Article:

Image copyright AFP Image caption South Koreans have taken to the streets in mass demonstrations against Ms Park

 The scandal in South Korea involving President Park Geun-hye has taken an unexpected twist with news that Viagra has been found in her offices.

 Authorities found the pills - usually used to treat erectile dysfunction - while investigating corruption allegations against Ms Park.

 The government says the Viagra was bought to combat altitude sickness.

 The South Korean leader is accused of allowing her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to influence her decisions.

 The presidential office confirmed it bought 364 Viagra and similar generic pills to deal with altitude sickness on official trips to East Africa, although the pills were never used.

 The BBC's Stephen Evans in Seoul, says the discovery of Viagra will add an air of remoteness to the president. Many Koreans believe Ms Park is living in a "different world" which will exacerbate political pressure on her to resign.

 Some early rumours among Koreans alleged Ms Park could have been involved with cultish rituals with her friend Ms Choi.

 Ms Choi, a long-time friend of Ms Park's, is the daughter of Choi Tae-min, a shadowy quasi-religious leader who was closely linked to Ms Park's father, then-president Park Chung-hee.

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 Viagra and altitude sickness?

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Viagra is Pfizer's brand name for sildenafil

 The discovery of Viagra grew out of the drug UK92480, a new treatment for angina, a heart condition that constricts the vessels that supply the heart with blood.

 It failed in treating angina, but during drug trials many volunteers reported an unusual side effect - lots of erections. Scientists ran more tests and discovered its effectiveness at treating erectile dysfunction.

 Because of biological similarities between the lungs and penis, scientists also discovered it could help protect against pulmonary hypertension, common in climbers.

 At high altitudes decreased levels of oxygen can trigger high blood pressure in the lungs, which in extreme circumstance can be fatal.

 Viagra reduces high blood pressure and improves the transport of oxygen in the blood.

 Meanwhile, South Korean authorities have raided the offices of Samsung and the national pension fund as part of a corruption investigation linked to the president.

 They are probing whether Ms Park pressured the fund to support a Samsung merger, said the Yonhap news agency.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Investigators seized evidence at the National Pension Service

 Samsung's offices had already been raided over related allegations.

 Wednesday's raid had to do with a merger last year between the electronics giant's construction arm, Samsung C&T, and an affiliate firm, Cheil Industries.

 For weeks, tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in Seoul to demand Ms Park's resignation - a call she has resisted. ||||| Park Geun-hye’s aides say branded and generic versions were purchased to treat altitude sickness for staff on trips to elevated capitals in Africa

 South Korea President Park Geun-hye’s office has confirmed revelations by an opposition lawmaker that it purchased about 360 erectile dysfunction Viagra pills and the generic version of the drug in December.

 While the report has created a frenzy on the internet, Park’s office said the pills were bought to potentially treat altitude sickness for presidential aides and employees on Park’s May trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose capitals are thousands of metres above sea level.

 Turmoil in east Asia: sensitive moment for region unsettled by Trump Read more

 The pills were not used, said Jung Youn-kuk, spokesman of the presidential Blue House. South Korean doctors sometimes prescribe Viagra-style drugs to climbers because they are believed to be effective in preventing altitude sickness.

 The Viagra revelation comes as Park grapples with a massive political scandal.

 The president is now bracing for an impeachment push by opposition parties and some members of her own Saenuri party amid allegations that she let a secretive confidante manipulate government affairs and amass an illicit fortune, a scandal critics say undermines the country’s democracy.

 On Wednesday South Korean prosecutors raided offices of the Samsung Group and the state pension fund as the electronics giant was dragged further into the scandal engulfing Park.

 The raid comes as Samsung faces allegations it bribed Park’s confidant Choi Soon-Sil to win state approval for a controversial merger it sought in 2015.

 Prosecutors visited the group’s Future Strategy Office, which oversees key business decisions, the Yonhap news agency reported.

 A Samsung spokesman confirmed the visit by prosecutors but declined to elaborate.

 On Sunday prosecutors said they believed Park was collusively involved in the criminal activities of Choi and two presidential aides who allegedly bullied companies into giving tens of millions of dollars to foundations and businesses Choi controlled, and that Choi was allowed to interfere with state affairs.

 Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report |||||
What is a summary?

– If your political scandal lasts longer than four hours, maybe get rid of all that Viagra you've got stashed in the presidential office. The BBC reports authorities investigating South Korean president Park Geun-hye for corruption discovered more than 300 Viagra pills in her office. A spokesperson for Park tells Reuters the 364 pills—a combination of Viagra and a generic knockoff—were purchased last December to treat aides and employees for altitude sickness during Park's trip to Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya in May but never used. The Guardian notes that all three countries have capitals thousands of feet above sea level. Viagra can reportedly be effective against altitude sickness because it reduces blood pressure and improves oxygen transportation in the blood. But that didn't stop the discovery from causing a stir in South Korea, where Park is facing potential impeachment efforts. Park is accused of letting a friend have influence over government decisions and pressuring businesses to give money to foundations that support her policies. There are also rumors that Park was involved in "cultish rituals." Thousands have been protesting and calling for her to step down in recent weeks. A BBC reporter says the discovery of the Viagra will "add an air of remoteness" to Park, who many already see as living in a "different world."


Here is a news article: On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel addressed the sad news that Toys’R’Us will be closing all of its locations in the near future.

 “Toys’R’Us is closing all 735 of their stores and they’re putting Babies’R’Us up for adoption,” Kimmel joked. “I’ll tell ya, I’ll always remember Toys’R’Us as the store where my children had a complete and total meltdown every time we went there. I guess people don’t enjoy that anymore, they buy toys online now.”

 Kimmel added that Amazon “will not rest” until every other store is an “abandoned warehouse teeming with raccoons.”

 But then an unexpected visitor stopped by the show. It was Geoffrey the Giraffe, the Toys’R’Us mascot.

 “I have a question for everyone here,” Geoffrey the Giraffe said. “Do you guys like toys? Well, I don’t have any because we’re bankrupt!”

 Geoffrey the Giraffe began sobbing. Kimmel attempted to comfort the mascot, telling him everything was going to be “okay.”

 “No it’s not!” Geoffrey the Giraffe shouted. “No it’s not because all of you b*tches bought toys on Amazon! Now I’m out of a job!”

 “Geoffrey, your breath smells a little bit like alcohol,” Kimmel observed. “Are you drunk? Tell me the truth.”

 “YES. I’m drunk,” Geoffrey the Giraffe responded.

 The mascot then began singing the old “I’m a Toys’R’Us Kid” jingle.

 “This is the saddest thing I have ever seen,” Kimmel reacted.

 Kimmel then asked his security guard/sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez to escort out and “maybe get him another drink or something.”

 “Cheer up, Geoffrey,” Kimmel told the mascot on his way out.

 Watch the clip above, via ABC.

 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Published on Mar 16, 2018

 Toys 'R' Us is going out of business and is closing all 735 of their stores. There are many people who are upset about this, including Geoffrey the Giraffe who stopped by the studio to share his feelings on the situation.

 Jake Byrd at Trump Fundraiser in Los Angeles https://youtu.be/YplVZg7TsMo

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 Some of Kimmel's most popular comedy bits include - Mean Tweets, Lie Witness News, Jimmy's Twerk Fail Prank, Unnecessary Censorship, YouTube Challenge, The Baby Bachelor, Movie: The Movie, Handsome Men's Club, Jimmy Kimmel Lie Detective and music videos like "I (Wanna) Channing All Over Your Tatum" and a Blurred Lines parody with Robin Thicke, Pharrell, Jimmy and his security guard Guillermo.

 Now in its sixteenth season, Kimmel's guests have included: Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Halle Berry, Harrison Ford, Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Katy Perry, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, George Clooney, Larry David, Charlize Theron, Mark Wahlberg, Kobe Bryant, Steve Carell, Hugh Jackman, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Garner, Ryan Gosling, Bryan Cranston, Jamie Foxx, Amy Poehler, Ben Affleck, Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Oprah, and unfortunately Matt Damon.

 Geoffrey the Giraffe Despondent Over Toys 'R' Us Closing

 https://youtu.be/Cslmj9S3huQ |||||
A summary of this is?

– One of the 33,000 jobs now at risk with Toys R Us shutting or selling more than 700 US stores is that of mascot—and Geoffrey the Giraffe is not taking the news well. A "drunk" Geoffrey turned up on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, asking the audience, "Do you guys like toys? Well, I don’t have any because we're bankrupt!" Breaking into sobs, the giraffe complained, "All of you b----es bought toys on Amazon! Now I'm out of a job!" Geoffrey then broke into song, with Kimmel calling his rendition of an old Toys R Us jingle "the saddest thing I have ever seen," per Mediaite. Kimmel added, "Maybe Target has something for you."


Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio gestures to the crowd while delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland. (John Moore)

 As Joseph Arpaio’s federal case headed toward trial this past spring, President Trump wanted to act to help the former Arizona county sheriff who had become a campaign-trail companion and a partner in their crusade against illegal immigration.

 The president asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions whether it would be possible for the government to drop the criminal case against Arpaio, but was advised that would be inappropriate, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation.

 After talking with Sessions, Trump decided to let the case go to trial, and if Arpaio was convicted, he could grant clemency.

 So the president waited, all the while planning to issue a pardon if Arpaio was found in contempt of court for defying a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people merely because he suspected them of being undocumented immigrants. Trump was, in the words of one associate, “gung-ho about it.”

 “We knew the president wanted to do this for some time now and had worked to prepare for whenever the moment may come,” said one White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the action.

 President Trump pardoned former Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff Joe Arpaio Aug. 25. Here’s what you need to know. (Patrick Martin,Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

 Responding to questions about Trump’s conversation with Sessions, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “It’s only natural the president would have a discussion with administration lawyers about legal matters. This case would be no different.”

 The Justice Department declined to comment.

 Trump’s Friday-evening decision to issue his first pardon for Arpaio was the culmination of a five-year political friendship with roots in the “birther” movement to undermine President Barack Obama. In an extraordinary exercise of presidential power, Trump bypassed the traditional review process to ensure that Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court, would face no time in prison.

 [Read Trump’s pardon of former Arizona county sheriff Arpaio]

 Trump’s pardon, issued without consulting the Justice Department, raised a storm of protest over the weekend, including from some fellow Republicans, and threatens to become a stain on the president’s legacy. His effort to see if the case could be dropped showed a troubling disregard for the traditional wall between the White House and the Justice Department, and taken together with similar actions could undermine respect for the rule of law, experts said.

 Arpaio faced up to six months in prison and was due to be sentenced in October. During his 23 years as Maricopa County sheriff, Arpaio was a lightning rod, in part because of his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigrants. He also was accused of racial profiling, failure to investigate sex crimes, poor treatment of prisoners and other instances of police misconduct.

 To Trump, however, Arpaio is an American hero — a man who enlisted in the military at 18 after the outbreak of the Korean War, worked as a beat cop in Washington and Las Vegas and as a special agent investigating drug crimes around the world, then was elected sheriff in the epicenter of the nation’s roiling immigration debate.

 Joe Arpaio's illegal-immigration crackdown made him a polarizing figure and an early ally of President Trump. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

 Arpaio’s age weighed on Trump, some of his confidants said. The 71-year-old president could not stomach seeing an 85-year-old he admired as a law-and-order icon wasting away in a jail cell.

 Trump’s spring inquiry about intervening in Arpaio’s case is consistent with his alleged attempts to influence the federal investigation of Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser. Trump also made separate appeals in March to Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

 [Trump pardons former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio]

 Trump’s pardon of Arpaio “was his backhand way of doing what he wanted to do at the front end,” said Robert Bauer, a former White House counsel in the Obama administration. “He just wanted to kill the prosecution off. He couldn’t do it the one way, so he ended up doing it the other way. This is just another vivid demonstration of how far removed from an appropriate exercise of the pardon power this was.”

 Presidents can set law enforcement priorities, but they are expected to steer clear of involvement in specific cases to avoid the perception of politicizing the impartial administration of justice.

 Trump backed off the Arpaio case after being advised it would be inappropriate, but that he even tried is “beyond the pale,” said Chiraag Bains, a former senior counsel in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

 Bains said he believes Trump “has a sense that the chief executive controls everything in the executive branch, including the exercise of criminal power. And that is just not the way the system is set up.”

 Trump and Arpaio became brothers in arms five years ago. As they saw it, the two provocateurs — one a celebrity real estate developer, the other a polarizing sheriff — were pursuing justice in the form of supposed evidence that Obama’s birth certificate was fraudulent.

 As caretakers of the false “birther” conspiracy, Trump and Arpaio relentlessly probed Obama’s birth in Hawaii and nurtured a lie to damage the legitimacy of the nation’s first African American president.

 “There was no collusion,” Arpaio said in an interview Saturday. “I started my birth certificate investigation around the same time he did his.”

 [Trump admits Obama was born in U.S. but falsely blames Clinton for rumors]

 The Manhattan mogul sent Arpaio a fan letter and flattered him on social media. “Congratulations to @RealSheriffJoe on his successful Cold Case Posse investigation which claims @BarackObama’s ‘birth certificate’ is fake,” Trump tweeted in 2012.

 Three years later, in July 2015, when Trump swooped into Arpaio’s hometown of Phoenix for the first mega-rally of his upstart presidential campaign, the sheriff returned the favor by testifying on stage to “the silent majority” that Trump had begun to awaken.

 Backstage at that rally, Arpaio recalled, the two men talked about their shared birthday — June 14, which is Flag Day. Their friendship blossomed and Arpaio became a fan favorite at Trump rallies. “I had a gut feeling that he was going to win,” Arpaio said.

 Even as Trump went on to win last November, however, Arpaio lost his reelection — and that was the least of his troubles.

 Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Arpaio last October. Trump was paying attention to the case and he called Arpaio to check in on him around Thanksgiving, according to the former sheriff. That’s when Arpaio told the president-elect that his wife, Ava, had cancer.

 On July 31, Arpaio was convicted by a judge, as opposed to a jury. Arpaio and his lawyer, Mark Goldman, said they did not contact Trump during this period, nor ask anyone in the administration for a pardon.

 “I didn’t ask for the pardon,” Arpaio said. “He wanted to do it because I think he understood what I was going through.”

 Inside the West Wing, the pardon process was set in motion. Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, who had gotten to know Arpaio through their work on immigration policy during the campaign, advocated internally for the pardon, as did chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

 The White House Counsel’s Office had quietly begun preparing the paperwork and communications staffers had started drawing up talking points when Trump foreshadowed his intentions Aug. 15 by retweeting a Fox News story reporting that the president was “seriously considering” pardoning Arpaio.

 Around the same time, Arpaio received a call from the White House Counsel’s Office asking whether he would accept a pardon if one were issued. He told the presidential lawyer that he would, according to Goldman.

 [As Trump ranted and rambled in Phoenix, his crowd slowly thinned]

 The drumbeat culminated Tuesday when Trump returned to the Phoenix Convention Center — the site of the July 2015 rally — for a “Make America Great Again” campaign event.

 As Air Force One rumbled toward Arizona, Sanders tried to douse speculation by telling reporters that the president would have “no discussion” and “no action” pertaining to Arpaio at the rally.

 Arpaio said he was eager to attend the rally and visit with the president backstage, but decided, “I didn’t want to cause any harm or riots, so I stayed away, which really hurt me.”

 When Arpaio heard Sanders say Trump would not talk about a pardon, he said he turned to his wife and told her, “Don’t believe anything you hear because I know how he is.”

 Sure enough, Trump bellowed from the stage, “I’m just curious: Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe?”

 The crowd burst into applause.

 “Was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?” Trump asked.

 More applause.

 “He should have had a jury, but you know what? I’ll make a prediction,” the president said. “I won’t do it tonight, because I don’t want to cause any controversy. . . But Sheriff Joe can feel good.”

 Arpaio and his legal team did not feel very good the next night, when they read a CBS News report that Trump was being advised not to pardon Arpaio until after his sentencing.

 Goldman wrote a two-page letter to White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II, sent on Friday morning, saying, “Hopefully this is more fake news,” and telling McGahn that a delay until after sentencing “would place Sheriff Arpaio in an untenable and unprecedented position.”

 [Read a letter from Arpaio’s lawyer to White House Counsel McGahn]

 Without a pardon, Goldman said, Arpaio could be “sentenced, handcuffed, given a ‘perp walk’ and incarcerated” and “left to languish in federal custody.”

 McGahn did not immediately reply, but a few hours later, at about 6:30 p.m. D.C. time, another lawyer in his office called Goldman’s co-counsel to double-check that Arpaio would accept a pardon. A few minutes later, an email arrived from the White House with a single page attachment: an “Executive Grant of Clemency” for Arpaio signed by Trump in his thick, black script, complete with a golden Justice Department seal.

 Goldman printed out three copies of the document and drove out to Arpaio’s home in Fountain Hills, a suburb of Phoenix, where the former sheriff was getting ready to take his wife to dinner at Arrivederci, an Italian restaurant, to celebrate Ava’s 86th birthday.

 “Of course, his first question was, ‘Is this a fake document?’ ” Goldman recalled. “We know the sheriff has looked into fake documents.”

 The Arpaios still went out for their spaghetti dinner. As of Saturday, Arpaio had not heard from Trump personally, but said if the president were to call he would advise him to take a lesson from his Arizona adventures.

 “If they can do it to me, they can do it to anybody, including the president of the United States,” Arpaio said. Alluding to the Russia probe, he said, “He’s been under a lot of fire right now, him and his family, and I’ve been through the fire quite a while.” ||||| It was a Friday night news dump like rarely seen before: President Donald Trump's administration announced a series of polarizing decisions that had been under discussions for weeks, just as a hurricane bore down on the Texas coast.

 Trump privately had signaled for weeks he would pardon Joe Arpaio, praising the former Arizona sheriff's loyalty and telling at least one adviser that his base wanted it badly.

 Story Continued Below

 Seb Gorka, a national security aide, was on the outs with chief of staff John Kelly after criticizing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on TV earlier in August. Kelly had told others Gorka had no future in the White House, and Gorka had aligned himself closely with now ousted chief strategist Steve Bannon.

 And Trump's top advisers had scrambled to write implementation orders for the military transgender ban for several weeks, after Trump startled lawyers and advisers with tweets they considered ill-advised and had warned against.

 The pardon, the exit and the guidelines all came on Friday evening, as a ferocious hurricane barreled down the Texas coastline, dizzying chyron operators and buzzing phones across Washington. White House aides and advisers said it was coordinated to handle polarizing decisions that were sure to alienate various constituencies.

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 "With a natural disaster on the horizon, you have one shot at the public seeing the news and then they quickly move on to more important issues," said Mark Corallo, a veteran consultant who briefly worked for Trump's White House. "It is Washington PR 101."

 The Arpaio pardon was the most contentious within Trump's White House. More moderate advisers and aides had tried to talk Trump out of pardoning the convicted ex-sheriff, who ran sweltering, punishing jails where inmates died and was accused of targeting Latino residents. Trump had floated announcing the pardon at a rally in Arizona Tuesday night, but was persuaded to hold off.

 One White House adviser said it wasn't a "matter of if he was going to do it, it was a matter of when." So it was announced Friday evening even though sentencing was months away.

 The move surprised top officials at the Justice Department, this adviser said, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to describe private discussions.

 The pardon was met with swift and widespread condemnation, drawing comparisons with Bill Clinton's infamous pardon of Marc Rich. The two Republican senators from Arpaio's home state of Arizona, John McCain and Jeff Flake, suggested the move showed a lack of respect by Trump for law and order.

 "The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions," McCain said in a statement.

 Democrats were harsher.

 "Joe Arpaio ignored the courts of law in order to systemically target Latinos in AZ. Definition of racism and bigotry," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on Twitter, adding Trump "ran to Camp David" to "use the cover of Hurricane Harvey to avoid scrutiny."

 "So sad, so weak," Schumer tweeted, parroting two of Trump's favorite put-downs.

 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Saturday that the Justice Department "found that for years Sheriff Arpaio systematically violated the civil rights of the people he was charged with serving and protecting. President Trump indicates that he approves of that behavior with last night’s decision, which will only serve to deepen the divisions in our country.”

 Republican strategist Alex Conant, a former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla), said that while "there are a lot of Republicans that want to support the president," the pardon "goes against a lot of what Republicans have traditionally stood for."

 Trump knew the move would rankle Flake and McCain and be popular with his base, said one adviser who speaks with him often. And Trump often saw the sheriff on TV defending himself and the president, and came to believe the conviction was unfair.

 Corallo said those who disliked Trump would dislike him regardless, but the pardon would energize many in the base — and that the president acted well within his authority.

 "It was a politicized persecution by the Obama Justice Department," said Tom Fitton, who leads the conservative group Judicial Watch. "The president has a very different understanding than the establishment class. He creates absolute hysteria in his opponents. Absolute hysteria."

 Gorka's dismissal had been simmering for weeks, and several officials said it had to happen at some point. He was increasingly isolated in the White House, with many officials unsure what he did other than go on TV to praise the president.

 Gorka issued a resignation letter that criticized the White House for taking a new direction and installing too many aides who didn't align with the president's "Make America Great Again" vision, imploring Trump to shift direction. But the White House quickly disputed that he resigned, even sending a note to surrogates so they would spread the message that the exit was not voluntary.

 "Hopefully no one remembers Seb Gorka by this time next week," one White House official said Saturday morning. But others close to the White House noted that Gorka was well-liked by the president and is popular among the nationalists who helped propel Trump to victory.

 Gorka did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

 The announcement likely to have the widest impact are the guidelines for his ban on transgenders in the military. It was another issue the White House knew it had to address but would create a firestorm when it landed. Trump had tweeted his decision to issue the ban in July without any policy guidance, and it caught even some top White House officials by surprise.

 There was no clear word on whether transgenders already in the military could continue to serve or how the ban would be enforced.

 The president, after his declaration, was persuaded in discussions to leave transgenders serving in the military alone, but the guidelines once again alighted a firestorm over a social issue.

 Conant said with the changing direction of news, it is unclear whether dumping news on Friday evening — a longtime strategy — would blunt its impact like it once did. There may be some residual effect from news they hoped would wash away with the hurricane, he said.

 "Controversies build over time," Conant said. "The announcements you made on Friday night, you can still be dealing with next week."

 Emily Goldberg contributed to this report. ||||| While criticism of President Trump's moves could be expected from Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer (right), some Republicans such as Sen. John McCain also registered their disapproval. | Mandel Ngan/Getty Images Schumer, Ryan criticize Trump for Arpaio pardon

 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sharply criticized President Donald Trump's Friday pardon of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his directive to halt recruitment of transgender troops Friday — just as Hurricane Harvey was barreling towards the Texas coastline.

 "As millions of people in TX and LA are prepping for the Hurricane, the President is using the cover of the storm to pardon a man who violated a court's order to stop discriminating against Latinos and Ban courageous transgender men and women from serving in our nation's Armed Forces," Schumer posted in a series of tweets.

 Story Continued Below

 "Then he ran to Camp David. The only reason to do these right now is to use the cover of Hurricane Harvey to avoid scrutiny. So sad, so weak."

 In a separate tweet, Schumer blasted Arpaio, known for his aggressive treatment of Latinos in Arizona.

 "Joe Arpaio ignored the courts of law in order to systematically target Latinos in AZ. The definition of racism and bigotry," Schumer posted.

 While criticism of Trump's moves could be expected from Democrats, some Republicans also registered their disapproval.

 A spokesman said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) opposed the pardon. He was the highest-ranking Republican lawmaker to do so.

 “The speaker does not agree with the decision,” Ryan spokesman Doug Andres said in a statement. “Law-enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.”

 Both GOP senators from Arizona, John McCain and Jeff Flake, also disagreed with Trump's pardon, which the president had floated publicly at a rally in their state on Tuesday.

 “The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions," McCain wrote in a statement.

 McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, also knocked Trump's directive to ban transgender people from joining the military. It gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wide latitude to determine whether already-enlisted transgender troops would be allowed to continue to serve.

 "It would be a step in the wrong direction to force currently serving transgender individuals to leave the military solely on the basis of their gender identity rather than medical and readiness standards that should always be at the heart of Department of Defense personnel policy," McCain said in a statement. "The Pentagon’s ongoing study on this issue should be completed before any decisions are made with regard to accession."

 Flake limited his criticism to Trump's Apraio pardon, albeit more tepidly than McCain.

 "Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the president honor the judicial process and let it take its course," Flake tweeted on Friday night.

 California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, also denounced the pardon.

 “The Justice Department ... found that for years Sheriff Arpaio systematically violated the civil rights of the people he was charged with serving and protecting," Feinstein said in a statement Saturday. "President Trump indicates that he approves of that behavior with last night’s decision, which will only serve to deepen the divisions in our country.”

 And Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, blasted both of Trump’s Friday actions. “Ultimately, his decisions signal that Trump allies are above the law and make it clear that bigotry will be rewarded and condoned by the Trump administration,” she said in a statement Saturday.

 Kyle Cheney contributed to this report. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– President Trump's intervention in Joe Arpaio's fate dates back well before he announced the controversial pardon of the former Arizona sheriff on Friday, reports the Washington Post. Citing White House sources, the Post reports that Trump reached out to AG Jeff Sessions this past spring to see if the government could drop the criminal case against Arpaio, but "was advised that would be inappropriate." Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed Trump's inquiry, calling it "only natural the president would have a discussion with administration lawyers about legal matters." Trump acquiesced, but planned to issue the pardon in the event of a conviction, which came at the end of July. "We knew the president wanted to do this for some time now," one White House staffer tells the Post. Another adviser tells Politico it wasn't a "matter of if he was going to do it, it was a matter of when." Despite his earlier inquiry, Trump issued the pardon without telling the Justice Department, which had no comment; Politico characterizes top officials there as surprised by the move. A former Obama counsel calls it "his backhand way of doing what he wanted to do at the front end," and a "vivid demonstration of how far removed from an appropriate exercise of the pardon power this was." Republicans including Arizona's senators have condemned the pardon, and Paul Ryan has joined their number, reports Politico, saying via a rep that he "does not agree with the decision." As for Arpaio himself, whom the Post characterizes as Trump's brother in arms in birtherism, "I didn't ask for the pardon," he says. "He wanted to do it because I think he understood what I was going through."


Summarize this article:

The twin sisters who shot each other at a gun range meant to kill each other in a suicide pact investigators have concluded.

 One of the 29 year old Australian women died, the other is now in stable condition. The incident happened at a gun range near Denver, Colorado.

 Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement:

 Based on the physical evidence collected, the surviving sister’s statement, and video surveillance footage from the shooting center the [the sheriff's department] believes that this incident was indeed a suicide and attempted suicide.

 Security camera video reveals the women fell to the floor of the booth they had rented almost at the same time. They had been firing small caliber handguns for almost 90 minutes. Witnesses said they seem to be normal and having a good time.

 The women were visiting on cultural visas and have traveled to the U.S. and Canada regularly. Family and friends were at a loss to explain the suicide pact.

 The Family Shooting Center inside Cherry Creek State Park was the scene of the horrific shooting.

 Police have not named the women, whose parents flew from Australia to help identify which one was killed because of their similarities. The survivor’s condition was upgraded from critical to stable.

 The Denver Post has more details.

 Photo from: Kevitivity ||||| The twin sisters made a pact to commit suicide together in Colorado on the last day before one of them would be required to return to home to Australia.

 The 29-year-olds each put a 22-caliber pistol to her head and pulled the triggers simultaneously at the Family Shooting Center at Cherry Creek State Park Monday afternoon.

 One sister fell dead, and Thursday morning the other had recovered enough to tell investigators what happened.

 But she would not say why during the emotional two-hour interview.

 "We asked that question several times, and each time she declined to answer," said Capt. Louie Perea, of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department. "Obviously we can't make her tell us that."

 He characterized her as "devastated, frustrated, distraught, angry at times."

 Her parents are scheduled to arrive in Colorado Friday.

 The Sheriff's Department will not release the names until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conclusively confirms the identity of the dead woman through fingerprints. The federal agency had not complied with the request Thursday.

 Washington state resident Jacky Sole said the twins were her cousins, but she asked that their names not be published until authorities made the official announcement.

 A copy of the search warrant for their hotel room obtained by Fox 31 News listed their names as Candace and Kristin Hermeler.

 Sole said they did not have other siblings, and both were unmarried.

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 Sole did not know her cousins were in Colorado, but said they had visited the United States often in the past, usually traveling independently then meeting up once they arrived.

 They received two degrees each from universities in Australia but had traveled extensively since, sometimes living and working in the United States and Canada for short periods.

 "Once in a blue moon they would e-mail their mom and say, 'We're OK,'" Sole said.

 One of the sisters was outgoing and the other quiet and reserved, she said. Their parents had moved to a suburb fo Melbourne from South Africa in the 1970s, she said.

 Investigators said one of the sisters arrived in the United States in August and the other in September. One was scheduled to return home Tuesday, when her 90-day cultural exchange visa expired, and the other was to return on Dec. 8, Perea said.

 They had been in Colorado about five weeks.

 On Monday afternoon, they took a cab from their motel in the Denver Tech Center to the shooting range in Cherry Creek State Park, about six miles away.

 They had been to the range before, the shooting range's owner said earlier this week.

 They rented two pistols, one a revolver and the other a semi-automatic, and told the staff they were familiar with using.

 They shot at targets for about 80 minutes before turning the guns on themselves.

 A surveillance video shows the women fall backwards simultaneously from the shooting stall, but it did not show the actual shooting.

 Investigators confiscated their luggage from the hotel, but found nothing unusual and did not find a suicide note, Perea said.

 The surviving twin remains in serious but stable condition at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.

 The incident marked at least the seventh suicide involving rented guns at U.S. shooting ranges this year, and the third at the Family Shooting Center since 2004.

 Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com. |||||

– The 29-year-old Australian twins shot at a firing range in Colorado meant to kill each other in a suicide pact, sheriff's officials said. Witnesses say the twins were shooting and chatting for about 90 minutes when they suddenly fell to the floor of the booth they occupied. Both had gunshot wounds to the head. One died, and the other is hospitalized but was able to speak with authorities today. "Based on the physical evidence collected, the surviving sister's statements, and video surveillance footage from the shooting center, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office believes that this incident was indeed a suicide and attempted suicide," said a statement. More details here or at the Denver Post.


Summarize this article:

CLOSE The flu vaccine may only be 36% effective, but it could significantly decrease your chance of a heart attack. Tony Spitz has the details. Buzz60

 A nurse prepares a flu shot at the Salvation Army in Atlanta. The CDC is still recommending flu shots. (Photo: David Goldman, AP)

 The worst flu season in a decade is still not over, with 13 new children deaths reported after more than three months of unusually persistent misery across the U.S.

 The numbers were "encouraging," especially the data showing a decline in visits to the doctor's office for anyone with flu-like symptoms, said CDC spokeswoman Kristin Nordlund. These visits made up 6.4% of trips to the doctor, down from 7.5% of visits the previous week.

 "It looks like we may have reached the peak of flu season," says Nordlund.

 The decrease in child deaths from 22 the week before by itself was not necessarily a sign the severe flu season was abating, however, as each week's total from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes deaths from earlier in the season.

 Even though there was a decrease in the number of states reporting high levels of flu, more than half of the country is still reporting high levels of activity. There was also an increase in reports of the less deadly B strain.

 That leads Nordlund to note, "it looks like we still have many more weeks of flu season to go," adding that it could last until mid-April.

 The flu remained widespread in 48 states, according to the CDC's latest report Friday. In the last severe flu season, during 2014-2015, 148 children died. The flu also killed an estimated 56,000 people, mostly older adults, that season.

 Most of the children who have died this year, as in past years, have not been vaccinated. The CDC does not keep exact counts of adult flu deaths.

 All 10 regions reported flu-like illness reports that were at or above baseline levels in the areas. New York City, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and 39 states experienced high flu-like visits.

 It's definitely not too late to get a flu shot, which remains highly recommended. "As long as flu is circulating," you can catch the flu so the vaccine is recommended.

 More:

 Tips for avoiding the flu while traveling

 This is why this flu season is so serious

 Fighting the flu? This technology tries to help you get well faster

 This year's flu vaccines are preventing about 36% of flu cases in vaccinated people but are working better, at a rate of about 59%, in young children, according to the CDC. The vaccines are about 25% less effective at preventing illnesses caused by the dominant virus behind this year's epidemic, CDC reported last week.

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2HIcKWW ||||| NEW YORK -- Could this nasty flu season finally be winding down? U.S. health officials on Friday said fewer visits to the doctor last week were for fever, cough and other flu symptoms than during the previous two weeks. Flu-like illnesses accounted for 1 out of 16 doctor visits last week, while the number of states reporting high patient traffic for the flu also dropped, to 39 from 43.

 Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they're cautious about saying flu season has peaked but called the downturn encouraging.

 "It does like the peak is behind us now," said Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the CDC's Influenza Division. Even so, he warned, "there is certainly a fair amount of influenza to go this season -- probably until mid-April."

 Flu season usually peaks in February, but this season started early and surged for months. It has been driven by a formidable type of flu that tends to cause more hospitalizations and deaths. This year's flu vaccine is estimated to be only 25 percent effective against the H3N2 virus.

 "H3N2 affects more older folks, with very high hospitalization and death rates," Jernigan said, while influenza B, which is now becoming more prevalent, tends to affect younger people. Overall, the flu vaccine has been more effective for children than adults this year, reducing illness by 59 percent among kids ages 6 months to 8 years old.

 The CDC reports 13 more children died of the flu last week, bringing the number of pediatric flu deaths to 97 this season.

 Even at this point in the season, health officials recommend people get a flu shot if they haven't already.

 "There's still, potentially, eight weeks left of the flu season, and the CDC is saying, 'go and get the flu shot,'" CBS News' chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook said recently. "Overall, about a third of the people who got the flu vaccine were protected, but in kids under 9, almost two-thirds were protected against influenza." ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 Feb. 23, 2018, 6:00 PM GMT / Updated Feb. 23, 2018, 9:36 PM GMT By Maggie Fox

 Work started this week on next season’s flu vaccine, with experts working off forecasts about which strains of the influenza virus will be making the rounds.

 But don't expect any improvements.

 Flu experts are already admitting that most vaccines will give at best mediocre protection, because they’re based on outdated technology.

 It’s not a new problem, but one that the slow-moving world of drug and vaccine production seems helpless to improve upon.

 “You can’t change on the drop of a dime,” said Scott Hensley of the University of Pennsylvania, an influenza virus expert.

 The process of making flu vaccines starts months before the actual flu season gets under way because it takes a long time to make them using the current technology.

 A yearly cocktail

 In February, global flu experts gather to trade notes on what viruses are circulating in different countries and to come to a consensus on which strains the next vaccines should be formulated to target.

 Every flu vaccine is a cocktail, aimed at either three or four of the most common flu strains. Flu vaccines must be reformulated every year, because flu viruses mutate constantly in a process called antigenic drift.

 In recent years, flu vaccines have been based on H1N1, H3N2 and either one or two strains of influenza B virus. Each of these has a “reference” strain that has particular mutations to match the current drift.

 This week, experts at the World Health Organization chose the new reference strains.

 These strains are used to make seed virus. Producers inject the seed strains into eggs and incubate them as the virus grows. Then they purify the virus, and either weaken it or kill it to make a vaccine.

 Using eggs is a tricky and unpredictable process. Sometimes the virus doesn’t grow well in eggs, which can mean less vaccine than anticipated. And Hensley’s lab identified several mutations that occur when flu viruses are grown in eggs as part of the vaccine-making process.

 In fact, the viruses must mutate to grow in eggs, Hensley said. In some cases, the mutations make little difference in the vaccine-making process.

 But in recent years, the H3N2 strains have mutated in a way that makes them harder for the human immune system to see. “The egg-adapted strains all have the mutation,” Hensley said.

 Why egg-based vaccines don't work well

 The result is a flu vaccine that doesn’t offer much protection. In part because of the egg mutations, this year’s flu vaccine only has provided about 36 percent protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. And the vaccine was overall only 25 percent protective against H3N2, meaning it lowered the risk of developing illness serious enough to go see a doctor by 25 percent.

 The goal for most vaccines is 90 percent or better protection against illness.

 “As long as we have eggs we are going to have this problem,” Hensley said — and other flu vaccine experts agree.

 “The only solution is not to depend on eggs,” Hensley said.

 There are two flu vaccines on the U.S. market that do not use eggs: Flucelvax, which is grown in canine kidney cells, and FluBlok, which uses an insect virus called a baculovirus grown in caterpillar cells.

 One study published last year suggested FluBlok might have worked better than at least one of the other vaccines on the market in past year. But CDC officials say they don’t have enough data to say whether it consistently protects people better, and they do not know enough to recommend one vaccine over another.

 "We're hoping this year to find out whether or not there's a performance difference between cell-based vaccines and the egg-based vaccines," the CDC's Dr. Daniel Jernigan told NBC News.

 “The only solution is not to depend on eggs"

 "Hopefully through our vaccine effectiveness networks we'll get some of that information, but it would be good to see if there is a performance difference between those vaccines."

 Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said his agency also has some “preliminary” indication that cell-based vaccines might have been more effective during the current season.

 “Scientists at the FDA, CDC, and NIH are working diligently to fully understand the basis for this finding, so that all of next year’s vaccines can provide better protection in preventing the flu,” he said in a statement.

 “Better understanding why the cell-based vaccine offered better protection against H3N2 this season, when compared to the egg-based vaccine, may offer important clues to help improve the production of a more effective H3N2 vaccine for next season."

 There are other reasons besides eggs that flu vaccines might not work well. The most common circulating viruses might mutate after the WHO chooses its reference strains in February. The mix of what’s circulating might change, also, and the clunky vaccine manufacturing process doesn’t allow for makers to switch gears once they’ve started.

 Flu is a major killer. The CDC estimates that between 140,000 and 700,000 people get sick enough from flu every year in the U.S. to need hospital care, and the annual flu epidemic kills anywhere from 12,000 to 56,000 people a year, depending on how bad the flu season is.

 The 2017-2018 season has been a severe one, hitting the entire U.S. with widespread influenza activity at once for weeks on end, and killing 97 children so far.

 Against this threat, even a lousy flu vaccine is better than no vaccine. “Even an egg-based vaccine is better than nothing,” said Hensley. “Even when you have these mismatches it will not prevent infection but likely prevent disease severity.”

 One piece of news for next season’s vaccine: the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) agreed to once again support the use of FluMist, the only needle-free vaccine on the U.S. market. FluMist is spritzed up the nose and it’s doubly different from other vaccines because it uses a “live” virus – one that is weakened so that it causes a very mild infection to protect against flu.

 It’s been off the U.S. market for two years because it inexplicably did not protect people well against the H1N1 virus. Its maker, AstraZeneca subsidiary MedImmune, has tried a different reference strain virus for FluMist’s H1N1 component and says it works better.

 In past years, FluMist appeared to work better than injected vaccines in kids, and was recommended as preferred for kids. ACIP said it could not make that recommendation for the coming season as there are no studies to show whether it protects anyone better in a real-life flu epidemic.

 All of these troubles mean that the world really just needs a much better flu vaccine.

 “Ultimately, developing a universal influenza vaccine that provides protection against many different strains of flu from year-to-year would be ideal,” Gottlieb said.

 But don’t look for it next season.

 “The reality of such a vaccine is likely to still be several years away,” Gottlieb said. |||||

– "It does like the peak is behind us now," CBS News quotes Dr. Dan Jernigan as saying. But the director of the CDC's Influenza Division says that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet, warning there's still "a fair amount of influenza to go." Jernigan says this flu season, which has been the worst in a decade, could continue until mid-April. And despite signs the flu is finally letting up, it's still doing plenty of damage. The share of doctor's visits related to the flu dropped from 7.5% last to week to 6.4% this week, USA Today reports. And the number of states with high patient traffic related to the flu dropped from 43 to 39. Another 13 children were reported dead from the flu this week—bringing the total this flu season to 97—but that's down from the 22 child deaths reported last week. While this year's flu vaccine is only 36% effective overall, it's 59% effective in children. Most the of children reported killed by the flu this week had not been vaccinated, and experts say parents should still be getting their children vaccinated even this far into the flu season. Meanwhile, NBC News looks at why experts believe next year's flu vaccine will be mediocre at best.


News article:

North Korean authorities reportedly have arrested several hundred relatives of the recently deposed uncle of the nation’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un.

 The Daily NK newspaper reports that a source in the North Korean capitol city of Pyongyang said the arrests occurred on Dec. 13, a day after Jang Song-thaek was executed for a variety of crimes against the state.

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 "They took away a few hundred people," the source told the Daily NK. "At around 10 p.m. on the night of [December] 13, the day after Jang was executed, armed men from the Ministry of State Security arrived in the Pyongchon area of Pyongyang, where a lot of his relatives lived."

 "It was not just his close relatives who were taken away, but distant members of his family too, like relatives of his father.”

 Song-thaek was a leading official in North Korea before his death, and married to the only sister of Kim Jong-il, the nation’s former supreme leader and the father of Kim Jong-un.

 The Telegraph reports Song-thaek was charged with 24 crimes, from "gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party" to "dreaming different dreams."

 He was also reportedly charged with "creating illusion about himself," to "committing irregularities and corruption that led to a dissolute and depraved life," having "improper relations with several women" and "squandering foreign currency at casinos.”

 The Daily NK is run by defectors from the totalitarian regime and focuses on North Korean news and affairs. ||||| SEOUL, South Korea — The execution of the uncle of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, had its roots in a firefight between forces loyal to Mr. Kim and those supporting the man who was supposed to be his regent, according to accounts that are being pieced together by South Korean and American officials. The clash was over who would profit from North Korea’s most lucrative exports: coal, clams and crabs.

 North Korean military forces were deployed to retake control of one of the sources of those exports, the rich crab and clam fishing grounds that Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the country’s untested, 30-year-old leader, had seized from the military. In the battle for control of the fishing grounds, the emaciated, poorly trained North Korean forces “were beaten — very badly — by Uncle Jang’s loyalists,” according to one official.

 The rout of his forces appears to have been the final straw for Mr. Kim, who saw his 67-year-old uncle as a threat to his authority over the military and, just as important, to his own family’s dwindling sources of revenue. Eventually, at Mr. Kim’s order, the North Korean military came back with a larger force and prevailed. Soon, Mr. Jang’s two top lieutenants were executed.

 The two men died in front of a firing squad. But instead of rifles, the squad used antiaircraft machine guns, a form of execution that according to South Korean intelligence officials and news media was similar to the one used against some North Korean artists in August. Days later, Mr. Jang himself was publicly denounced, tried and executed, by more traditional means.

 Given the opaqueness of North Korea’s inner circle, many details of the struggle between Mr. Kim and his uncle remain murky. But what is known suggests that while Mr. Kim has consolidated control and eliminated a potential rival, it has been at a huge cost: The open warfare between the two factions has revealed a huge fracture inside the country’s elite over who pockets the foreign currency — mostly Chinese renminbi — the country earns from the few nonnuclear exports its trading partners desire.

 Only a few months ago Mr. Jang was believed to be the second most powerful man in North Korea. In fact, American intelligence agencies had reported to the White House and the State Department in late 2011 that he could well be running the country behind the scenes — and might edge out his inexperienced nephew for control. In part that was based on his deep relationship with top officials in China, as well as his extensive business connections there.

 His highly unusual public humiliation and execution on Dec. 12 set off speculation about the possibility of a power struggle within the secretive government. But in recent days a more complex, nuanced story has emerged.

 During a closed-door meeting on Monday of the South Korean National Assembly’s intelligence committee, Nam Jae-joon, the director of the National Intelligence Service, disputed the North’s assertion that Mr. Jang had tried to usurp his nephew’s power. Rather, he said, Mr. Jang and his associates had provoked the enmity of rivals within the North’s elite by dominating lucrative business deals, starting with the coal badly needed by China, the North’s main trading partner.

 “There had been friction building up among the agencies of power in North Korea over privileges and over the abuse of power by Jang Song-thaek and his associates,” Mr. Nam was quoted as saying. Mr. Nam’s comments were relayed to the news media by Jeong Cheong-rae and Cho Won-jin, two lawmakers designated as spokesmen for the parliamentary committee.

 In interviews, officials have said that the friction described in general terms to the South Korean Parliament played out in a violent confrontation in late September or early October, just north of the western sea border between the Koreas.

 There, the North harvests one of its major exports: crabs and clams, delicacies that are also highly valued by the Chinese. For years the profits from those fishing grounds, along with the output from munitions factories and trading companies, went directly to the North Korean military, helping it feed its troops, and enabling its top officers to send cash gifts to the Kim family.

 South Korea was a major market for the North’s mushrooms, clams, crabs, abalones and sea cucumbers until the South cut off trade with the North after the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship in 2010, forcing the North Korean military to rely on the Chinese market. ||||| Story highlights Online betting company Paddy Power ends connection to Rodman

 Rodman leaves North Korea after his third trip without meeting leader Kim Jong Un

 He helped prepare North Korean basketball players for an upcoming exhibition

 Rodman: "I will be coming back in another week"

 Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman left North Korea without meeting the country's leader Kim Jong Un but praised the local basketball players he trained there.

 "They are awesome," Rodman told CNN while in transit at Beijing Capital International Airport on Monday.

 Rodman started his third visit to North Korea last week, spending four days in the isolated nation to assist setting up an exhibition game featuring North Korean players and a dozen NBA veteran players whose identities have not yet been announced. The friendly game is planned for Kim Jong Un's birthday on January 8.

 Rodman's latest round of "basketball diplomacy" came less than a week after North Korea announced the dramatic purge and execution of Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, North Korea's No. 2 leader.

 Jang's reported execution has caused confusion and uncertainty about what's going on in North Korea and worsened its tense relations with South Korea and the United States.

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 Rodman struck up an unlikely friendship with the young Kim when he traveled to North Korea for the first time in February. That time he brought a team of Harlem Globetrotters for an exhibition game watched by Kim, who is a basketball fan.

 Kim later met and dined with the eccentric basketball star, and Rodman told his host he "had a friend for life."

 This time around, however, there was no meeting with Kim.

 "No, I'm not worried about it. I'll see him again," the 52-year-old Rodman told CNN, adding that his goal was to try out the local players and prepare for the game.

 "I will be coming back in another week."

 Rodman has described Kim as a "very good guy" in the past despite international condemnation of the country's human rights record.

 The former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls star has avoided commenting on the human rights issue, telling the Associated Press he goes to North Korea "just to do a basketball game and have some fun."

 North Korea: Reality vs. the world according to Dennis Rodman

 Rodman's latest trip was sponsored by Paddy Power, but the online betting company later withdrew its connection to Rodman.

 "We reviewed the project and, with the benefit of hindsight, recognized that we got this one wrong and so have decided to remove our name from the event," Paddy Power said.

 "It's a response to the worldwide scrutiny and condemnation of the North Korean regime in recent weeks, which has resulted in us changing our mind. We will of course be honoring all our contractual commitments to Dennis Rodman and his team."

 Earlier this month, Rory Scott, a Paddy Power spokesman, said that the trip was nonpolitical, but was intended "to prove once again that sport has the power to rise above all issues."

 Rodman was criticized for his first trip during a period of political turmoil when North Korea was threatening missile strikes on the United States, South Korea and Japan. ||||| Several hundred relatives of Jang Song-thaek, executed recently on charges of plotting to overthrow the North Korean state, have been rounded up and sent to political prison camps.

 It is common in North Korea for family members of anyone found guilty of a crime to be punished, but the scale of these arrests underline the lengths to which Kim Jong-un is going to eradicate his uncle and former mentor from the nation's history.

 "At around 10pm on the night of [December] 13, the day after Jang was executed, armed men from the Ministry of State Security arrived in the Pyongchon area of Pyongyang, where a lot of his relatives lived," a source in the North Korean capital told the Daily NK newspaper.

 "They took away a few hundred people," the source told the newspaper, which is run by defectors from the regime.

 "It was not just his close relatives who were taken away, but distant members of his family too, like relatives of his father.

 "In these circumstances, even his relatives outside Pyongyang are not safe," he added.

 Mr Jang was charged with no fewer than 24 abuses of power or contraventions of North Korean law with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the leadership.

 These ranged from "gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party" to "dreaming different dreams" and "creating illusion about himself."

 Also accused of "committing irregularities and corruption that led to a dissolute and depraved life," having "improper relations with several women" and "squandering foreign currency at casinos, Mr Jang was summarily executed.

 As soon as he was arrested, however, relatives and anyone with links to a man who had previously been seen as untouchable realised that the state's retribution would not end with him. Execution is the likely punishment for his closest relatives or political allies, while others will be dispatched to labour colonies for the rest of their lives.

 Some of those at risk volunteered to submit themselves to "revolutionisation" by going to labour in mines or on farms.

 "It seems like they are trying to take self-imposed punishment in order to evade a more stringent one, but they will find it difficult to escape that way," the Daily NK said. "Jang's crimes are 'anti-party, counter-revolutionary factionalism,' so of course they will have to say that his family challenged the system.

 "For this reason, severe punishment awaits." |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Authorities have rounded up hundreds of relatives of Kim Jong Un's recently executed uncle and ferried them to prison camps, according to a report out of Seoul. The night after Jang Song Thaek was executed, "armed men from the Ministry of State Security arrived unannounced in the Pyongchon area of Pyongyang where a lot of his relatives lived," an insider tells the Daily NK, which is run by defectors, Fox News notes. "It was not just his close relatives who were taken away, but distant members of his family, too." Observers say family members could be executed or spend life in prison (though things appear OK for Kim's aunt). In other news from Pyongyang: The Telegraph lists some of the 24 charges against Jang, which apparently included "gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party" and "dreaming different dreams." He was also blamed for "improper relations with several women" and "squandering foreign currency at casinos." But Pyongyang's claims that Jang was executed over his plans to seize power are likely inaccurate, says South Korea's head of intelligence: The real problem was Jang and his associates' push to take control of major business deals—for instance, coal sales to China, the official said in a closed meeting, as noted by the New York Times. After Jang's rivals complained, Kim ordered Jang's associates to drop certain deals, but they refused; Kim believed his authority was being questioned. In less consequential North Korea news, Dennis Rodman has exited the country, having wrapped up his third "fun" visit. He didn't get to see his pal Kim this time around (he was training basketball players), but tells CNN, "I'm not worried about it. I'll see him again. I will be coming back in another week."


Here is a news article: Will Smith came up with the story for M. Night Shyamalan’s postapocalyptic drama After Earth, which opens May 31, while watching his son Jaden, 14, film The Karate Kid in China. The premise: A father is a best-in-class soldier who crash-lands with his son on a hostile planet Earth a thousand years in the future. The father, wounded, must watch from the sidelines as the son navigates treacherous terrain and fights terrible creatures in order to escape. The parallels to their adventures in Hollywood, Will says, are obvious.

 I’ve read that you believe life can be understood through patterns.

 Will: I’m a student of patterns. At heart, I’m a physicist. I look at everything in my life as trying to find the single equation, the theory of everything.

 Do you think there is a single theory to everything?

 Jaden: There’s definitely a theory to everything.

 Will: When you find things that are tried and true for millennia, you can bet that it’s going to happen tomorrow.

 Jaden: The sun coming up?

 Will: The sun coming up, but even a little more. Like for Best Actor Oscars. Almost 90 percent of the time, it’s mental illness and historical figures, right? So, you can be pretty certain of that if you want to win—as a man; it’s very different for women. The patterns are all over the place, but for whatever reason, it’s really difficult to find the patterns in Best Actress.

 Do you see patterns too, Jaden?

 Jaden: I think that there is that special equation for everything, but I don’t think our mathematics have evolved enough for us to even—I think there’s, like, a whole new mathematics that we’d have to learn to get that equation.

 Will: I agree with that.

 Jaden: It’s beyond mathematical. It’s, like, multidimensional mathematical, if you can sort of understand what I’m saying.

 Are both of you religious?

 Will: No, we are students of world religion.

 Seems like everyone’s excited about the idea that you might be religious.

 Will: We respect all [religions].

 Okay. Who would you say is the biggest star in your family?

 Will and Jaden: [in unison] Willow! (Willow is Jaden’s 12-year-old sister.)

 Jaden: She just knows who she is, so she just is.

 Will: She has a magic power in the family. She absolutely demands the most attention, and there’s something really incendiary about a 12-year-old girl who says and does what she wants.

 You and Jaden have acted in two movies together, including After Earth. Are you planning on a third?

 Will: If you were a student of the pattern, you’d have to say we’re going to do another one.

 Jaden: I definitely would do another one, absolutely. You know, how Johnny Depp and Tim Burton always do movies together, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio? We’ll have a relationship like that.

 Do you think of that as a separate relationship from your father-son relationship?

 Jaden: It’s kind of like father and son, except that we’re both going to work together. [Points to his dad.] Like you worked in your family business with your dad. I’m just working in my family business with my dad. Patterns, boom.

 Jaden, how was working with your father this time around different from before?

 Jaden: Well, with the first movie [Pursuit of Happyness], he was teaching me along the way. This is how the camera works. You do several takes. Like, literally everything you need to know about movies. And then, in Karate Kid, he was kind of holding my hand and watching me distill those rules. And then on After Earth, he was like, All right, you’re an actor, I’m an actor, let’s make a movie together. So it was like a collaboration, you know what I’m saying?

 What is your dynamic when the whole family is on the set?

 Jaden: Willow basically does her thing. [They both laugh.] Dad kind of just is there. He has to feel his own vibe. And my mom is probably like, “Uh-uh. Tell Jaden he needs to do this.”

 Will: Yeah, Jada [Pinkett Smith] has really powerful insights and opinions about everything.

 You guys aren’t that way?

 Jaden: If we’re at a six, she’s like at an eight and a half. Like, when she comes on set and she sees something that’s not right, she says, “This needs to change, this needs to leave, this needs to happen.”

 Will: Yeah, I probably had a couple of poor parenting moments on this movie. Do you know what a fer-de-lance is?

 Jaden: It’s one of the most poisonous snakes in all of Costa Rica.

 Will: There were a couple of days where there was a high concentration of snakes [on the set].

 Jaden: Fer-de-lances, not snakes! I was doing a scene, going through some tall grasses, and they said, “Hey, we caught some fer-de-lances around there, and there seems to be a lot more, and I think we should move the scene.” I was like, “How many fer-de-lances did you catch?” He’s like, “Eight.”

 Will: I said, “Well, you got them all, so it’s fine. Let’s just shoot it.” Yeah, if Mommy was there, that wouldn’t have gone down. As an actor, I felt like it was an authentic experience of actually being in Costa Rica. I learned it in Ali, man, when you actually have to go to the place and you take the flight and you are actually in the authentic space, it adds to your performance.

 Jaden, how does it feel to be famous?

 Jaden: I think it’s fun, except when people make up stuff about you. Then it’s not so much fun. But besides that, I enjoy it.

 It’s been reported that you might be dating Kylie Jenner. The Kardashians have treated their fame as the family business. Do you guys see yourselves as similar or different? [Will, laughing, holds up his hand for Jaden not to speak.]

 Jaden: I’m trying to understand.

 Will: Don’t. You know, he’s never had to, to deal with those kinds of questions.

 Well, forget the Kardashians … maybe you could just …

 Will: [Mimicking] “So how do you think your life is similar or un-similar to people’s names in Calabasas?” For our family, the entire structure of our life, our home, our business relationships—the entire purpose is for everyone to be able to create in a way that makes them happy. Fame is almost an inconsequential by-product of what we’re really trying to accomplish. We are trying to put great things into the world, we’re trying to have fun, and we’re trying to become the greatest versions of ourselves in the process of doing things we love. So the idea of fame or exploitation or orchestrating the media is sometimes even less than desirable for us.

 Do you think Jaden could have been a dentist?

 Will: It may seem like we have pushed our kids into the business, but that is absolutely insane. I would never, ever, push somebody to have their face on a poster that’s going be everywhere in the world. He is making a choice from the informed. It’s less scary to me than if he wanted to be a dentist in that I couldn’t help with what he’d chosen. I have relationships with some of the biggest filmmakers and actors and producers on Earth. So I can be a huge help.

 Willow chose singing and then un-chose it. She said, “Daddy, I want to go to school with my friends during the week, and I want to hang out with them on the weekends.” At the peak of “Whip My Hair,” she’s like, “Daddy, I’m done.” I was like, “Wow, wow, wow. No, baby, I got Annie [the upcoming movie remake, co-produced by Jay-Z], you know. It’ll be New York, you’ll be with Beyoncé. You can bring your friends.” And she said, “Daddy, I got a better idea. How about I just be 12?” At the end of the day, it has to be their choice.

 So maybe Jaden could have been a dentist, but he probably couldn’t sit in his room doing nothing all day.

 Jaden: Probably not.

 Will: I think it was in Edward Kennedy’s autobiography, he said that he hadn’t found his way in his life, and his father sat down with him and said, We are a family that are trying to have valuable lives. You are allowed to decide whether or not you want your life to be valuable to the world, and I respect that decision. I’m just not going to have a lot of time for you. Essentially that is my position with my children. You can choose anything that you want to do, anything you want to be, and you can decide you want to act crazy and run around. I respect your ability to choose a life for yourself that does not have value to the world. I respect that. I’m just not going have a lot of time for you.

 In the past, Jada has described the family as transparent. Do you think that’s true?

 Jaden: Definitely.

 Will: Let me see. Are we transparent?

 Jaden: You can argue that we’re extremely un-transparent. Everybody knows where we live, but nobody really knows what our house looks like.

 Will: That’s true.

 Jaden: We kind of live in a fortress.

 Will: I think for the most part we are transparent in the sense that there’s very few big family secrets. I think that if Jaden or Trey [Will’s son from his first marriage] or Willow were to write a book ten years from now, it will be very similar to what people think. And, the things about our family that are mysteries or seem strange, when they’re explained, it’ll be obvious. You know, the forum of media that we’re in can’t really handle the complexity of things that we say all the time.

 What would be an example?

 Will: I did an interview where the only quote that everybody ran was “Will Smith doesn’t believe in punishment.” Well, that’s actually ridiculous. That’s not what I said, but the sound bite can’t actually hold the complexity of what I’m trying to say, you know. That there is a destructive aspect to corporal punishment that I don’t agree with. There are concepts and ideas about punishment that I think run counter to healthy growth and psychological stability in this world. But they just take one blurb.

 Jaden: They’re always gonna do that.

 Will: Yeah. What’s the blurb gonna be from this one? [Laughs] But for the most part I think we are very transparent, or maybe not transparent, but boring.

 You think you’re boring?

 Will: I think that if you were to come to the house, people would really be surprised at how simple and basic it is. Our whole dream for our home was for it to be an artist’s haven. So there are paint supplies; there’s a piano with a microphone and a recorder right there to capture things right in the second. There’s editing equipment. There are cameras. I think the only thing in our house that people would be surprised by is the efficiency.

 Like staffing?

 Will: No, just how serious we are about how the microphone at the piano has to be on and the recorder has to be ready to go for when somebody gets an idea. The paint supplies have got to be kept up—you know, you cannot go to paint something and a color’s empty.

 Is it true that you alphabetized your laser discs?

 Will: Yeah, I’m very, very serious about systems supporting creative inspiration.

 In the movie, Jaden, your character calls his dad “Sir.” Is that the dynamic with you guys?

 Jaden: In real life, no. It’s like how it is right now.

 How is it right now?

 Jaden: It’s hard for me to explain because it’s so normal to me. It’s like asking, “So, Jaden, how do you breathe?” He’s, like, really just cool. He lets us have our freedom as long as we can control our freedom.

 In After Earth, the father is a general who is injured and has to watch his son fight for his life. Was this a metaphor for what it’s like sending your kid into Hollywood?

 Will: Absolutely. That’s what I wanted the metaphor of this movie to be. A father having to watch as his son makes mistakes in the world, and in an extreme place of life or death. It is the excruciating parental pain of having to let your kids go, and you just have to hope that the lessons you’ve instilled will kick in at the right time.

 Will, what kind of relationship did you have with your father?

 Will: You know, I grew up where you got the hospital corners on the beds. I grew up with old-school rules where you speak when you’re spoken to. There were hugely powerful ideas about discipline and spirituality.

 You were baptized.

 Will: Baptized. Went to a Catholic school. Lived in a Jewish neighborhood.

 My mother worked on the school board, so she was very serious about education, and my grandmother was in the church. So there was a huge amount of discipline, and I’m trying to maintain some of the old ideals, minus the ownership. We don’t own our children, you know. They own themselves. Not to go too far into that, talking about slavery concepts and how the black community is carrying those …

 Jaden: If we started going down that road, Mommy would, like, burst into this room.

 In terms of mistakes, Will, early on in your career you had a period of years where most of your wages were garnished for not paying taxes. Have you educated Jaden about all the money he’s making?

 Will: Yeah, you know, we met with Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and we’re trying to design a curriculum for children to understand even the basic connection between a bank and capitalism. I mean, I’m very serious with my kids about them comprehending the intricacies of global finance.

 Is it hard to educate your kids to be responsible about money when they grew up with wealth?

 Will: It’s funny. Willow and Trey went in completely the opposite direction. Like, Willow only shops at Target. Jaden is really the only one of my kids that has a little bit of a taste for, uh …

 Jaden: I like Cartier.

 Will: That’s a little new.

 Jaden: The Cartier is new, but before that it was Louis [Vuitton].

 Will: Yes, he has a little bit of a taste. But he connects his responsibility to working and creating to the fun that he enjoys with the finer things.

 So, Jaden, you like spending the money you earn?

 Jaden: Well, when you say it like that, not really. There was a time in my life when I’d go to Cartier, like, every weekend for like a month. But, now I’m …

 What would you buy?

 Jaden: I have four rings I’m not wearing today. I haven’t bought anything that expensive in a really long time. The only thing I buy is, like, food and skateboards.

 Will: Once he started approving his own bank statements and credit cards and all, yeah, he changed.

 I heard that you and Jada were going to write a book together?

 Will: It feels like you can’t write books in progress.

 Jaden: Give them ten years. They’ll drop a book every year.

 You feel like they have a lot to say?

 Jaden: Yes, like 900 pages, both of them, so it’ll be like two books a year. He drops his book, she drops her book.

 Will: Our kids get an earful around the house just on every topic, every subject.

 Jaden: If I’m with my friends, and they’ll be like, “Oh, hey, where’s your dad? Let’s go say hi.” And I’ll be like, “Oh, no. He’s watching hours and hours of TED Talks just … Dude, don’t go in there.” Last time I went in there, he said, “Jaden, so the art of telling stories is an art that you really have to learn. I want you to read Aesop’s Fables.” “Dad, I’ve read Aesop’s Fables three times.” “Honestly, you can’t read it enough.” But when you’re on your way to see a 9:15 movie and it’s nine o’clock, he’s like, “Wait, wait, Jaden, I need to tell you something about life, man.”

 *This article originally appeared in the June 3, 2013 issue of New York Magazine. ||||| Everyone knows you rarely learn much by reading interviews with movie stars. It's a less commonplace experience, though, to feel yourself becoming actively less well-informed as you read, as if the celebrity's words were eliminating your brain-cells, one by one, like bubble-wrap being popped. Yet take a look, if you dare, at this Q&A, in the current edition of New York magazine, with Will Smith and his son Jaden, to promote their forthcoming film After Earth. It should definitely win some kind of award, though I'm not sure the relevant Pulitzer category has been created yet.

 Smith senior is, of course, one half of the uber-powerful Hollywood couple who insist they're not Scientologists but who do give money to groups affiliated with Scientology and who did set up a private elementary school that deploys teaching methods formulated by L Ron Hubbard. Here, he claims not to be religious (though a few years ago he described himself as a Christian) and explains that, anyway, his real worldview is all about "patterns":

 I'm a student of patterns. At heart, I'm a physicist. I look at everything in my life as trying to find the single equation, the theory of everything.

 It's just a tiny bit unclear what Smith means by a "pattern": the two examples he endorses in the interview are a) that the sun rises every morning and b) that the Best Actor Oscar tends to be awarded to people portraying historical figures or characters with mental illness. One can also use patterns, Smith informs the interviewer, Claire Hoffman, to predict whether he will make another movie alongside his son:

 If you were a student of the pattern, you'd have to say we were going to do another one.

 Wait: "the pattern"? Is there one pattern, or are there many? I'm confused, but that's probably because mainstream media like New York magazine can't fully accommodate the profundity of Smith's thought:

 You know, the forum of media that we're in can't really handle the complexity of things that we say all the time.

 One feels inclined to cut Jaden Smith some slack, since he's only 14 and has been raised by Will Smith. But it ought to be noted that his contributions to the emerging Smith theory of everything are in many ways more mindwarping than his father's:

 Jaden: I think that there is that special equation for everything, but I don't think our mathematics have evolved enough for us to even – I think there's, like, a whole new mathematics that we'd have to learn to get that equation.

 Will: I agree with that.

 Jaden: It's beyond mathematical. It's, like, multidimensional mathematical, if you can sort of understand what I'm saying.

 I sort of can't, actually! But never mind. As Jaden – who has reportedly announced his desire to become an emancipated minor, free of parental control, when he turns 15 – explains about his mother, Jada Pinkett Smith:

 If we're at a six, she's like at an eight and a half.

 …whereas I'm probably more like a one or a two, so my confusion is understandable. (On what scale, you ask? We never learn.)

 What to make of all this? It certainly demonstrates just how loopy your uncontrolled speculations can become when you're insulated, through fame and wealth, from people pointing out that they make no sense. Other than that, I'm fairly certain there are absolutely no conclusions to be drawn from it whatsoever. Sorry. Our mathematics just hasn't evolved sufficiently yet.

 If you wonder where Smith is getting all this from, by the way, Jaden gives a hint at the end:

 He's watching hours and hours of TED talks…

 Ah, well, there you go. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Here's how Guardian writer Oliver Burkeman describes a recent interview given by Will and Jaden Smith: "the most bizarre interview in Hollywood history," and one that "will make your brain hurt." The Q&A in question appeared in New York a few days ago, as the father and son promoted their new movie After Earth. Here's a relevant excerpt: Will: "I’m a student of patterns. At heart, I’m a physicist. I look at everything in my life as trying to find the single equation, the theory of everything." Jaden: "There's definitely a theory to everything. ... I think that there is that special equation for everything, but I don’t think our mathematics have evolved enough for us to even—I think there’s, like, a whole new mathematics that we’d have to learn to get that equation." Will: "I agree with that." Jaden: "It’s beyond mathematical. It’s, like, multidimensional mathematical, if you can sort of understand what I’m saying." Will, later: "And, the things about our family that are mysteries or seem strange, when they’re explained, it’ll be obvious. You know, the forum of media that we’re in can’t really handle the complexity of things that we say all the time." If you're thinking, "Well, what do you expect, they're Scientologists," not so fast. In the same interview, the elder Smith says they're not religious, but are "students of world religion" and "respect all [religions]." He has flat-out denied being a Scientologist in the past. (As for After Earth ... it got hilariously terrible reviews.)