Article:

SEOUL, April 16 (Yohap) -- Choi Eun-hee, an iconic movie star of the '60s and '70s, died as a result of a chronic disease at age 92 on Monday, her family have said.

 "My mother passed away when she went to hospital for kidney dialysis this afternoon," Choi's eldest son, director Shin Jeong-gyun, told Yonhap News Agency by phone.

 Born in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, in 1926, she began her film career in 1947 in the movie "A New Oath." She later rose to stardom for her lead roles in "The Sun Of Night" (1948) and "A Hometown in Heart" (1949) and became one of the three most celebrated actresses of her time, along with Kim Ji-mi and Um Aing-ran.

 This file photo shows actress Choi Eun-hee. (Yonhap)

 In 1954, Choi married Shin Sang-ok, a leading film director. Together, they established Shin Film and made many films that led the heyday of the Korean film industry in the '60s and '70s.

 She established her position as a great movie star while appearing in about 130 movies directed by Shin, such as "The Houseguest and My Mother" (1961) and "Red Scarf" (1964), until their joint career ended in divorce in 1978.

 Whilst on a business trip to Hong Kong later that year, Choi was kidnapped by a North Korean secret agent and taken to North Korea. She was forced to make films for the North together with her estranged husband who was abducted a year later. She won the best actress in the Moscow Film Festival in 1985 for "Sault," which she made together with Shin, becoming the first Korean to claim an award at an overseas film festival.

 This file photo shows late movie director Shin Sang-sok (L) and his estranged wife and late actress Choi Eun-hee. (Yonhap)

 But in 1986, the two escaped from North Korea to the United States. After over 10 years in exile, they permanently returned home in 1999.

 In 2001, Choi became president of a theater company and produced a stage musical the next year. In 2007, she published her autobiography, "Confessions."

 After her ex-husband Shin passed away in 2006, her health deteriorated quickly. She had been receiving kidney dialysis three times a week until her death, according to her family.

 She was survived by two sons and two daughters.

 sshim@yna.co.kr

 (END) ||||| (CNN) South Korean film legend Choi Eun-hee, who was once abducted and forced to make movies for the North Korean regime, has died. She was 91.

 Born in the Korean city of Gwangju in 1926, the former leading lady starred in around 130 films throughout her long career, including over a dozen while held captive in North Korea.

 She wrote an autobiographical book called "Confessions of Choi Eun-hee" published in 2007.

 Abducted, forced to make movies

 Choi was kidnapped in early 1978 by North Korean agents from Hong Kong's high-end beach neighborhood Repulse Bay, before being taken to Pyongyang.

 Her husband, director Shin Sang-ok, was also snatched six months later, also while in Hong Kong, as he searched for information about what happened to Choi.

 Am undated picture showing Choi Eun-hee and her husband Shin Sang-ok.

 The actress told CNN that North Korea's then leader, Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, confided that she was his favorite actress, and that's why he had brought her to North Korea.

 In North Korea, the pair were forced by Kim to help him revamp the country's film industry.

 The late North Korean leader was a noted film aficionado, and oversaw the country's movie studio at the time of Choi's abduction, in his role as head of the country's ministry for culture and propaganda.

 Body of work

 In 1985 she won the "Best Actress" award at the Moscow Film Festival for her role in "Salt," produced in North Korea.

 Both she and Shin have said Kim "was the best producer a director can ask for," mainly for financing their movies in Pyongyang.

 After eight years the pair escaped captivity while in Vienna for a film festival, fleeing to the US embassy and, after ten years in the US, back to South Korea.

 Choi Eun-hee and Shin Sang-ok pictured in "The Lovers and the Despot," a Magnolia Pictures release.

 Secret tape supplied by Choi revealed Kim's character

 With a hidden micro-casette recorder, the couple recorded some of their meetings with the movie-obsessed former leader.

 Kim is heard apologizing to them for the kidnapping technique, promising money and resources for the film industry, and complaining about the quality of the movies his country has been producing.

 On a more personal note, according to Choi, he made fun of his diminutive stature when he first met her.

 "Look at me," she said he told her. "Aren't I small," and then made a crude self-deprecating comparison.

 Shin and Choi both described Kim as someone who micromanaged everything, according to Paul Fischer, who wrote a book, " A Kim Jong Il production ," about the kidnapping.

 A portrait of South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee on a mourning altar at a hospital in Seoul.

 Other abductions

 Defectors and former kidnap victims themselves, including Choi and former US army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins, have written of meeting many other abductees, including victims from China, the Middle East and Europe.

 North Korean agents are suspected of abducting at least 17, and possibly more than 100, Japanese citizens, snatching them off streets and beaches and smuggling them to North Korea.

 While Tokyo only officially recognizes 17 victims, and North Korea has only admitted to taking 13, an independent commission has identified dozens more, including 15 since the turn of the century.

 Tokyo has expressed hope that the issue of abductees be tabled during upcoming talks between the leaders of the two Koreas, and in a mooted summit with US President Donald Trump.

 More than a dozen people remain missing, presumed kidnapped, and the issue remains highly charged in Japan today.

 During a visit to Japan last year, Trump said it "would be a tremendous signal if Kim Jong Un would send them back." ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Ms Choi was one of South Korea's most famous actresses during the peak of her popularity

 A South Korean actress, once kidnapped by North Korea and forced to make films for the state, has died at 91.

 Choi Eun-hee was a leading actress in the South when she was kidnapped on the orders of then leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-il in the late 1970s.

 Her ex-husband, a famous film director, was also abducted several months later. The duo later escaped.

 North Korea has always denied abducting the couple, saying they had sought sanctuary there.

 Ms Choi died on Monday afternoon in hospital in South Korea.

 "My mother passed when she went to hospital for kidney dialysis this afternoon," Ms Choi's eldest son, director Shin Jeong-gyun, told news outlet Yonhap.

 The kidnapping and a film buff

 Born in November 1926 in South Korea's Gyeonggi province, Ms Choi began her film career in 1947.

 She and her then-husband Shin Sang-ok eventually rose to be among South Korea's most celebrated film directors and stars.

 Image copyright BBC / Hellflower films / Shin Films Foundation Image caption This still of Ms Choi and Mr Shin is taken from a film about the couple, titled "The Lovers and the Despot"

 But by the late 1970s, the couple had divorced and Choi's career had hit a downturn.

 It was during that time that Choi was approached by someone posing as a Hong Kong businessman with a proposal to form a film-making company which would revive her fortunes.

 According to a book "A Kim Jong-il Production", she was persuaded to go to Hong Kong. Once in Hong Kong, she was grabbed and sedated by a group of men.

 Eight days later she was in Pyongyang in a luxurious villa that was constantly guarded.

 Despite being divorced, Mr Shin and his ex-wife had remained close and he went to Hong Kong to look for her. He too was later abducted.

 Image copyright BBC / Hellflower films / Shin Films Foundation Image caption Mr Shin and Ms Choi are shown here with Kim Jong-il (centre)

 The late Mr Kim, who ruled North Korea from his father's death in 1994 until his own in 2011, was said to be a great film buff, and an avid watcher of Hollywood movies.

 He had hoped that the couple's presence in the North could help their film industry compete on the international stage. After eight years, the couple won Mr Kim's trust and were allowed to travel to Vienna to promote their films.

 While in Vienna, the duo sought political asylum at the US embassy. They returned to South Korea years later and Mr Shin died in 2006.

 The outlandish tale has gone on to grip audiences across the globe. In 2016, a film titled "The Lovers and the Despot" premiered, following the life of the couple as they were kidnapped and taken to North Korea.

 'Gone but never forgotten'

 Ms Choi's passing has been widely mourned across South Korea.

 "I went to see her movie when I was in high school," said 82-year-old actress Um Aing-ran. "After seeing her acting I decided to become an actress."

 Other social media users also remembered her.

 "You were such a beauty. You really had a rough life, you are gone now but your passion for acting will never be forgotten," said one user on Naver. "I hope you reunited with Mr Shin and be happy."

 "We say there is no life without a story. But her life was so dramatic," said another Naver user. "I [will] remember your elegance. Rest in peace."

 Ms Choi's funeral will be held on Thursday in Seoul. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||
What is a summary?

– Choi Eun-hee led a fascinating life—even before the actress was kidnapped by North Korean agents and forced to make films for the state. A film icon, Choi died Monday at a South Korean hospital, where she was receiving dialysis, her son tells Yonhap News. She was 91. Beginning her film career in 1947's A New Oath, Choi became one of South Korea's leading actresses in the 1950s and '60s and one of the country's first female directors, reports Screen Daily. By 1976, she'd appeared in more than 130 films, and apparently caught the eye of future North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. That year, while in Hong Kong, Choi was kidnapped by agents working for Kim, who believed she could help elevate North Korea's film industry, reports the BBC. Months later, Choi's ex-husband, director Shin Sang-ok, was also kidnapped when he went to Hong Kong to look for her. Reunited at a party, the pair eventually made 17 films in North Korea, including 1985's Salt, for which Choi took home the best actress award at the Moscow Film Festival, per Screen Daily. But though she was the first Korean to receive such an honor, Choi wasn't happy living under guard. While promoting a movie in Vienna in March 1986, Choi and Shin sought asylum at the US embassy. The pair—who would spend more than a decade in the US before returning to South Korea in 1999—would later reveal secret recordings in which Kim apologized for the kidnapping scheme, per CNN. But to this day, North Korea claims the pair sought refuge in the country, per the BBC.


As you may know, on late Sunday evening, while riding the train in Oakland, a white man targeted two young Black women on the train, without ever saying a word to them, and killed one – a beautiful young soul named Nia Wilson, an 18 year old high school student, and critically injured her sister – stabbing and slashing them both with a knife – then simply walking away.

 I spent all day yesterday doing everything I could to make this story into national news and was prepared this morning to come on and talk about how we needed to work harder to find Nia’s killer, but I am glad to report that at about 6pm West Coast time, John Lee Cowell, a brutal man with a history of violence across his entire life, was arrested and charged with Nia’s murder.

 I wanna comment on a few things about this case that grieve me.

 Nia Wilson, above all, was a teenage girl. She was a high school senior – the exact same age of my oldest daughter. And yesterday, after just a few hours of sharing her story, I saw something truly sick starting to unfold. First, a local news station in the Bay Area shared an image of Nia holding what looked like a gun. Why did they share that image? What were they trying to convey? And, as it turns out, she wasn’t holding a gun in that image, it was a cell phone case with a gun handle. It was a basically a gag – and the local news showed it like it said something about Nia’s character. She literally posted nearly 1,000 wonderful photos of her life on Instagram and Facebook, and they chose that one.

 Even in death, local news media finds a way to demean us. It’s why I believe so much in having our own outlets, our own platforms, our own morning shows, where we define our own stories and narratives without that type of ugliness.

 Secondly, last night in Oakland thousands of people, including members of Nia’s own family, showed up to her outdoor vigil. Now I don’t need to explain this to our listeners, but this was a moment of pain, and grief, and support. And white supremacists from the group Proud Boys, wearing red Make American Great Again hats, literally showed up to interrupt the vigil.

 Let me pause right here for a moment.

 Never – in the entire history of this country – will you find an example of white people coming together to grieve the brutal murder of their loved one – the day after it happened – only to have their grief physically interrupted by belligerent Black folk telling them that they are worthless. It’s never happened. It never will happen.

 How cruel, how evil, how heartless, how crass, how foul do you have to be, how rotten must you be from the inside out, how dry and dead must your soul be – to have the idea that you want to interrupt grieving people and demean them the day after their loved one was murdered?

 I wanna linger here for a moment because I think it gives us a real glimpse into the sick psychology of exactly who we are dealing with and fighting against. They interrupt our grief because they don’t even really see us as fully human.

 Let me close with this final thought.

 This morning I saw the video of the arrest of John Lee Cowell. Police don’t draw their guns. They don’t slam him to the concrete and put their knees into his back while putting on his handcuffs. They don’t Taser him. They don’t choke him.

 You’d think they were arresting a man for writing a bad check or stealing a shirt from a department store.

 And so often after we see a horrible incident of police brutality against Black folk, we talk about how American police need more training and better training. I’ve said that myself, but police show us over and over and over again – with white men who are considered armed and dangerous – who’ve just brutally murdered people – that they are fully willing and able to remain calm, and cool, and collected, and methodical – whenever they feel like it.

 All these years we thought they needed to be trained on how to make a peaceful arrest – and it turns out they’re great at it – even with the most vicious and violent murderers – if they’re white.

 We’re not saying that the police should’ve beaten or choked or shot or maimed or Tasered this man, we’re saying that we want unarmed, non-violent Black folk to get the same treatment American police are so willing able to give dangerous white murderers. ||||| Viewers of local Oakland news station KTVU are expressing outrage after the station used a photo of slain teen Nia Wilson holding what appears to be a gun during a broadcast about her murder.

 On Sunday night, 18-year-old Wilson died after she and her sister, 26-year-old Lahtifa Wilson, were stabbed in the neck by 27-year-old suspect John Lee Cowell while they were attempting to get onto a BART train. Her sister was hospitalized overnight, and after a day-long manhunt, BART police arrested Cowell on Monday evening, according to SFGate. So far, the stabbings have been characterized as “random,” though police haven’t eliminated the idea that the crime was racially motivated.

 Across social media, critics of the news station have shared snapshots of the broadcast’s use of the photo. It seems the photo is from Wilson’s Facebook page, where she has posted tens of other photos that news outlets could have used for stories regarding her death.

 Fuck you @KTVU this is beyond unethical. A Black woman was brutally murdered by a white terrorist and this is the photo you decide to show? Y’all are disgusting. pic.twitter.com/MyQ7p2GVBw — Brotha B (@BlakeDontCrack) July 23, 2018

 Everyone please call @ktvu and demand that they issue an apology for this shameful coverage, two young black women victims of white terrorism and this is how they choose to depict them? Unacceptable, Call them now! (510) 874-0242 #NiaWilson #JusticeforNia #justiceforniawilson pic.twitter.com/gXUrNc8wXP — Kenny Foster (@KentaviousPrime) July 23, 2018

 https://twitter.com/Whendidiaskyou/status/1021493414221754374

 https://twitter.com/dovielove_/status/1021475047926464512

 So @KTVU decided to put this picture up about Nia Wilson We demand an apology ASAP pic.twitter.com/LpNIRimUh1 — NEW ACCOUNT (@TheLakeSh0wKing) July 23, 2018

 Someone needs to be fired at @KTVU for choosing a picture of Nia with a gun in her hand when dozens of innocent and beautiful pictures available. We have to stop criminalizing black victims in 2018!!! — Nia (@notoriouslynia) July 23, 2018

 Dear @KTVU, What was the reasoning behind showing this photo of murdered #NiaWilson? I'm certain you had plenty to choose from of the slain 18-year old Oakland teen? Why this picture of her holding a (fake) gun? We'd like to know. pic.twitter.com/W4SHhERGOK — Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) July 24, 2018

 Many have bashed the station for depicting Wilson, the victim of a murder, in a way that characterizes her as a troublemaker or a criminal, contributing to the narrative that Black people who are victims of violence are “deserving” of violence, or “contributing” to the violence against themselves.

 “Why did they share that image? What were they trying to convey? And, as it turns out, she wasn’t holding a gun in that image, it was a cell phone case with a gun handle. It was a [sic] basically a gag—and the local news showed it like it said something about Nia’s character. She literally posted nearly 1,000 wonderful photos of her life on Instagram and Facebook, and they chose that one,” writer Shaun King, who has boosted Wilson’s story throughout the search for her murderer, wrote on Facebook. “Even in death, local news media finds a way to demean us. It’s why I believe so much in having our own outlets, our own platforms, our own morning shows, where we define our own stories and narratives without that type of ugliness.”

 In previous high-profile murders of Black teenagers, such as Trayvon Martin and the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, the media used photos that portrayed the teens negatively. Some 2012 stories of Martin showed photos of him wearing a hoodie, smoking, wearing a grill, or raising his middle fingers. In 2014, images of Brown showed him holding a peace sign, which some tried to characterize as a gang sign. After garnering criticism, publications later began showing a high school graduation photo of Brown in his cap, gown, and graduation stole.

 At the time, critics used the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown to ask which photo the media would use if they were to be murdered, providing options such as graduation photos or employment headshots, and party photos. People using the hashtag made the point that regardless of how they seem in a “party photo,” they were still the same accomplished person depicted in the other pictures.

 In response to KTVU’s use of the photo, the hashtag has also been revived.

 This is the literal reason that #IfTheyGunnedMeDown was created… as many pictures as there are of #NiaWilson that @KTVU would choose to use this photo of the VICTIM is not only irresponsible- it’s malicious, it’s cold- it’s what we’ve come to expect with black lives & media. https://t.co/OXGq2lAWM2 — C.J. Lawrence (@CJLawrenceEsq) July 24, 2018

 KTVU anchor Frank Somerville shared an apology to his Facebook page on Monday afternoon, about four hours after the broadcast, stating there was “no excuse” for the station to use that photo of Wilson, and that it was a “huge mistake” that the staff is “mortified by.” Somerville included three other photos of Wilson in his post.

 “We NEVER should have used that picture. It was a huge mistake on our part. We realized it instantly. And that picture will NEVER appear on our air again. We had a lot of pictures to choose from and unfortunately that was one of the ones we used. Again there was no excuse for that. And my belief is that when you make a mistake you own up to it. And that was our mistake. A big mistake,” Somerville wrote. “Nia was a beautiful young girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. From me, and all of us at KTVU, I can’t say enough how sorry we are.”

 (A KTVU newsroom staff member forwarded along the Daily Dot’s request for comment and referenced Somerville’s post for the time being. Somerville also addressed the photo on KTVU’s evening broadcast.)

 I wanted to take a moment and apologize for a picture that KTVU showed on the air for several seconds today about the… Posted by Frank Somerville KTVU on Monday, July 23, 2018

 Somerville’s post has been shared 2,500 times and has received nearly 5,000 reactions. Many readers rejected his apology, writing that the damage had already been done. Some asserted that the use of imagery depicting Black victims and victims of color is used far too often, showing that the use of Wilson’s photo wasn’t a mistake as much as it was a conscious, oft-made decision.

 “This girl senselessly lost her life to a lunatic and you (the media), turned her into a suspect in her own death by using that picture….and took the focus off of the animal that actually did it. That’s what the media ALWAYS does to victims of color,” commenter Patricia Lyn Butler wrote.

 “This happens all too frequently and it’s difficult to believe that no one in the newsroom took notice that this was not an appropriate photo for this story. If an error like this can be made, then there needs to be some significant and swift changes at KTVU,” another commenter, LaTanya McNeil-Jones, wrote.

 KTVU also came under fire in 2013 when they ran fake, offensive names of pilots involved in the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco International Airport. At least three veteran producers were fired after alleging the pilots names were “Capt. Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang Ding Ow,” SFGate reported at the time.

 The evening after her murder, Oakland residents hosted a “Say Her Name” vigil and march at the MacArthur BART Station in Wilson’s honor. Wilson’s family has also set up a GoFundMe page, which has received more than $23,000 in donations over the past day. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Sisters Nia and Lahtifa Wilson were headed home from a family gathering Sunday night when the unthinkable happened: Police say 27-year-old paroled felon John Lee Cowell fatally stabbed 18-year-old Nia in a "prison-style attack" on an Oakland train station platform; her 26-year-old sister was injured. Police have framed the attack as random, though many have speculated over whether there was racial motivation involved. And in the aftermath of Nia's death, a national conversation has emerged around race that has reeled in some big-name celebs and brought a thoughtful post from Anne Hathaway that's generating headlines. The timeline: Outrage erupted and F-bombs got lobbed over Oakland news station KTVU's coverage of Wilson's death. Its report featured a photo of Wilson from her Facebook page; in it, she appears to be holding a gun. The Daily Dot notes Wilson's page featured "tens of other photos" that could have been used in place of that image. Many said the choice fueled a larger trend involving the criminalization of black victims. And it wasn't even a gun. As Shaun King explains in a lengthy Facebook post, it was just a cell-phone case with a gun handle, "basically a gag– and the local news showed it like it said something about Nia’s character. ... Even in death, local news media finds a way to demean us."


NTSB Press Release

 National Transportation Safety Board

 Office of Public Affairs

 NTSB statement on erroneous confirmation of crew names

 July 12

 The National Transportation Safety Board apologizes for inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6.

 Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft.

 The NTSB does not release or confirm the names of crewmembers or people involved in transportation accidents to the media. We work hard to ensure that only appropriate factual information regarding an investigation is released and deeply regret today's incident.

 Appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated.

 Office of Public Affairs

 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW

 Washington, DC 20594

 (202) 314-6100

 Kelly Nantel

 kelly.nantel@ntsb.gov

 ###

 The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining the probable cause

 of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families. ||||| Latest Update, July 14: Asiana Airlines, not surprisingly unamused by the whole thing, thinks an on-screen apology may not be sufficient, it said in a statement:

 "The reputation of the four pilots and of the company had been seriously damaged by this report. The company is reviewing taking legal action against both KTVU-TV and the NTSB."

 Update: The NTSB has released a statement stating an intern is responsible for confirming the incorrect names. Sounds like someone's summer internship is over.

 KTVU has also provided further explanation into why they said these names on air: They didn't say them out loud before rattling them off during their live taping and they didn't confirm with the NTSB employee (intern) on their position within the organization. They did, however, call to verify the correct spelling of the names.

 Update: Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the NTSB, just confirmed to SF Weekly that the NTSB did not release the names of the pilots of flight 214 to KTVU, or any news organization, for that matter.

 Original Story: Local station KTVU totally screwed up the names of Asiana Flight 214 pilots when announcing them on live television today, and we're a little worried the name "Ho Lee Fuk" might actually go down in history.

 So just to correct the record: The ill-fated Boeing 777 wasn't actually being steered by Mr. Fuk and his co-pilots Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, and Bang Ding Ow.

 KTVU rushed to fix the blunder and issued an apology,blaming the NTSB for the fuck-up. The apology didn't do much to stop screenshots of the offensive names from making their rounds through the blogosphere.

 Oh, look -- here they are:

 And here's a video of the newscaster announcing the names with complete sincerity -- with "Fuk" pronounced "Fook," lest you suspect the station of impropriety:

 Note: Asiana actually released the names of two pilots -- the ones allegedly responsible for the botched landing -- on Sunday. Junior pilot Lee Gang-guk had 43 hours of experience flying the Boeing jet; his supervisor Lee Jeong-min tried to take over to abort the crash.

 Someone call Ron Burgundy, this is a story for him. ||||| On today’s Noon newscast on KTVU, the station claimed it had “just learned the names of the 4 pilots on board” Asiana flight 214 which crashed last Saturday. But the station was given bad information that made it all the way into the newscast. If you read the names it becomes immediately clear this is a joke, which went unnoticed by the newsroom, producers and the anchor.

 You’ll recall earlier this week, KTVU touted its coverage as being not only first, but “100% accurate.”

 “Being first on air and on every platform in all aspects of our coverage was a great accomplishment, but being 100% accurate, effectively using our great sources and social media without putting a single piece of erroneous information on our air, is what we are most proud of as a newsroom,” said News Director Lee Rosenthal at the time. Watch:

 About 15 minutes later the station corrected its mistake, but claimed an NTSB official had confirmed the names.

 Earlier in the newscast we gave some names of pilots involved in the Asiana Airlines crash. These names were not accurate despite an NTSB official in Washington confirming them late this morning. We apologize for this error.

 > More: Further apology from KTVU president & GM Tom Raponi: “We sincerely regret the error and took immediate action to apologize, both in the newscast where the mistake occurred, as well as on our website and social media sites. Nothing is more important to us than having the highest level of accuracy and integrity, and we are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of error does not happen again.”

 >More: The NTSB has released a statement saying a summer intern “acted outside the scope of his authority” and mistakenly confirmed the fake names for KTVU Friday morning:

 The National Transportation Safety Board apologizes for inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6. Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft. The NTSB does not release or confirm the names of crewmembers or people involved in transportation accidents to the media. We work hard to ensure that only appropriate factual information regarding an investigation is released and deeply regret today’s incident. Appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated.

 > More: An apology on the 6pm news: “We made several mistakes. First of all, we never read the names out loud, phonetically sounding them out.”

 > More: The AAJA responds: “Those names were not only wrong, but so grossly offensive that it’s hard for us at the Asian American Journalists Association to fathom how those names made it on the broadcast.” |||||

Write a summary.

– There's not fact checking, and then there's ... not even using your brain. A newscast on Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU apparently fell for a (racist and offensive) joke, incorrectly reporting that the pilots of the plane that crashed at San Francisco airport were named "Sum Ting Wong," "Ho Lee Fuk," "Bang Ding Ow," and "Wi Tu Lo," SF Weekly reports. The network later apologized, but said an NTSB official in Washington had "confirmed" them. It wasn't exactly an official. Per the NTSB: "Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft." The kicker, as Mediabistro notes, is that KTVU had just been boasting about its "100% accurate" coverage of the disaster earlier this week.


News article:

Casey Anthony's Former Lawyer Jose Baez Threatens to Sue Over Claims He Had Sexual Relationship With Her

 A Strong Denial

 Red Huber / Getty

 A History of Strange Claims

 It has been nearly five years since Casey Anthony was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Although she has lived a relatively quiet life since being freed from jail, her name still evokes controversy.In an affidavit filed in her bankruptcy case last month, her former private investigator, Dominic Casey, levels some serious accusations about Anthony and her former attorney, Jose Baez.In the 15-page affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, Dominic Casey alleges that Anthony had a sexual relationship with her attorney before the case went to trial. He claims that he witnessed "a naked Casey" when he arrived at Baez's office unexpectedly.In the documents, he also alleges that Baez "told me that Casey had murdered Caylee and dumped the body somewhere and, he needed all the help he could get to find the body before anyone else did."In a statement to PEOPLE, Baez disputes all Dominic Casey's allegations. "I unequivocally and categorically deny exchanging sex for my legal services with Ms. Anthony," he writes. "I further unequivocally and categorically deny having any sexual relationship with Ms. Anthony whatsoever.""I have always conducted my practice consistent with the high ethical standards required of members of the Florida Bar," he continues. "My representation of Ms. Anthony was no exception.""Legal action is forthcoming," Baez writes.This isn't the first time that Dominic Casey's claims have raised eyebrows.In a 2011 deposition obtained by PEOPLE, the investigator floats several theories about the Caylee's disappearance and death, and even says that he wasn't entirely sure that the remains found near Anthony's house were the 2-year-old.In his statement, Baez references Dominic Casey's former claims. "This libelous claim is in line with many other outrageous claims and theories that this individual has advanced regarding the Casey Anthony case," the statement says.Dominic Casey did not return PEOPLE's messages for comment. ||||| Five years after Casey Anthony was acquitted of murdering her daughter, a civil lawsuit connected to the scandal is still grinding through Central Florida bankruptcy court, with new developments this week.

 The man who found Caylee Marie Anthony's body in 2008 – Roy Kronk – filed a suit against Anthony in 2011, alleging that she, through her attorneys, falsely accused Kronk of killing the girl.

 The new filings in the case feature allegations made by private investigator Dominic Casey about Anthony and Anthony's lawyer, Jose Baez.

 Dominic Casey this week alleged that Anthony and her attorneys talked openly of her guilt, and that Baez had sex with her, according to Dominic Casey's affidavit written by the investigator and accepted by the court.

 An attorney in Baez' office, responding to questions raised by the Sentinel, said in an email that Baez questioned Dominic Casey's motivations in making the accusations.

 "I unequivocally and categorically deny exchanging sex for my legal services with Ms. Anthony," said a statement from Baez's firm.

 Dominic Casey has written two books with unsubstantiated claims about the case. Lawyers for Casey Anthony don't want him to provide testimony in the Kronk case, according to documents filed in the case.

 Dominic Casey has been deposed by Kronk's attorneys and a transcript of that was filed on the court docket. Casey Anthony's lawyers have filed motions to strike Dominic Casey's deposition. They are also demanding to see records he claims to have.

 Kronk's case was delayed when Anthony filed for bankruptcy in 2013, but eventually it was moved over to the bankruptcy court, where Kronk is now arguing that her bankruptcy should not prevent him from recovering damages related to his claim of defamation.

 Casey Anthony's attorney Jose Baez talks about Lifetime's "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" movie. Casey Anthony's attorney Jose Baez talks about Lifetime's "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" movie. SEE MORE VIDEOS

 pbrinkmann@tribune.com |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– The allegations were both graphic and specific and, says Jose Baez, completely untrue. Private investigator Dominic Casey alleged in just-revealed court documents filed earlier this year in connection with a bankruptcy case that, among other things, Casey Anthony offered sex to Baez, her lawyer, in exchange for his legal services. Dominic Casey worked with Anthony's defense team after she was accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008, and he alleged that after Baez got Anthony out of a September 2008 TV interview she didn't want to do, Baez "said to [Anthony], 'You now owe me 3 blow jobs.'" Dominic Casey also claimed he encountered a "naked" Anthony during an unannounced visit to Baez's office. Baez "unequivocally and categorically deny exchanging sex for my legal services with Ms. Anthony," he says in a statement to People. "I further unequivocally and categorically deny having any sexual relationship with Ms. Anthony whatsoever." Baez referred to but did not detail other "outrageous" claims put forth by the PI; People points to a 2011 deposition in which Dominic Casey suggested Caylee's remains perhaps weren't actually Caylee's as a past "eyebrow-raising" allegation. The Orlando Sentinel notes Dominic Casey has written two books on the case that feature "unsubstantiated claims," and reports that Baez and his team have been trying to have a deposition Dominic Casey gave in the bankruptcy case excluded. Baez also suggests he may sue, writing, "Legal action is forthcoming."


Write an article based on this summary:

– The spacecraft that landed on a comet yesterday is still talking to scientists, but its battery is expected to conk out soon. In what could be a last-ditch effort to save the mission, scientists with the European Space Agency say they'll try to make the Philae lander essentially hop to a different spot—one in which it might get more juice in the form of sunlight for its solar panels, reports the Guardian. Researchers still don't know exactly where the lander is, only that it's surrounded by rocks blocking most sunlight, perhaps next to a cliff, reports the BBC. In the meantime, the lander has begun drilling about 10 inches deep into the comet to collect samples that scientists would love to analyze, given that they are presumably billions of years old, reports the AP. The question is whether the battery will hold out long enough to transmit any data, while the very act of drilling is draining it further. "Maybe the battery will be empty before we contact again," says Stephan Ulamec, head of the lander mission. The battery isn't expected to last beyond tomorrow, but if ESA is able to shift the lander to a sunnier locale, the data collection could go on for months. (The landing hit a few glitches, including anchoring harpoons that didn't fire.)

Lander rotates into slightly sunnier position but apparently too late to charge batteries and keep systems running

 Rosetta mission: Philae goes to sleep on comet as batteries run out

 The Philae lander sitting on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has run out of power after a successful last-ditch attempt to nudge it into better sunlight apparently came too late to charge its batteries and keep systems up and running.

 Mission controllers for the Rosetta mission had said on Friday that they were preparing to “hop” the robotic probe in a hope it would settle in a sunnier spot on the comet’s surface.

 Later came a promising announcement. “My rotation was successful (35 degrees). Looks like a whole new comet from this angle,” read a message posted on the lander’s official Twitter account. Earlier the scientists tweeted: “First comet drilling is a fact!”

 But afterwards the Philae mission tweeted:

 Philae Lander (@Philae2014) .@ESA_Rosetta I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap… #CometLanding

 Philae had apparently been successful in shifting position to gives its shaded solar panels a better chance of catching sunlight. But the moment of success was followed by an announcement that it would have to use up its last battery power in sending a final burst of data back to Earth.

 If the batteries are not charged the lander goes into hibernation. Without sufficient sunlight on the solar panels the mission shuts down.

 The lander’s legs have a built-in spring action. Commands were uploaded on Friday night to fire them, scientists said, warning there was no guarantee of success. Another strategy under discussion was to spin up an internal flywheel that could make Philae cartwheel out of its predicament but also risked soaking up the last of its battery power.

 Early on Saturday came an announcement that Philae was on the move:

 Philae Lander (@Philae2014) I just started lifting myself up a little and will now rotate to try and optimize the solar power!

 Since its triple touchdown on Wednesday the spacecraft had been resting on its side, lodged in the shadows of a cliff or large boulder. On Thursday the lander sent back historic first images taken from the surface of a comet. These showed that after its bumpy landing one of its legs was sticking up into space rather than in contact with the surface, raising doubts about whether there was enough spring in Philae’s step to achieve the hop.

 The landing had left Philae surrounded by rocks with only a sliver of light reaching one of its smaller solar panels. Philae was receiving just 1.5 hours of sunlight instead of the expected 6-7 hours. “We are unlucky, in a corner, surrounded by rocks,” said Valentina Lommatsch from DLR’s lander team.

 Despite the akward orientation, the lander’s science package deployed a 1.2 metre arm and a drill.

 Philae Lander (@Philae2014) I confirm that my @RosettaSD2 went all the way DOWN and UP again!! First comet drilling is a fact! :) pic.twitter.com/eE3xL8CGk0

 Philae’s primary mission was always designed to last around 60 hours on its initial battery charge. But engineers covered the spacecraft in solar panels in the hope that sunlight could charge a set of secondary batteries and extend the mission for months.

 Despite the awkward landing, by Friday Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager, estimated that 80% of the science Esa was hoping for had been achieved. If the drilling operation succeeded in delivering samples to onboard instruments it would rise to 90%, he said.

 The COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition experiment) instrument was chosen to study the first samples rather than the UK-built PTOLEMY instrument. COSAC detects and identifies complex organic molecules from their elemental and molecular composition.

 Ulamec said the choice was made because COSAC uses less power than PTOLEMY, and provided data that could be more easily compared to that taken from the Rosetta orbiter.

 PTOLEMY still generated data by working in “sniffing” mode. Essentially the instrument detected and analysed molecules of gas that naturally drift off the surface of the comet.

 “We juggled everything so that every instrument got to do a measurement, so we are very happy with the mission so far,” says Lommatsch.

 Despite the lander shutting down for now, all might not be lost forever.

 The comet is currently out beyond the orbit of Mars, heading for its closest approach to the sun in August 2015. This will bring it as close to the sun as Earth’s orbit. There the sunlight will be brighter and may just allow Philae to reboot and power up. To that end, the Philae mission tweeted:

 Philae Lander (@Philae2014) My #lifeonacomet has just begun @ESA_Rosetta. I'll tell you more about my new home, comet #67P soon… zzzzz #CometLanding

 “Cross your fingers, or press your thumbs if you are a German, that we hear something from the lander again,” said Lommatsch. ||||| Media caption Esa told an online news briefing the drill has been active

 The Philae lander has attempted to drill into the surface of Comet 67P, amid fears that its battery may die within hours.

 The European Space Agency (Esa) says the instrument is being deployed to its maximum extent, despite the risk of toppling the lander.

 Scientists hope the tool will be able to capture some samples for analysis in the robot's onboard laboratories.

 If the battery dies, the results may not make it back to Earth.

 Philae made history on Wednesday when it was dropped by Esa's Rosetta satellite to the surface of 67P - the first time this feat has been achieved.

 The probe has been returning pictures and other scientific data ever since.

 Key objective

 It is not known precisely where on the comet the robot is located, but the pictures it has returned indicate it is in the shadow of a cliff.

 The limited sunlight the probe receives means its solar panels cannot keep the battery systems properly topped up.

 Engineers doubt Philae in its current position can stay powered beyond Saturday.

 The dwindling energy reserves have therefore prompted the mission team to deploy the drill now.

 Although the activity is among Philae's key objectives, it is also highly risky, because the torque on the tool could destabilise the delicately placed lander.

 But Esa believes that the closing power window makes that risk worthwhile.

 Power possibilities

 Commands were uploaded on Friday morning to deploy the drill, and early telemetry indicated it had extended 25cm from the base of the lander.

 However, it was then that the orbiting Rosetta satellite, which has been relaying telecommunications from the probe, passed over the horizon and out of contact.

 The results of the drilling will not now be known until Rosetta comes back around and tries to re-establish the radio on Friday night.

 Stephan Ulamec, the Philae lander manager, said: "The drill has been active today. Whether it will sample and will succeed in bringing these samples to [laboratory] ovens - we shall know this evening.

 "This would be fantastic but it is not secured - maybe the battery will be empty before we get contact again."

 Engineers are working on potential solutions to boost the power available to the lander.

 "We plan to rotate the lander a little bit so that at the position where we have now this one panel that gets sun, we'll have a slightly larger panel and this would increase the chance that at a later stage the lander could wake up again and start talking to us again," Dr Ulamec explained.

 Image copyright ESA/Rosetta/MPS Image caption One remarkable image taken by the "mothership" Rosetta shows Philae as a tiny speck, headed for history

 More extreme ideas are also being considered.

 One involves firing up Philae's flywheel - a mechanism that was used to keep it stable during its descent to the comet on Wednesday.

 Another would shift the legged landing system in such a way that a small amount of upwards momentum could be generated.

 Because Comet 67P is only 4km wide, it has very little gravitational attraction, and so even small motions could be enough to bump the probe out of its dark spot.

 "It's very unlikely; we're just throwing around ideas right now," conceded Valentina Lommatsch from the German Space Agency.

 And for such a strategy to work, Friday night's radio connection would be needed to upload the necessary commands.

 "Hopefully, we'll get the link; that's the most important thing. What happens after that... is cream on the top right now," lander team-member Lommatsch added.

 Image copyright Esa/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA Image caption Several images have been taken on different sides of the lander, illustrated here with the pictures arrayed around a diagram of the probe

 Image copyright ESA/Rosetta/MPS Image caption Where did Philae actually touch down? Images from the Osiris camera on Rosetta show the area surrounding the original target site (red cross)

 Meanwhile, the hunt for Philae's exact location goes on.

 Scientists have been examining radio transmissions between the orbiter and the lander to see if they can triangulate a position.

 This work has now produced a "circle of uncertainty" within which Philae almost certainly lies.

 The Osiris camera team on Rosetta is also looking through its latest high-resolution images for any sign.

 One intriguing prospect is that Osiris may have caught Philae in the act of bouncing during Wednesday's landing. The probe is known to have rebounded several hundred metres back up from the surface at the moment of first contact - before then falling back down.

 "We know that at about 500m above the ground, we should see the rebound and the rebound direction, which should give valuable information for the search team," Osiris team leader Holger Sierks said.

 Image copyright ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR Image caption This picture was taken by the lander itself just 40m from its bumpy touchdown

 Esa's Rosetta mission, with its piggybacked Philae lander, was launched in 2004.

 The pair covered 6.4 billion km to reach Comet 67P out near the orbit of Jupiter.

 Scientists hope the investigations at the giant "ice mountain" can provide fresh insights on the origins of the Solar System.

 Comets are believed to hold materials that are largely unchanged since the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago.

 One theory holds that comets were responsible for delivering water to the early Earth.

 Another idea is that they could even have "seeded" our world with the chemistry needed to help kick-start biology.

 Researchers say the data they have acquired through Rosetta's observations from orbit, and now from Philae's work on the surface, will re-write the textbooks. ||||| BERLIN (AP) — The good news: The spacecraft that landed on a comet has begun drilling beneath the surface to see what secrets the celestial body can reveal.

 This five-image montage of Rosetta's OSIRIS narrow-angle images , released by the European Space Agency ESA on Thursday Nov. 13, 2014 , is being used to try to identify the final touchdown point of... (Associated Press)

 The combination photo of different images taken with the CIVA camera system released by the European Space Agency ESA on Thursday Nov. 13, 2014 shows Rosetta’s lander Philae as it is safely on the... (Associated Press)

 This image released by the European Space Agency ESA Thursday Nov. 13, 2014 was taken by Philae's down-looking descent ROLIS imager when it was about 40 meters (131 feet) above the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko... (Associated Press)

 The bad news: Scientists at the European Space Agency still don't know exactly where the lander is on the comet and are anxiously hoping its batteries hold out long enough for them to get the mining data and adjust the spacecraft's position.

 It was a race against time Friday for the Philae lander, which on Wednesday became the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet. Since then it has sent astonishing images from the icy, dusty comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and generated some data from instruments such as one that measures temperatures.

 All this is taking place 311 million miles (500 million kilometers) from Earth on a comet hurtling 41,000 mph (66,000 kph) through space.

 Material beneath the surface of the comet has remained almost unchanged for 4.5 billion years, making those mining samples a cosmic time capsule that scientists are eager to study.

 Mission controllers said Philae was able to bore 25 centimeters (10 inches) into the comet to start collecting the samples, but it's unclear whether it has enough power to deliver any information on them.

 The lander has an estimated 64 hours of battery power but has to rely on solar panels to generate electricity after that. Scientists were relieved to learn the batteries still had some juice when the lander resumed contact. Communication was re-established, the ESA said in a tweet late Friday night.

 "Lander now performing a 'lift & turn' of the main body on the landing gear - will last about 10 mins. Telecomm link is good," the agency said in a second tweet.

 Philae bounced twice on the comet before coming to rest Wednesday after two harpoons that should have anchored it to the surface failed to deploy. Controllers still haven't been able to pinpoint its position, but photos indicate it's next to a cliff that is largely blocking sunlight from reaching two of its three solar panels.

 "Maybe the battery will be empty before we contact again," said Stephan Ulamec, head of operations for Philae.

 If the batteries are still running and scientists can extract the scientific data from the craft, they will rotate the lander slightly so that it might capture more sunlight.

 "That would increase the chance that, at a later stage, the lander could wake up again and start talking to us again," Ulamec said.

 After the batteries run out, Philae will remain on the comet in a hibernation mode for the coming months. The comet is on a 6 1/2-year elliptical orbit around the sun. Philae could wake up again if the comet passes the sun in such a way that its solar panels catch more light.

 Meanwhile, the Rosetta — Philae's mother ship, which is streaking through space in tandem with the comet — will use its 11 instruments to analyze the comet over the coming months.

 Scientists hope the $1.6 billion (1.3 billion-euro) project that was launched a decade ago will help them answer questions about the origins of the universe and life on Earth.

 Communication with the lander is slow, with signals taking more than 28 minutes to travel between Earth and Rosetta.

 No matter how long Philae keeps talking to them, scientists say they already have gathered huge amounts of data and are calling the expedition a roaring success.

 "Let's stop looking at things that we could have done if everything had worked properly," said flight director Andrea Accomazzo. "Let us look at things that we have done, what we have achieved and what we have on the ground. This is unique and will be unique forever."

 As for pinpointing Philae's position, Holger Sierks, the principal investigator for the Rosetta's camera systems, said the cameras should have captured the lander's rebound, yielding valuable information on where it came to rest.

 That data has not yet come in, however. Specialists still need to comb one and two square kilometers (0.4 and 0.8 square miles) on the comet to find Philae.

 ___

 Online: www.esa.int/rosetta

 ___

 David Rising contributed to this story. |||||


Write a summary based on this article:

Facebook says likely Russia-based group paid for political ads during US election

 Facebook said on Wednesday it had found that an influence operation probably based in Russia spent $100,000 on ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May.

 The social media network said that many of the ads promoted 470 “inauthentic” accounts and pages Facebook has now suspended. The ads spread polarizing views on topics such as immigration, race and gay rights, instead of backing a particular political candidate, it said.

 Trump makes policy pledge to senator investigating son's Russia meeting Read more

 Facebook announced the findings in a blogpost by its chief security officer, Alex Stamos, and said that it was cooperating with federal inquiries into influence operations during the 2016 presidential election.

 The company said it found no link to any presidential campaign. Three-quarters of the ads were national in scope, and the rest did not appear to reflect targeting of political swing states as voting neared.

 Facebook did not print the names of any of the suspended pages, but some of them included such words as “refugee” and “patriot”.

 The findings buttress US intelligence agency conclusions that Russia was actively involved in shaping the election.

 Facebook previously published a white paper detailing well-funded and subtle techniques used by countries and organizations to spread misleading information for geopolitical goals. These efforts go well beyond “fake news”, the company said, and include content seeding, targeted data collection and fake accounts used to amplify one particular view, sow distrust in political institutions and spread confusion.

 The company said in April: “We have had to expand our security focus from traditional abusive behavior, such as account hacking, malware, spam and financial scams, to include more subtle and insidious forms of misuse, including attempts to manipulate civic discourse and deceive people.”

 Facebook did not attribute the manipulation to any nation state, although it said that the company’s investigation “does not contradict” the findings of a January report by the US director of national intelligence that outlined Russian involvement in the election.

 Even so, as recently as June, it told journalists that it had not found any evidence to date of Russian operatives buying election-related ads on its platform.

 A Facebook employee said on Wednesday there were unspecified connections between the divisive ads and a well-known Russian “troll factory” in St Petersburg that publishes comments on social media.

 Beyond the issue ads, Facebook said it uncovered $50,000 more in overtly political advertising that might have links to Russia. Some of those ads were bought using the Russian language, even though they were displayed to users in English.

 West failing to tackle Russian hacking and fake news, says Latvia Read more

 Even if no laws were violated, the pages ran afoul of Facebook requirements for authenticity, setting up the suspensions.

 “In the past Facebook has taken the stance that it’s a tech company and not a media company, but they have clearly moved into the media company category,” said advertising veteran Mike Kelly, CEO of Kelly Newman Ventures and former president of AOL Media. “They have to up their game a bit.”

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mark Zuckerberg has said the idea that fake news on Facebook could influence an election is ‘pretty crazy’, but not everyone agrees. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

 Kelly suggests that the company should use its technology prowess to come up with “new ways to filter and assess accounts and advertisers”.

 Facebook, which now has 2 billion monthly users, suspends more than 1 million accounts per day in its quest to keep spam, fraud and hate speech of its platform.

 More than $1bn was spent on digital political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, 10,000 times the amount identified by Facebook’s security team.

 Facebook has rejected the notion that fake news on Facebook influenced the outcome of the US election, with Mark Zuckerberg describing it as a “pretty crazy idea”.

 “Voters make decisions based on their lived experience,” he said in November.

 But Facebook’s ad sales team tells a different story. It highlights how an “audience-specific” political campaign on Facebook was able to “significantly shift voter intent and increase favorability” for US senate candidate Pat Toomey, contributing to his re-election.

 In other words: it is entirely possible to swing an election using Facebook advertising, but it doesn’t seem like this Russian “influence operation” was effective.

 “Maybe nothing happened this time, but it’s a good warning to them that their [Facebook’s] role in the media landscape has changed, especially given their scale, and with that comes a lot of new responsibility,” said Kelly.

  ||||| Representatives of Facebook told congressional investigators Wednesday that the social network has discovered that it sold ads during the U.S. presidential campaign to a shadowy Russian company seeking to target voters, according to several people familiar with the company's findings.

 Facebook officials reported that they traced the ad sales, totaling $100,000, to a Russian "troll farm" with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda, these people said.

 A small portion of the ads, which began in the summer of 2015, directly named Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, the people said, although they declined to say which candidate the ads favored.

 Most of the ads, according to a blog post published late Wednesday by Facebook's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, "appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights."

 The acknowledgment by Facebook comes as congressional investigators and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III are probing Russian interference in the U.S. election, including allegations that the Kremlin may have coordinated with the Trump campaign.

 The U.S. intelligence community concluded in January that Russia had interfered in the U.S. election to help elect Trump, including by using paid social media trolls to spread fake news intended to influence public opinion.

 Even though the ad spending from Russia is tiny relative to overall campaign costs, the report from Facebook that a Russian firm was able to target political messages is likely to fuel pointed questions from investigators about whether the Russians received guidance from people in the United States — a question some Democrats have been asking for months.

 Facebook reported in its blog post Wednesday that about one-quarter of the ads in question were "geographically targeted," although company officials declined to provide specifics about what areas or demographic groups were the recipients. Of those targeted ads, the company said, more ran in 2015 than 2016.

 Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday that the disclosure by Facebook confirmed one of the ways Russia sought to interfere in U.S. politics and serves as a "profound warning to us and others about future elections."

 "This is a very significant set of data points produced by Facebook," Schiff said, adding: "Left unanswered in what we received from Facebook — because it is beyond the scope of what they are able to determine — is whether there was any coordination between these social media trolls and the campaign. We have to get to the bottom of that."

 The House panel, whose staff investigators heard briefly from Facebook representatives behind closed doors Wednesday, will follow up with Facebook and other social media companies and platforms to see "to what degree they are able to confirm similar metrics," Sciff said.

 An official familiar with Facebook's internal investigation said the company does not have the ability to determine whether the ads it sold represented any sort of coordination.

 The acknowledgment by Facebook follows months of criticism that the social media company served as a platform for the spread of false information before the November election. In a statement posted days after the election, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg promised to explore the issue but said that 99 percent of information found on Facebook is authentic and only "a very small amount" is fake or hoaxes. In December, however, the company announced that it would begin flagging articles that had been deemed false or fake, with the assistance of fact-checking organizations.

 Facebook discovered the Russian connection as part of an investigation that began this spring looking at purchasers of politically motivated ads, according to people familiar with the inquiry. It found that 3,300 ads had digital footprints that led to the Russian company.

 Facebook teams then discovered 470 suspicious and likely fraudulent Facebook accounts and pages that it believes operated out of Russia, had links to the company and were involved in promoting the ads.

 A Facebook official said "there is evidence that some of the accounts are linked to a troll farm in St. Petersburg, referred to as the Internet Research Agency, though we have no way to independently confirm." The official declined to release any of the ads it traced to Russian companies or entities.

 "Our data policy and federal law limit our ability to share user data and content, so we won't be releasing any ads," the official said. The official added that the ads "were directed at people on Facebook who had expressed interest in subjects explored on those pages, such as LGBT community, black social issues, the Second Amendment and immigration."

 Clint Watts, a former FBI agent who has studied Russian online influence campaigns, said Wednesday that Facebook's report served as "validation" for findings by him and his researchers, who he said had spotted what they believed to be Russians posing as Americans to press political messages on Facebook as early as 2015.

 He said his analysis showed that Facebook ads in 2015 were largely concerned with divisive social messages and were used to identify other Facebook users most susceptible to messaging. Those users were then targeted with election-oriented ads in 2016, he said.

 "We had these suspicions, but we could never see who was purchasing the accounts," said Watts, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. "Facebook's being brave. They probably could have buried this, and they did the right thing by coming forward."

 Stamos, the Facebook security chief, said the company is committed to continuing to protect the integrity of its site and improve its ability to track fraudulent accounts. He said Facebook has shut down the accounts that remained active.

 "We know we have to stay vigilant to keep ahead of people who try to misuse our platform," he said.

 This year, Facebook announced technology improvements to detect fake accounts and more recently announced that it would no longer allow Facebook pages to advertise if they have a pattern of sharing false news stories. Over the past few months, Stamos said, the company has also taken action to block fake accounts tied to election meddling in France and Germany.

 The Internet Research Agency has received attention in the past for its activity.

 In 2013, hackers released internal company documents showing it employed 600 people across Russia. Ex-employees who have gone public with their experiences at the company in Internet postings and in media interviews have said their work entailed creating fake Twitter and Facebook accounts and using them to circulate pro-Kremlin propaganda. They said Internet Research Agency employees, for instance, spread derogatory information about Putin critic Boris Nemtsov in the days after his 2015 murder.

 In 2015, the New York Times Magazine reported that social media accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency had launched social media campaigns in the United States, including a sophisticated hoax that spread false news of a chemical leak in Louisiana in 2014, apparently to sow chaos and fear.

 In its unclassified report in January, the U.S. intelligence community concluded that the Internet Research Agency's "likely financier" is a "close Putin ally with ties to Russian intelligence."

 In May, Time magazine reported that U.S. intelligence officials had discovered evidence that Russian agents had purchased ads on Facebook to target specific populations with propaganda. A Facebook spokesman told the magazine that the company had no evidence of such buys.

 Under federal law and Federal Election Commission regulations, both foreign nationals and foreign governments are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the United States. The ban includes independent expenditures made in connection with an election.

 Those banned from such spending include foreign citizens, foreign governments, foreign political parties, foreign corporations, foreign associations and foreign partnerships, according to the FEC. (Permanent residents who hold green cards, however, are not considered foreign nationals.) Violators face civil penalties, as well as criminal prosecution, if they are found to have knowingly broken the law.

 Andrew Roth, Alice Crites, Matea Gold and Ashley Parker contributed to this report. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it had found that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May.

 Facebook, the dominant social media network, said 3,000 ads and 470 “inauthentic” accounts and pages spread polarizing views on topics including immigration, race and gay rights.

 Another $50,000 was spent on 2,200 “potentially politically related” ads, likely by Russians, Facebook said.

 U.S. election law bars foreign nationals and foreign entities from spending money to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. Non-U.S. citizens may generally advertise on issues. Other ads, such as those that mention a candidate but do not call for the candidate’s election or defeat, fall into what lawyers have called a legal gray area.

 Facebook announced the findings in a blog post by its chief security officer, Alex Stamos, and said that it was cooperating with federal inquiries into influence operations during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

 Facebook briefed members of both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees on Wednesday about the suspected Russia advertising, according to a congressional source familiar with the matter. Both committees are conducting probes into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, including potential collusion between the campaign of President Donald Trump and Moscow.

 Facebook also gave its findings to Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of investigating alleged Russian interference in last year’s presidential election, a source familiar with the matter said. The company produced copies of advertisements as well as data about the buyers, the source said.

 Mueller’s office declined to comment.

 Facebook said it found no link between the Russian-purchased advertising and any specific presidential campaign. The ads were mostly national in their focus and did not appear to reflect targeting of political swing-states, the company said.

 Even if no laws were violated, Facebook said the 470 accounts and pages associated with the ads ran afoul of the social network’s requirements for authenticity and have since been suspended.

 Facebook did not print the names of any of the suspended pages, but some of them included such words as “refugee” and “patriot.”

 More than $1 billion was spent on political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, thousands of times more than the presumed Russian spending identified by Facebook’s security team.

 FILE PHOTO - A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration photo May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

 But the findings buttress U.S. intelligence agency conclusions that Russia was actively involved in shaping the election.

 Facebook previously published a white paper on influence operations, including what it said were fake “amplifier” accounts for propaganda, and said it was cracking down.

 As recently as June, Facebook told journalists that it had not found any evidence of Russian operatives buying election-related ads on its platform.

 “TROLL FACTORY” CONNECTION

 Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the Facebook report “deeply disturbing and yet fully consistent with the unclassified assessment of the intelligence community.”

 “We are keenly interested in Russia’s use of social media platforms, both the use of bots and trolls to spread disinformation and propaganda, including through the use of paid online advertising,” he said in a statement.

 A Facebook employee said Wednesday that there were unspecified connections between the divisive issue ads and a well-known Russian “troll factory” in St. Petersburg that publishes comments on social media.

 Ellen Weintraub, a member of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, said U.S. voters deserve to know where the ads are coming from and that the money behind them is legal.

 “It is unlawful for foreign nationals to be spending money in connection with any federal, state or local election, directly or indirectly,” Weintraub said in a phone interview.

 She declined to comment on the Facebook ads, saying she could not discuss subjects that could come before the agency.

 Facebook declined to release the ads themselves, prompting a sharp rebuke on Twitter from Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of First Look Media, a producer of feature and documentary films, television and podcasts.

 “Facebook keeps the targeted political ads it publishes secret, emboldening criminals,” wrote Omidyar, the eBay founder who also provided funding to launch media organization The Intercept. “I don’t see how that can possibly be legal.”

 The Facebook logo is displayed on their website in an illustration photo taken in Bordeaux, France, February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

 Facebook’s disclosure may be the first time a private entity has pointed to receiving Russian money related to U.S. elections, said Brendan Fischer, a program director at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington nonprofit that advocates for more transparency.

 “Whoever may have provided assistance to Russia in buying these Facebook ads is very likely in violation of the law,” he said, adding that Facebook has a legal duty to act if it is aware of similar activity in the future. |||||

– Facebook says a Russian "troll farm" appears to have spent $100,000 on 3,300 digital ads targeting American voters in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, the Washington Post reports. While some of the ads expressly mentioned Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, the majority simply promoted "divisive" views on things like gun and gay rights, discrimination, and immigration. According to Reuters, the ads were linked to 470 "inauthentic" accounts and pages that have since been suspended. While Facebook isn't releasing the ads, the names of the suspended pages featured words like "patriot" and "refugee," the Guardian reports. The Russian company linked to the ads has a history of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda. Facebook said it also found $50,000 spent on 2,200 "potentially politically related" ads that may be tied to Russia. The company's findings are more evidence to back the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia influenced the election. The findings are also likely to make investigators question whether the Russians were getting input on ad buys from people in the US. The ad buys may have been a violation of US election law by Facebook and others involved. “It is unlawful for foreign nationals to be spending money in connection with any federal, state, or local election, directly or indirectly,” a member of the US Federal Election Commission tells Reuters. Facebook found no evidence tying the ads to any presidential campaign.


Write an article based on this summary:

– A sad milestone out of Japan: Two weeks after the quake struck, its official death toll has broken the 10,000 mark—and that number is still on the rise, with more than 17,400 missing. Police estimate the toll will surpass 15,000 in the hardest-hit prefecture alone. Among survivors, hundreds of thousands remain in temporary shelters, 660,000 homes lack water, and 209,000 have no electricity. And with the damage expected to cost as much as $310 billion, it’s set to be the most expensive natural disaster in recorded history, the AP reports. Japan has extended the evacuation zone from a 12-mile radius around the troubled Fukushima plant to an 18-mile one, notes the Los Angeles Times. Water is in short supply as bottles fly off the shelves; the government is weighing importing drinking water. Even in Tokyo, 150 miles from the plant, there are reports of radiation in the food chain. The government has now restricted sales of 11 leafy vegetables, prompting farmers’ fear for their livelihood, reports the Washington Post.

A marine biologist at Cal State Long Beach has set out to identify the species and provenance of all the shells on the Watts Towers in South L.A. ||||| The official death toll from Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami passed the 10,000 mark Friday and was still climbing two weeks after the magnitude-9 quake struck off the northeastern coast and unleashed a cascade of disasters.

 In this Wednesday, March 23, 2011 photo, a filtration plant in Kanamachi in Tokyo is seen. On Wednesday, city officials reported that radioactive iodine in Tokyo's tap water measured more than twice the... (Associated Press)

 In this photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. via Kyodo News, lighting becomes available Thursday, March 24, 2011 in the control room of Unit 1 reactor at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear... (Associated Press)

 A young girl is screened for radiation at a shelter for those evacuated from areas around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. Radiation... (Associated Press)

 Crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76) receive supply from USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7) Thursday, March 24, 2011 in waters off Japan's northeastern coast. The USS Ronald Reagan... (Associated Press)

 A woman has her radiation screening results explained to her at a shelter for those evacuated from areas around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture,... (Associated Press)

 Crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76) receive supply from USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7) Thursday, March 24, 2011 in waters off Japan's northeastern coast. USS Ronald Reagan participates... (Associated Press)

 Farmer Sumiko Matsuno picks carrots on her farm to eat as she explains her fears no one will buy them with the current radiation fallout, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture, Japan.... (Associated Press)

 Farmer Sumiko Matsuno, left, and her freind, bag carrots on her farm to eat as she fears no one will buy them with the current radiation fallout, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture,... (Associated Press)

 Farmer Sumiko Matsuno picks carrots on her farm to eat as she fears no one will buy them with the current radiation fallout, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. Shops across... (Associated Press)

 A mother feeds her baby at an evacuation center in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, squeezed into temporary shelters without heat,... (Associated Press)

 Vehicles line up for refuel as a gas station resumed the business in Minamisanriku, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent crisis at... (Associated Press)

 A woman washes clothes at a river in a devastated area in Miyako, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent crisis at the Fukushima nuclear... (Associated Press)

 A worker loads boxes containing bottles of water onto a truck to distribute to households with infants, at a warehouse in Tokyo Thursday, March 24, 2011. Anxiety over Japan's food and water supplies soared... (Associated Press)

 A mother feeds her baby at an evacuation center in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, squeezed into temporary shelters without heat,... (Associated Press)

 Farmer Sumiko Matsuno picks carrots on her farm to eat as she explains her fears no one will buy them with the current radiation fallout, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture, Japan.... (Associated Press)

 A worker prepares to load boxes containing bottles of water onto a truck to distribute to households with infants, at a warehouse in Tokyo Thursday, March 24, 2011. Anxiety over Japan's food and water... (Associated Press)

 Vehicles line up for refuel as a gas station resumed the business in Minamisanriku, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent crisis at... (Associated Press)

 Medical workers in protective gear gather around an ambulance which arrived at a hospital in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, carrying two workers from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi... (Associated Press)

 Medical workers in protective gear gather around an ambulance which arrived at a hospital in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, carrying two workers from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi... (Associated Press)

 A worker loads boxes containing bottles of water onto a truck to distribute to households with infants, at a warehouse in Tokyo Thursday, March 24, 2011. Anxiety over Japan's food and water supplies soared... (Associated Press)

 A delivery truck loaded with emergency material aid runs through debris on its way to an evacuation center in Minamisanriku, northeastern Japan, Wednesday, March 23, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake,... (Associated Press)

 Hundreds of thousands of survivors are still camped out in temporary shelters. Some 660,000 households do not have water more than 209,000 do not have electricity. Damage could rise as high as $310 billion, the government said, making it the most costly natural disaster on record.

 The total death toll from the disaster could rise much higher as the National Police Agency said more than 17,400 people are still missing. Those tallies may overlap, but police from one of the hardest-hit prefectures, Miyagi, estimate that the deaths will top 15,000 in that region alone.

 Japan has been grappling with an avalanche of miseries that began with the March 11 quake, which ravaged the northeastern coast and damaged the critical cooling system at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, located 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

 As operators of the Fukushima plant struggled to get the cooling system operating again, radiation has seeped into the air and water, stoking fears about the safety of Japan's food and water supply. Radiation has been found in raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant.

 Radioactive iodine is short-lived, with a half-life of eight days _ the length of time it takes for half of it to break down harmlessly. However, experts say infants are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer.

 The U.S. and Australia have halted imports of Japanese dairy and produce from the region, Hong Kong said it would require that Japan perform safety checks on meat, eggs and seafood, and Canada said it would upgrade controls on imports of Japanese food products. Singapore, too, has banned the sale of milk, produce, meat and seafood from areas near the plant.

 In Tokyo, residents stripped store shelves of bottled water and some other basic necessities after authorities said radioactive iodine in the tap water was more than twice what is considered safe for babies to drink.

 "The first thought was that I need to buy bottles of water," said Reiko Matsumoto, a real estate agent and mother of a 5-year-old, who rushed to a nearby store to stock up on supplies. "I also don't know whether I can let her take a bath."

 Tests conducted Thursday showed the levels in the city's water fell to acceptable limits for infants, but shot up in neighboring regions.

 In Tokyo, government spokesman Yukio Edano pleaded for calm over the water contamination, and said the government was considering importing bottled water from other countries to cover any shortages. Officials urged residents to avoid panicked stockpiling and the city distributed bottled waters to families with infants.

 New readings Thursday showed the city's tap water was back to levels acceptable for infants, but the relief was tempered by elevated levels of the isotope in two neighboring prefectures: Chiba and Saitama. A city in a third prefecture, just south of the plant, also showed high levels of radioactive iodine in tap water, officials said.

 Tap water in Kawaguchi City in Saitama, north of Tokyo, contained 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine _ well above the 100 becquerels considered safe for babies but below the 300-becquerel level for adults, Health Ministry official Shogo Misawa said.

 In Chiba prefecture, the water tested high for radiation in two separate areas, said water safety official Kyoji Narita. The government there warned families in 11 cities in Chiba not to give infants tap water.

 "The high level of iodine was due to the nuclear disaster," Narita said. "There is no question about it."

 Radiation levels also tested dangerously high in Hitachi in Ibaraki prefecture, about 70 miles (120 kilometers) south of the Fukushima plant, city water official Toshifumi Suzuki said.

 In Fukushima, plant operators were still struggling to get the cooling system operating again. Lighting was restored Thursday to the central control room at Unit 1 for the first time since the tsunami, but two workers were treated at a hospital after stepping into radiation-contaminated water.

 The water seeped over the top of their boots and onto their legs, said Takashi Kurita, spokesman for plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co.

 The men will be transferred to a radiology medical institute Friday, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, another nuclear agency spokesman. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi, Elaine Kurtenbach and Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report. ||||| At a downtown grocery store, a line of anxious mothers cleaned the shelves of bottled water seven minutes after the doors opened. At an organic farm on the city’s outskirts, a group tested spinach with a hand-held radiation detector. And at the prime minister’s headquarters, the chief cabinet secretary announced that Japan is considering importing drinking water.

 As emergency crews battled Thursday to contain nuclear fallout from the earthquake-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant in northeast Japan, a nervous uncertainty spread as far away as Tokyo, 150 miles to the southwest, as radiation was reported in parts of the food chain and millions tried to understand the implications.

 In Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Thursday that Japanese scientists have found “measurable concentrations” of radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137 in samples of seawater collected off the Fukushima prefecture coast.

 “The iodine concentrations were at or above Japanese regulatory limits, and the cesium levels were well below those limits,” the IAEA said on its Web site. The samples were gathered Tuesday and Wednesday at several points 18.6 miles from shore, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said.

 A day after Tokyo officials warned of elevated iodine levels in the city’s tap water and the national government restricted shipment of 11 leafy vegetables in several prefectures, residents scrambled to stock up on the essentials, which are now in short supply.

 Tokyo officials distributed 240,000 bottles of water to households with infants, who are more vulnerable to radioactive iodine-131. The U.S. Embassy handed out to American citizens potassium iodide pills, which can block radioactive iodine from building up in the thyroid gland.

 “If the situation isn’t better in one week, I actually might have to move in with my parents,” said Yuki Ochiai, 32, mother of an 8-month-old girl who was among two dozen customers in line at the Tokyu grocery store 20 minutes before it opened. “My husband is already encouraging me to leave.”

 As residents fretted, the number of deaths from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami officially topped 10,000, the National Police Agency said Friday. More than 17,000 people remain missing.

 Two weeks after the quake, Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan is scheduled to address the nation at 7:30 p.m. Friday, his spokesman said.

 Meanwhile, the struggle to prevent more radiation from escaping the nuclear plant continued. Engineers hooked up lighting to a control room at the unit 1 reactor Thursday — an incremental, but hopeful, step toward cooling overheated spent fuel rods. At the unit 3 reactor, workers prepared to test a cooling pump that would allow them to pour in fresh rainwater instead of less effective seawater.

 But there were setbacks. Three workers suffered radiation burns after stepping in contaminated water while attempting to lay electrical wiring at one of the buildings. Two of the workers, exposed to 170 to 180 millisieverts of radiation, were hospitalized, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, who did not disclose the status of the third employee. The Associated Press quoted Fumio Matsuda, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, as saying that radiation levels of 170 to 180 millisieverts were well below the maximum 250 millisieverts allowed for workers.

 Officials said Friday they are investigating possible damage to the reactor vessel at unit 3 that could be allowing dangerous radiation to leak into the atmosphere.

 Government authorities said they are analyzing the reactor’s vessel, pipes and valves for potential damage that could be causing a leak. That reactor is considered particularly dangerous because it is the only one that burns mox fuel, a combination of plutonium and uranium that is hotter than conventional uranium reactors.

 “Looking at the data, we believe the No. 3 vessel still has the capacity to contain radioactive material,” Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said at a news conference. “But we have to investigate … the possibility the No. 3 reactor has sustained damage.”

 The setback is the latest in a fitful effort to contain nuclear fallout at the Daiichi power plant. Crews have attached power cables to try to restore electricity, but only two of the six facility’s six reactors have successfully been put into cold shutdown. Twice this week, workers were evacuated after smoke was seen rising from the buildings, though officials later said the smoke was caused by steam that is not harmful.

 The nervous uncertainty over the food chain Thursday sent people sifting through information about the complicated and rapidly changing problem. In Chiba and Saitama, two prefectures neighboring Tokyo, officials discovered iodine levels exceeding the legal limit for infants. Yet Tokyo’s water, which had tested high a day earlier, showed a decrease Thursday.

 For some, the brief water warning was a tipping point, a sign that the environment had become a threat. At the Tokyu grocery, an employee opened the store doors at 10 a.m. and a half-dozen pregnant women and young mothers rushed to the far aisle.

 Within seven minutes, all 80 two-liter bottles were gone. Ochiai, cradling her daughter, held two of them. Her parents, who live in Hokkaido, a northern island, were sending 12 more bottles of water by airmail, she said.

 “I actually feel sorry standing here with my two bottles of water,” Ochiai said. “All these other mothers are here now, and they are too late.”

 As parents worried about supply, farmers brooded over the demand for their food, tainted by the government’s advisory that residents not eat 11 leafy vegetables grown in prefectures near the Daiichi facility, citing elevated levels of radioactive materials in them.

 The advisory has left farmers nationwide wondering about the effect on their livelihood as consumers weigh the risks.

 At a spinach farm in Chiba, about 11 / 2 hours outside Tokyo, the proprietor, Masayuki Kumate, 45, looked on as Sumito Hatta, a food researcher, used a dosimeter to take a radioactivity reading of a lone row of green plants sprouting from the dark brown soil.

 Kumate shook his head. Although Chiba officials had not banned any produce, Kumate said he has “been worried since Day One” of the disaster.

 “It’s so clear what was going to happen,” he said of the nuclear fallout. “For Fukushima farmers, it is impossible [to recover]. The soil is contaminated. They will have to get rid of that before they start again. It takes a very long time. It will be a very big problem.”

 Hatta and a friend, Shinya Takeda, started a blog and a Facebook page dedicated to informing the Japanese people and the world about the plight facing Japan’s farmers and asking for donations.

 Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sent a letter to banks this week encouraging them to provide loans to farmers seeking to rebuild. And the government has pledged that the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the nuclear plant, will provide stipends to farmers whose crops have been contaminated.

 “The farmlands that were soaked with saltwater will not be revived as farmland,” the Facebook page reads. “This reality is another destruction for the farmers. . . . Now people in Japan are buying up all food at supermarkets and oil at gas stations due to the anxiety. Our food sovereignty is in great danger.”

 Special correspondents Akiko Yamamoto and Kyoko Tanaka contributed to this report. |||||