presented to the public in the first statements."

 The assessment from inspectors from the chamber's local branch in Izmir on what happened suggests negligence may have played a part.

 "The inspection revealed that the systems to sense poisonous and explosive gases in the mine and the systems to manage the air systems were insufficient and old," they said.

 The blaze started as a "coal fire" at 700 meters deep, and then air fans pushed the flames and smoke farther through the mine, the chamber concluded. The ventilation was not corrected until "much later."

 The miners were trapped and inundated with smoke and fire.

 Soma's public prosecutor's office has started an investigation of its own into the fire, Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported.

 Political bonfire

 The chamber's accusations land on top of those already heaped on Erdogan's government by his political opponents.

 Opposition politician Ozgur Ozel from the Manisa region, which includes Soma, filed a proposal in late April to investigate Turkish mines after repeated deadly accidents.

 He has said that he is sick of going to funerals for miners in his district.

 Several dozen members of opposition parties signed on to his proposal, but Erdogan's conservative government overturned it. Some of its members publicly lampooned it, an opposition spokesman said.

 The mine, owned by SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A.S., underwent regular inspections in the past three years, two of them this March, Turkey's government said. Inspectors reported no violation of health and safety laws.

 Waiting on dead friends

 For Veysel Sengul, a miner waiting by the mine's entrance for more of his friends to emerge, the mourning may go on much longer than the three days of official grieving ordered by Erdogan.

 After what's happened, he said, he'll never work in a mine again.

 Rescuers haven't given up hope that some miners reached emergency chambers stocked with gas masks and air and could still be alive.

 But Yildiz, the energy minister, said "hopes are diminishing" of rescuing anyone yet inside the mine.

 Sengul has already given up. The miner knows that at least four of his friends are dead. ||||| SOMA, Turkey (AP) — Women sang improvised ballads about the departed over freshly dug graves Thursday, even as backhoes carved row upon row of graves into the dirt and hearses lined up outside the cemetery with more victims of Turkey's worst mining disaster.

 In this Wednesday, May 14, 2014 photo, Yusuf Yerkel, right, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stands behind Erdogan during his visit in Soma, Turkey. Yerkel was identified by Turkish... (Associated Press)

 In this Wednesday, May 14, 2014 photo, Yusuf Yerkel, right, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stands behind Erdogan during his visit in Soma, Turkey. Yerkel was identified by Turkish... (Associated Press)

 People wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds of workers,... (Associated Press)

 People wait outside the mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at a coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds of workers,... (Associated Press)

 Members of the Turkish forces wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. Rescue teams recovered more victims of Turkey's worst mining accident on Thursday, raising... (Associated Press)

 Relatives of miners wait near a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds... (Associated Press)

 Miners wait outside the entrance of a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. Rescue teams recovered more victims of Turkey's worst mining accident on Thursday, raising the... (Associated Press)

 Members of the Turkish forces wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul,... (Associated Press)

 Relatives of miners wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed... (Associated Press)

 Relatives of miners wait near a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds... (Associated Press)

 In this photo taken Wednesday, May 14, 2014 a person identified by Turkish media as Yusuf Yerkel, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, kicks a protester already held by special forces... (Associated Press)

 Miners and members of the rescue services wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south... (Associated Press)

 A youth waits outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. Rescue teams recovered more victims of Turkey's worst mining accident on Thursday, raising the death toll to over... (Associated Press)

 Miners and members of the rescue services wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south... (Associated Press)

 Rescue teams recovered another eight victims, raising the death toll to 282, with some 142 people still unaccounted for, according to government figures. The disaster Tuesday has set off protests around Turkey and thrown Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's presidential ambitions off stride. Blackening his reputation further, one of Erdogan's aides was accused of kicking a protester on the ground.

 At a graveyard in the western town of Soma, where coal mining has been the main industry for decades, women wailed loudly in an improvised display of mourning. They swayed and sang songs about their relatives as the bodies were taken from coffins and lowered into their graves. Pictures of the lost relatives were pinned onto their clothing.

 "The love of my life is gone," some sang, chanting the names of dead miners.

 No miner has been brought out alive since dawn Wednesday from the Soma coal mine where the explosion and fire took place. Many mourners said they spent their whole lives fearing something like this.

 "The wives of the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back, even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never know what is going to happen," said Gulizar Donmez, 45, the daughter and wife of a miner and neighbor of one of the victims.

 Energy Minister Taner Yildiz on Thursday announced that a fire inside the mine was dying down, offering hope that rescuers would soon be able to speed up their search for those missing.

 Erdogan, who is expected to soon announce his candidacy for Turkey's presidential election in August, was not welcome during his visit to the area Wednesday. He was forced to take refuge at a supermarket after angry crowds called him a murderer and a thief, in a reference to alleged corruption, and clashed with police.

 Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet, Milliyet and others on Thursday printed photographs they said were of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester who was on the ground and being held by special forces police. The papers identified the aide as Yusuf Yerkel.

 The prime minister's office on Thursday distanced itself from the incident, with one official saying the issue was "his own personnel matter." The official, who was not authorized to give his name to the press without authorization, confirmed there was a "melee" as Erdogan entered a building but denied Turkish media reports that he had thrown a punch.

 Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Soma on Thursday, described the events in Soma as "a huge disaster."

 "The pain is felt by us all," he said. The mood was more restrained than during Erdogan's visit, though locals angry at what they saw as the slow rescue operation still shouted jibes at him, demanding more should be done to reach possible survivors.

 Erdogan appeared somewhat tone-deaf to residents' grief Wednesday, calling mining accidents "ordinary things" that occur in many other countries after giving examples of 19th-century mine accidents in Britain.

 Erdogan has made no secret of his desire to become Turkey's first popularly elected president. His party swept local elections in March despite a corruption scandal that forced him to dismiss four government ministers in December and later also implicated him and family members. Erdogan denies corruption, calling the allegations part of a plot to bring his government down.

 Protests broke out in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities Wednesday over the deaths and poor safety conditions at mines around the country. In Istanbul and Izmir, authorities used water cannons and tear gas to break up the protests. Turkey's largest trade union confederation, representing some 800,000 workers, joined a one-day strike by other unions to demand better conditions for workers.

 Miners in Zonguldak, obeying the strike, gathering in front of a pit Thursday but did not enter it. In Istanbul, a group chanted anti-government slogans and carried a large banner that read: "It's not an accident, it's murder."

 Yildiz, the energy minister, said the search for survivors had been hampered by a mine fire that had spread to a conveyor system — engulfing a 200 meter-long (650-foot) stretch — but progress had been made on extinguishing it. Rescue operations have been suspended several times as burning coal inside created toxic fumes and too-risky conditions for the rescue teams.

 Authorities said the disaster followed an explosion and a fire at a power distribution unit, and most deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

 Yildiz said emergency crews had detected a drop in carbon monoxide levels "which means that the fire has gotten smaller."

 "God willing, in two or three hours if we are able to extinguish this fire, we will be able to hasten our (rescue) work," he said.

 The government has said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday's explosion, and that 383 were rescued, many with injuries. Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll.

 The death toll made it Turkey's worst mining accident, topping a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

 Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Erdogan promised that Tuesday's tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and that "no negligence will be ignored." Hurriyet newspaper reported that a team of 15 prosecutors has been assigned to investigate the accident.

 Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, when no safety violations were detected. But the country's main opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma.

 __

 Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara. ||||| Fury has erupted in Turkey after a close aide to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan brutally assaulted a man thought to be grieving for relatives in the mining town where almost 300 people lost their lives underground.

 Mr Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 11 years, was visibly shocked by the hostile reaction in Soma during a visit on Wednesday when he was forced to take refuge at a supermarket.

 Video published in Turkey showed scuffles around the prime minister and one of his staff, Yusuf Yerkel, kicking a man being held down by paramilitary police. Mr Yerkel, who was a PhD candidate at Soas in 2010, told BBC Turkish that he would be making a statement about the image on Thursday.

 The angry crowds in Soma called Mr Erdogan a murderer and thief and booed strongly.

 A protester is kicked by Yusuf Yerkel, advisor to Tayyip Erdogan, as Special Forces officers hold him down (MEHMET ERMIN/REUTERS)

 In his initial remarks after the disaster, which has so far claimed 282 lives, Mr Erdogan had earlier downplayed the disaster, calling mining accidents "ordinary things" that also occur in many other countries. He gave examples of 19th-century mine accidents in Britain.

 The remarks revived anger at Mr Erdogan's failure to tackle the appalling safety record of the Turkish mining industry. When 30 people died in a mining disaster in 2010, Mr Erdogan said: 'Unfortunately, this profession has this in its destiny.”

 Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon at thousands of protesters in the city of Izmir on Thursday, as a 24-hour strike got underway over a deadly mine explosion.

 Police intervened twice when around 20,000 protesters took to the streets of the western city to protest the death of the 282 miners. The incident is the country's worst ever industrial accident.

 Turkish trade unions have launched a one-day strike in protest at mine safety. According to Turkey's Mine Workers Union, between 2000 and 2009 there were 25,655 accidents in mines run by the government agency, resulting in 63 deaths and 26,324 injuries.

 The video of Mr Erdogan being booed, whistled and heckled by an angry mob as he was escorted to a shop by his security team also showed aides lashing out.

 Demonstrators kicked his official car and while a crowd smashed up the local headquarters of the ruling AK Party.

 Public anger has been fuelled by accusations that Erdogan's ruling AK Party dismissed a parliamentary motion submitted by the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) to investigate safety in the Soma mines as recently as 29 April.

 Mr Erdogan said the CHP motion had "nothing to do with the Soma mine."

 Separately Turkey's energy minister said he'd resign if there was a 15-year-old miner among the dead.

 Video courtesy: Turkiyeden Haberler· ||||| Women sang laments and swayed with grief over the graves of relatives killed in Turkey's worst mining disaster, even as more hearses pulled up and backhoes dug more graves around them.

 At a graveyard in the western town of Soma, where coal mining has been the main industry for decades, women wailed loudly in an improvised display of mourning. They swayed and sang songs about their relatives as the bodies were taken from coffins and lowered into their graves. Pictures of the lost relatives were pinned onto their clothing.

 "The love of my life is gone," some sang, chanting the names of dead miners.

 No miner has been brought out alive since dawn Wednesday from the Soma coal mine where the explosion and fire took place. Many mourners said they spent their whole lives fearing something like this.

 "The wives of the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back, even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never know what is going to happen," said Gulizar Donmez, 45, the daughter and wife of a miner and neighbour of one of the victims. |||||Summary:

– With the death toll now at 282 and the hope of finding survivors diminishing, anger over yesterday's mine disaster in Turkey is spiking fast—and some aren't hesitating to point fingers. "WHAT HAPPENED IN SOMA IS NOT FATE, IT IS MURDER," a branch of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers wrote yesterday, claiming the cause of the fire was negligence, not "an electrical situation as presented to the public." The group said, per CNN, "the investigation revealed that the systems to sense poisonous and explosive gases in the mine and the systems to manage the air systems were insufficient and old" and air fans actually pushed flames farther through the mine; ventilation wasn't righted until "much later." A video, obtained by the Telegraph, isn't helping the government's standing after news that an opposition motion to inspect the mines was shot down last month. It appears to show an aide to PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicking a grieving protester, held down by paramilitary police in Soma, where protesters have vandalized a local ruling party office. Erdogan has said the opposition motion had "nothing to do with the Soma mine." Already Turkey's worst ever industrial accident, the death toll could reach 400 as 150 miners are still underground and no survivors have been found since yesterday morning, the Guardian notes. CNN adds the bodies of 200 miners have been returned to their families, while the AP reports on the songs of heartbreak being sung as backhoes dig rows of graves and funerals begin en masse.


Summarize this article:

Police say a pet pig might have stopped home intruders in Indianapolis, IN. (Source: WXIN via CNN)

 INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN/CNN) – A homeowner in Indianapolis has a different kind of anti-theft system: her pet pig, which police said might have scared away intruders during a recent home break-in.

 The back door of the home is now boarded up after crooks shattered the glass and kicked their way inside.

 "They completely damaged my entire door. The entire door is ruined," said the homeowner, a single mother with four kids who asked not to be identified.

 She said luckily the family wasn't home during the break-in.

 Because the would-be thieves didn't actually steal anything, police suggested the criminals might have been scared away by "Dumplin," the family's pet pig.

 "They were guessing whenever the person broke in, they were probably surprised I had a pig, and were like, 'We don't want to deal with this,'" the homeowner said.

 Dumplin's owner said she rescued the full-grown swine earlier this year.

 "The moment I saw him I knew. He loved me instantly. He's perfect. He's the perfect animal," she said.

 Unfortunately, home break-ins are nothing new in the neighborhood. Dumplin's family bought the east side home just a few weeks ago.

 Including the break-in at Dumplin's home, a search of police reports shows there were three home burglaries on the same day, separated by just two blocks.

 "I guess it's something that I should have looked into," the homeowner said. "I was excited to be buying my first home."

 Dumplin's owner is just relieved the pig didn't get hurt during the crime. She said she wishes more people would adopt pet pigs, even if they won't always keep the bad guys away.

 "There's tons of miniature pigs that are in shelters and rescues that don't have homes, and they're great animals," she said.

 There's no word yet on if police have found the suspects.

 Copyright 2018 WXIN via CNN. All rights reserved. ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- An Indianapolis pet saved a family’s bacon during an unusual home break-in on Indy’s east side this week.

 Police say the crime may have been thwarted by a pet pig. The would be thieves smashed their way into the home through the back door.

 “They completely damaged my door. The entire door is ruined,” said the homeowner.

 That homeowner asked not to be identified, but the single mom with four kids says the family wasn’t home at the time of the break-in.

 “It’s scary to think about what if my kids and I would have been home,” she said. “It’s definitely terrifying you don’t want anything like that to happen.”

 Because the would be thieves didn’t actually steal anything, police suggested the criminals have may been scared away by the family’s pet pig, Dumplin.

 “The officers were guessing when the person broke in they were probably surprised I had a pig and were like, ‘We don’t want to deal with this,’” said the homeowner. “The cop was like we definitely think they got in and made it to where Dumplin was and thought, ‘Nope. We don’t want no part of this.’”

 Dumplin’s owner says she saved the full-grown swine from a rescue earlier this year.

 “The moment I saw him I knew he loved me instantly. He’s the perfect animal,” said the homeowner.

 Unfortunately, home break-ins are nothing new in the neighborhood near Michigan and Sherman. Dumplin’s family bought the east side home just a couple of weeks ago.

 Including the break-in at Dumplin’s home, a search of police reports shows there were three home burglaries on the same day separated by just two blocks.

 “I guess it’s something I should have looked into. It’s common in the neighborhood. I didn’t think about it. I was excited to be buying my first home,” said the homeowner.

 Dumplin’s owner is just relieved the pig didn’t get hurt during the crime and says she wishes more people would adopt pet pigs, even if they won’t always keep the bad guys away.

 “There’s tons of pigs in shelters that don’t have homes and they’re great animals,” said the homeowner.

 Dumplin’s owner hopes the suspects are caught before they break into anyone else’s home. In the meantime, anyone with information on the case can always contact Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS. |||||

– Beware of pig: Authorities in Indianapolis are crediting a family's full-grown pig with scaring off a burglar or burglars who broke into a home just weeks after the property was purchased. Per Fox 59, the intruder smashed through the back door but left without taking anything, apparently after encountering the pig known as Dumplin, who was adopted from a rescue shelter. "[Police] were guessing whenever the person broke in, they were probably surprised I had a pig, and were like, 'We don't want to deal with this,'" the homeowner, a single mom with four kids, tells WXIN. Though she wasn't home at the time, she adds an officer informed her the intruder had made it as far as Dumplin's location. "He's the perfect animal," she says.


Here is a news article: Two former servers at Hard Rock Café International's Universal Studios restaurant have sued the Orlando-based company, alleging that it failed to pay minimum wages as required under Florida law.

 Christopher Grant and Benjamin Aguda filed the complaint Friday in Orange Circuit Court.

 The suit alleges that Hard Rock's servers and bartenders, who make less than minimum wage, had to share tips with kitchen staffers who made sure food was garnished and prepared properly. |||||

 Hard Rock spells hard work, the kind of work that should be worth at least $7 an hour.

 The suit alleges that servers and bartenders improperly shared their tips with "expediters" -- kitchen employees responsible for making sure food plates are garnished properly.

 Another attorney on the case, Hillary Schwab, added,

 It's news that should concern every diner: When you leave dollars on the table, you're usually leaving it for the harried waitron who did right by you -- not donating to the schlub back in the kitchen who added your parsley sprig.

 The real crime is that minimum wage isn't up to $10 an hour by now.

 In Orlando, a pair of restaurant workers are suing their former employer, Hard Rock Cafe (the biggest one in the world, btw), alleging that the company ripped them off by taking their tips and divvying them up among the kitchen staff. That's illegal, says their attorney, Sam J. Smith. In fact, for nearly three years, the pair say they were paid less than minimum wage.The complaint says that Hard Rock tried to cheat servers and bartenders by taking a tip credit allowable only when the servers and bartenders are allowed to retain all of their tips or where a tip pooling arrangement is instituted among employees "who customarily and regularly receive tips." "In this economy, servers and bartenders need all the tips they can get. Hard Rock should have known that a tip-sharing arrangement that included kitchen staff violated Florida and federal law." |||||
A summary of this is?

– Two former servers at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando—the chain's biggest site—are suing because they say the restaurant illegally paid them less than minimum wage for three years, the Orlando Sentinel reports. They say Hard Rock broke the law by requiring them to share tips not only with other servers and bartenders but with kitchen staffers. They ended up making less than minimum wage—it's $7.25 in Florida—and want the difference repaid. "In this economy, servers and bartenders need all the tips they can get," one of their attorneys tells the Broward Palm Beach New Times. "Hard Rock should have known that a tip-sharing arrangement that included kitchen staff violated Florida and federal law." They're seeking class-action status. Hard Rock says the allegations "do not accurately reflect how Hard Rock pays it employees." Writes New Times' Jeff Stratton: "The real crime is that minimum wage isn't up to $10 an hour by now."


Summarize this article:

H.R. 667, as this urgently needed legislation is known, would “redesignate the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center.”

 You’d have to be on another planet to think that renaming NASA operations is Congress’s most pressing order of business this week. But for Republicans, using this moment to honor the first man to walk on the moon is not lunar lunacy. The naming proposal, sponsored by Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), was taken up at a time when House Republicans are pursuing a considered strategy of deliberate idleness.

 After months of fretting over the harmful effects of sequestration, as the automatic cuts are called, House Republicans have belatedly embraced the realization that if they do nothing at all, they will be rewarded on Friday with a 2.5 percent cut in all federal spending without coughing up a single dollar in tax increases. They have learned to stop worrying and love the sequester.

 President Obama is barnstorming the country, calling for tax increases and alternative spending cuts to replace the automatic ones. But while Republicans say they’d consider a different blend of reductions, they’d rather have the sequester than another deal like the one in December that raised taxes.

 “The president says we have to have another tax increase in order to avoid the sequester,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said at a news conference Monday. “Well, Mr. President, you got your tax increase. It’s time to cut spending here in Washington.”

 Boehner instructed Obama to “sit down with Harry Reid tonight and work with Senate Democrats.” As for House Republicans, they’ll be busy doing . . . well, not much.

 Of the 56 days so far in 2013, the House has been in session for 20 — and a large chunk of those have been pro-forma sessions without votes, or with ceremonial bills. After a week’s recess, the chamber returned Monday with just a few items on the calendar. Lawmakers are scheduled to be out of town Friday, when the sequester is set to take effect. They’re planning another recess at the end of March, when the federal government is due to shut down for lack of funding.

 The House started its day Monday at 2 p.m. Before leading the Pledge of Allegiance, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) requested a roll-call vote on approving the journal of proceedings from the last day in session — a time-wasting technique.

 Next, Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson (R-S.C.) requested a minute of time to speak his mind, closing with his standard sign-off: “In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we’ll never forget September 11 and the global war on terror.” After Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) spoke about climate change, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.) had something to say about “the president’s takeover of health care.”

 Next, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pleaded for the House to “abandon this reckless policy” of sequestration. Foxx, citing an op-ed by Bob Woodward in Sunday’s Washington Post, replied that the sequester “was the brainchild of the Obama administration” and that it is up to Democrats to replace it.

 It was 2:10 p.m. — 10 minutes into the day’s proceedings — and the speaker called a three-hour recess. Finally, it was time for the NASA renaming. The task before the House: to put Armstrong’s name on the facility, relegating that of Hugh L. Dryden, a NASA engineer who died almost 50 years ago, to the facility’s test range.

 The bill passed the House in the last Congress by a vote of 404 to 0 (the Senate didn’t take it up), so it could have cleared the chamber with a simple voice vote. But that would not have eaten up much time. And so McCarthy and five other lawmakers chewed up almost half an hour on the floor praising Armstrong and Dryden.

 The lone Democrat to speak, Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.), noted the irony in the vote. “We will do our renaming today,” she said, and then “we will take an ax hammer to NASA’s budget on March 1, at the end of this week, taking out $894 million from an already strapped budget. I dare say future generations will not be inspired by what this Congress will do.”

 The speaker declared another recess.

 Twitter: @milbank

 Read more from Dana Milbank’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. ||||| Politicians have lost their power to frighten me. I no longer believe the sky is falling.

 I have lived through America’s past disasters: Vietnam. Watergate. Disco.

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 reset GOP leadership on sequestration "The Scrum" PODCAST: Sequestration

 We survived them all. We have grown strong at the broken places.

 But now the pols have come up with a new word to panic us: sequester.

 (Also on POLITICO: Boehner: Senators should get 'off their ass')

 It is supposed to scare us witless. But, in truth, hearing a politician tell us, “We are heading toward sequester” is really no scarier than hearing the words, “I don’t like the looks of that mole” or “Welcome to Carnival Cruise Lines.”

 The sequester was designed to be so horrible that both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress would recoil from it.

 All sorts of things will be cut under a sequester: border security, airport security, Head Start, public housing support, NASA, special education, the FBI, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and national defense.

 But do you know what does not get cut? Take a guess. That’s right:

 The salaries of senators and representatives do not get cut under sequester.

 Congressional staffers — those people who actually read and write the laws, get coffee and have to go before the cameras to explain why their boss has been found in a Motel 6 with a pole dancer named Mercedes Dee Lite — face a 20 percent pay cut through furloughs.

 But members of Congress? Their six-figure salaries will continue to roll in, even as money to Medicare patients gets cut.

 (Also on POLITICO: Boehner's big bet)

 So why did anybody expect Congress to be repelled by a sequester?

 Sure, members of Congress might have to figure out how to put those plastic coffee pods in the machines themselves, but these people are not fools. They will order out. If they can figure out how to work the telephones.

 True, the doomsayers say that our national defense will be cut by $42.7 billion. But this still leaves billions and billions for pork: armaments that don’t work and weapons systems that not even the Pentagon wants. Members of Congress insist on spending this money, however, to show voters they can bring home the bacon. |||||

– We shouldn't be too worried about the sequester—after all, Congress doesn't exactly seem to be recoiling at the thought. And Roger Simon has a theory on why: Lawmakers' own salaries aren't getting cut, he explains at Politico. Sure, their staffers are facing furloughs that amount to a 20% pay decrease, but members of Congress will keep collecting six-figure salaries. Of course our lawmakers "might have to figure out how to put those plastic coffee pods in the machines themselves, but these people are not fools," he writes. "They will order out. If they can figure out how to work the telephones." In fact, House Republicans are positively excited about the sequester, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post, noting their agenda yesterday consisted only of renaming a California NASA research center. They're "pursuing a considered strategy of deliberate idleness," after finally realizing that doing nothing means they get "a 2.5% cut in all federal spending without coughing up a single dollar in tax increases. They have learned to stop worrying and love the sequester." Click for Milbank's full piece; Simon's humorous take is here.


Article:
Login credentials for as many as 117 million LinkedIn accounts have been put up for sale online by someone who is seeking more than $2,200 for the haul, a security researcher said.

 Further Reading 8 million leaked passwords connected to LinkedIn, dating website The credentials—which include e-mail addresses and passwords hashed using the woefully weak SHA1 function—appear to come from a 2012 breach of the career networking site, researcher Troy Hunt said in a series of tweets. LinkedIn officials have since verified that the 2012 hack was the source and said they are working to invalidate any passwords that may still be actively used on compromised accounts. According to LeakedSource, a site that maintains a database of more than 1.25 billion compromised accounts, the new batch contains data for 167 million accounts. 117 million of the records in the batch include a password field.

 The discovery means that the 2012 LinkedIn breach was much bigger than previously believed. At the time, researchers found almost 6.5 million credentials belonging to site users. It's not clear if the new number of affected accounts is news to LinkedIn. In the days following discovery of the 2012 breach, company officials implemented a mandatory password reset for affected users. A statement from company officials on Wednesday saying that they're working to change any passwords still in use leaves open the possibility that they were unaware the number was so high.

 According to posts on social media sites, the data was advertised on a dark Web site known as The Real Deal by someone with the user name peace_of_mind. It offers data for 167 million accounts for five bitcoins, which at current exchange rates is worth about $2,200.

 In an e-mail, LinkedIn officials wrote:

 In 2012, LinkedIn was the victim of an unauthorized access and disclosure of some members' passwords. At the time, our immediate response included a mandatory password reset for all accounts we believe were compromised as a result of the unauthorized disclosure. Additionally, we advised all members of LinkedIn to change their passwords as a matter of best practice. Yesterday, we became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released that claims to be email and hashed password combinations of LinkedIn members from that same theft in 2012. We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords. We have no indication that this is a result of a new security breach. We take the safety and security of our members' accounts seriously. For several years, we have hashed and salted every password in our database; and we have offered protection tools such as email challenges and dual factor authentication. We encourage our members to visit our

 safety center to ensure they have two-step verification authentication and to use strong passwords in order to keep their accounts as safe as possible.

 The LeakedSource post breaks down the most commonly used passwords and they reveal a stunning lack of care on the part of end users—and more to the point, on the part ofr LinkedIn for allowing them in the first place. The most widely used passcode was 123456, with 753,305 accounts. It was followed by linkedin with 172,523, password with 144,458, 123456789 with 94,314, 12345678 with 63,769, and 111111, with 57,210. Many sites are reluctant to forbid the use of such weak passwords out of a fear of alienating users. The leak underscores just how much a new approach is needed. ||||| Quite literally, every day someone gets hacked. Whether that's a telecommunications company having its customer data stolen, or another chain of businesses being ripped for all the credit cards it processes, today one hack just seems to melt into another.

 In our series Another Day, Another Hack, we do short posts giving you what you need to know about the hack, so you can figure out whether your bank account, website logins or anything else might be at risk. Because, even if the hack might not be the most sophisticated, real people are still getting fucked over somewhere, and should know about it.

 A hacker is trying to sell the account information, including emails and passwords, of 117 million LinkedIn users.

 The hacker, who goes by the name “Peace,” told Motherboard that the data was stolen during the LinkedIn breach of 2012. At the time, only around 6.5 million encrypted passwords were posted online, and LinkedIn never clarified how many users were affected by that breach.

 Turns out it was much worse than anybody thought.

 Peace is selling the data on the dark web illegal marketplace The Real Deal for 5 bitcoin (around $2,200). The paid hacked data search engine LeakedSource also claims to have obtained the data. Both Peace and the one of the people behind LeakedSource said that there are 167 million accounts in the hacked database. Of those, around 117 million have both emails and encrypted passwords.

 “It is only coming to the surface now. People may not have taken it very seriously back then as it was not spread,” one of the people behind LeakedSource told me. “To my knowledge the database was kept within a small group of Russians.”

 A screenshot of the listing on The Real Deal

 LeakedSource provided Motherboard with a sample of almost one million credentials, which included email addresses, hashed passwords, and the corresponding hacked passwords. The passwords were originally encrypted or hashed with the SHA1 algorithm, with no “salt,” which is a series of random digits attached to the end of hashes to make them harder to be cracked.

 One of the operators of LeakedSource told Motherboard in an online chat that so far they have cracked “90% of the passwords in 72 hours.”

 Troy Hunt, a security researcher who maintains the breach notification site “Have I Been Pwned?,” reached out to some of the victims of the data breach. Two of them confirmed to Hunt that they indeed were users of LinkedIn and that the password he shared with them was the one they were using at the time of the breach. Motherboard was able to confirm a third victim.

 One of the victims told Motherboard that the password in the sample was their current one, though he changed it as soon as Hunt reached out no notify him of the breach.

 “Having a password out there feels like someone being able to let themselves in to your private space whenever they like, without you knowing,” the victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said in an email.

 When reached for comment on Tuesday, LinkedIn spokesperson Hani Durzy told Motherboard that the company’s security team was looking into the incident, but that at the time they couldn’t confirm whether the data was legitimate. Durzy, however, also admitted that the 6.5 million hashes that were posted online in 2012 were not necessarily all of the passwords stolen.

 “We don’t know how much was taken,” Durzy told me in a phone call.

 The lesson: For LinkedIn, the lesson is the same as four years ago: don’t store passwords in an insecure way. As for LinkedIn users, if you didn’t already change your password four years ago, change it again, especially if you use it on other services (and please stop reusing passwords).

 “The prevalence of password reuse means we’ll see that unlock other accounts too,” Hunt told me.

 Another lesson is that even old hacked data can sometimes be valuable, given that some of these passwords might still be valid.

 UPDATE, May 18, 12:32 p.m. ET: LinkedIn confirmed on Wednesday that the new data is legitimate.

 “Yesterday, we became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released that claims to be email and hashed password combinations of more than 100 million LinkedIn members from that same theft in 2012,“ the company's chief information security officer Cory Scott wrote in a blog post. “We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords. We have no indication that this is as a result of a new security breach.“

 Scott also encouraged users to use two-factor authentication and use strong passwords. ||||| A LinkedIn hack from back in 2012 is still causing problems for its users. The company announced this morning that another data set from the hack, which contains over 100 million LinkedIn members’ emails and passwords, has now been released. In response to this new data dump, LinkedIn says it’s working to validate the accounts and contact affected users so they can reset their passwords on the site.

 As you may or may not recall, given how much time has passed, hackers broke into LinkedIn’s network back in 2012, stole some 6.5 million encrypted passwords, and posted them onto a Russian hacker forum. Because the passwords were stored as unsalted SHA-1 hashes, hundreds of thousands were quickly cracked.

 Now, according to a new report from Motherboard, a hacker going by the name of “Peace” is trying to sell the emails and passwords of 117 million LinkedIn members on a dark web illegal marketplace for around $2,200, payable in bitcoin. In total, the data set includes 167 million accounts, but of those, only 117 million or so have both emails and encrypted passwords.

 As this data set also originates from the 2012 hack, these passwords are encrypted in the same way – with “no salt” – meaning they are more easily cracked. In fact, Motherboard states that 90 percent of the passwords were cracked within 72 hours. Several of the victims were still using their same password from 2012, the report also said.

 Whether or not current LinkedIn users should be concerned comes down to a handful of factors: did you have an account during the time of the 2012 breach, have you changed your password since, and has that password been reused on other websites?

 If you’re not sure, a best practice would be to change it anyway, as well as on other critical sites where you may be using that same password such as your banking website, email, or Facebook, for example.

 LinkedIn says that it has increased its security measures in the years since the breach, by introducing stronger encryption, email challenges and two-factor authentication. But this hack was from an earlier era, before these protections were in place. They would also not necessarily protect users from hackers who had obtained email and password combinations.

 The full text of LinkedIn’s statement is below: |||||Summary:

– In 2012, hackers posted 6.5 million stolen LinkedIn passwords to a Russian forum, TechCrunch reports. It turns out, that security breach was much bigger and much worse than possibly anyone realized. According to Motherboard, 117 million LinkedIn emails and passwords taken as part of the same breach were just put up for sale by a hacker named "Peace," who is seeking $2,200 for them on the dark web. LinkedIn has confirmed the emails and passwords are legit and is working on contacting affected users. Back in 2012, LinkedIn never specified how many accounts had been compromised by hackers. Ars Technica reports it's possible even the company didn't know how many passwords had been stolen initially. Hackers have apparently had no trouble with the lightly encrypted passwords. One source claims hackers cracked 90% of the stolen passwords within 72 hours. Ars Technica argues many of the passwords should never have been allowed by LinkedIn in the first place. More than 750,000 users had the password "123456." More than 170,000 used "linkedin." Other popular passwords were "password" and "111111." People who were using LinkedIn in 2012, still have the same password, and use that password for other websites should be concerned, according to TechCrunch, which says it's best to change your password on LinkedIn (and anywhere else you used it) just in case.


Write an article based on this summary:

– North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to share his father's fondness for rockets—but not his aversion to public speaking. Kim spoke to North Korea in a televised New Year's Day address, the first such broadcast in 19 years, the BBC reports. Kim Jong Il almost never addressed the public, and the last such New Year's broadcast in Pyongyang was from Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, in 1994. In the address, Kim called for a "radical turnabout" that would transform North Korea into an "economic giant." He called for unity between North and South Korea, although he referred to agreements signed years ago that new South Korean leader Park Geun Hye may be reluctant to implement, the Washington Post reports. He stressed that military power remains a top national priority. "The military might of a country represents its national strength," he said. "Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kim Jong-un stressed the need to "remove confrontation" between the two Koreas

 The North Korean leader has delivered a new year's message on state TV, the first such broadcast for 19 years.

 Kim Jong-un, in power since 2011, spoke of the need to improve the economy and also to reunify the Koreas, warning that confrontation only led to war.

 The speech came less than a month after the conservative Park Geun-hye was elected president of South Korea.

 In 1994, Mr Kim's grandfather, Kim Il-sung, spoke on radio and TV. His son, Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public.

 In addition to Mr Kim's televised address, new year's messages were issued in the form of a joint editorial by North Korea's three main newspapers.

 Musical performance

 Kim Jong-un said 2013 would be a year of creations and changes, calling for a "radical turnabout" that would transform the impoverished, isolated state into an "economic giant" and raise living standards.

 Analysis After a year of rocket launches and international isolation, the new year speech seemed to refocus North Korea's sights on the economy. There were the usual tributes to military strength, but less open hostility than in some previous speeches. Instead the focus was a call by the North Korean leader for the country to become "an economic giant". It was, he said, the "most important task… in the present stage of building a thriving socialist economy". Pyongyang has become increasingly isolated internationally over the past few years, and has become heavily reliant on China for its economic survival. With a new president due to take office in South Korea next month, some analysts saw signs of conciliation. President-elect Park Geun-hye has said she wants to rebuild trust, and - eventually - economic and diplomatic contacts with the North. In the new year speech, her counterpart in Pyongyang called for an end to confrontation between the North and the South, and for both sides to "respect... and implement" previously-agreed declarations. Many in the South - and in Washington - will want to see concrete evidence of Pyongyang's willingness to do that.

 But while he said confrontation between the North and the South should be removed, Mr Kim stressed that military power remained a national priority.

 "The military might of a country represents its national strength. Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country," he said.

 The message coincides with UN Security Council discussions on how to punish Pyongyang for a recent long-range rocket launch.

 Under Mr Kim's leadership, North Korea has conducted two long-range rocket launches - actions condemned by the US and Pyongyang's neighbours as banned tests of missile technology.

 The launch in April failed, but December's attempt appears to have been a success, placing a satellite into orbit.

 The US, Japan and South Korea are seeking a response in the UN Security Council, which banned North Korea from missile tests after nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

 Kim Jong-un saw in the new year by watching a musical performance with his wife, North Korean state media reported. ||||| In this Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 image made from video, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at a banquet for rocket scientists in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP)

 In a domestically televised New Year’s Day speech, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Eun said he wants to “remove confrontation” on this divided peninsula and called on “anti-

 reunification forces” in South Korea to end their hostility toward the North.

 The lengthy address, which laid out North Korea’s goals for the year, marked Kim’s first formal remarks since the election two weeks ago of Park Geun-hye as South Korea’s next president.

 The North Korean leader asked for a detente — but with prerequisites that the conservative Park is likely to be reluctant to accept. Both sides, Kim said, must implement joint agreements signed years ago by the North and liberal, pro-engagement presidents in Seoul. Those agreements call for, among other things, economic cooperation, high-level government dialogue and the creation of a special “cooperation” zone in the Yellow Sea, where the North and South spar over a maritime border.

 Park, who takes office next month, has said that she will resume humanitarian exchanges and small-scale economic projects with the North — efforts that were shuttered under outgoing hard-

 liner Lee Myung-bak. But Park has pledged to hold off on major economic cooperation unless the North disassembles its nuclear weapons program, something Pyongyang says it will never do.

 With his speech Tuesday, Kim reinforced his image as a far more outgoing leader than his father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled for 17 years and addressed North Korean citizens only once, with a seconds-long exhortation at a military parade. During Kim Jong Il’s tenure, the New Year’s message was delivered in a lengthy editorial carried by the state-run newspapers.

 1 of 35 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Images from around the world View Photos Take a look at some of the week’s best photographs from around the globe. Caption Take a look at some of the week’s best photographs from around the globe. Jan. 5, 2013 With temperatures around 46 degrees, a man plays in the surf with some thousands celebrating the new year by jumping into the North Sea in Ostend, Belgium. Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

 The previous Jan. 1 speech was given by North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, in 1994, months before his death.

 Whether spoken or written, the New Year’s messages are scrutinized by outside analysts for hints about policymaking in the family-run police state. On Tuesday, Kim emphasized many staple themes of the country’s daily propaganda: He spoke about economic improvement but did not mention the North’s destitution and food shortages. He called for a “dynamic struggle to boost production” but gave no clear sign that the government would change its spending priorities — its military and weapons programs.

 Kim also portrayed a successful satellite launch last month as an event that would inspire North Korea’s citizens to work harder to boost the economy. Washington and its allies say the launch was a de facto test of an intercontinental ballistic missile and defied U.N. Security Council resolutions.

 “Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space,” Kim said, enunciating what he said was the Workers’ Party slogan for 2013.

 His speech had no mention of the United States or the North’s nuclear weapons program. |||||


A new Utah law could charge women with homicide if they miscarry, making women's rights advocates concerned that women will be brought up on murder charges for drinking, failing to wear a seatbelt, or falling down the stairs.

 The bill passed Utah's state legislature last Thursday and still needs final approval by the governor, but it continues to gain attention this week for its unusually restrictive language. It doesn't address legal abortion, but allows punishment up to life in prison for an "intentional, knowing, or reckless act" that leads to a miscarriage or abortion without a doctor's supervision. Especially concerning to some Utah Democrats and many women's rights activists is the word "reckless" — writing for RH Reality Check, Rachel Larris says,

 Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.

 Women might also make themselves open to prosecution if they failed to wear a seatbelt and got in a car accident, if they stayed with an abusive partner, or even if they fell down the stairs, like a woman in Iowa who found herself jailed on suspicion of "attempted feticide." This woman eventually got off only because she wasn't yet in her third trimester — but unlike Iowa's feticide law, Utah's new bill would apply throughout pregnancy. Given that 15-20% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage, 80% of those in the first trimester, Utah could have a lot of work ahead. Dan Savage writes,

 If every miscarriage is a potential homicide, how does Utah avoid launching a criminal investigation every time a woman has a miscarriage? [...] And how is Utah supposed to know when a pregnant woman has had a miscarriage? You're going to have to create some sort of pregnancy registry to keep track of all those fetuses, Utah. Perhaps you could start issuing "conception certificates" to women who get pregnant? And then, if there isn't a baby within nine months of the issuance of a conception certificate, the woman could be hauled in for questioning and she could be indicted for criminal homicide if it's determined that she intentionally or accidentally induced a miscarriage.

 Of course, Utah probably isn't going to create such a registry, but its new legislation is striking for the way it targets women themselves, as opposed to abortion providers. Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, says, "For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'" And Jill of Feministe asks why, if anti-choice advocates are so concerned about miscarried fetuses, they aren't "trying to find a cure for the close to 50 percent of fertilized eggs that naturally don't implant, and are flushed out of the woman's body." Her answer: "the concern here isn't really about fetuses or life or any of that. It's about punishing women."

 Utah Bill Would Criminalize Miscarriage [Feministe]

 Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage [RH Reality Check]

 Measure On Illegal Abortions Heads To Governor [Salt Lake Tribune]

 When Miscarriages Are a Crime... [Slog] ||||| A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances.

 According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage.

 The bill passed by legislators amends Utah's criminal statute to allow the state to charge a woman with criminal homicide for inducing a miscarriage or obtaining an illegal abortion. The basis for the law was a recent case in which a 17-year-old girl, who was seven months pregnant, paid a man $150 to beat her in an attempt to cause a miscarriage. Although the girl gave birth to a baby later given up for adoption, she was initially charged with attempted murder. However the charges were dropped because, at the time, under Utah state law a woman could not be prosecuted for attempting to arrange an abortion, lawful or unlawful.

 The bill passed by the Utah legislature would change that. While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison.

 "What is really radical and different about this statute is that all of the other states' feticide laws are directed to third party attackers," Paltrow explained. "[Other states' feticide laws] were passed in response to a pregnant woman who has been beaten up by a husband or boyfriend. Utah's law is directed to the woman herself and that's what makes it different and dangerous."

 In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.

 Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.

 "This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder," says Missy Bird, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, "there nothing in the bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car accident."

 Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.

 "This statute and the standards chosen leave a large number of pregnant women vulnerable to arrest even though they have no intention of ending a pregnancy," Paltrow said. "Whether or not the legislature intended this bill to become a tool for policing and punishing all pregnant women, if enacted this law would permit prosecution of a pregnant woman who stayed with her abusive husband because she was unable to leave. Not leaving would, under the 'reckless' standard, constitute conduct that consciously disregarded a substantial risk," Paltrow explained.

 While many states have fetal homicide laws most apply only in the third trimester. Utah's bill would apply throughout the entirety of a woman's pregnancy. Even first trimester miscarriages could become the basis for a murder trial.

 Bird said she is also concerned that the law will drive pregnant women with substance abuse problems "underground;" afraid to seek treatment lest they have a miscarriage and be charged for murder. She said it directly reverses the attempts made, though a bill passed in 2008, to encourage pregnant women to seek treatment for addiction.

 Paltrow added that the commonly thought belief that pregnant women who use drugs are engaging in behavior that is likely to cause a stillbirth or a miscarriage is wrong.

 "Science now makes clear that drug use by pregnant women does not create unique risks for pregnant women, although it is likely that among those targeted for prosecutions by this statute will be women who go to term under drug usage," she said.

 The bill does exempt from prosecution fetal deaths due to failure to follow medical advice, accept treatment or refuse a cesarean section. Bird said this exemption was likely because of a 2004 case where a woman who was pregnant with twins was later charged with criminal homicide after one of the babies was stillborn, which the state deemed due to her refusal to have a cesarean section.

 Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Utah worked together to "amend the hell out of the bill," Bird said. One of their few accomplishments was at least dropping the legal standard of "negligence" from the bill, a much lower standard than "recklessness."

 Bird was shaken with emotion after the Senate vote. "I broke down and cried," she admitted. "I normally never let these kind of [legislative] battles get to me."

 "What really sucks is that we had three supposed allies in the Senate, three [Democratic] women, who voted for the bill," Bird said, adding she didn't yet know why the three senators switched votes.

 Marina Lowe is legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU of Utah. She worked in tandem with Bird on trying to derail or at least mitigate the worst aspects of the bill. Lowe says at this point she doesn't know if there is a potential constitutional challenge to the law once it is signed by the governor.

 But she points to cases like the one in Iowa as exactly the kind of situation that might arise once this law is put into place.

 Paltrow says this bill puts a lie to the idea that the pro-life movement cares about women.

 "For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'" |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A Utah bill designed to outlaw do-it-yourself abortions has drawn national attention, with bloggers railing that the law could punish women for accidental miscarriages. The bill, which has already passed both chambers of Utah’s legislature, would allow women to be charged with homicide if they committed an “intentional, knowing or reckless act” that led to a miscarriage. It was created after a woman allegedly paid a man to beat her until she miscarried. But critics warned that the legal definition of “reckless” is so broad that women could be jailed for not wearing a seatbelt, or returning to an abusive spouse, notes Jezebel. It’s also the rare abortion law directly targeting women. “For all these years the anti-choice movement has said, ‘We want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail,'” one pro-choice group tells RH Reality Check, “but what this law says is, ‘No, we really want to put women in jail.'”


Twitvid will soon become Telly!

 Check out telly.com for an early preview! You're able to log in using your existing Twitvid account, and all of your Twitvid videos will already be there. Read more about it here. |||||

 When Stefanie Gordon boarded her plane in New York City to visit her parents in Palm Beach, the captain noted there was a chance passengers would witness the space shuttle Endeavour's last launch during the flight. But she never expected to play a role in documenting it.

 As the plane descended toward Palm Beach and the Endeavour's launch became visible, Gordon pulled out her iPhone and snapped a few photos and a short video. On the ground, she posted one of the photos to her then 1,800 Twitter followers.

 In a few hours, she was fielding phone calls from ABC, the BBC and CNBC. She had accumulated about 1,000 new Twitter followers, and she had to turn the @mention push notifications off on her phone so they wouldn't drain the battery.

 "I don't have that many Twitter followers, and I basically tweet about sports," Gordon tells Mashable. "I really didn't expect it to go as viral as it did."

 Although other people on the plane also took photos, the 33-year-old event planner says it seems that she's the only one who posted them to Twitter.

 "To be able to see the last shuttle launch of the Endeavour was awe inspiring, and to have a different view of it was just amazing," she says.

 The new Twitter friends aren't bad either. Gordon, who is looking for a job, recently tweeted her LinkedIn resume — just in case chance continues to work in her favor. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– When Stefanie Gordon tweeted a picture she took from her airplane window, she never expected it to get her interview requests from just about every major news outlet and a retweet by NASA. But that’s exactly what happened—since Gordon happened to be on a flight to Palm Beach from which the Endeavour launch was visible. Gordon posted a few TwitPics and a video; next thing you know, she was fielding calls from reporters and had 1,000 new Twitter followers in a few hours. She tells Mashable other people on the plane took pictures, but apparently, she was the only one to tweet hers.


Article:
Joint senior author David Bates, Professor of Oncology in the School of Medicine at The University of Nottingham, said: “Changes during the year in sex hormones made in the pituitary gland control when mammals start reproducing, and other changes like growing new coats or developing antlers.

 A study, led by academics at the Universities of Nottingham and Bristol and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals the link between breeding season and the hormone melatonin, made in the pineal gland in the brain during long winter nights.

 Scientists have discovered for the first time how animals link the change in seasons to their fertility.

 Click here for full story

 “The length of the day is recognised in most vertebrate animals by the pineal gland in the brain, which produces melatonin. However, until now, it has not been known how melatonin, which is produced at night, signals to the area of the pituitary gland that controls sex hormones.”

 The team of scientists, which also included PhD student Dr Jennifer Castle-Miller and Dr Domingo Tortonese, in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Bristol, found that in sheep, melatonin controls production of two different types of a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This happens within a specific region of the pituitary gland, away from the area where sex hormones are made.

 In winter, sheep make forms of VEGF that stop blood vessels growing. In summer, they make a different VEGF that makes vessels grow between the two areas of the pituitary. This allows VEGF to act as a messenger to control sex hormone-producing cells and fertility – the first time that the molecule linking long winter nights to sex hormones has been found.

 The search for the missing link between the different parts of the pituitary has been going on for nearly 30 years, because knowing how this works could, for instance, help control when sheep start lambing, enabling farmers to respond to climate change. The findings also have wider implications for how animals, and potentially humans, use this system in health and disease.

 The scientific paper Mechanisms Regulating Angiogenesis Underlie Seasonal Control of Pituitary Function is published by PNAS and will be available on the PNAS website after the embargo has lifted.

 — Ends —

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 Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city.’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment in the 2017 The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, and 8th in the UK for research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for four years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.

 Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news… ||||| Study may reveal why melatonin affects breeding, horn growth and coat thickness – and allow farmers to change the timing of lambing season

 Why do sheep get horny in winter? Because the light is baaad, says study

 The mystery of why sheep get horny in the winter might have been solved, according to new research.

 Scientists say they have uncovered the key to the mechanism by which changes in the length of the day prompt certain animals to begin breeding, trigger the growth of horns and even change the thickness of their coat.

 The findings, the team add, could help farmers tinker with the timing of the lambing season.

 “Now we know what that link is we can start to understand how it can be controlled,” said David Bates, professor of oncology at the University of Nottingham and co-author of the research.

 Snow monkey attempts sex with deer in rare example of interspecies mating Read more

 It has long been known that changes in animals’ fertility over the seasons is linked to melatonin – a hormone released at night from the pineal gland in the brain. This hormone acts on another gland, the pituitary, affecting the levels of various sex hormones it produces.

 With the onset of fertility in sheep linked to longer periods of melatonin production, winter is the season for ovine Casanovas. But there is a puzzle.

 The region of the pituitary gland that detects melatonin is separate to the region that produces sex hormones. As a result, scientists had been baffled as to how melatonin ends up affecting the onset of fertility. “No-one has been able to find what the link is,” said Bates.

 Now Bates and colleagues from the University of Bristol say they have the answer.

 Writing in the journal PNAS, the team reveal the missing link is a protein, known as vascular endothelial growth factor, which is made in the region of the pituitary gland that detects melatonin.

 “The protein is made in two different types; it is made in a form that blocks blood vessel growth or a form that stimulates blood vessel growth,” said Bates. “Melatonin definitely controls which type [of the protein] you make.”

 The team have found that the form of the protein which blocks the growth of blood vessels, reducing the connection between different regions of the pituitary gland, is triggered during long periods of melatonin production – typical of the winter. In addition, this form of the protein was found to stimulate the production of sex hormones which prompt sheep to eye up the opposite sex.

 By contrast, a shorter duration of melatonin production – typical of summer – was linked to the formation of the alternative form of the protein, which increases the growth of blood vessels and acts as an anaphrodisiac.

 The revelation, says Bates, could help farmers. “As climate change occurs and you start to get harsher winters, for instance, you might want to delay the breeding so the lambs are born slightly later,” he said. “So you might be able to actually increase survival of the lambs.”

 Mysteries remain, however, not least the question of why the breeding season of horses, for example, falls during the spring and summer when the production of melatonin is at its lowest.

 'Tinder for orangutans': Dutch zoo to let female choose mate on a tablet Read more

 Andrew Loudon, a professor of animal biology at the University of Manchester who was not involved in the research, welcomed the study, pointing out that it highlights the importance of the region of the pituitary gland that detects long-term seasonal changes in melatonin. “[This] tissue contains specialised ‘calendar cells’ that act as the master regulator of seasonal cycles – so it is terribly important,” he said. “This new study offers an important insight into how the seasonal clock in this structure works to control the production of hormones in the pituitary gland.”

 With similar melatonin-detecting regions present in the pituitary glands of humans, Loudon believes it is important to probe whether the newly discovered mechanism could also play a role in human biology. “Patterns of hormone secretion and also immune function are known to be seasonal in humans, although we are unusual as a species in being far less seasonal in our biology than wild animals,” he said. “However, I think it is highly likely that malfunction of these seasonal hormone-regulating pathways may well turn out to be important in the development of some endocrine diseases in the pituitary gland.” ||||| Animals need to measure the time of year so that they can anticipate and adapt to the arrival of a new season to align reproduction, as well as other vital functions critical for survival. A new study, conducted at the University of Bristol, has identified how animals measure annual time to control seasonal fertility.

 In birds and mammals, this process of adaptation is mediated by the release of hormones from the pituitary gland that control multiple functions such as reproduction, the response to stress, and when the animals grow a new coat. The measurement of day length, however, and consequently time of year, is mediated by the hormone melatonin, which is released from the pineal gland during the night. Until now, how melatonin could signal to the pituitary was not understood and has been the subject of a 30-year quest.

 The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), undertaken by Dr Jennifer Castle-Miller, a former PhD student at the Centre for Comparative and Clinical Anatomy of the University of Bristol, and led by Dr Domingo Tortonese from the same school and Professor David Bates from the Division of Cancer and Stem Cells at the University of Nottingham, reports the mechanism by which melatonin translates the effects of day length on seasonal physiology.

 Using the sheep as the experimental model, they found that the duration of melatonin secretion at night controls the production of different forms of a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) within a specific pituitary region that is close to the brain. VEGF forms that prevent blood-vessel growth are made in the winter, but those that stimulate it are made in the summer.

 Dr Domingo Tortonese, joint senior author from Bristol’s Faculty of Health Sciences, said: “We found that this melatonin-dependent production of different forms of VEGF has two complementary effects. Firstly, it causes remodelling of the blood vessels that connect the brain with the pituitary gland, and secondly, it is used as a messenger signal to act on the cells of the pituitary that produce hormones that control seasonal fertility, which are located in a different part of the gland.”

 The study has unravelled the mechanism through which animals measure time of year to allow their physiological adaptation to a changing environment. These findings have implications for the farming industry, and are anticipated to have an impact in human medicine.

 Paper:

 'Mechanisms regulating angiogenesis underlie seasonal control of pituitary function' by Castle-Miller J, Bates DO and Tortonese DJ is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) |||||Summary:

– "Why do sheep get frisky in winter?" isn't the beginning of a bad joke, but rather the question that jump-started a joint study by researchers at the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol. The Guardian reports that scientists may now have an answer, one that could help farmers better control the breeding season. That answer, laid out in the journal PNAS, is a bit complicated. It's been known for some time that sheep's fertility is tied to production of the hormone melatonin, but how melatonin communicates with the pituitary gland, which shoots off sex hormones, has been a mystery. "No one has been able to find what the link is," says co-author David Bates. Until now, perhaps. Press releases from Nottingham and Bristol explain what may solve this 30-year-old puzzle: a protein made in the pituitary gland called vascular endothelial growth factor. It's made in two different forms, and scientists say melatonin controls which one surfaces. In the summer (when melatonin is in shorter supply), VEGF makes blood vessels grow and serves as a sheep-sex buzzkill of sorts. But in the winter, VEGF blocks blood vessel growth—and also appears to trigger a sex hormone spike. “Now we know what that link is we can start to understand how it can be controlled,” says Bates. In addition to helping farmers, the study could lead to developments in studying hormonal and seasonal patterns in humans in regard to endocrine diseases. (Using your smartphone right before you turn in could mess with your melatonin levels.)