Article:

Alzheimer’s disease could be caused by viruses like herpes, a group of renowned dementia experts have warned, as they call for urgent investigation into the link.

 The worldwide team of 31 senior scientists and clinicians, which include specialists from Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Manchester Universities and Imperial College, have written an editorial which suggests that microbes are the major cause of dementia.

 The herpes virus - the type which causes cold sores - and chlamydia bacteria are named as the major culprits, as well as a type of corkscrew-shaped bacteria called spirochaete.

 “There is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s Disease has a dormant microbial component. We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence”

 “There is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s Disease has a dormant microbial component. We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence” Professor Douglas Kell, Manchester University

 Currently most scientists are trying to find treatments which prevent the build of sticky amyloid plaques and misfolded tau proteins in the brain which prevent neurons from communicating with each other, leading to memory loss and cognitive decline.

 But in an the editorial in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, it is suggested that it is a viral or bacterial infection which triggers the plaque build-up in the first place. Targeting them specifically with antimicrobial drugs could halt dementia.

 Professor Douglas Kell of the University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry, said “We are saying there is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s Disease has a dormant microbial component. We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence.”

 There are currently 850,000 people living with dementia in Britain which is due to rise to one million by 2025 and two million by 2050. But despite 412 drugs trials taking place between 2002 and 2012, nothing has been shown to combat the disease.

 The authors say that viruses and bacteria are common in the brains of elderly people, and although they are usually dormant, they can ‘wake up’ after stress or if the immune system is compromised. Around two thirds of people will acquire the herpes virus at some point in their lives, and many will not realise they have it.

 Photo: ALAMY

 The herpes virus in particular is known to damage the central nervous system, and the limbic system in the brain which regulates mood and instinct and is associated with mental decline and personality changes.

 They also point to the fact that a gene mutation - APOEe4 - which makes one in five people more susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease, also raises their susceptibility to infectious disease. Viral infections in the brain are already known to cause symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s and the experts say the link has been ‘neglected’ for too long.

 “Alzheimer’s disease causes great emotional and physical harm to sufferers and their carers as well as having enormously damaging economic consequences,” they write.

 “We write to express our concern that one particular aspect of the disease has been neglected, even though treatment based on it might slow or arrest Alzheimer’s disease progression.

 “We refer to the many studies, mainly on humans, implicating specific microbes in the elderly brain, notably herpes simplex virus type 1, chlamydia pneumoniae and several types of spirochatete.

 “We propose that further research on the role of infectious agents in Alzheimer’s disease causation, including prospective trials of antimicrobial therapy, is now justified.”

 They say new findings could also have implications for the future treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, and other progressive neurological conditions.

 Professor Resia Pretorius of the University of Pretoria, who worked with Prof Kell on the editorial, said “The microbial presence in blood may also play a fundamental role as causative agent of systemic inflammation, which is a characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

 “Furthermore, there is ample evidence that this can cause neuroinflammation and plaque formation.”

 Dementia charities said they had noticed that viruses and bacteria were more common in people with Alzheimer's disease.

 Dr James Pickett, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Society said: “A large number of different microbes including viruses, bacteria and fungi have been found in the brains of older people - but there do appear to be more of them in the brains of people who have died with Alzheimer’s disease.

 "While these observations are interesting and warrant further research, there is currently insufficient evidence to tell us that microbes are responsible for causing Alzheimer’s disease in the vast majority of cases. We would like to reassure people that there remains no convincing evidence that Alzheimer’s disease is contagious or can be passed from person to person like a virus.

 “Given the enormous global impact of dementia, there is intense interest from the research community to understand all the potential contributing factors. We welcome research that explores all possible avenues and have committed £100 million over the next decade to more fully understand the causes of dementia and to improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the condition.”

 Last year, researchers found that the 'seeds' of Alzheimer's could be passed through blood transfusions and medical accidents.

 Prof John Hardy, Professor of Neuroscience, UCL, said: “This is a minority view in Alzheimer research. There had been no convincing proof of infections causing Alzheimer disease. We need always to keep an open mind but this editorial does not reflect what most researchers think about Alzheimer disease.”

 Dr Simon Ridley, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “There is growing evidence for the role of the immune system in Alzheimer’s and active ongoing research looking at how an inflammatory response might contribute to the disease. There is some evidence to suggest that infections in general could ramp up the immune system and contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s, but there isn’t conclusive evidence to suggest that a particular infectious agent or microbe could be directly responsible for causing the disease.

 "There are many avenues being explored to understand the initial events that trigger the development of Alzheimer’s and this is an important part of the research process for ruling in and out particular hypotheses. There is no evidence that Alzheimer’s can be passed from person to person like a virus. Continued research funding into diseases like Alzheimer’s is important to build a clearer picture of the genetic and lifestyle risk factors for the disease and use this knowledge to develop preventions or treatments.” ||||| A worldwide team of senior scientists and clinicians have come together to produce an editorial which indicates that certain microbes - a specific virus and two specific types of bacteria - are major causes of Alzheimer’s Disease. Their paper, which has been published online in the highly regarded peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, stresses the urgent need for further research - and more importantly, for clinical trials of anti-microbial and related agents to treat the disease.

 This major call for action is based on substantial published evidence into Alzheimer's. The team’s landmark editorial summarises the abundant data implicating these microbes, but until now this work has been largely ignored or dismissed as controversial - despite the absence of evidence to the contrary. Therefore, proposals for the funding of clinical trials have been refused, despite the fact that over 400 unsuccessful clinical trials for Alzheimer's based on other concepts were carried out over a recent 10-year period.

 Opposition to the microbial concepts resembles the fierce resistance to studies some years ago which showed that viruses cause certain types of cancer, and that a bacterium causes stomach ulcers. Those concepts were ultimately proved valid, leading to successful clinical trials and the subsequent development of appropriate treatments.

 Professor Douglas Kell of The University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry and Manchester Institute of Biotechnology is one of the editorial’s authors. He says that supposedly sterile red blood cells were seen to contain dormant microbes, which also has implications for blood transfusions. ||||| We are researchers and clinicians working on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or related topics, and we write to express our concern that one particular aspect of the disease has been neglected, even though treatment based on it might slow or arrest AD progression. We refer to the many studies, mainly on humans, implicating specific microbes in the elderly brain, notably herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), Chlamydia pneumoniae, and several types of spirochaete, in the etiology of AD [1–4]. Fungal infection of AD brain [5, 6] has also been described, as well as abnormal microbiota in AD patient blood [7]. The first observations of HSV1 in AD brain were reported almost three decades ago [8]. The ever-increasing number of these studies (now about 100 on HSV1 alone) warrants re-evaluation of the infection and AD concept.

 AD is associated with neuronal loss and progressive synaptic dysfunction, accompanied by the deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, a cleavage product of the amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP), and abnormal forms of tau protein, markers that have been used as diagnostic criteria for the disease [9, 10]. These constitute the hallmarks of AD, but whether they are causes of AD or consequences is unknown. We suggest that these are indicators of an infectious etiology. In the case of AD, it is often not realized that microbes can cause chronic as well as acute diseases; that some microbes can remain latent in the body with the potential for reactivation, the effects of which might occur years after initial infection; and that people can be infected but not necessarily affected, such that ‘controls’, even if infected, are asymptomatic [2].

 EVIDENCE FOR AN INFECTIOUS/IMMUNE COMPONENT (i) Viruses and other microbes are present in the brain of most elderly people [11–13]. Although usually dormant, reactivation can occur after stress and immunosuppression; for example, HSV1 DNA is amplified in the brain of immunosuppressed patients [14].

 (ii) Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) produces damage in localized regions of the CNS related to the limbic system, which are associated with memory, cognitive and affective processes [15], as well as personality (the same as those affected in AD).

 (iii) In brain of AD patients, pathogen signatures (e.g., HSV1 DNA) specifically colocalize with AD pathology [13, 16, 17].

 (iv) HSV infection, as revealed by seropositivity, is significantly associated with development of AD [18–21].

 (v) AD has long been known to have a prominent inflammatory component characteristic of infection (reviewed in [22, 23]).

 (vi) Polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E gene, APOE , that modulate immune function and susceptibility to infectious disease [24], also govern AD risk (reviewed in [25, 26]). Genome-wide association studies reveal that other immune system components, including virus receptor genes, are further AD risk factors [27–32].

 (vii) Features of AD pathology are transmissible by inoculation of AD brain to primates [33, 34] and mice [35, 36].

 EVIDENCE FOR CAUSATION (i) In humans, brain infection (e.g., by HIV, herpesvirus, measles) is known to be associated with AD-like pathology [37–42]. Historical evidence shows that the clinical and pathological hallmarks of AD occur also in syphilitic dementia, caused by a spirochaete [4].

 (ii) In mice and in cell culture, Aβ deposition and tau abnormalities typical of AD are observed after infection with HSV1 [43–52] or bacteria [16, 53–55]; a direct interaction between AβPP and HSV1 has been reported [56]. Antivirals, including acyclovir, in vitro block HSV1-induced Aβ and tau pathology [57].

 (iii) Olfactory dysfunction is an early symptom of AD [58]. The olfactory nerve, which leads to the lateral entorhinal cortex, the initial site from where characteristic AD pathology subsequently spreads through the brain [59, 60], is a likely portal of entry of HSV1 [61] and other viruses [62], as well as Chlamydia pneumoniae, into the brain [63], implicating such agents in damage to this region. Further, brainstem areas that harbor latent HSV directly irrigate these brain regions: brainstem virus reactivation would thus disrupt the same tissues as those affected in AD [64].

 GROWING EVIDENCE FOR MECHANISM: ROLE OF Aβ (i) The gene encoding cholesterol 25-hydroxylase (CH25H) is selectively upregulated by virus infection, and its enzymatic product (25-hydroxycholesterol, 25OHC) induces innate antiviral immunity [65, 66].

 (ii) Polymorphisms in human CH25 H govern both AD susceptibility and Aβ deposition [67], arguing that Aβ induction is likely to be among the targets of 25OHC, providing a potential mechanistic link between infection and Aβ production [68].

 (iii) Aβ is an antimicrobial peptide with potent activity against multiple bacteria and yeast [69]. Aβ also has antiviral activity [70–72].

 (iv) Another antimicrobial peptide (β-defensin 1) is upregulated in AD brain [73]. Regarding HSV1, about 100 publications by many groups indicate directly or indirectly that this virus is a major factor in the disease. They include studies suggesting that the virus confers risk of the disease when present in brain of carriers of the ɛ4 allele of APOE [74], an established susceptibility factor for AD (APOE ɛ4 determines susceptibility in several disorders of infectious origin [75], including herpes labialis, caused usually by HSV1). The only opposing reports, two not detecting HSV1 DNA in elderly brains and another not finding an HSV1–APOE association, were published over a decade ago [76–78]. However, despite all the supportive evidence, the topic is often dismissed as ‘controversial’. One recalls the widespread opposition initially to data showing that viruses cause some types of cancer, and that a bacterium causes stomach ulcers. In summary, we propose that infectious agents, including HSV1, Chlamydia pneumonia, and spirochetes, reach the CNS and remain there in latent form. These agents can undergo reactivation in the brain during aging, as the immune system declines, and during different types of stress (which similarly reactivate HSV1 in the periphery). The consequent neuronal damage— caused by direct viral action and by virus-induced inflammation— occurs recurrently, leading to (or acting as a cofactor for) progressive synaptic dysfunction, neuronal loss, and ultimately AD. Such damage includes the induction of Aβ which, initially, appears to be only a defense mechanism. AD causes great emotional and physical harm to sufferers and their carers, as well as having enormously damaging economic consequences. Given the failure of the 413 trials of other types of therapy for AD carried out in the period 2002–2012 [79], antiviral/antimicrobial treatment of AD patients, notably those who are APOE ɛ4 carriers, could rectify the ‘no drug works’ impasse. We propose that further research on the role of infectious agents in AD causation, including prospective trials of antimicrobial therapy, is now justified. |||||
What is a summary?

– Roughly two-thirds of American adults have been exposed to the herpes type 1 virus (oral; type 2 is the genital one), and they could be predisposed to developing Alzheimer's disease later in life. So writes a group of 31 international scientists and clinicians in an editorial in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, stating that "substantial published evidence" suggests such a link and calling on researchers elsewhere to take action. They claim that some microbes—the virus and two types of bacteria, chlamydia and spirochete—are linked to the progressive neurological disease. "We are saying there is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer's disease has a dormant microbial component," writes lead author Douglas Kell in a University of Manchester statement. "We can't keep ignoring all of the evidence." The authors propose that the named microbes "reach the [central nervous system] and remain there in latent form." They can then essentially wake up during the course of aging, under stress, or as the immune system declines. "The consequent neuronal damage ... occurs recurrently, leading to ... ultimately AD," the authors posit. They point to the failure of 413 Alzheimer's drug trials conducted between 2002 and 2012 and "express our concern that one particular aspect of the disease has been neglected," as "antiviral/antimicrobial treatment of AD patients ... could rectify the 'no drug works' impasse." Meanwhile, not all are convinced, with one neuroscience professor framing theirs as a "minority view"; he tells the Telegraph there has "been no convincing proof of infections causing" the disease. (This 38-year-old's form of Alzheimer's is genetic.)


Summarize this article:

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| The Jacksonville International Airport was shut down for nearly five hours, stranding incoming planeloads of passengers on the tarmac, after police found two suspicious packages, one of which was deemed "destructive" and had to be deactivated offsite by a bomb squad.

 The airport was evacuated shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday when police found one suspicious package in the terminal and another in a nearby parking garage, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Shannon Hartley told a news conference at 11 p.m., just after the airport reopened.

 Hartley said one of the packages "had some destructive nature that it had to be taken offsite" but he did not elaborate.

 He would not say which of the packages was destructive, and said he could not confirm local news media reports that two suspects had been arrested.

 When authorities decided to evacuate the terminal and shut down the airport, some incoming planes were held up on the tarmac until buses could arrive to pick up the passengers, airport spokesman Michael Stewart said. He could not say how many planes were held up or for how long. Airport officials tweeted shortly after the evacuation that passengers on inbound flights would be bused to offsite hotels as transportation became available.

 At least one plane was preparing to depart at the time of the evacuation, but Stewart said he did not know if it already had pulled away from the gate at the time of the evacuation. No flights were allowed to take off following the evacuation.

 With the airport reopening, Stewart said individual airlines will determine how to restart their operations. "The airlines will work to ensure all passengers will receive their luggage," the airport tweeted on its official Twitter site.

 Arlie Gentry, a passenger who arrived on a flight from New York via Baltimore, said the Southwest Airlines plane he was on landed just before 6:30 p.m.

 "We moved from one spot on the runway to another spot," Gentry said. "They told us we couldn't get off the plane."

 The pilots couldn't initially tell the passengers why, claiming they didn't know themselves, Gentry said.

 Gentry said the delay was cumbersome and bothersome, but everyone on his plane remained calm. He said he was never really concerned for his safety, because the plane remained so far from the terminal.

 Gentry said a bus arrived about 9:30 p.m. to start taking passengers to a nearby hotel. Gentry's sisters had been waiting in the parking lot for several hours and were planning to take him back to Gainesville.

 ____

 Associated Press writers David Fischer in Miami and Lisa J. Adams in Atlanta contributed to this report. |||||

– A 39-year-old Jacksonville man is in custody in connection with the bomb scare that closed Jacksonville International Airport for five hours, jail records show. Zeljko Causevic has been charged with manufacturing, selling, or delivering a mail hoax bomb, and making a false report about a bomb, the Florida Times-Union reports. He was booked into jail at 1:30am, two and a half hours after the airport reopened, and will make his first court appearance this afternoon at 1pm. The airport was evacuated shortly after 6pm when police found one suspicious package in the terminal and another in a nearby parking garage. A sheriff's office spokesman said one of the packages "had some destructive nature that it had to be taken offsite" but did not elaborate, the AP reports. The closure left incoming planeloads of passengers stranded on the tarmac, and has led to the cancellation of more than 20 flights.


– Lindsay Lohan was in court today, and she continued to escape jail for now. The judge set the conditions of her release (to stay free on bail there's to be no drinking, and weekly drug testing, and she must attend those pesky alcohol classes and wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet) and set July 6 as the date for her formal probation violation hearing, according to TMZ. Her lawyer said evidence would be submitted to show Lohan tried her darndest to get home from Cannes in time for the original hearing date. “I don't see what reason I would go to prison for,” LiLo says in a Hollywood.tv video posted on YouTube in advance of the hearing. "I've been more than compliant with everything having to do with the court system." Predictably, she also denies doing drugs, insists she doesn’t need rehab, calls her father insane…and starts crying when discussing having to miss her brother’s graduation today.

Expand this summary.

Live: Lindsay Lohan -- The Long Walk Home

 Lindsay Lohan's court hearing is over ... and we're camped outside waiting for reactions from both sides. Will Lindsay take a few questions? Stay tuned ...

 : Donde esta Lindsay? We're told she's still inside the courtroom where she and her lawyer are talking to the judge and filling out paperwork related to the SCRAM bracelet.: It looks like she's getting fitted for her bracelet now. ||||| Uploaded by hollywoodtv on

 Exclusive video shot by HOLLYWOOD.TV in Beverly Hills with Lindsay Lohan on May 23rd, 2010.

 Lindsay Lohan sits down with Sheeraz Hasan, founder of HOLLYWOOD.TV, and clears up the numerous rumors surrounding the recent "cocaine" photograph online, her DUI court situation, her father Michael Lohan, her alleged drug use, her tearful confession of how she must miss her brother's graduation and more. |||||


Summarize this article:

Nearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a "lack of candor," McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

 Interested in Trump Administration? Add Trump Administration as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Trump Administration news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest

 Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly accused Sessions of misleading them in congressional testimony and called on federal authorities to investigate, but McCabe's previously-unreported decision to actually put the attorney general in the crosshairs of an FBI probe was an exceptional move.

 One source told ABC News that Sessions was not aware of the investigation when he decided to fire McCabe last Friday less than 48 hours before McCabe, a former FBI deputy director, was due to retire from government and obtain a full pension, but an attorney representing Sessions declined to confirm that.

 Last year, several top Republican and Democratic lawmakers were informed of the probe during a closed-door briefing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and McCabe, ABC News was told.

 By then, Sessions had recused himself from the FBI’s probe of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, giving Rosenstein oversight of the growing effort.

 Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

 Within weeks, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to take over the investigation and related inquiries, including the Sessions matter.

 Two months ago, Sessions was interviewed by Mueller's team, and the federal inquiry related to his candor during his confirmation process has since been shuttered, according to a lawyer representing Sessions.

 "The Special Counsel's office has informed me that after interviewing the attorney general and conducting additional investigation, the attorney general is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress," attorney Chuck Cooper told ABC News on Wednesday.

 According to the sources, McCabe authorized the criminal inquiry after a top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., wrote a letter in March 2017 to the FBI urging agents to investigate "all contacts" Sessions may have had with Russians, and "whether any laws were broken in the course of those contacts or in any subsequent discussion of whether they occurred."

 It's unclear how actively federal authorities pursued the matter in the months before Sessions' interview with Mueller’s investigators. It's also unclear whether the special counsel may still be pursuing other matters related to Sessions and statements he has made to Congress – or others – since his confirmation.

 During his confirmation in January 2017, Sessions told the Senate committee that he had not been in contact with anyone connected to the Russian government about the 2016 election. He also said he was "not aware" of anyone else affiliated with the Trump campaign communicating with the Russian government ahead of the election.

 Two months later, after a Washington Post report disputed what Sessions told Congress, the attorney general acknowledged he had met the Russian ambassador twice during the presidential campaign, but insisted none of those interactions were "to discuss issues of the campaign."

 Sessions "made no attempt to correct his misleading testimony until The Washington Post revealed that, in fact, he had at least two meetings with the Russian ambassador," Leahy and Franken said in a statement at the time. "We know he would not tolerate dishonesty if he were in our shoes."

 Sessions called any suggestions that he misled lawmakers "false."

 Nevertheless, charges subsequently brought by Mueller raised more questions over Sessions' testimony to Congress.

 In November, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos admitted to federal authorities that during the campaign he was in frequent contact with Russian operatives about setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Papadopoulos pitched the idea to Sessions and Trump at a meeting of the then-candidate's foreign policy team in March 2016.

 Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images

 Sessions later told lawmakers he "always told the truth," insisting he didn’t recall the March 2016 meeting when first testifying to Congress. He later remembered the meeting after reading news reports about it, he said.

 "We are concerned by Attorney General Sessions' lack of candor to the Committee and his failure thus far to accept responsibility for testimony that could be construed as perjury," Leahy and Franken said in their March 2017 letter to then-FBI director James Comey, who was fired by Trump two months later.

 It is a federal crime for anyone to knowingly provide false information to Congress – or to a federal law enforcement agency. No charges have been announced against McCabe, and there’s no indication that the FBI has recommended he be charged.

 McCabe was fired Friday after the Justice Department's inspector general concluded that McCabe misled investigators looking into how Justice Department and FBI officials handled matters associated with the 2016 presidential election.

 In October 2016, hoping to push back on a series of news reports questioning whether he might be trying to protect Hillary Clinton, McCabe authorized two FBI officials to speak with a reporter about his efforts to boost the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation. When he was questioned later about that decision, McCabe "lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions," Sessions said in a statement announcing McCabe's firing.

 "The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability," Sessions said. "As the [FBI's ethics office] stated, 'all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand.'"

 McCabe vehemently denies misleading investigators, saying in his own statement that he is "being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey."

 For more than a year, Trump and other Republicans have questioned whether McCabe harbored a political bias when making law enforcement decisions as deputy director. McCabe's critics point to his ties to Democrats, particularly his wife's failed Democratic run for state senate in Virginia nearly three years ago.

 But in an interview with ABC News, McCabe insisted politics was "absolutely not" a factor in any of the decisions he made, noting he has considered himself a Republican all his life.

 A representative for McCabe declined to comment for this article.

 Franken, one of the two senators who pushed the FBI to investigate Sessions, resigned from Congress in December amid several claims of sexual misconduct.

 --ABC News' Trish Turner and Matt Mosk contributed to this report ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 WASHINGTON — Andrew McCabe, as the FBI's deputy director, authorized an investigation into whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied to Congress, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

 The investigation ended without criminal charges, according to Sessions’s lawyer, and was not known to Sessions last week when he made the decision to fire McCabe, according to a Justice Department official.

 ABC News was first to report that McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told lawmakers about the probe in a closed-door meeting last year. The inquiry eventually went to special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

 Sessions’s lawyer, Chuck Cooper, said in a statement to NBC News: "The special counsel's Office has informed me that after interviewing the attorney general and conducting additional investigation, the attorney general is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress."

 Sessions testified during his congressional confirmation hearing in January 2017 that he had not met with Russians during his time as a Trump campaign surrogate. It later surfaced that Sessions met with the then-Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, several times during the campaign, prompting Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., to refer a perjury inquiry to the FBI, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News. After media reports about the meetings, Sessions testified before Congress that his meetings were in his capacity as a senator, or were too insignificant to remember.

 Perjury referrals to the FBI from political parties who feel aggrieved by a witness are common, but rarely end in prosecution because they are difficult to prove, said one of the sources.

 Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation after media reports about his meetings with Kislyak, a move he said was a result of his work on the campaign and not because of the reports. Rosenstein took over the investigation and later appointed Mueller as special counsel after James Comey was fired as FBI director.

 Trump has repeatedly denied that his campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election. ||||| WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. investigated Attorney General Jeff Sessions for possible perjury last year over congressional testimony in which he said he had no contacts with Russians, according to three people familiar with the case.

 In fact, Mr. Sessions later acknowledged, he had personally met the Russian ambassador to the United States during the campaign and was aware that George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser, had developed Russian ties, too. F.B.I. agents were aware of both inaccuracies in real time. And last March, when Congress asked the F.B.I. to investigate the attorney general, agents began doing so, two of the people said.

 Andrew G. McCabe, the F.B.I.’s deputy director at the time, authorized the investigation, the two people said. Mr. McCabe himself was recently fired for showing “lack of candor” in an internal investigation. Mr. Sessions rejected Mr. McCabe’s appeal and fired him hours before his retirement was to take effect, jeopardizing his pension.

 The investigation into Mr. Sessions began before Robert S. Mueller III was appointed special counsel to investigate Russia-related matters. Mr. Sessions’s lawyer, Chuck Cooper, said no investigation is being conducted now. |||||

– Long before he was fired by Jeff Sessions for an alleged "lack of candor" under oath, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe authorized a criminal investigation of the attorney general for allegedly lying to Congress about his Russia contacts, sources tell ABC and NBC. The sources say Sessions was unaware of the federal perjury investigation when he decided to fire McCabe two days before his scheduled retirement date. Then-Sen. Al Franken was among those who called for a perjury investigation last year after it emerged that Sessions had failed to disclose talks with Russia's ambassador during his confirmation hearings. Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation because of the talks. In November, Sessions told a House panel that he hadn't lied about a meeting in which a Trump aide boasted about Russian contacts—he had only forgotten about it. The Sessions investigation was eventually handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller, who interviewed the attorney general earlier this year. Sessions' lawyer says the FBI investigation ended without criminal charges and Sessions is no longer being investigated. "The special counsel’s office has informed me that after interviewing the attorney general and conducting additional investigation, the attorney general is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress," attorney Chuck Cooper said in a statement to the New York Times.


News article:

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 ||||| Just minutes into Sebastian Gorka’s appearance on Fox & Friends to discuss escalating nuclear tensions between Washington D.C. and Pyongyang, President Donald Trump issued his latest warning to North Korea via Twitter.

 Following Trump’s comments warning North Korea against continuing their nuclear threats on Tuesday — and Pyongyang’s response — the U.S. president took to Twitter early Wednesday to boast about America’s powerful nuclear arsenal.

 Asked about Trump’s warnings, Gorka said the president ” is saying don’t test America and don’t test Donald J. Trump.”

 “We are not just a superpower,” Gorka continued. “We were a superpower. We are now a hyper-power. Nobody in the world, especially not North Korea, comes close to challenging our military capabilities.”

 Gorka then reiterated the hardline on North Korea: “So the message is very clear, don’t test this White House, Pyongyang,” before claiming that the hermit kingdom is a “very insignificant threat in terms of scale.”

 Despite escalating warnings coming from the White House, Gorka said the ball is in North Koreas court to “stand down the rhetoric.”

 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged calm on North Korea hours before the president’s tweets on Monday morning, saying “Americans should sleep well at night,” and that there is no imminent threat from Pyongyang.

 Later in the interview, Gorka was asked about comments from Democratic lawmakers, as well as Republicans like Sen. John McCain, condemning Trump’s “reckless” and “bombastic comments” as unhelpful.

 As Fox anchor Brian Kilmeade phrased it, “you’re shaking your head — what’s your reaction to American lawmakers turning against the president’s words?”

 Gorka responded by invoking White House grievances about leaks, before claiming that both leaks and “these kinds of statements” sadden him.

 The White House staffer then made the argument that Americans need to throw their support behind Trump in this time of crisis:

 “These are the moments when we have to come together as a nation and support the executive,” he said. “Whether you voted for him or not, whether they’re a Democrat or whether they’re a Republican, these are trying times.”

 “During the Cuban missile crisis we stood behind JFK,” Gorka said, before making an alarming claim about the current state of affairs: “This is analogous to the Cuban missile crisis.”

 “We need to come together,” he continued, before arguing that Americans should put the country over their political party.

 [image via screengrab]

 —

 Follow Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) on Twitter

 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| 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 ||||| The Trump administration on Wednesday sought to keep pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions, while also moving to lessen the alarm President Donald Trump sparked a day earlier when he threatened Pyongyang with attack.

 North Korea on Thursday morning local time said “sound dialogue is not possible” with Mr. Trump and repeated the threat it made a day earlier to fire at the U.S.’s Pacific territory of Guam, saying it could surround Guam in “enveloping fire” by launching four intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missiles... ||||| Story highlights "The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons," Mattis said

 Mattis has consistently said that he prefers to resolve issues over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs through diplomacy

 Washington (CNN) US Defense Secretary James Mattis issued a dramatic ultimatum to North Korea on Wednesday to "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people" -- strong words that come just one day after President Donald Trump warned that the US could unleash "fire and fury" on Pyongyang.

 "The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons," Mattis said in a written statement, adding that the "regime's actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates."

 Mattis has consistently said that he prefers to resolve issues over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs through diplomacy -- noting military action could yield catastrophic consequences.

 On Wednesday, Mattis called on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to cooperate with the international community.

 "Kim Jong Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council's unified voice, and statements from governments the world over, who agree the DPRK poses a threat to global security and stability," he said.

 Read More ||||| Add a location to your Tweets

 When you Tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– President Trump doesn't appear to be heeding calls to end his rhetoric in regard to North Korea. In a pair of tweets, he boasted about America's nuclear prowess. "My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal," he tweeted. "It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before." He then added, "Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!" Earlier, in response to North Korea's threat to strike Guam, Trump retweeted a Fox News story about US Air Force jets taking off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam for a training mission, with a caption noting pilots could be ready to "fight tonight," notes the Wall Street Journal. Related: Ad-lib? The New York Times reports that Trump's "fire and fury" line from Tuesday was improvised. The newspaper says the president did not run the language by advisers in advance, including chief of staff John Kelly. A piece of paper Trump had in front of him was reportedly a fact sheet on the opioid crisis. Politico reporter Josh Dawsey's sources tell him the words were not "carefully vetted," adding, "Don't read too much into it." Mattis weighs in: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have had a more calming tone on the subject Wednesday, but defense chief James Mattis followed up with some tough language. Among other things, he warned in an afternoon statement that North Korea should "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people," per CNN. American nukes: Trump's tweets on the US arsenal were apparently in reference to a review of nuclear weapons that was ordered on Jan. 27 but isn't expected to be completed until year's end, reports the Washington Post. Such reviews are required by Congress about every eight years. After the last one in 2010, Barack Obama announced a $1 trillion plan to upgrade the nuclear arsenal over 30 years. Given all that, fact-checkers are pushing back on Trump's boast that he beefed up the arsenal, and that's putting it mildly. JFK comparison: “These are the moments when we have to come together as a nation and support the executive,” White House aide Sebastian Gorka said on Fox News, per Mediaite. “Whether you voted for him or not, whether they’re a Democrat or whether they’re a Republican, these are trying times. … During the Cuban missile crisis we stood behind JFK. This is analogous to the Cuban missile crisis.” Seeking ambassador: No ambassador to South Korea is in place yet under the new administration, and BuzzFeed reports that the absence of one is especially troubling now.


Summarize this article:

Arguably the world’s most famous painting, da Vinci's Mona Lisa has now been copied onto the world’s smallest canvas at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Associate Professor Jennifer Curtis' "Mini Lisa" is one-third the width of a human hair, with details as small as one-eighth of a micron. Mini Lisa demonstrates the flexibility of a new nanolithography technique that can vary the surface concentration of molecules on very small portions of a substrate.

 Mini Lisa was rendered using an atomic force microscope and a new process called ThermoChemical NanoLithography (TCNL).

 The Georgia Tech team formed the image pixel by pixel. The cantilever and tip of an atomic force microscope were heated, and then lowered to the desired location of a pixel.

 The molecular canvas is a plastic whose surface contains active chemical sites which are initially protected from chemical reaction by capping them with protecting molecules. The heat of the cantilever triggers a confined nanoscale chemical reaction, in which more heat produces a greater local concentration of new surface molecules.

 More heat produced the lighter shades of gray, as seen on the Mini Lisa’s forehead and hands. Less heat produced the darker shades in her dress and hair seen when the molecular canvas is visualized using fluorescent dye. Each pixel is spaced by 125 nanometers, and the overall image has 240 x 320 pixels.

 “By tuning the temperature, our team manipulated chemical reactions to yield variations in the molecular concentrations on the nanoscale,” said Jennifer Curtis, an associate professor in the School of Physics and the study’s lead author. “The spatial confinement of these reactions provides the precision required to generate complex chemical images like the Mini Lisa.”

 Generating chemical concentration gradients and variations on the sub-micrometer scale is difficult to achieve with other methods. At present the Georgia Tech TCNL system is limited to production of chemical gradients of amine and carboxyl groups, but it is expected that other material chemistries will be compatible with the new process.

 “We envision TCNL will be capable of patterning gradients of other physical or chemical properties, such as conductivity of graphene,” Curtis said. “This technique should enable a wide range of previously inaccessible experiments and applications in fields as diverse as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics and bioengineering.”

 This simple technique renders high spatial resolutions at a speed faster than other existing methods. While one obvious area of application is in making specialized surfaces for "lab on a chip" development, Professor Curtis is hopeful that TCNL will provide the option of nanoscale printing integrated with the fabrication of large quantities of surfaces or everyday materials whose dimensions are more than one billion times larger than the TCNL features themselves. These would indeed by smart materials.

 Source: The Georgia Institute of Technology ||||| Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a reproduction of the 'Mona Lisa' that is no wider than a third of the width of a human hair.

 North Korea missile launch toward S. Korea failed. How often does that happen?

 Could this be the end of Sears and Kmart? Parent company raises red flag.

 Georgia Tech researchers have created the "Mini Lisa" on a substrate surface approximately 30 microns in width. The image demonstrates a technique that could potentially be used to achieve nano-manufacturing of devices because the team was able to vary the surface concentration of molecules on such short length scales.

 Most people who visit the Mona Lisa at the Louvre are surprised at how small it is. Leonardo da Vinci's iconic painting measures just 30 inches by 21 inches.

 But even this minuscule masterpiece looks huge next to what researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created. Using a tiny heated probe, a team of scientists have 'painted' a grayscale replica of the Mona Lisa that is more than 25,000 times smaller than the original.

 The "Mini Lisa," as it is known, is just 30 millionths of a meter wide. That's roughly 0.001 inches, or one third of the width of a human hair.

 According to a study published online by the journal Langmuir, the team created it using a powerful microscope and a process known as ThermoChemical NanoLithography, or TCNL. Using a microscopic cantilever, an anchored beam with a tiny, downward-facing point at one end, a patient Georgia Tech doctoral candidate named Keith Carroll, heated tiny spots on a surface to create a series of chemical reactions to create new molecules: The more heat Mr. Carroll applied, the more molecules he created, making the surface appear lighter.

 Each "pixel" was 125 billionths of a meter wide – smaller than the smallest known bacteria – and Carroll and the rest of the research team went pixel-by-pixel to create the reproduction.

 Their efforts were more than just an attempt to create a nanoscale artistic movement: “We envision TCNL will be capable of patterning gradients of other physical or chemical properties, such as conductivity of graphene,” said Georgia Tech physics professor Jennifer Curtis, the study's lead author, in a press release. “This technique should enable a wide range of previously inaccessible experiments and applications in fields as diverse as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics and bioengineering.” |||||

– Leonardo da Vinci used oil-based paint to create his Mona Lisa. The folks at Georgia Tech used ThermoChemical NanoLithography to create their version, dubbed the "Mini Lisa," reports the Christian Science Monitor. The result? An almost indescribably small gray-scale copy. Think one third the width of a human hair, or .0001 inches wide. The idea here wasn't so much to create art as to demonstrate the potential of nanotechnology, says Popular Science. "This technique should enable a wide range of previously inaccessible experiments and applications in fields as diverse as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and bioengineering," says a physics professor at the school. The process involved a microscopic beam and the meticulous application of heat to create lighter or darker shades of gray. Gizmag has a detailed description with illustrations. (Is this better than beaming the Mona Lisa to the moon?)


Former President George W. Bush had a big problem at Donald Trump’s inauguration. It had nothing to do with politics, but rather with how to put on a poncho.

 The 43rd President of the United States recently stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he discussed many things, including his strong bond with Michelle Obama. But, the host made sure to ask him the ultimate burning question.

 “The poncho was a problem,” joked DeGeneres. “Had you put one on? Is that the first time?”

 Laughing, Bush responded, “Yeah, it looks like it.”

 DeGeneres then wondered if the issue might run in the family, showing images of his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, also dealing with the poncho conundrum at the inauguration.

 “It’s genetics,” quipped Bush, who was then presented with an official presidential poncho, complete with easy instructions.

 Watch the video above. ||||| George W. Bush has been making the news rounds this week to promote his new art book, “Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors,” a collection of the former president’s paintings of veterans. On March 1, Bush opened up to PEOPLE about his affection for a close friend — former First Lady Michelle Obama.

 Though Bush and Obama may seem like unlikely friends, Bush expressed nothing but admiration for the former first lady. “She kind of likes my sense of humor. Anybody who likes my sense of humor, I immediately like,” Bush said.

 Bush, 70 and Obama, 53 were frequently seated next to each other at official events such as Nancy Reagan’s memorial service, an interfaith memorial service for Texas police officers last year, and the dedication ceremony to mark the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

 RELATED: People can’t get over George Bush using a poncho during Trump’s inauguration

 The two quickly went viral online after photos of them smiling and hugging at various events made the rounds on social media.

 Here they are sharing a moment at the memorial service to honor the five police officers who were killed and the many who were injured during a shooting in downtown Dallas on July 12, 2016.

 And here they are hugging in a moment of genuine friendship during the dedication ceremony for the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington DC on September 24, 2016.

 “I can’t remember where else I’ve sat next to her, but I probably have a few wise cracks and she seemed to like it okay,” Bush added. “I needle her a little bit and around her, I’m fairly lighthearted. [The Obamas] are around serious people all the time and we just took to each other.”

 Bush also added that he would be open to working with Barack and Michelle Obama to help military personnel, military families, and veterans through various organizations and causes. Bush has dedicated much of his time and effort post-presidency to helping wounded warriors, and though only time will tell if Barack Obama chooses to also get involved in that important cause, the two former presidents could end up working together toward a common goal.

 “I think they’re interested in, also, doing things with our troops of course now in their after-life, as I call it,” Laura Bush said about the Obamas.

 Bush added, “It’s going to take them a while to find their footing and figure out how they’re going to do what they want to do. But if there’s a way to be symbiotic, we’ll do so.” ||||| That was some weird shit.

 The inauguration of Donald Trump was a surreal experience for pretty much everyone who witnessed it, whether or not they were at the event and regardless of who they supported in the election. On the dais, the stoic presence of Hillary Clinton — whom candidate Trump had said he would send to prison if he took office — underlined the strangeness of the moment. George W. Bush, also savaged by Trump during the campaign, was there too. He gave the same reason for attending that Bill and Hillary Clinton did: to honor the peaceful transfer of power.

 Bush’s endearing struggle with his poncho at the event quickly became a meme, prompting many Democrats on social media to admit that they already pined for the relative normalcy of his administration. Following Trump’s short and dire speech, Bush departed the scene and never offered public comment on the ceremony.

 But, according to three people who were present, Bush gave a brief assessment of Trump’s inaugural after leaving the dais: “That was some weird shit.” All three heard him say it.

 A spokesman for Bush declined to comment.

 Before the inauguration, Trump fired the 89-year-old man who had announced every inaugural parade since Eisenhower. Charles Brotman talks about the experience in this video.

 Follow Yashar Ali on Twitter: @Yashar |||||

Write a summary.

– George W. Bush dutifully attended the Trump inauguration in his role as ex-president, and his struggles with a rain poncho became an internet sensation. Now there's a new Bush-inauguration story creating a buzz: New York quotes three anonymous people present who said Bush summed up the ceremony, including the new president's short speech about America's dire straits, thusly: "That was some weird s---." A spokesperson declined to comment. Bush hasn't offered a public comment about the proceedings. As for that poncho, the former president earlier this month joked about it with Ellen DeGeneres. "Is that the first time?" she asked of his poncho wearing, per Entertainment Weekly. "It looks like it," he conceded. (Here's why Bush likes Michelle Obama so much.)


Summarize this article:

(CLICK HERE, if you are unable to view this photo gallery on your mobile device.)

 Barry Byron Mills, the murderous leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, was found dead July 8 in his single-person cell inside the United States’ most secure federal prison, in Florence, Colorado.

 Mills, also known by the nickname “Baron,” died a day after his 70th birthday. His death does not appear to be suspicious, but an autopsy is being conducted, authorities said. He was serving multiple life without parole sentences for murder convictions in 2006.

 Born in Sonoma County, Mills spent most of his life in confinement, and joined the Aryan Brotherhood during a stint at San Quentin State Prison, aggressively recruiting members as the gang spread throughout the state. His grip on the gang stretched from coast to coast but was strongest in the Bay Area and Northern California, where many of its highest-ranking members came from.

 “There’s no doubt of his influence in the Bay Area. It’s fact, not debatable,” retired federal prison warden Robert Hood said. He later added, “I’m not trying to glorify him, but I can tell you this: He had the admiration of a lot of inmates, but he was also feared.”

 Mills was known for committing brazen, brutal killings — including a savage attempted decapitation while in federal custody in Atlanta. When authorities placed him in solitary confinement, his bloody legacy continued. Using couriers, he distributed orders from coast to coast, leading to a race war between prison gangs and a notorious protection deal with Italian mobster John Gotti.

 “There are a lot of rumors out there about Barry and his cohorts, some real, some imaginary,” said Dean Steward, Mills’ longtime attorney. “I saw a different side to him than that jury saw in ’06.”

 Bay Area Connections

 When Mills joined the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood — also known as The Brand — in San Quentin during the mid-1970s, it was a “dinky, little prison gang,” said Hood, a former warden of the ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Mills built it into a nationwide army and first caught authorities’ attention by planning and ordering a Central Valley bank robbery from his cell.

 “Different states produce different types of inmates,” said Terry Rearick, a defense investigator who worked on Mills’ case. “California is a state that produces some of the most dangerous and clever inmates … these guys were more or less products of the prison system here.”

 Considered one of the biggest public safety threats in the early 2000s, he was revered among Aryan gang members.

 “(Mills) was the gold standard for gangsterism all over the USA,” said Coby Phillips, who with Mills’ permission co-founded an Aryan Brotherhood offshoot gang called the Family Affiliated Irish Mafia in Contra Costa County. “His word was the law … whether he was crocheting blankets for the kids or chopping someone’s head off, there wasn’t nobody better.”

 In 1999, Mills pondered ordering a Contra Costa County resident — Ronnie Yandell, described by prosecutors as one of Mills’ generals — to retaliate against a black prison gang for an assault on Gotti. Mills changed his mind when he realized Yandell was scheduled for release from federal prison.

 “Mills wanted Yandell to work for the AB on the outside,” prosecutor Bruce Flynn said.

 So Yandell returned to Contra Costa County, where in 2001 he was arrested and charged with murdering William Bedwell, 38, and Dino Gutierrez, 38, in El Sobrante. He was ultimately convicted of murder and manslaughter, but wrote “I am innocent” in a failed 2007 appeal motion filed from prison.

 While awaiting trial, Yandell allegedly ordered Aryan Brotherhood members Coby Phillips and Darryl Grockett to kill the witnesses. They failed, and some say Phillips flat-out refused.

 “What I had heard was Coby or Grockett were then told to kill one another,” said Tom Kensok, a former Contra Costa senior deputy district attorney.

 In 2004, Grockett was shot to death along an unincorporated country road. Phillips and another man, Jose Vega-Robles, were convicted and sentenced to life.

 Federal crackdown and conviction

 In the early 2000s, the federal government moved in on the Aryan Brotherhood. Mills became the lead defendant in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, indictment that sought to take down the gang. Forty members and co-conspirators were charged in 14 killings and dozens of attempted hits.

 According to prosecutors, Mills and his second in command, Tyler Bingham, were preparing for a war with a gang called the DC Blacks. Prosecutors say they used multiple ways to carry out the message, including invisible ink created from urine and written onto an innocent-seeming correspondence.

 Mills’ couriers included a Rodeo woman who was married to a Sonoma Hells Angels chapter club president at the time and spent months on the lam before she was caught.

 In 2006, Mills, Bingham and two others went on trial together, facing racketeering and murder charges. They were convicted largely based upon the word of an Aryan Brotherhood dropout, who admitted to carrying out a killing but took a plea deal for fewer than 10 years in prison.

 Mills faced the death penalty, which required a unanimous jury vote. When jurors voted 9-3 in favor of executing him, he was spared. He spent the rest of his life locked down at the supermax facility in Colorado, confined to his cell 23 hours a day.

 “Barry would not let us put on a penalty phase case,” his attorney Steward said. “His whole thing was, ‘No sniveling.'” ||||| FLORENCE, Colo. (AP) — Barry Byron Mills, the murderous leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang died this month in federal lockup, where he spent much of his life, according to a report Sunday.

 Mills, also known by the nickname "Baron," was found dead July 8 in his single-person cell at the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, according to the Mercury News in San Jose, California. He was 70 and serving multiple life sentences.

 A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Mills joined the Aryan Brotherhood during a stint at San Quentin prison in the 1970s. He later became leader, aggressively recruiting throughout the state. His grip on the gang stretched nationwide but was strongest in Northern California, where many of its highest-ranking members came from.

 "There's no doubt of his influence in the Bay Area. It's fact, not debatable," retired federal prison warden Robert Hood told the newspaper. "I'm not trying to glorify him, but I can tell you this: He had the admiration of a lot of inmates, but he was also feared."

 Mills was known for committing brazen, brutal killings — including a savage attempted decapitation while in federal custody in Georgia.

 Using couriers, Mills distributed orders from coast to coast, leading to a race war between prison gangs and a notorious protection deal with New York mobster John Gotti.

 Mills first caught authorities' attention by planning and ordering a California bank robbery from his cell.

 Authorities said Mills' death does not appear suspicious. The results of an autopsy could take weeks. |||||

– Barry Byron Mills, the murderous leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, died this month in federal lockup, where he had spent much of his life, according to a report Sunday. Mills, also known by the nickname "Baron," was found dead July 8 in his single-person cell at the supermax prison in Florence, Colo., per the San Jose Mercury News. He was 70 and serving multiple life sentences. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Mills joined the Aryan Brotherhood during a stint at San Quentin prison in the 1970s. He later became leader, aggressively recruiting throughout the state, per the AP. His grip on the gang stretched nationwide but was strongest in Northern California, where many of its highest-ranking members came from. "There's no doubt of his influence in the Bay Area. It's fact, not debatable," retired federal prison warden Robert Hood told the newspaper. "I'm not trying to glorify him, but I can tell you this: He had the admiration of a lot of inmates, but he was also feared." Mills was known for committing brazen, brutal killings—including a savage attempted decapitation while in federal custody in Georgia. Using couriers, Mills distributed orders from coast to coast, leading to a race war between prison gangs and a notorious protection deal with New York mobster John Gotti. Mills first caught authorities' attention by planning and ordering a California bank robbery from his cell. Authorities said Mills' death does not appear suspicious. The results of an autopsy could take weeks.


Article:

A screenshot from a local TV program from Hunan province shows the swindler Yuan.

 Swindler had 17 girlfriends, taken to court

 A playboy who had relations with 17 women was exposed after all his "girlfriends" finally met with each other, uncovering the man's schemes, the Hunan-based Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported on Thursday.

 The man, surnamed Yuan, received visits and greetings from more than a dozen women between the ages of 20 to 40-years-old, all of which claimed to be his wives or girlfriends, after he was hospitalized due to injuries in a car accident.

 All the lovers didn't realize the man's deception until they met in his ward and told each other about their identities and "love stories" with Yuan through WeChat. Some have even stayed with him for 10 years.

 Yuan, a nobody bearing simply a middle school diploma, from Changsha county, Changsha city of Hunan province, fabricated his education background as a university graduate majoring in civil engineering from Central South University, a top university in the central China province. He worked in a big company in charge of revamping expressways.

 He had swindled tens of thousands yuan from his 17 girlfriends after he divorced his ex-wife and cheated her of 250,000 yuan. His case will be charged as a criminal case for alleged fraud.

 That's it for this installment of trending, come back for more interesting stories from the Chinese internet. ||||| A young Romeo who dated at least 17 Juliets at once - including fathering a child with one of them - got his comeuppance after a car accident when doctors contacted his "relatives" - and all his girlfriends turned up at the same time.

 The man from Changsha, in Hunan province, identified only by his surname, Yuan was taken to hospital on March 24 with injuries not believed to be life threatening.

 His girlfriends - and hospital staff - were stunned to discover the truth when they arrived en masse to find they were going out with the same man, Changsha newspaper Xiaoxiang Chen Bao reported on Friday.

 One of the girlfriends, who called herself Xiao Li, said: "I've been with him for a year and a half. [After hearing he'd been in an accident] I cried so hard I didn't have any tears left.

 "I was really worried when I heard that he was in hospital. But when I started seeing more and more beautiful girls show up, I couldn't cry any more."

 Xiao said she had set up an online chat group made up of 17 of Yuan's partners. She said she had learned that some of Yuan's other girlfriends had given him money each month - sometimes large sums - with one woman providing him with financial support for nine years.

 Wang Fang, another of Yuan's partners, said: "We've already had a son together. What can I do now? I don't love him any more, but I do love my son."

 Another girlfriend, who gave her name as Xiao Ting, said she had believed that Yuan was her "Mr Right", and she had already started to plan their wedding.

 More than 6,000 comments have been posted on social media. Some expressed admiration for the man, while others said the women should have been smarter and discovered his deceit.

 A commentator from Jiangsu province wrote: "A liar always acts perfectly. The only thing he paid them were compliments, which are all that women wanting a perfect life will need. So as a consequence, they were cheated on." |||||
What is a summary?

– Sometimes all it takes for a wounded man to heal is a little TLC—or a lot of TLC, if all 17 of your girlfriends show up. A Chinese man identified only by the surname Yuan was in a car accident on March 24 and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, per local media. But when staff started contacting his loved ones, more people than anyone expected showed up at his bedside. Yuan had apparently been dating at least 17 women at the same time—including one who says she has a son with him, the South China Morning Post reports—with no one aware of the others' existence until his accident. "I was really worried when I heard that he was in hospital," one paramour says, per the Morning Post. "But when I started seeing more and more beautiful girls show up, I couldn't cry any more." Another deceived lover reveals she had been planning a wedding with him, while the one who claims to have a child by him laments, "What can I do now? I don't love him any more, but I do love my son." Yuan, who was reportedly with some of these women as long as 10 years, is also accused of stealing more than $40,000 from his ex-wife and conning at least some of these 17 girlfriends out of their own funds, China Daily reports; the paper says he'll be charged with fraud. This isn't the only scam Yuan is said to have pulled: Even though it seems he only graduated from middle school, he reportedly worked for a company that rebuilt highways after claiming that he had a civil engineering degree, China Daily notes. (Romance scams can be big business.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– Pope Francis delivered a simple simple message to Latin American bishops in Brazil today—if you're going to help the needy and keep people from straying from the church, you've got to get outside and actually meet them: "We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel," he said. "Let us courageously look to pastoral needs, beginning on the periphery (of where we live), with those who are farthest away, with those who do not usually go to church. They, too, are invited to the table of the Lord." The speech drove home "a critique of elitism that has become the overarching theme of his first overseas trip," writes the Wall Street Journal, while USA Today sees it "as yet another admonishment ... for Catholics to adopt a more missionary mindset." After speaking to the region's bishops, Francis addressed politicians, business leaders, and intellectuals, and urged them to reach out to all members of society, too. "When leaders in various fields ask me for advice, my response is always the same: dialogue, dialogue, dialogue," he said, per USA Today. "It is the only way for individuals, families, and societies to grow, the only way for the life of peoples to progress."

Article Excerpt

 RIO DE JANEIRO—Millions of people converged on Copacabana Beach Saturday for an evening vigil with Pope Francis, marking the strongest show of public support yet for the pontiff on his first overseas trip.

 Pilgrims from around the world swamped the streets of Rio de Janeiro to attend an evening vigil with the pope. Faithful streamed through city tunnels and byways to reach the shore, where they blanketed miles of the crescent white-sand beach with sleeping bags, tents and national banners. City officials and church organizers estimated the crowd was three million strong.

 That turnout, if confirmed, would top some of ... ||||| The first Latin American pontiff has called on Catholics to adopt a more missionary mind-set.

 Pope Francis celebrates Mass with bishops, priests and seminarians at the Cathedral of St. Sebastian in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. (Photo: Luca Zennaro, AFP/Getty Images) Story Highlights On Friday, Francis issued impassioned plea for the downtrodden

 World Youth Day events have drawn more than 300,000 to Rio

 Deluge of rain forced organizers to change plans for final Mass on Sunday

 RIO DE JANEIRO — An estimated three million Catholics crammed onto the iconic Copacabana Beach Saturday night for a vigil with Pope Francis, whose visit to Brazil culminates tomorrow with a Mass that is expected to convene an even bigger crowd.

 The vigil capped a busy day for Francis, who arrived in Brazil July 22 for World Youth Day, a biannual gathering of young Catholics.

 Earlier on Saturday, Francis told an assembly of Catholic bishops in the cathedral of Rio de Janeiro to get out of their cathedrals and spread the gospel and serve those most in need.

 It was yet another admonishment from the first Latin American pontiff — who has called for a Church focused on the poor — for Catholics to adopt a more missionary mind-set. It also blasted bishops from Brazil, where the number of faithful has shrunk to less than 65% of the population in what is still the world's most Catholic country.

 "We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel," Francis said.

 "Let us courageously look to pastoral needs, beginning on the periphery (of where we live), with those who are farthest away, with those who do not usually go to church. They, too, are invited to the table of the Lord."

 It was message aimed at reviving an institution dating back centuries in Latin America, but one becoming less relevant in the region as people become culturally Catholic or leave the church all together — often for Evangelical congregations. Those congregations have often better identified basic needs in poor Brazilian neighbourhoods and addressed issues like domestic violence and alcohol abuse, instead of speaking about more global ideas like social justice, says Andrew Chesnut, religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and the author of a book on Brazil's Evangelicals

 Francisca Martinez, 21, traveled to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro from Guam. She said the chance to meet other young Catholics was the one of the best parts of attending. (Photo: David Agren, USA TODAY)

 Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the speech to the bishops was the longest of his pontificate and outlines his vision for them, Catholic News Service reported.

 The pope later took his straight-talking style to a speech for intellectuals and Brazil's political and business leaders. He implored them to open opportunities for everyone in a country rife with inequality, expand dialogue with all sectors of society and work toward "eliminating forms of elitism and eradicating poverty."

 Brazil has been beset by demonstrations over protesters' complaints of an unresponsive political class, police repression and irresponsible spending on sports stadiums for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics — while infrastructure remains inadequate and the health and school systems provide poor service.

 Francis called for "social humility" and dialogue without directly mentioning the protests.

 "When leaders in various fields ask me for advice, my response is always the same: dialogue, dialogue, dialogue," he said. "It is the only way for individuals, families and societies to grow, the only way for the life of peoples to progress."

 Francis frequently criticized corruption and the political class in his native Argentina, especially the populist politics of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and politicians forming patronage groups among the poor.

 "Politicians hated him, but people love him," said Marina Artese, 23, a schoolteacher from Buenos Aires.

 Looking to the wider world, he added, "Peaceful coexistence between different religions is favored by the secularism of the state."

 For young people, their Saturday focus was on faith. Many made pilgrimages by walking to the Copacabana Beach.

 Once there, they staked out spots on the sand. Some slept, played soccer and build sandcastles under sunny skies as they waited for the pope to arrive for what was to be a solemn event.

 "It's a true experience of faith," said Chris Whitson, who help chaperon a group of 86 youths from Georgia and the Carolinas.

 "I hope that youth take away the courage to live their faith in a more concrete way," said Jose Luis Hernandez, a priest from Atlanta.

 "The community of young people from around the world," said Francisca Martinez, 21, a student from Guam.

 "To have something in common helps (overcome) the language barriers."

 Many young people planned to camp on the beach Saturday night, pitching tents and spreading out sleeping bags to sleep under the stars. Organizers asked those doing so to donate their sleeping bags afterward to the homeless.

 On Friday night, Francis issued an impassioned plea for the downtrodden and oppressed while addressing throngs of young Catholics on Copacabana Beach for a re-enactment of Christ going to his crucifixion.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1e28CKB |||||


Write an article based on this summary:

– A New Orleans judge officially approved Robert Durst's February plea deal on a gun charge and sentenced him to seven years in prison on Wednesday, Reuters reports. For more than a year, the real estate heir has languished in a New Orleans prison after being nabbed with a handgun in his hotel room. He was busted for that felony just one day before the series finale of HBO's The Jinx, in which he famously appeared to confess to three murders by saying, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." US District Judge Kurt Engelhardt also agreed that Durst can be transferred to a low-security prison with medical facilities in San Pedro, Calif., where the 73-year-old's attorneys say his "advanced age and poor health" can be better addressed, per the Advocate. In California, Durst will face a murder charge in the 2000 death of friend Susan Berman, the AP reports. (A Texas judge believes Durst once dumped a cat's head on her doorstep.)

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A New Orleans judge on Wednesday sentenced real estate scion Robert Durst to seven years in prison for a federal gun crime and agreed to recommend that he serve his time in California, where he faces a murder charge in a friend’s 2000 death.

 The 73-year-old, who entered and left the courtroom in a wheelchair, had pleaded guilty to the gun charge in February.

 Speaking in a weak voice, he asked U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt to speed his transfer to California, so he can defend himself in the death of writer Susan Berman.

 “I truly, truly want to express my statement that I am not guilty of killing Susan Berman,” said Durst, appearing thin in his loose-fitting orange prison jumpsuit.

 Durst has been held in Louisiana since his March 2015 arrest on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm after a search of his New Orleans hotel room turned up a handgun.

 His arrest came one day before the series finale of an HBO documentary entitled, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” which chronicled several police investigations of the multimillionaire whose family is known for its significant New York real estate holdings.

 Engelhardt approved a plea agreement calling for an 85-month prison stint, followed by three years of supervised release. The judge said the deal also resolved several pending charges against Durst in New York, Texas, and Louisiana state court.

 The HBO series documented investigations of Durst in connection with the dismemberment killing of a male neighbor in Texas in 2003, for which he was tried and acquitted of murder, and the 1982 disappearance in New York of his wife, Kathleen.

 In the series’ final episode, Durst’s voice was captured on a microphone after an interview as he muttered that he had “killed them all.”

 Real estate heir Robert Durst appears in a criminal courtroom for his trial on charges of trespassing on property owned by his estranged family, in New York December 10, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

 Durst has previous convictions in Texas related to jumping bail and carrying a weapon across state lines in 2004 as he tried to flee the murder prosecution there. Durst served about three years in connection with those charges.

 Prosecutors say Durst, who has long been estranged from his family, is worth some $100 million.

 Durst could move to California within four to six weeks, his attorney Dick DeGuerin said before Wednesday’s hearing. He was expected to be arraigned on the murder charge in Los Angeles on August 18. ||||| FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, New York City real estate heir Robert Durst leaves a Houston courtroom. New Orleans Federal Judge Kurt Engelhardt on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, approved a plea... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, New York City real estate heir Robert Durst leaves a Houston courtroom. New Orleans Federal Judge Kurt Engelhardt on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, approved a plea agreement for Durst to serve 7 years, 1 month in prison on a weapons charge. Durst still faces a separate... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, New York City real estate heir Robert Durst leaves a Houston courtroom. New Orleans Federal Judge Kurt Engelhardt on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, approved a plea agreement for Durst to serve 7 years, 1 month in prison on a weapons charge. Durst still faces a separate... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, New York City real estate heir Robert Durst leaves a Houston courtroom. New Orleans Federal Judge Kurt Engelhardt on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, approved a plea... (Associated Press)

 NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Latest on the prosecution in Louisiana of property heir Robert Durst (all times local):

 10 a.m.

 Robert Durst will be heading from Louisiana to California soon to face a murder charge in connection with the death of a friend in 2000.

 Attorneys said Durst would be in Los Angeles by mid-August. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon said it is likely Durst would arrive in California well before that.

 A federal judge on Wednesday approved a plea agreement for Durst to serve about 7 years on a weapons charge.

 The New York property heir has steadfastly insisted that he is innocent in the death of Susan Berman. Prosecutors say Durst killed Berman to keep her from talking to prosecutors about the disappearance of Durst's first wife in 1982.

 Durst's wealthy family runs 1 World Trade Center. He was tracked to New Orleans in March 2015 by FBI agents worried that he was about to flee to Cuba.

 ___

 9:15 a.m.

 A federal judge in New Orleans has approved a plea agreement for real estate heir Robert Durst to serve 7 years, 1 month in prison on a weapons charge.

 Judge Kurt Engelhardt approved the sentence Wednesday. The 72-year-old Durst agreed to the sentence as part of a guilty plea in February.

 Durst still faces a separate murder charge in California. He is accused of killing a female friend in 2000 to keep her from talking to prosecutors about the disappearance of Durst's first wife in 1982. Durst has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

 ___

 Real estate heir Robert Durst will soon learn whether a federal judge accepts a 7-year-and-one-month sentence on a weapons charge that's kept him in Louisiana pending a murder trial in California.

 Judge Kurt Engelhardt will say Wednesday whether he approves that sentence, which the 72-year-old Durst accepted as part of his guilty plea in February.

 He's charged in California with killing his friend Susan Berman in 2000. His attorneys have said repeatedly that Durst is innocent, doesn't know who killed Berman, and wants to prove it.

 The most recent such statement was in a motion Monday asking U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt to recommend that Durst serve his time at Terminal Island, California, about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles, where Durst faces trial in Berman's death. ||||| Frail Robert Durst sentenced on gun charge in New Orleans but headed to low-security federal prison in L.A.

 Frail Robert Durst sentenced on gun charge in New Orleans but headed to low-security federal prison in L.A.

 Robert Durst, the New York real-estate heir and celebrity murder suspect who twice chose New Orleans as a hideout, moved closer Wednesday to escaping another hot Louisiana summer behind bars.

 U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt sentenced the ailing Durst, 73, to an agreed-upon 85-month prison term on a federal gun count resulting from a search of his room last year at the JW Marriott hotel in downtown New Orleans.

 A call from the hotel to retrieve his voicemail drew authorities, who were pursuing Durst, the subject of the then-running HBO miniseries “The Jinx,” in the 2000 execution-style slaying of his longtime confidante and spokeswoman, Susan Berman, in Los Angeles.

 Engelhardt endorsed a recommendation sought by Durst’s attorneys for him to serve his sentence at a low-security federal prison facility on the Pacific coast while he awaits state prosecution for Berman’s murder.

 Durst, appearing frail in orange St. Charles Parish jail scrubs, reurged that request before Engelhardt on Wednesday.

 “I’ve been waiting to get to California for a year so I can state my not guilty” plea in Berman’s killing, Durst said. “If there’s anything you can do to speed up that process, I would truly, truly appreciate it. I am not guilty of murdering Susan Berman.”

 In a legal filing this week, his attorneys cited Durst’s “advanced age and poor health” in their request for him to be housed at FCI Terminal Island, a federal prison with medical facilities near Los Angeles.

 An elaborate deal with federal prosecutors, confected as part of Durst’s guilty plea in February to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, would have him back in California by Aug. 18 for his arraignment in the murder case. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon said Wednesday that it’s likely Durst will leave within a few weeks for California, assuming the federal Bureau of Prisons accepts the judge’s recommendation.

 The gun charge stemmed from a search of Durst’s hotel room on March 14, 2015, which turned up a flesh-colored latex mask with salt-and-pepper hair, five ounces of marijuana, more than $100,000 in cash and a loaded Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver, authorities said. His attorney said Durst has forfeited those items, including the cash, as part of his plea deal.

 Following his guilty plea in February, McMahon said he suspected Durst had been headed to Cuba to try to evade arrest in Berman’s killing.

 Engelhardt had held Durst’s guilty plea in abeyance pending a probation report that recommended a sentencing range of just 12 to 18 months on the gun charge. But Engelhardt, in formally accepting the deal Wednesday, noted that it also includes stipulations that authorities in New York won’t prosecute him over financial maneuvering while on the lam, and that prosecutors in Texas and New Orleans won’t pursue further gun counts against him related to his stay in New Orleans.

 Dick DeGuerin, Durst’s longtime attorney, said the deal “cleared the decks, at a cost. It’s a serious cost, but he’s not facing any other prosecution except what’s in California. That’s what this is all about. We want to get to California and go to trial.”

 DeGuerin, describing Berman as Durst’s “best friend,” again insisted that Durst didn’t kill her and doesn’t know who did. He said Los Angeles prosecutors have not revealed any new evidence in the case but that he’s confident Durst will beat the murder rap.

 “He didn’t do it. That’s as confident as you can get,” DeGuerin said outside the federal courthouse Wednesday.

 Renewed interest in Durst for Berman’s killing stemmed from the conclusion of the HBO show. In the final episode, Durst made what some observers described as a confession while muttering to himself off-camera, still wired with a microphone on a trip to the bathroom.

 “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course,” Durst said.

 The show cataloged three presumed killings of which Durst has been suspected: Berman’s slaying 16 years ago; the killing of a Texas neighbor, Morris Black, for which Durst was acquitted, despite dismembering Black and dumping his remains in Galveston Bay; and the disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen Durst, in New York in 1982.

 Durst was a felon because of guilty pleas in 2004 to interstate transportation and possession of a firearm by a fugitive of justice. He had jumped bail in 2001 after being charged in Black’s killing.

 While on the lam, he moved for a time to New Orleans, where he rented an apartment under a woman’s name, court records show. Authorities later found a wig used to support his alias and a money clip that had belonged to Berman.

 Follow John Simerman on Twitter, @johnsimerman. |||||


Anissa Weier is brought into court for a hearing last month. On Thursday, her attorney said she would plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in the Slender Man case. She and Morgan Geyser are accused of stabbing another girl. (Photo: Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

 Anissa Weier plans to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in the Slender Man stabbing case next week.

 Weier's co-defendant, Morgan Geyser, had already entered such a plea, often referred to as NGI, at a hearing last month.

 At the time, prosecutors pressed the judge to inquire whether Weier might go the same route, since it requires the court to appoint doctors to examine the defendant and report whether their condition would support the plea. One of Weier's attorneys, Maura McMahon, said the defense had not yet decided.

 But in a pleading filed this week, McMahon indicated that Weier now wants to change her not guilty plea to the insanity plea. A hearing was set for Sept. 9 for that change of plea.

 Weier and Geyser, both 14, were 12 when prosecutors say they plotted and attempted to kill their sixth-grade classmate and friend Payton Leutner in May 2014.

 ARCHIVE: Slender Man case coverage

 Leutner was stabbed 19 times and left for dead in a Waukesha park the morning after a sleepover party for Geyser's 12th birthday, but managed to crawl near a path, where she was found by a passing bicyclist.

 Both defendants later told police they were trying to either impress or avoid the wrath of Slender Man, a fictional internet boogeyman the girls said they believed would harm them or their families if they didn't kill their friend.

 They remain charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, after efforts to have their cases transferred to juvenile court were denied.

 A defendant entering an NGI plea contends that at the time she committed a crime, a mental disease or defect prevented her from appreciating the wrongfulness of her action, or from conforming her conduct to the law.

 Someone found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect is typically committed to a state mental hospital for treatment.

 Geyser, who has been diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia, has already spent months at Winnebago Mental Health Institute under a separate civil commitment.

 During earlier hearings, mental health experts testified that Weier was competent to proceed with the case, but had not done more extensive evaluations required for an NGI review. She remains at a West Bend juvenile detention center.

 No trial date has been set in the case.

 Read or Share this story: http://on.jsonl.in/2civi3X ||||| Two girls accused of trying to kill a classmate to please horror character Slender Man want jurors from outside their home county to decide their trials.

 Morgan Geyser's attorneys filed a motion this week seeking jurors from outside Waukesha County because of heavy media coverage. Geyser has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

 A letter the other girl's defense attorneys submitted to the court seeks outside jurors as well. The letter noted that girl plans to plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

 Investigators say Geyser and Anissa Weier, who were 12 at the time of the 2014 attack, plotted for months before luring the victim, who also was 12, into some woods and repeatedly stabbing her. The girls hoped killing her would please Slender Man, a demon-like character in online stories.

 The victim crawled out of the woods to get help.

 Both girls face an attempted homicide charge in adult court. Their attorneys had been fighting to move them into juvenile court but a state appeals court in July ruled they should remain in adult court.

  |||||

Write a summary.

– Both girls in Wisconsin's disturbing "Slender Man" case will now be pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. Attorneys for 14-year-old Anissa Weier signaled this week that they want to change her plea in the attempted murder case from not guilty to "NGI," meaning that she's likely to be committed to a state mental hospital for treatment if found not guilty, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Co-accused Morgan Geyser, who is also 14, has been diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia and has already entered an NGI plea. Both girls were 12 years old in 2014 when they allegedly stabbed a 12-year-old classmate 19 times and left her for dead in what they told investigators was an attempt to please the online horror character "Slender Man." In July, an appeals court ruled that they should be tried as adults for the attempted killing. WISN reports that lawyers for both girls are seeking to have the case heard by jurors from outside Waukesha County, where the attack took place, because of heavy media coverage.