Article:

When Donald Trump delivered his first foreign policy speech of the 2016 campaign at a Washington hotel last April, a special foreign guest was in attendance: Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to Washington.

 Before the speech, the soft-spoken Russian envoy and other foreign ambassadors mingled at a backstage reception also attended by Trump and future Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to an account written by one of the event’s hosts.

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 Afterward, Kislyak sat near the front and listened as Trump bashed the Washington foreign policy status quo and repeated his controversial call for a new dawn in U.S.-Russian relations. “I believe an easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia—from a position of strength only—is possible, absolutely possible,” Trump said in a ballroom at the Mayflower Hotel. “Some say the Russians won’t be reasonable. I intend to find out.”

 After the speech, Kislyak, who is tall and heavyset, headed for the door swiftly—pausing to cautiously answer a question from POLITICO on his way out. Trump “made some intriguing points, but we need to understand what is meant in the implementation,” he said.

 That was typical for the 66-year-old Kislyak, a career diplomat and fluent English speaker who has been Moscow’s man in Washington since 2008. Kislyak keeps a low public profile: He mostly shuns television appearances, rarely speaks to American reporters and does not tweet.

 But there’s no avoiding the spotlight now. Kislyak has become Washington’s most dangerous diplomat, with one top Trump official already sacked and another now in the hot seat over conversations with the Russian envoy.

 Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned last month after he gave inaccurate accounts to White House officials—including Vice President Mike Pence—and to the FBI about his contacts with Kislyak in December. Sessions recused himself Thursday from investigations involving Russian hacking and other interference in the 2016 presidential election on Trump’s behalf after reports that he failed to disclose meetings he had with the Russian envoy last July and September, when he was a Trump campaign adviser.

 It is not clear whether Sessions or Trump spoke at any length to Kislyak at Trump’s foreign policy speech in April, hosted by the Center for the National Interest. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Trump had greeted the Russian “warmly.” In his Thursday news conference announcing his recusal from Justice Department investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, Sessions said he could not remember any other meetings with Kislyak beyond the two he has acknowleged.

 A Sessions aide told POLITICO that a staffer accompanying the senator that day remembered "talking to several specific ambassadors and other guests in the holding room,” but not Kislyak. The aide said the staffer "does not believe he would have met Sessions at that point,” but also acknowledged it was possible and the staffer did not see it. The aide did not convey Sessions’s own memory of the event.

 The White House declined to comment on whether Trump had interacted with Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel. But the White House did confirm a Thursday report that Kislyak held a previously undisclosed meeting with Flynn and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at Trump Tower in December.

 People who know Kislyak describe him as intelligent but an unyielding advocate for the Kremlin line—much the character described by Sessions on Thursday when he recalled a September meeting with Kislyak in his Senate office.

 “I thought he was pretty much of an old-style Soviet-type ambassador,” Sessions said at his news conference announcing the decision to recuse himself. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment about whether Sessions had interacted with Kislyak at the April event.

 After some initial small talk, Sessions said, “somehow the subject of Ukraine came up.” He added that the conversation turned “testy” after Kislyak seemed to portray the conflict there as Ukraine’s fault. Sessions said that in Kislyak’s view, “Russia had done nothing wrong … and everyone else was wrong.”

 The Obama administration and Western European governments overwhelmingly believe Russia to be the aggressor in Ukraine.

 Some U.S. officials believe Kislyak to be more than a stubborn advocate for Russia’s foreign policy: On Tuesday, the Kremlin’s top spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, denounced as “fake news” a CNN report that cited unnamed U.S. officials alleging that Kislyak is an intelligence officer who recruits and runs spies.

 A think tank expert who speaks regularly with Kislyak cast doubt on that claim, while saying that Kislyak is a highly trusted emissary who is regularly called back to Moscow on short notice for meetings.

 “I have had no indication” that Kislyak is a spy, said Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. He added that it’s possible U.S. officials consider any Russian official now in the U.S. to be an intelligence operative “by default."

 An engineer by training, Kislyak came to the U.S. in the early 1980s to work for the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, and then at the Russian Embassy in Washington. He returned to Moscow to serve in the foreign ministry on scientific cooperation and arms control issues. After a stint as Russia’s ambassador to Belgium and to the NATO alliance, Kislyak was named ambassador to Washington by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, assuming his post in July 2008.

 He arrived at a contentious moment in U.S.-Russia relations, just before Russia’s invasion of the neighboring republic of Georgia led to soaring tensions with Washington. But things now are even worse, he told an audience at Stanford Business School in November.

 “We are living through the worst point in our relations after the end of the Cold War,” Kislyak said. “You’ve re-entered a policy of containing Russia … You’ve tried to contain Russia through economic pressure and through sanctions.”

 He added that the U.S. has waged what he called “a huge propaganda campaign against Russia.”

 But Kislyak also says better relations between Moscow and Washington are possible: “In the Cold War, there were irreconcilable ideological differences,” he said at Stanford, adding that that is no longer the case.

 In pursuit of a thaw, Kislyak often travels beyond Washington to promote his country’s business beyond Washington. Inside the Beltway, he hosts and attends regular cultural events. They include regular “jazz diplomacy” nights co-hosted by American University’s Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History—one recent installment featured performances by Wynton Marsalis and the Russian jazz star Igor Butman—at which Kislyak calls for better understanding of Russian culture in the U.S.

 “Stereotypes have to change in the heart,” he said in October.

 At Russia’s fortress-like Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue, north of Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood, Kislyak also hosts parties for fellow diplomats, Russia specialists and other Washingtonians with personal or business ties to Russia. (Though elegant, those functions may also reveal hints of Russia’s economic malaise: At one recent event, bartenders served Kirkland vodka—the brand sold by the bulk-discount retailer Costco.)

 The Russian Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

 When he’s not socializing, Kislyak generally toes the Kremlin’s tough line on U.S. policies. “He can be very charming, and he can be very tough,” Rojansky said. “He never backs down from intellectual combat. I’ve seen him debate a dozen rounds back and forth.”

 Even so, two days after Trump’s election, Kislyak sounded hopeful about the prospects for a friendlier dialogue with his Washington counterparts.

 “I still believe that there will be enough wisdom not only in your country but in ours to focus on what unites us,” Kislyak said in November. "Because we can do things together.”

 Whether Kislyak still believes that, now that he is at the center of the biggest story of Russian intrigue since the Cold War, remains unclear.

 Shane Goldmacher and Josh Gerstein contributed to this report. ||||| FILE- In this Sept. 6, 2013, file photo, Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. speaks with reporters at the Center for the National Interest in Washington. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had... (Associated Press)

 FILE- In this Sept. 6, 2013, file photo, Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. speaks with reporters at the Center for the National Interest in Washington. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's back-to-back controversies over its Russian ties now have at least one thing in common: Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

 Moscow's top diplomat in the U.S. has become the Kevin Bacon of the Trump White House's Russia imbroglio. A Washington fixture with a sprawling network, he has emerged as the central figure in the investigations into Trump advisers' connections with Russia. In a matter of weeks, contact with Kislyak led to the firing of a top adviser to the president and, on Thursday, prompted calls for the attorney general to resign.

 Separately, a White House official confirmed Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn met with Kislyak at Trump Tower in December for what the official called a brief courtesy meeting. Flynn was pushed out of the White House last month after officials said he misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he and the ambassador had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia in a phone call.

 At issue Thursday were two meetings between Sessions and Kislyak — one in July and another in September, at the height of concern over Russia's involvement in hacking of Democratic officials' emails accounts. Intelligence officials have since concluded Moscow ordered the hacks to tilt the election toward Trump. In his confirmation hearing, the Alabama Republican denied having contact with any Russian officials, neglecting to mention the meetings with Kislyak, which were first reported by the Washington Post.

 The Russian Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

 Although the White House dismissed the revelation as part of a political witch hunt, Sessions' former colleagues took the omission seriously. At the urging of some in his own party, Sessions recused himself from the Department of Justice's investigation. Still, Democrats called for him to step down.

 Observers note Kislyak is a somewhat unlikely figure to cause controversy. Over the course of a long diplomatic career, he's led the life of a somewhat typical global envoy — making himself a reliable presence on the circuit of receptions, teas and forums that make up the calendar of any ambassador.

 Kislyak, who was appointed to his post in 2008, is regularly spotted walking around town, heading to and from meetings. Early in his tenure, he often opened the doors of the Russian Embassy, hosting dinners for foreign policy professionals, Pentagon officials, journalists and Capitol Hill staffers.

 Those who have attended the events describe him as a gracious and amiable diplomat, although perhaps not as polished — nor as confrontational — as his more famous boss, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

 In 2015, when Kislyak invited a group of Washington-based journalists, including one from the Associated Press, to the Russian Embassy for tea, he used the meeting to push warmer relations between the two nations — despite the conflict over Russia's seizure of Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine.

 Kislyak framed U.S.-Russian relations as salvageable and hoped specifically to combat what he considered cartoonish, anti-Russian depictions of his government in the American press.

 At a press conference where he recused himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia, Sessions said he discussed a number of things with Kislyak, including counterterrorism. He said the meeting became confrontational when the discussion turned to Ukraine.

 Kislyak, 66, has bounced between the United States and Russia for most of his long career.

 His first foreign posting was to New York where he worked at the Soviet delegation at the United Nations in the early 1980s. He spent the following years as the first secretary and then councilor at the Soviet Embassy in Washington before returning to Moscow in 1989, where he took a succession of senior jobs at the Foreign Ministry.

 He did a stint as Russian ambassador to Belgium and simultaneously served as Moscow's envoy at NATO. He then returned to Moscow to serve as a deputy foreign minister, overseeing relations with the United States and arms control issues before being sent to Washington.

 Kislyak's contacts have sparked questions about his role or involvement in the hacking, questions that are difficult to answer.

 The U.S. and Russia, along with many other countries, have made it a practice to separate their top diplomats from espionage activities, although it is not uncommon for an intelligence agent to operate under the cover of a senior-level diplomat. Foreign diplomats to the United States likely expect that their activities will be monitored by U.S. authorities in the same manner that American diplomats are monitored in countries like Russia.

 Russian ambassadors most likely are aware of the intelligence agents operating under diplomatic cover, but are not believed to part of the security services themselves.

 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday ridiculed the claims of Kislyak's involvement in espionage as "total disinformation" and part of efforts to sway public opinion.

 "I'll open a military secret for you: It's the diplomats' jobs to have contacts in the country they are posted to," she said sarcastically. "It's their obligation to meet with officials and members of the political establishment."

 ___

 Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper and Matthew Lee contributed to this report. ||||| Putin’s man in Washington is usually far from view. Now he’s at the center of a storm that brought down a key Trump ally and threatens another

 He has become a lightning rod for suspicions about Donald Trump’s ties with Russia, inadvertently bringing down one of the president’s closest allies and now threatening another.

 Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Vladimir Putin’s man in Washington, is usually far from view inside an imposing white marbled embassy on the third highest hill in the city – a location that prompted fears the Soviets would be able to intercept communications – but now finds himself in the spotlight.

 Jeff Sessions recuses himself from Russia inquiry amid calls for resignation Read more

 Kislyak’s conversations with the former national security adviser Michael Flynn led to Flynn being forced to quit on 13 February for giving a misleading account to the vice-president, Mike Pence, about his contacts with the ambassador. Kislyak’s two meetings with Jeff Sessions caused the attorney general on Thursday to recuse himself from investigations into whether Russia meddled in the US elections; Sessions is now facing calls to resign.

 The second blow came just when Trump was on a high after a relatively well received first address to Congress, indicating that Russia is a cloud over his presidency that will only darken rather than dissipate.

 “Kislyak was acting strategically to engage individuals the Russian government thought could be key allies in the incoming US administration,” said Alina Polyakova, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center in Washington. “What is surprising is how successful they’ve been: Sessions is the second person after Flynn revealed to have had meetings they tried to cover up, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more to come.”

 Kislyak, 66, trained as an engineer in Moscow, attended the Soviet Union’s Academy of Foreign Trade and joined the foreign ministry in 1977. His first spell as an envoy to the US was between 1985 and 1989, just as Mikhail Gorbachev was pursuing perestroika and glasnost. His focus was arms control.

 Steven Pifer, a former US state department official who is now director of the arms control and non-proliferation initiative at the Brookings Institution, a thinktank in Washington, recalled: “He was working to enhance US-Soviet relations and trying to make progress on arms control. I did not detect, as I did with some Soviet diplomats, a visceral dislike of the US.

 “He’s intelligent. He speaks very good English. He can show a sense of humour. At the same time, he can also represent his country even when he has a bad brief to represent, for example over the military intervention in Ukraine. He’s loyal to Russia. I imagine he’s had some interaction with Putin but didn’t come from his inner circle of intelligence and St Petersburg.”

 Kislyak was ambassador to Nato from 1998, then a deputy foreign minister from 2003. In 2008, he was appointed ambassador to the US, not long before the election of Barack Obama. Last December, Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 of Kislyak’s colleagues.

 In a rare press conference last year, Kislyak said: “We were able to end the cold war, but most probably we weren’t able to build post-cold war peace.”

 Some US reports allege that Kislyak is a top recruiter for Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency, a claim that Moscow dismisses as American paranoia. Pifer, who was ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000, replied: “That strikes me as pretty odd. Everything I’ve seen, he’s been a Russian diplomat.”

 But Polyakova disagreed: “It’s certainly possible. During the Soviet days the embassy was known to serve that function.”

 She added: “As an envoy for the country he represents, Kislyak is very shrewd. From another perspective, he’s quite manipulative and nefarious in some ways.”

 Those that have dealt with Kislyak, who is married with one adult daughter, say he is a soft-spoken man whose abundant charm gives way to firmness in defending Russia on American soil.

 The Pentagon’s former chief Russia policy official, Evelyn Farkas, said she respected him as “active, informed and smart”.. When confronted on a policy dispute, Kislyak is a gentleman but “he won’t budge”.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sergey Kislyak (bottom center) waits to hear Donald Trump speak during a joint session of Congress this week. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

 Loquacious and quick with a story, Kislyak seeks to fit in the mould of long-serving Russian and Soviet envoys like Anatoly Dobrynin, who observed and helped shape Washington-Moscow relations for a quarter of a century.

 Kislyak is said to keep one of the best chefs in Washington’s diplomatic community. He is quick to show pride in his Ukrainian heritage by offering guests and interlocutors pepper-infused vodka to wash down the modern Russian cuisine at the embassy. He has connected Russian ballet companies to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and hosted concerts at the embassy.

 Sessions, at his abruptly called press conference on Thursday, recalled telling Kislyak that he had gone to Russia with a church group in 1991. “He said he was not a believer himself but he was glad to have church people come there,” Sessions told reporters. “I thought he was pretty much of an old-style Soviet-type ambassador.”

 Mike Pence used his AOL email for state business as governor – and was hacked Read more

 Kislyak was present at Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The president did not mention Russia once. But it did not take long for the issue to dog his administration once again.

 Trump rose to power outside the traditional Washington political networks. As much as that endeared the businessman to his supporters, it made him an unknown quantity to a diplomatic community that cannot afford to be unfamiliar with a contender for the US presidency.

 Sessions, however, had been a US senator for over 20 years. As the only senator to endorse Trump early in 2016, he represented a familiar channel for diplomats to learn more about a candidate pledging to overturn the traditional pro-western, anti-Russian tilts in US foreign affairs.

 Typically, when foreign ambassadors meet with senators in solitary engagements, it is to discuss a parochial issue – a trade relationship with a business partner in a senator’s home state, for instance – or to make an introduction to a high-ranking foreign official. Sessions, in in his press conference, said he met with Kislyak in his Senate office with staffers present, and “somehow the subject of the Ukraine came up”.

 Meeting Kislyak one-on-one, Farkas said, “tells me it’s likely because [Sessions was] advising Trump”. Such discussions are, “generally, considered a bit risky” by presidential campaigns, she continued, though not illegal.

 Michael McFaul, US ambassador to Russia between 2012 and 2014, tweeted: “Let’s not be naive folks. Kislyak obviously was meeting Sessions because of his role in Trump world. That’s his job.”

 Additional reporting by Alec Luhn in Moscow ||||| (CNN) Sergey Kislyak is the diplomat's diplomat -- an envoy of extensive experience whose career spans the Soviet era and that of the Russian Federation.

 On his third extended posting to the United States, Kislyak finds himself at the heart of a political firestorm in Washington, his encounters with associates of President Donald Trump under close scrutiny.

 First, his dealings with Trump's short-lived National Security Adviser Mike Flynn led to Flynn being fired for failing to be entirely up front about them; now, two meetings with Attorney General Jeff Sessions are causing heat for the Trump administration.

 So who is Kislyak, and what is his role in the controversy?

 'Effective and experienced'

 The former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, said recently that Kislyak had held "all the most important jobs in the Foreign Ministry -- except one." Describing him as "effective and experienced," McFaul added: "You're never confused about what country he's representing."

 Speaking at a Stanford university event with Kislyak in November, McFaul also recalled "the fantastic lunches at his residence" in Washington.

 Sergey Kislyak (left) met twice with Jeff Sessions in 2016 before he was appointed Attorney General in the Trump administration.

 Current and former US intelligence officials have described Kislyak as a top spy and recruiter of spies, a notion that Russian officials have dismissed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that "nobody has heard a single statement from US intelligence agencies' representatives regarding our ambassador," and attacked the "depersonalized assumptions of the media that are constantly trying to blow this situation out of proportion."

 Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added sarcastically: "I'll reveal a top secret — diplomats do work, and their job is to establish contacts with people."

 Kislyak, 66, trained as an engineer in Moscow and then attended the Soviet Union's Academy of Foreign Trade before joining the Foreign Ministry in 1977, at the height of the Cold War.

 His first tour of duty as an envoy to the US was between 1985 and 1989, at the height of then-President Mikhail Gorbachev's efforts to open up and reform the Soviet Union.

 Former US diplomats say Kislyak's forte was arms control -- a specialism he pursued after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was Russia's ambassador to NATO between 1998 and 2003. As Deputy Foreign Minister a decade ago, he led the Russian side in talks with the US on extending and amending arms control agreements, and showed a detailed grasp of the technicalities, according to experts in the field.

 Posting to Washington

 Kislyak has been Ambassador in Washington for nine years -- an unusually long spell. He arrived shortly before President Obama was elected. And in the early days of his Administration, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with the 'reset' button -- designed to herald a fresh start in relations. But for much of the time since, relations have at best been lukewarm and have frequently been worse, especially after Vladimir Putin became President for a second time in 2012.

 Kislyak was ambassador when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrorv with a 'reset' button.

 In public, Kislyak has been a candid commentator on relations between Moscow and Washington, saying in November that "we are living through the worst time in our relationship" even though the ideological divide of the Cold War was long gone.

 There were -- he said -- more things to unite than to divide Russia and the US: the struggle against terrorism, religious intolerance, climate change. But arguments over Ukraine, NATO's expansion into the Baltic states and the imposition of sanctions over Crimea had led to a situation in which "we have learned to live without you and you have learned to live without us."

 'Collateral damage'

 Kislyak was in the audience at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington last April when then-candidate Donald Trump made his first major foreign policy speech, saying: "I believe an easing of tensions, and improved relations with Russia—from a position of strength only—is possible, absolutely possible."

 Kislyak keeps up a regular schedule of public appearances and speaking engagements across the US. In October, he told the Detroit Economic Club that Russia had become an unexpected and unneeded factor in the US election campaign.

 "We have become collateral damage in the fight between the two parties here," he said. |||||
What is a summary?

– As Attorney General Jeff Sessions remains mired in controversy about his contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, more info is emerging about the man NBC News refers to as "the shadowy apparatchik at the center of Trump's Russia crisis." Kislyak, who has held his post since 2008, was the same Russian official who spoke with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn—leading to the latter's resignation—and the same one at least two other Trump advisers have admitted to chatting with, per USA Today. More on the 66-year-old Kislyak, who NBC notes has kept a "remarkably low profile" in more than 40 years of service to his country: The Washington Post calls him "quiet, careful, rumpled and portly," and says he "shows up everywhere and tries to talk to everyone." He is not, however, thought to be especially close to Vladimir Putin. Kislyak was even in attendance on Tuesday at President Trump's address to Congress, per the Guardian. Its profile notes that he trained as an engineer and first worked as an envoy in the 1980s, under Mikhail Gorbachev. The AP tries to reconcile Kislyak's new reputation as the "Kevin Bacon of the Trump White House's Russia imbroglio" with his old one as an under-the-radar diplomat who would be the last person observers would think was involved in controversy. Politico offers a look at "Washington's most dangerous diplomat," noting that Kislyak was front and center at a Trump foreign policy speech last April in which Trump called for an easing of US-Russia relations. And in November, Kislyak accused America of carrying out a "huge propaganda campaign against Russia." A story at CNN takes a look at another accusation often thrown Kislyak's way by US intelligence officials: that he's a Russian spy who tries to recruit others. Not everyone agrees with that assessment, per ABC News, which cites ex-US ambassadors and analysts who take issue with the espionage claims. "If he's a spy, then all ambassadors are spies," one former US diplomat says. One thing he's exceptional at: networking, says the New York Times, revealing details of "over-the-top" dinners he likes to throw for guests at his Beaux Arts mansion in Washington and his ability to entertain, but "always with a political objective," per a former US ambassador to Russia.


Article:
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Dozens of people were injured when a packed Aeromexico-operated (AEROMEX.MX) Embraer (EMBR3.SA) jet crashed right after takeoff in Mexico’s state of Durango on Tuesday, but authorities said most were not seriously hurt and there were no fatalities.

 The mid-sized jet was almost full, with 103 people including two infants and four crew members on board, when it crashed at about 4 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), authorities said. Passengers and crew jumped to safety before the plane was engulfed in flames.

 Passenger Jackeline Flores told reporters the plane crashed shortly after taking off in heavy rain. She and her daughter escaped from a hole in the fuselage as the aircraft filled up with smoke and flames, she said.

 “A little girl who left the plane was crying because her legs were burned,” said Flores, who said she was Mexican but lived in Bogota, Colombia.

 Flores said her passport and documents burned in the fire.

 “I feel blessed and grateful to God,” she said.

 TV images showed the severely damaged body of the plane after it came to rest in scrubland and a column of smoke rose into the sky.

 The plane had barely taken off when it felt like it was hit by a strong air current, another passenger told network Televisa.

 Durango Governor José Rosas Aispuro also said a gust of wind rocked the plane before it plunged suddenly, citing air traffic control at the airport. The plane’s left wing hit the ground, knocking off two engines, before it came to a halt 300 meters (328 yards) from the runway, he told a news conference.

 Passengers were able to escape on the plane’s emergency slides before it was engulfed in flames, he said. The pilot was the most severely hurt but was in a stable condition.

 Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, (OMAB.MX) the airport operator, also attributed the crash to bad weather, citing preliminary reports.

 Aeromexico said in a statement: “We deeply regret this accident. The families of all those affected are in our thoughts and in our hearts.”

 LIGHT INJURIES

 Alejandro Cardoza, a spokesman for the state’s civil protection agency, said in an interview that around 85 people had suffered mostly light injuries and that the fire had been put out.

 The civil protection agency said 37 people were hospitalized, while the state health department said two passengers were in a critical condition.

 “Many managed to leave the plane on foot,” Cardoza said.

 The head of Mexico’s civil aviation agency, Luis Gerardo Fonseca, said it could take months to know the cause of the crash. He told Televisa the plane’s voice and data recorders would be recovered once rescue efforts were completed.

 Slideshow (18 Images)

 The United States will send two people to assist the Mexican investigative team, a U.S aviation official said.

 Flight number 2431 was an Embraer 190 bound for Mexico City when it crashed, Aeromexico said on Twitter. A spokesman for the Mexican airline declined to disclose the passenger list or the nationalities of those on board.

 Among the passengers was Chicago-born priest Esequiel Sanchez of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to a statement by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

 A U.S. embassy spokesman said he did not currently have confirmation of whether any American citizens were involved in the incident.

 Aeromexico has not had any fatal crashes in the past 10 years.

 A Mexican pilots association said last year there were 66 accidents and 173 incidents in Mexican aviation, saying the number was “worrying” and calling for more supervision of flying schools, more funds for maintenance and oversight of fleets, and shorter flying hours for pilots.

 The Embraer 190 was involved in one fatal crash when a Henan Airlines flight overshot a Chinese runway in 2010 and another in Africa in 2013 when a LAM Airlines pilot deliberately crashed the plane during a hostage-taking incident, according to a summary by the Aviation Safety Network.

 Embraer has delivered more than 1,400 E-Jets.

 Aeromexico leased the 10-year-old aircraft involved in Tuesday’s incident from Republic Airlines in the United States in 2014, according to data on Planespotters.net.

 Embraer said late on Tuesday it had sent a team of technicians to the scene of the accident and stood ready to support the investigation. The aircraft, the serial number of which was 190-173, was delivered in May 2008, the company said in a statement. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lorenzo Nunez described a "strong explosion" moments after take off

 A passenger plane has crashed in the capital of Mexico's Durango state, just moments after take-off.

 All 103 passengers and crew on board the Aeroméxico flight survived the crash but 97 of them are injured.

 State Governor José Rosas Aispuro said the plane was hit by a gust of wind which caused a sudden descent. Its left wing then touched the ground and two engines broke off.

 Most of the passengers were able to walk away before it caught fire.

 Aeroméxico flight AM2431 was flying from Guadalupe Victoria International Airport in Durango to Mexico City when it crashed at around 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT).

 Initial reports spoke of 97 passengers and four crew, but Governor Rosas said that two children were also on board - bringing the total to 103.

 The plane's pilot is one of two who were seriously injured. He needed an operation on his spine but is reportedly in a stable condition. A young girl sustained burns.

 Many other passengers had only "very light" injuries, officials said.

 'We have to jump'

 Ramin Parsa told the BBC that "shortly after the plane took off, I knew something was wrong. The plane began to shake," he recalled.

 He said the plane hit the ground and "started bouncing, shaking and sliding" until it hit some trees and finally stopped when it fell into a ditch.

 "All the lights went off and then there was smoke inside the cabin, people were panicking and screaming."

 Mr Parsa said it was "a miracle of God that we survived".

 Image copyright EPA Image caption The fire spread through the aircraft after the crash

 Passenger Jacqueline Flores described the moment she and her daughter escaped the plane.

 "I think we fell back on the runway because it was a hard surface, then we skidded on the ground until it stopped," the 47-year-old told the Agence France Press news agency.

 "I undid my seatbelt and saw flames, and realised we had to jump. There was a hole right next to us where the plane had broken up. I told my girl, 'We have to jump over here', and we jumped," she added.

 A local politician on board the flight, Rómulo Campuzano, said he had been "very lucky because I was able to get out by the main door". He said the door had been torn off and was lying next to the plane "acting as a ramp".

 "I walked away from the plane, turning around to see if the other passengers were getting out, too. It started raining very hard and I think that helped put out the flames," he said.

 Safe evacuation

 Governor Rosas said the crew were able to deploy the evacuation slides shortly after the crash, allowing those still on board to leave the plane safely before the flames spread.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Most of the injured were released quickly and able to get home with a little help

 The airline Aeroméxico has a good safety record, according to local media. Its last deadly accident was in 1981, when 32 people were killed when an Aeroméxico plane crashed on landing in northern Chihuahua state.

 The airport operator, Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, said early data suggested bad weather was the cause, and that the plane had taken off during a heavy hailstorm before being forced to attempt an emergency landing.

 One passenger said the plane had been hit by lightning.

 Image copyright AFP/KEVIN ALCANTAR DRONES DURANGO Image caption The plane crashed shortly after take-off

 In a statement, Aeroméxico said they "deeply regret" the accident, while Brazilian plane company Embraer said it had sent a team to the crash site. ||||| (CNN) An Aeromexico flight carrying 103 people crashed just after taking off from an airport in northern Mexico, forcing passengers to escape via the emergency slides before the aircraft went up in flames. No one died.

 Dozens were injured, Durango state officials said, and it appears that a strong wind brought down Flight 2431.

 "The control tower noticed strong wind currents, and this could have caused the accident," Durango Gov. Jose Aispuro said Tuesday night in a news conference.

 The plane was en route Tuesday from Durango to Mexico City when it rapidly descended after takeoff, airline and state officials said.

 Rescue crews flock to the remains of the airplane just beyond the runway.

 The left wing of the twin-engine jet initially touched the ground, causing the plane to lose both engines. The plane then skidded off the runway at General Guadalupe Victoria International Airport, stopping about 300 meters (1,000 feet) away, Aispuro said.

 Read More |||||Summary:

– That everyone aboard survived a plane crash in Mexico on Tuesday afternoon was news that emerged quickly; what's taking shape now is just how the 103 people managed to do so. The Aeroméxico flight went down shortly after taking off in Durango, bound for Mexico City. The BBC reports a gust of wind may have been a major contributing factor, causing the plane to plunge. The left wing scraped the ground and two engines tore off, with Reuters reporting the plane came to rest about 1,000 feet from the runway. The plane then caught fire, but most were able to exit it before that occurred. A young girl who was burned is one of two seriously injured people, with the pilot being the other. Reports on how many were injured in total range from "dozens" to 97. Passengers describe the crash to the AFP and CNN, which reports the crew was able to activate the evacuation slides. "The second impact was a lot stronger. This is when I jumped and hit my head against the ceiling. After the second impact, I saw flames in the cabin ahead of me." "When we were already aloft, up high, it felt like the plane was going to level out but just then it plunged to the ground. I think we fell back on the runway because it was a hard surface, then we skidded on the ground until it stopped. I undid my seatbelt and saw flames, and realized we had to jump. There was a hole right next to us where the plane had broken up. I told my girl, 'We have to jump over here', and we jumped."


This morning, a few New York City polling places opened late because ballots and poll books were misdelivered. Some voters waited as election officials looked for and retrieved the correct materials. Others voted by affidavit ballot instead, and some left.

 In New York City, poll workers are expected to be at their poll sites at 5 a.m. Election Day morning to set up. This gives them one hour before poll sites open.

 But elsewhere, it’s fairly common to set up before Election Day morning, according to Tammy Patrick, an election expert with the Bipartisan Policy Center. “I was an election administrator for over a decade in Arizona and the majority of our sites were set up before Election Day,” Patrick said. Depending on the facility, they might set up the night before or over the weekend leading up to Election Day.

 Setting up early would give poll workers an opportunity to identify misdelivered materials, missing signs, pen shortages, and absent poll workers, and address these issues before voters arrive.

 New York City Executive Director Michael Ryan cited security as a reason to keep the voting material under lock and key before Election Day. “We don’t have control of the 1,205 poll sites so we need to secure the equipment before Election day, Wouldn’t it be a much worse scenario if you walked into an election site and you had the whole poll site set up before and we walk in to find all the voting machines stolen?”

 Patrick said there are ways to maintain the security of at least some of the materials. “Equipment, ballots, rosters, and other relevant materials are secured with tamper evident seals and logs are verified that nothing has been tampered with,” said Patrick.

 Additional reporting by Brigid Bergen, WNYC ||||| Many news organizations will make election integrity issues a central part of their coverage plans, especially given accusations by the U.S. government of Russian cyber espionage and Donald Trump’s evidence-less allegations of vote tampering and rigging. | AP Photo Media launches joint war-room to spot voting problems To covering 2016’s voting obstacles and hoaxes, press tries sharing tips, sources and data across typically competing newsrooms.

 After spending 2016 trying to outmaneuver each other and deliver the next big break, hundreds of newsrooms are now engaged in unprecedented reporting partnerships to uncover barriers to voting and debunk fake news that can cause chaos and confusion on Election Day.

 The biggest of the new alliances is Electionland, a project involving more than 400 newsrooms across the country casting aside competitiveness to share real-time data and tips on everything from reports about long lines and voter intimidation to hoax tweets suggesting stuffed ballot boxes.

 Story Continued Below

 New York-based journalism non-profit ProPublica created the free service earlier this year by partnering up with national desks at USA Today and The New York Times, as well as scores of local news organizations including the Arizona Republic, Miami Herald and the Virginian-Pilot. Participating reporters and editors are all connected to an online smorgasbord of story leads and sources culled from social media, text messages and a national telephone helpline that the public is using to report voting problems.

 “It’s an entire national newsroom, essentially only looking at problems facing people who vote,” said Jessica Huseman, a ProPublica senior reporting fellow.

 While the Associated Press and CNN were among the major media outlets that declined invitations to join Electionland, it was a no-brainer for many local outlets crushed in recent years by layoffs and budget cuts. After all, what they’re getting is no-strings-attached data, technology and information that can go a long way to covering one of most challenging days of a journalist’s year.

 “Any help a newsroom can get to sift through some of this stuff, to get to the more useful stuff, is absolutely valuable,” said Matt Dempsey, a Houston Chronicle data reporter leading his office’s coordination with Electionland.

 Last week, Dempsey’s team published a front-page story based off multiple Electionland tips that led them to find poll workers in Harris County, Texas, giving voters incomplete instructions about photo identification. Other recent stories tied to Electionland’s analysis during the early voting period include Donald Trump supporters using a bullhorn outside the polls in West Palm Beach, Fla., and debunking a pair of internet hoaxes: one purporting to show video of Democrats stuffing ballot boxes and the other co-published with Univision that appears to show an immigration officer arresting someone waiting in line to vote.

 Much of the dot-connecting is emanating from Electionland’s national desk based out of a pop-up newsroom at the City University of New York. There are also regional teams stationed at 14 journalism schools around the country, where students will be mining social media through keyword searches in multiple languages, looking out for local, regional and national trends about long lines, provisional ballot shortages, overly aggressive poll watchers and other forms of voter intimidation. Students have been trained to identify legitimate Twitter accounts, and they’re getting on-site help from professional reporters dispatched by ProPublica, the USA Today and The New York Times to package up relevant information for sharing – jump-ball style – to their media partners for follow-up reporting.

 Electionland is also tapping into data generated by the national 866-OUR-VOTE telephone hotline that’s been taking calls on everything from malfunctioning election equipment to voter ID and intimidation problems. “They’re seeing the meat and potatoes of complaints,” said Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which has been running its phone-reporting program since 2002.

 USA Today’s editors said in an interview that they expect Electionland will be a useful tool for their network of regional reporters at 25 sister newspapers across the country. They anticipate some of the leads will be false starts, and in some instances they’ll need to skip a tip because of staffing constraints, picking up on it later if it pans out through aggregation from other news sources.

 But they said the project had plenty of relevance in a high-stakes election ripe with voting challenges, and where memories remain strong of the 2000 debacle when Florida’s hanging chads led to a prolonged legal dispute over recounts that lasted more than a month before George W. Bush was declared the president-elect.

 “This is a really interesting experiment,” said Lee Horwich, managing editor for USA Today’s politics team. “I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work. I don’t think any of us do. It seems like the right thing to do.”

 The most useful stories of national interest will be highlighted on Electionland’s blog, and local partners are urged to tout their network on social media when they publish something inspired by a tip. Several of the members described the project as historic for the journalism industry given the collaboration across so many different newsrooms and despite the press’s inherent nature to fight over exclusives.

 “The competitiveness of this is harder and harder to measure since everybody publishes everything they can confirm on Twitter, on Facebook, on whatever social platform you care to mention,” Horwich said. “The competitive advantage of being out 10 seconds, 3 minutes before others is not my top priority that day. My top priority is to get as complete a report and as accurate report as we possibly can.”

 Journalists turning to a collaborative approach are doing so at the end of a 2016 presidential campaign unlike any other in modern times. Entire news organizations including the Washington Post, Buzzfeed and POLITICO have been banned at various times from attending Trump events, though those restrictions were later lifted. Crowds at the Republican’s rallies routinely boo and jeer at mainstream media outlets and the candidate’s traveling press corps. Fact checking has become a ubiquitous part of campaign coverage, while fake news articles maintain long shelf lives despite repeated attempts to debunk them and pledges by Facebook and Twitter to implement policies to address the issue. Meanwhile, the public’s trust in the media has hit its lowest level since Gallup polling on the topic started in 1972.

 Against that backdrop, many news organizations will make election integrity issues a central part of their coverage plans, especially given accusations by the U.S. government of Russian cyber espionage and Trump’s evidence-less allegations of vote tampering and rigging.

 At the networks, CBS has assigned its justice beat reporter to cover cyber and election hacking concerns on Election Day. Four NBC reporters will be on air covering voting irregularities, and it has a dedicated blog on the issue written by the author of a book on voter suppression.

 “It’s going to be a shit show,” warned Brooke Binkowski, managing editor at Snopes, which is deploying about two dozen reporters and researchers for fact checking on internet hoaxes and other voting problems surrounding Election Day.

 Another new startup aimed at helping the press and public to sift through the noise of Election Day is Votecastr, a partnership between data scientists, journalists and tech investors that plans to publish detailed projections Tuesday based off real-time turnout figures, combined with pre-polling surveys on voting preferences. The project will be pulling information from about 700 precincts in eight key battleground states -- Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania – and publishing on Slate. A live video steam of the analysis will be available on Vice Media.

 Sasha Issenberg, one of the founding partners of the project, said the information can be useful to journalists looking for real-time evidence of polling problems. They would see signs if turnout levels are down at a precinct, which could suggest anything from broken voting machines to shortages on provisional ballots or intimidation.

 “I hope that we are a generator of leads and hypotheses for reporters to chase,” he said.

 While journalists may be encouraging the cross-newsroom partnerships and data and source sharing, they are also exposing themselves to heightened scrutiny from critics in Trump’s camp who may interpret their work as another example of the press trying to sabotage the Republican’s campaign.

 “People will think even more what they always thought: the press is in collusion. We’re all one big group think. I think that can go either way depending on who you are talking to,” said Jane Elizabeth, a senior manager of the American Press Institute’s accountability journalism project.

 “I’d hate to be in the middle of an election where this type of fact checking isn’t taking place,” she added. “You don’t know how much it’s going to help. But you don’t want to see the reverse side of that either.” |||||

Write a summary.

– If misery and politics make strange bedfellows, their Election 2016 love child in the Fourth Estate is a nascent project called Electionland. As Politico reports, major media outlets are abandoning the time-honored practice of scooping each other in order to combine reporting forces in the name of making sure Election Day is as clean as possible. "It’s an entire national newsroom, essentially only looking at problems facing people who vote," says a senior reporting fellow at ProPublica, the nonprofit which gave birth to Electionland earlier this year and was quickly joined by the likes of the New York Times, USA Today, and Google News Lab, as well as scores of more regional media outlets like the Arizona Republic, Miami Herald, and the Virginian-Pilot. Notable among those who declined to partner up: CNN and the Associated Press. Yet it's what Quartz calls "an unprecedented gathering of journalists," and includes newsrooms set up at City University of New York and at 13 journalism schools. On Tuesday, Electionland will watch social media, Google search trends, and data from the Election Protection project, as well as receive reports from reporters on the ground. "This is a really interesting experiment," says a politics editor at USA Today. "I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work. I don’t think any of us do. It seems like the right thing to do." Adds Snopes' managing editor: "It's going to be a sh-- show."


Write an article based on this summary:

– Killing off millions of users is as bad as a mistake as a website can make—but luckily for Facebook, it was reversible. The company apologized for a "terrible error" Friday that caused the profiles of many users—including Mark Zuckerberg—to be switched to the "memorialized" version used after people die, the BBC reports. "We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate his life," said the message under the "Remembering Mark Zuckerberg" banner. Pages are usually only memorialized after a user dies and friends or family request the change and provide proof of death. Affected users scrambled to reassure friends and family that they were still alive, CBS reports. "Having a tough day today, but not dead, just in case Facebook tries to claim that I am," one user posted. Facebook said it had introduced a new message for memorialized pages and accidentally displayed it on the accounts of around 2 million living users. "We are very sorry that this happened and we worked as quickly as possible to fix it," a spokesman said. The Guardian notes that the blunder happened just two days after Zuckerberg insisted that fake news on Facebook played no role in people's voting decisions.

Image copyright Facebook Image caption Facebook's own CEO was among the "dead" during the bug's brief appearance

 An unusual bug on Facebook briefly labelled many people as dead.

 The error on Friday caused the social network to show a memorial banner on user profiles for people who were still alive.

 Users posted status updates to reassure friends and family they were not dead, despite Facebook's message.

 "This was a terrible error that we have now fixed," a Facebook spokesperson said. "We are very sorry that this happened."

 The message, intended for "memorialised profiles", erroneously appeared on the profile pages of a large number of users - including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

 "We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate his life," the banner on his page read.

 Technology reporters and Facebook users, however, saw a humorous side to the story.

 Image copyright Facebook Image caption Many users felt the need to clarify things, often with a sense of humour

 Image copyright @jarretsays

 Image copyright @EmmettPlant

 "Why Is Facebook Saying I'm Dead?" asked the New York Times' Katie Rogers. "At first, I was indignant. I was definitely not dead. Then I thought I had been hacked. Then I asked a few of my colleagues. Also dead."

 "Facebook is capping one of the longest weeks in American history by telling everyone that they are dead," quipped The Verge, a technology website, in reference to the presidential election.

 The memorial feature was introduced by Facebook in 2015 because of a number of high-profile cases where family wanted to access the social accounts of deceased loved ones.

 User can opt to have their account turn into a memorial page upon their death, where Facebook contacts can leave message and share memories.

 An alternative option is to have your account deleted after your death. ||||| Facebook users were forced to do a double take on Friday as they leisurely scoped out their friends’ profiles.

 At the top of the page, some people, including verified users, reported seeing memorial banners.

 The problem: the person memorialized wasn’t actually dead.

 “We hope people who love [Facebook user] will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate [his or her] life,” the banner read.

 The switch to memorial pages left users shocked and confused.

 “Having a tough day today, but not dead, just in case Facebook tries to claim that I am,” one user posted.

 “I’m still alive at the moment!” another person exclaimed.

 Even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fell victim to the apparent bug.

 The company later addressed the “terrible error” in a statement provided to CBS News.

 “For a brief period today, a message meant for memorialized profiles was mistakenly posted to other accounts,” a Facebook spokesman said. “This was a terrible error that we have now fixed. We are very sorry that this happened and we worked as quickly as possible to fix it.”

 Facebook Thursday: Fake news is not a problem

 Facebook Friday: Mark Zuckerberg is dead. Your friends are dead. We are all dead. — Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) November 11, 2016

 Facebook is now saying we're all dead https://t.co/V14fPuymnC pic.twitter.com/rUOCAyC0Xz — Marc Zwygart (@mediaadvantages) November 11, 2016

 According to Facebook, memorialized accounts can only be requested after a person passes away.

 “If Facebook is made aware that a person has passed away, it’s our policy to memorialize the account,” Facebook explained in a post. |||||


MEXICO CITY -- It was, in a manner of speaking, the biggest moment of Sunday night's presidential debate in Mexico.

 To mark the debate's start, a stunning, undeniably well-endowed model took the floor, smiling silently and carrying a box with four pieces of paper in it that candidates drew to see who went first.

 The candidates managed a straight face, but at first sight of her, dozens of journalists inside the debate press room at Mexico City's World Trade Center gasped and jeered.

 The woman, identified later as a model and former playmate for Mexican Playboy, Julia Orayen, almost immediately became a trending topic on Twitter.

 Orayen was serving as an edecan, a role that has long been traditional to formal political, business, or entertainment events in Mexico.

 The edecan is a sort of hostess who stands during meetings or parties to help guide or coordinate guests. They are usually attractive young women with long hair who wear sexy dresses and heels, a feature of Mexican public life that some consider a throwback to the culture's more macho tendencies.

 "Who won the debate?" one Twitter user quipped. "Edecan: 93%."

 As photos of the debate's busty model kept abuzz online overnight, analysts and even some of the candidates on Monday morning took the edecan as a topic serious enough to discuss on the morning news radio programs.

 Speaking to host Carmen Aristegui, presidential candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota said she thought Orayen was "very attractive" but that her dress was inappropriate for the generally serious nature of the debate, the first of two organized by the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE (link in Spanish).

 "The truth is, Carmen, I want to say that suddenly I was surprised, and I [thought], 'Well, what sort of event are we attending here?'"

 Playing defense, a member of the IFE's governing council said that the edecan was hired by an independent production company contracted to organize the debate, but Councilor Alfredo Figueroa would not identify the producer (link in Spanish).

 "We asked the producer that there be no elements of distraction, for a sober dress," Figueroa said.

 Orayen had her own opinion on the matter. The model told W Radio host Brozo -- who wears a clown costume -- that she felt "weird" by the sudden surge of attention.

 "I just got a call to be there, I didn't know what it was going to be about, and much less that it would have such an impact for 30 seconds," Orayen said.

 "The costume ... intrigued me," Brozo replied.

 "I got a call for a white dress. I took many options, and this was the one chosen by me," she said.

 RELATED:

 Mexico's presidential candidates offer some colorful surprises

 Left, right or center? Mexican political brand names explained

 Mexico candidate, actress wife star in reality TV campaign videos

 -- Daniel Hernandez

 Image: In a screen shot of Sunday's video feed of the presidential debate in Mexico, model Julia Orayen carries a clear box to each of the candidates. Credit: Twitpic.com, via Twitter ||||| Image caption Julia Orayen and her white dress only appeared for 24 seconds of the debate, but some Mexicans thought she stole the show

 The organisers of Sunday's televised presidential debate in Mexico have apologised because of the revealing dress worn by one of the production assistants.

 The assistant in question is a former glamour model.

 She was handing out cards assigning the speaking order to the candidates.

 Mexico's Electoral Commission said the woman's tight white dress, with its plunging neckline, had distracted attention from important issues.

 "We are sorry about the production error associated with the clothing of one of the assistants during the first presidential debate and want to apologise to the citizens and the candidates for the presidency," a statement released by the Commission said.

 'Outrageous stereotype'

 The Commission said an independent production firm had hired the model, Julia Orayen.

 TV producer Jesus Tapia said he had settled for Ms Orayen because she was considerably shorter than the two other women who had applied for the job.

 "Given the [short] stature of the candidates I chose her," he said.

 He also said that she was what they had been looking for: "A pleasant, young and fresh presence."

 Mr Tapia said the dress had been Ms Orayen's choice, and "in the madness of the moment" it had not been checked.

 Josefina Vazquez Mota, who is bidding to become Mexico's first female president, said the assistant's dress was "not in keeping with the seriousness of the debate".

 Electoral Commission member Lorenzo Cordova said it was deplorable that a stellar event in the electoral process should have been overshadowed by an "outrageous stereotype".

 It was the first TV debate ahead of July's poll pitting the four presidential hopefuls against each other.

 A second debate is set for 10 June. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A televised Mexican presidential debate looked more like an episode of Wheel of Fortune thanks to a babealicious production assistant's cleavage-baring gown. She was so eye-popping that Mexico's election commission apologized. "We are sorry about the production error associated with the clothing of one of the assistants, and want to apologize to the citizens and candidates," said a commission statement. An independent production company hired the former Playboy playmate—who held a box with paper slips for the candidates to pick from that determined who would go first—and she was allowed to choose her own dress, reports the BBC. In fact, such women are fixtures in many political, entertainment, and business events in Mexico, and are considered a nod to the machismo culture, notes the Los Angeles Times. Known as edecans, they're frequently long-haired, beautiful women in sexy dresses and heels who serve as hostesses. An election commission member blasted the "outrageous stereotype" that overshadowed the presidential debate. The tight-fitting gown was "not in keeping with the seriousness of the debate," added presidential candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota.


Article:

Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature for Death Valley in July was a blistering 107.4 degrees. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

 A visitor walks along on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 in Death Valley, Calif. (Photo: Marilyn Chung, The Desert Sun)

 Hell on Earth: With an average temperature of 107.39 degrees in July, Death Valley set the record for hottest month at a single location in U.S. history.

 Keep in mind that that number is an average of all the high and low temperatures. The average daily high temperature was an unbearable 119.6 degrees.

 “It should be noted that this is the hottest average monthly temperature ever measured in the U.S. or, for that matter, anywhere in the Western Hemisphere,” Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt told the Capital Weather Gang.

 It was not a world record, however: Climatologist Brian Brettschneider said the world record warm month was in August 2015, when King Khaled, Saudi Arabia, measured an average temperature of 107.44 degrees.

 The avg monthly temp for Death Valley in July was 107.4. This breaks the previous record of 107.2 set in 1917. Also the hottest month ever. — NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) August 2, 2017

 And nights were no bargain in Death Valley last month: The temperature didn't drop below 89 degrees the entire month of July, the National Weather Service said. Three days, the overnight low temperature was over 100 degrees.

 July's hottest day was the 7th, when Death Valley hit 127 degrees. It was also 127 on two June days.

 Death Valley is a national park with no permanent residents except for a few park service staff and rangers. It is the hottest, driest and lowest of all U.S. national parks.

 Several other cities set record warm months in the West, as did Miami, the weather service said.

 We broke a record this July--the hottest month ever for Death Valley! 🔥🌡 https://t.co/vBDMd2q1j7 — Death Valley NP (@DeathValleyNPS) August 2, 2017

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wq9Wrp ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||
What is a summary?

– It's probably been a hot summer where you are, but nothing like this: California's Death Valley registered an average temperature of 107.4 degrees for the month of July, per the National Weather Service. The previous record, set in 1917, was 107.2 degrees. It's not only a record for Death Valley: "It should be noted that this is the hottest average monthly temperature ever measured in the US, or, for that matter, anywhere in the Western Hemisphere," a climatologist tells the Washington Post. If 107.4 doesn't seem insanely high, keep in mind that was the average temperature of both days and nights, notes the Los Angeles Times. During the day, it typically got up to 120 degrees before cooling down to about 95 at night. The hottest day came on July 7, which saw a temperature of 127. Fortunately, few people were affected: As USA Today notes, Death Valley is a national park with no permanent residents save for park rangers.


– Several top executives of a French telecom are slated to stand trial for employees who killed themselves in what prosecutors have called a culture of "moral harassment," the BBC reports. France Telecom's former CEO, Didier Lombard, and six managers are facing $35,000 fines and two years in prison if found culpable of workplace bullying. The alleged harassment occurred after France Telecom was privatized and executives tried restructuring the company in 2006, partly by slashing 22,000 jobs and retraining thousands of others. "I'll get them out one way or another, through the window or through the door," Lombard told top managers in 2007. The apparent fallout was brutal, with at least 19 workers killing themselves (union reps say it was 35) and one taking his life during a staff meeting, Sky News reports. One employee fatally set himself on fire in an office parking lot in 2011, the BBC reported at the time, and a female worker attempted suicide after hearing she would be transferred for the third time. But French Telecom, now called Orange, plans to dispute the charges. "I forcefully reject that plans that were essential to the survival of the company could have been the cause of the human tragedies cited by the complainants," Lombard wrote when the harassment probe began in 2012, reports the Financial Times.

Expand this summary.

Image caption The man set himself alight shortly after arriving at work

 A France Telecom worker has committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a work car park, management and unions have said.

 The 57-year-old employee, who had four children, had worked for the company for over 30 years.

 He is reported to have had several transfers within the firm in recent years, which he was unhappy about.

 There were more than 30 reported suicides in 2008 and 2009 at the company which employs 100,000 people.

 The suicide took place at France Telecom premises at Merignac, near Bordeaux, in southwestern France.

 'Overwhelmed'

 "The whole staff is completely overwhelmed with emotion," trade union representative Sebastien Crozier told AFP. "All of Bordeaux is in tears."

 Another union representative said the man was local and had set himself alight on arriving at work.

 France Telecom is one of the country's biggest employers and also runs the major mobile provider Orange.

 Unions had blamed restructuring and work pressure at the firm for the deaths in 2008 and 2009, saying that some staff were being left behind in the firm's transformation from a government agency to a private company.

 But France Telecom says the rate of suicides is statistically not unusual for a company with such a large workforce.

 Criticism about the way the company handled the suicide crisis led to the resignation of its deputy CEO in October 2009. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| A spate of suicides at a leading French company will see a number of top executives stand trial over alleged workplace bullying.

 The former head of France Telecom Didier Lombard, six other executives and telecoms operator Orange, formerly France Telecom, are to be taken to court over their alleged role in a wave of staff suicides.

 They are accused of engaging in or assisting psychological harassment, according to the court order.

 An April 2010 report from labour inspectors found that 19 employees took their own lives, 12 attempted suicide and eight suffered from deep depression or were forced to stop work as a result.

 Unions said that more than 35 had ended their own lives, according to French newspaper Le Monde.

 France Telecom, which has since become Orange, was hit by the wave of employee suicides beginning in 2008.

 Among the cases was a man who killed himself during a staff meeting.

 The suicides continued in 2010, with five workers dying in one 10-day period.

 Image: A number of employees took their own lives

 Mr Lombard, who denied any wrongdoing during an investigation of the suicides, stepped down as CEO of Orange in early 2010 amid criticism of his handling of the crisis.

 The former chief, an ex-human resources head and a deputy CEO have been placed under court supervision until trial.

 "As it has always said, Orange rejects the accusations and will make its case during the public hearing which will be scheduled in the coming months," an Orange spokesman said.

 Jean Veil, Lombard's lawyer, said the move was "absurd".

 The labour report alleged the company used harsh restructuring methods such as forcing people into new jobs and giving unattainable performance objectives.

 The restructuring plan allegedly aimed to reduce France Telecom's headcount by 22,000 while shifting 10,000 people into new jobs and recruiting 6,000 new employees.

 "This must serve as an example so that management never again uses social violence to get people to leave," said the head of the CFE-CGC union at Orange, Sebastien Crozier.

 The crime of "moral harassment" can be punished with two years in prison and 30,000 euros ($35,000) in fines.

 :: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. |||||


News article:

Kevin Hart is calling on his fellow celebrities to help make a difference in helping the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

 The comedian posted a video to Instagram starting a new "challenge" he's hoping will sweep social media among his famous friends. He admits that he's putting aside the silliness to discuss something more serious.

 "I'm starting a real challenge," he starts before adding that he will "lead the charge in stepping up this way." Hart will donate $25,000 to the American Red Cross to help those suffering from damages and injuries caused by the hurricane that has left some people in Texas homeless and thousands more without electricity. ||||| (CNN) Hurricane Harvey may have forced Coldplay to cancel its concert in Houston last week, but the city is clearly on the band's mind.

 At its concert in Miami on Monday night, the band performed a song it wrote for the flooded Texas city.

 "This is because we all grew up loving country music, and of course that's kind of what we think of when we go to Texas," frontman Chris Martin told the crowd at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium.

 He then added:

 "This is a new song and we'll never play this again. It's a one-off and it's called 'Houston.'"

 Read More ||||| Not even Kevin Hart could have predicted this kind of response.

 With a tropical storm continuing to devastate residents of Houston, Texas, the 38-year-old comedian launched the Hurricane Harvey Relief Challenge Monday to support relief efforts in the area. He donated $25,000 and asked Beyoncé, Dave Chappelle, Jay-Z, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and Justin Timberlake to match his donation. "Keep your head up Houston and keep your faith," Hart wrote Tuesday. "I love you all and my prayers are with you!"

 Proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross.

 Due in part to Hart, other celebrities began to share their support publicly.

 Kim Kardashian announced her family's generous pledge Tuesday: ||||| Sandra Bullock is flexing her star power to aid relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

 The A-list actress has pledged $1 million to help victims of the tropical storm that has devastated the Houston, Tex. area, E! News can confirm. Bullock's generous donation will benefit the American Red Cross in its ongoing effort to help those impacted by the catastrophic flooding and destruction along Texas' Gulf Coast.

 "I'm just grateful I can do it," Bullock (who owns a home in Austin) said in a statement. "We have to take care of one another."

 Bullock is the latest celebrity to pitch in with a generous financial contribution. Hours ago, Kim Kardashian and the rest of her famous family donated $500,000 to the Red Cross. Comedian Kevin Hart also launched his own Hurricane Harvey Relief Challenge, encouraging fellow stars to give $25,000 to assist Texas residents rendered homeless or without electricity amid the natural disaster. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Add Sandra Bullock's name to the list of celebs helping out in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. And she's doing so in a big way: Bullock has pledged $1 million via the American Red Cross to help victims. "I'm just grateful I can do it," Bullock, who owns a home in Austin, tells E! News. Other big names stepping up include the Kardashians, who have donated $500,000, and Kevin Hart, who launched a challenge to get fellow celebs to donate $25,000. Meanwhile, Coldplay, which had to cancel a gig in Houston, wrote a song in tribute to the city, which you can hear them perform via CNN.


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Footage and photos captured inside Grandview Aquarium, located inside a mall in Guangzhou, China, reveals a sad tableau. Animals, including bears, wolves, beluga whales and walruses, were seen trapped in barren, dimly-lit enclosures as people clamored to take their picture, sometimes banging loudly on the glass to attract the animals’ attention.

 “One bear paced back and forth in a small enclosure, displaying behavior that experts say reflects stress and possible psychological problems. Wolves lay listlessly in a small room while walrus calves and belugas swam back and forth in confined spaces,” described The Washington Post earlier this year.

 The facility was dubbed the “saddest zoo in the world.” It was also described as a “prison.”

 Animals Asia

 One video released by Animals Asia, a Hong Kong-based animal charity, showed a bear at the zoo, believed to be polar-brown bear hybrid, lying limply on the ground of an enclosure.

 The bear “suffers for selfies,” the animal welfare group wrote.

 “Trapped in the middle of a shopping center in China ― his white fur contrasting against the unnaturally blue display he is an unwilling part of ― this sad polar bear has no escape,” wrote the group. “Nowhere to hide from people taking photos ― banging on the windows and shouting. Nothing natural, no attempt to create an environment that would meet the needs of any living bear ― never mind this vast magnificent animal.

 Grandview Aquarium, also known as Grandview Mall Ocean World, first caught the world’s attention earlier this year when Animals Asia launched a petition calling for the zoo’s closure. The petition has been signed by more than 270,000 people.

 “Taking animals from their natural environments can never be defended, but when they’re rehomed in conditions like we’re seeing at the Grandview Aquarium, it’s the worst possible situation,” said the group. “We all need to continue to publicly object to such facilities.”

 The onslaught of public criticism reportedly had an impact on the zoo, according to an update last week by Animals Asia. However, the facility remains open.

 “Animal lovers may be boycotting the facility, but those less well aware of the issues are not. Commercially, any impact is not hurting,” wrote Dave Neale, the charity’s animal welfare director.

 Animals Asia

 Still, Neale stressed that public pressure was helping to move the needle on the issue. Management at the facility had been “genuinely shocked by the international outrage,” he said, and invited the group to advise them on how to better care for the animals.

 “It is difficult for me to work with people that have chosen to house animals such as this bear in such poor conditions, but they were very open,” Neale wrote, adding that the zoo had already implemented some of his group’s recommendations, including providing piles of snow for its two polar bear hybrids.

 Neale said he doesn’t believe the zoo will shutter its doors anytime soon, but hopes that continued pressure will lead to “significant changes.”

 “Make no mistake. Keeping animals in this way is not acceptable. We’ll keep helping, we’ll keep pushing for change,” he said. “If our experience has taught us anything ― first you open doors, then you open cages.”

 Earlier this year, a manager at Grandview Aquarium was quoted in local media as saying the facility provided adequate living space for the animals, and that its aim was to “popularize science and nurture marine life.”

 The aquarium did not respond to The Huffington Post’s requests for comment. ||||| Former Circus Bear Can't Believe It When He Sees His Sprawling New Home

 - Duration: 4:40.

 You Should Know ?

 687,435 views ||||| Two polar-brown bear hybrids, six young beluga whales and five walrus calves are among the animals housed in horrifying conditions in a Chinese mall in Guangzhou.

 The poor state of the animals and limited space has already come under fire from Chinese netizens, with a WeChat post on the shocking situation going viral.

 This zoo in a shopping centre is the brainchild of the largest Chinese operator of ocean parks, Haichang Holdings.

 Opened on January 9, 2016, the Grandview Aquarium has already drawn accusations of neglect in care. In addition, critics have accused the aquarium of keeping beluga whales and walrus calves in spaces too small for them to express their natural behaviours, and keeping their bears in conditions that threaten the animals’ long-term wellbeing.

 Along with the China Cetacean Alliance, Animals Asia has contacted Haichang Holdings to outline the numerous animal welfare issues – including limited space and animal performances. There has been no response to date.

 Animals Asia’s Animal Welfare Director Dave Neale said:

 “Taking animals from their natural environments can never be defended, but when they’re rehomed in conditions like we’re seeing at the Grandview Aquarium it’s the worst possible situation. While those behind this may claim this as education, it’s clear the motivation here is bottom line profit. As long as businesses are allowed to use animals in this manner, wealth will always be put ahead of welfare.

 “What is clear is that a significant section of Chinese society will not accept this, and the negativity surrounding the Grandview Aquarium is the only thing that will challenge developments like this.

 “We all need to continue to publicly object to such facilities – and for those living locally, we say, ‘So long as animals are suffering, choose somewhere else to shop. Don’t reward cruelty.’”

 Animals Asia and the China Cetacean Alliance will continue to monitor the situation and push for an end to this cruelty. You can see the conditions in this video, made by Wemedia01 (Vine videos excerpted courtesy of Wemedia01).

 For a more humane business model, this mall needs looks no further than Chengdu, China. Last year, Animals Asia worked with a mall in Chengdu that was determined to buck the trend of using animals to sell their products. ||||| Hearts all over the internet are breaking for a captive polar bear living in a mall in China.

 An online petition was filed back in March by non-profit group Animals Asia, appealing for a white polar bear that's being kept in Guangzhou, China, to be freed. The makeshift zoo enclosure is also home to another polar bear, six belugas, five walrus calves and a wolf.

 SEE ALSO: Elephant dies a month after being rescued from Thai tourism camp

 These animals are being locked up in the Grandview Shopping Centre in an attraction called the Grandview Aquarium for visitors to take selfies with.

 The white polar bear has become the centre of the controversy, after online videos and pictures, meant to draw attention to what's going on at the mall, went viral. The once magnificent creature is reportedly looking miserable and dejected as visitors consistently knock on its glass cage to get its attention for pictures.

 Animals Asia animal welfare director Dave Neale said in a statement: “There is no excuse for any animal to be trapped this way."

 Animal rights activists are angered that these animals are being taken out of their natural habitats and caution that it will have detrimental effects on the animals' health.

 Neale added: "'Taking animals from their natural environments can never be defended, but when they're re-homed in conditions like we're seeing at the Grandview Aquarium it's the worst possible situation."

 Animals Asia's online petition for the closure and boycott of Grandview Aquarium has gathered over 150,000 signatures since it went up in March.

 Just two weeks ago, another captive polar bear at the Argentine zoo died. Dubbed "the world's saddest polar bear," Arturo had been living alone for four years since experts say he developed depression-like symptoms after his partner passed away from cancer.

 Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. ||||| The Grandview Aquarium in Guangzhou, China, opened the doors to its animal prison on January 9, 2016, and has already been called "one of the saddest zoos in the world" because the animals there suffer from neglect, poor care, lack of stimulation, and lack of natural light. The zoo is located in a shopping mall. The aquarium displays 500 species—including two polar bears, five walrus calves, six young beluga whales, and two Arctic wolves—in barren enclosures that are too small for them to engage in natural behavior. Spectators have reported that animals display symptoms of zoochosis. The walrus calves and beluga whales have been observed swimming in circles in their small tanks, and the bears, Arctic wolves, and foxes pace back and forth excessively and scratch at the walls. Many captive animals develop such neurotic and abnormal behavior as the result of literally being driven crazy by their confinement. Captive marine animals often die years earlier than their natural life spans from a wide variety of causes, including living in contaminated water, which might have caused the death of a grouper who was found dead inside a tank. The Grandview Aquarium, like all aquariums, is part of a billion-dollar industry built on the suffering of intelligent, social beings who are denied everything that is natural and important to them. Many Chinese citizens have spoken out against the animals' living conditions at the zoo, and a WeChat post about the appalling facility has gone viral. However, we need to raise more awareness to help put a stop to this cruel "attraction." Your help is urgently needed! Please sign our petition asking Cui Tiankai, ambassador of China to the U.S., to use his influence to close the Grandview Aquarium and ensure the welfare of the animals who are imprisoned there. ||||| Grandview has opened its doors again to Animals Asia and promises a better life for its animals – but its refusal to release them leaves us with a moral question, writes Dave Neale.

 See also:

 This Chinese mall has become a prison for animals

 Pressure increases on “World’s Saddest Zoo” after Animals Asia report

 The tragic polar bear that suffers for selfies

 "World's saddest zoo" bosses invite Animals Asia to discuss concerns

 Here’s the problem that we face every single day in working with captive animals in Asia. Threatening frequently changes little – while walking away changes nothing. Staying and talking and working together means there’s an on-going chance for positive change.

 But who wants to make talk and work with people who manage animals in ways that cause them to suffer?

 The answer is, we do.

 For many years Hanoi Zoo was a tragic place and was showing no signs of improvement and the truth is it is still far from acceptable with more needing to be done to improve the welfare of the animals. But by listening and talking and understanding attitudes and limited resources, we’ve helped. We talked them into unchaining elephants so they could walk around their enclosure. We built structures for bears and tigers to climb and rest on. We slowly converted concrete pits to spaces that at least had some appeal to the animals.

 We’ve made the animals’ lives worth living. And – after gaining their confidence over an extended period – they quietly told us they had listened and they would be closing their animal circus. We had talked them into doing it but we didn’t make them do it.

 That’s the context in which we met the bosses of Grandview – it is difficult for me to work with people that have chosen to house animals such as this bear in such poor conditions, but they were very open. This was our second meeting and this time I saw their facilities from top to bottom. There was no attempt to hide anything from me. We also spoke to more junior staff who actually look after the animals. And now I know that our concerns are theirs too. The day after our visit, following our basic recommendations, the bear keeper provided piles of snow for the bears and is now starting a programme of enrichment. We’re going to input into that for the bears and for the other animals too.

 Because the sad truth is, in this instance, we can’t immediately shut down Grandview. And they are unlikely to free this bear, or any of the other animals they house, at least not in the short-term.

 The pressure has been relentless. Even since I visited, the issue has reached wider media attention being reported here, here and here. And our petition has reached over 500,000 signatures.

 But while negative media coverage has upset them – that was why I was invited – unfortunately it hasn’t appeared to limit visitor numbers. Animal lovers may be boycotting the facility, but those less well aware of the issues are not. Commercially, any impact is not hurting. But please know that you are being heard and it is directly contributing to the opportunity to make these lives better.

 Of course, however, we run the risk by advising Grandview, of being seen as legitimising such conditions – but we can’t walk away.

 By continuing to talk and advise we can help make significant changes. Longer term we can keep talking in the right ears. There are animal lovers among the staff as distraught as we are about what we are seeing not just in Grandview but across China. They want to help.

 We want them to work with us and fight for what we believe in – and we have much to learn from each other. Not least about the wider captive animal industry in China of which this is just the tip of the iceberg.

 We hope one day that all of these animals can live in more natural surroundings – but in the meantime we won’t leave them to suffer. They have friends – millions of them, across the world.

 Make no mistake. Keeping animals in this way is not acceptable. We’ll keep helping, we’ll keep pushing for change. We do appreciate being listened to. We appreciate doors and minds being opened.

 If our experience has taught us anything – first you open doors, then you open cages.

 Dave Neale is Animals Asia’s Animal Welfare Director |||||

– His name is Pizza and he lives in a Chinese mall where visitors pose for selfies next to his glass enclosure and knock loudly to get his attention. Such is life when you're the "world's saddest polar bear," per the Daily Express. Pizza, a polar bear hybrid, is one of 500 animals living at Grandview Aquarium inside a Guangzhou shopping center, where critics say animals are housed in dimly lit rooms with few if any natural surroundings. PETA calls it "the saddest zoo in the world," asserting that animals "suffer from neglect, poor care, lack of stimulation, and lack of natural light." Foxes and wolves have been spotted pacing in their enclosures and scratching at walls, the group says. Animals Asia first drew international attention to the zoo earlier this year when it started a petition calling for the facility to be closed, reports Mashable and the Huffington Post. More than 270,000 people have added their signatures, leading zoo officials to adopt some of the group's recommendations, including putting snow in the polar bear enclosures, per a release. But more "significant changes" are needed, says Animals Asia's animal welfare director, Dave Neale. "Keeping animals in this way is not acceptable." Neale, who recently toured the facility and says Animals Asia has been asked to advise it, notes, "It is difficult for me to work with people that have chosen to house animals such as this bear in such poor conditions." But "if our experience has taught us anything—first you open doors, then you open cages." (A much-maligned zoo in Buenos Aires is shutting its doors.)