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After nearly six hours, a tactical team entered a Connect Wireless store Friday night to find an alleged robber "deceased apparently by his own hand," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Crescenta Valley Station said. Kate Larsen reports from La Crescenta for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Nov. 29, 2013.

 An armed man who barricaded himself inside a wireless store within a Southern California shopping center for hours after he allegedly robbed a nearby business has taken his own life, authorities said.

 After a nearly six-hour standoff, tactical team entered a Connect Wireless store Friday night to find the man "deceased apparently by his own hand," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Crescenta Valley Station said in a tweet.

 Man With Gun Barricades Self Inside Store

 A La Crescenta shopping center was locked down on Black Friday after a man with a gun barricaded himself inside a wireless store, according to the LA County Sheriff's Department. Kate Larsen reports from La Crescenta for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Nov. 29, 2013.

 No shots were fired by authorities on scene, the department added.

 Officials received a report of a man with a gun about 4 p.m. at The Marketplace Shopper Center (map), located in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta. News broke shortly before 10 p.m. that the barricaded man had died.

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 The owner of Connect Wireless told NBC4 two of her employees were inside the store when the man entered and threatened to take them hostage, but the workers ran out the front door the first chance they could.

 No hostages were taken, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Crescenta Valley Station said.

 Outrageous Black Friday Behavior

 The situation unfolded inside The Marketplace Shopping Center, which also houses a Ralphs, Rite Aid, U.S. Bank and Starbucks, among other shops. Shoppers were seen running from Rite Aid and Ralphs Friday evening as authorities slowly evacuated the plaza.

 Rite Aid employees told NBC4 a man went into the store's pharmacy, demanded a prescription and showed a gun. When a worker gave the man the pills he asked for, the robber ran from the store.

 A 1-block stretch of Foothill Boulevard between Raymond and Rosemont avenues had been closed for the investigation. Sheriff's officials said all streets around the shopping center were reopened about 10:15 p.m.

 The chaos developed the day during Black Friday, when consumers were set to take advantage of longer store hours and steep discounts to start the holiday shopping season.

 Dozens of cars were in the plaza's parking lot when the situation began. A sheriff’s deputy with a rifle was seen stationed outside the doors of a Ralphs grocery store next door to the wireless store.

 It was previously reported that the store involved in the barricade is a Verizon location, but rather, it belongs to Connect Wireless, a third-party vendor that sells Verizon products, according to a Verizon Wireless spokesman.

 When the report first came in, everyone in surrounding stores had been ordered to shelter in place. At about 5:30 p.m., the Rite Aid inside the shopping complex was evacuated. Shortly before 7 p.m., the Ralphs was evacuated. By 8 p.m., the center had been emptied and shut down, the sheriff's department said in a tweet.

 Members of the sheriff department's Special Enforcement Bureau -- the equivalent of a SWAT team -- responded to the scene. An armored vehicle was stationed outside the Connect Wireless storefront.

 Refresh this page for updates.

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 More Southern California Stories: ||||| An armed man who was barricaded inside a cellular store in La Crescenta died “apparently by his own hand” after an hours-long standoff, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

 No shots were fired by sheriff’s deputies, who entered the store more than five hours after the incident began, the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. No deputies or citizens were injured.

 Deputies responded about 4 p.m. to a Verizon Wireless store at The Marketplace Shopping Center, located in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard, according to a Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station official who identified himself as Sgt. Waterman. The man, who was alone inside the store, was armed with a gun and threatened to commit suicide, Waterman said.

 The man had ran into the store after stealing prescription drugs during an armed robbery at the Rite Aid Pharmacy in the shopping center, said Sgt. Burton Brink, the sheriff’s station’s public information officer.

 Sheriff’s SWAT team members and deputies from multiple stations surrounded the store as crisis negotiators and Special Enforcement Bureau deputies communicated with the man, in an effort to persuade him to surrender, officials said.

 Foothill Boulevard, which had been temporarily closed between Rosemont and Raymond avenues, was reopened after the standoff ended.

 The Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, on Briggs Avenue, is located less than a mile east of the scene.

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– Black Friday shoppers were evacuated yesterday after a man with a gun allegedly stole prescription drugs from a Rite Aid pharmacy, then ran into a wireless store in the same California shopping center, causing an hours-long standoff with police after which the man was found dead, KTLA reports. The suspect died "apparently by his own hand" last night, according to the LA County Sheriff's Department; authorities did not fire any shots, NBC Los Angeles reports. The man had threatened to take hostages, but the employees inside Connect Wireless in La Crescenta's Marketplace Shopping Center managed to escape.


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Visitors watches a nearly 1,500-year-old carved altar from the Maya site "La Corona," located in the northern Guatemalan department of Peten, at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala... (Associated Press)

 Visitors watches a nearly 1,500-year-old carved altar from the Maya site "La Corona," located in the northern Guatemalan department of Peten, at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. Archaeologists in charge of the investigation say that it is... (Associated Press)

 GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — An altar found at Guatemala's La Corona site suggests the Mayan dynasty of Kaanul, known as the Snake Kings, acted like its namesake in slowly squeezing the rival kingdom of Tikal, archaeologists said Friday.

 A team led by Marcello Canuto of Tulane University uncovered the carved stone altar in the northern Peten region near the Mexico border.

 When it was first found in 2017, the altar was encased in the roots of a tree in a collapsed temple. It took a year to painstaking pry the massive stone slab from the roots, fully excavate it and move it to Guatemala City, where it was presented this week at a museum.

 The altar is dated A.D. 544 and depicts the Tikal ruler Chak Took Ich'aak conjuring two local gods from a shaft in the form of a double-headed snake.

 The same man appears 20 years later as a vassal of the Kaanul dynasty and the ruler of the larger, nearby city of Peru-Waka. But the gods associated with him are different local deities associated with that place.

 Canuto said the altar suggests Kaanul's eventual victory was the result of decades of astute politicking and cultural appropriation, not just battles.

 Chak Took Ich'aak and his son "are trying to show that they are praying or conjuring up gods that were there way earlier to give them that kind of legitimacy," Canuto said. "It's almost like they're setting up franchises, but using the same recipes of local gods, claiming they had access to local deities. There's an attempt to render this whole process legitimate by appealing to local interests."

 A princess from the Kaanul dynasty - based in Dzibanche and later Calakmul, in neighboring Mexico - had been married into the La Corona ruling family two decades before.

 It's unlikely that La Corona could have simply conquered El Peru, which was much more powerful, unless it had backing from someone even more powerful.

 "This would be equivalent to Cuba defeating the United States in a war. They could only have done that ... if they had had the backing of the Soviet Union," Canuto said.

 The enormous city-state of Tikal, whose towering temples still stand in the jungle, battled for centuries for dominance of the Maya world with the Kaanul dynasty. Just a few decades after the altar was carved, Kaanul apparently defeated Tikal by amassing a string of allied cities that encircled and eventually strangled Tikal. The symbol of the Kaanul dynasty were stone masks carved in the form of grinning snakes.

 Francisco Estrada-Belli, a Tulane University archaeologist who was not involved in the La Corona discovery, said: "Its broader significance is that it shows the behind-the-scenes ... machinations of the Snake Kings as they are expanding their empire in the direction of Tikal."

 "Not long ago, we thought the victory over Tikal was the result of a sort of out-of-the-blue blitz," Estrada-Belli said. "It is fascinating to learn more about how Maya empires expanded, just like in the 'Game of Thrones.'"

 Tomas Barrientos, an archaeologist at the University of the Valley of Guatemala noted that "for several centuries during the Classic period, the Kaanul kings dominated much of the Maya Lowlands," until the Maya civilization collapsed for reasons that still aren't clear.

 "This altar contains information about their early strategies of expansion," said Barrientos, co-director of the La Corona project.

 ___

 This story has been corrected to show Estrada-Belli is a professor at Tulane University. ||||| The 1,500-year-old altar displays an engraving of the Mayan king Chak Took Ich'aak A 1,500 year old Mayan altar discovered in a small archeological site in northern Guatemala is drawing comparisons to popular fantasy drama television series "Game of Thrones" for its descriptions of the Kaanul dynasty's political strategies aimed at bringing entire cities under its control.

 The altar, carved out of limestone and weighing around one ton was found at the La Corona archeological site in the jungle region close to the borders with Mexico and Belize, Tomas Barrientos, co-director of excavations and investigations at the site told journalists.

 Barrientos said the altar was found in a temple and showed King Chak Took Ich'aak, La Corona's ruler, "sitting and holding a scepter from which emerge two patron gods of the city."

 According to studies, the 1.46-meter by 1.2-meter slab contains a hieroglyphic Mayan inscription corresponding to May 12, 544.

 Other discoveries have allowed researchers to determine that King Chak Took Ich'aak also governed the nearby city of El Peru-Waka some 20 years later.

 Barrientos says these pieces of evidence show that the Kaanul dynasty, or Serpent Kingdom, developed a political movement in La Corona that allowed them to defeat their Tikal "arch rivals" in 562 and thereafter rule the Mayan lowlands in southeast Mesoamerica for two centuries.

 Made of limestone, the altar weighs around a ton and was found in the jungle area of northern Guatemala rife with archeological sites 'Mayan Game of Thrones'

 That political movement was based around alliances with small cities surrounding Tikal ahead of the final victory push.

 Alongside those revelations, researchers also found details of a wedding between a princess from the Serpent Kingdom and a King of La Corona, Barrientos said.

 "This altar shows us a part of Guatemala's history and in this case, around 1,500 years ago, I would call this the historical Mayan version of Game of Thrones," he added, comparing the Kaanul kingdom's maneuvering to that in Game of Thrones of noble families competing over control of the seven kingdoms.

 Barrientos said the altar "fills in the gaps" and "pieces together the puzzle" of the Mayan culture's political relationships.

 "It's a high quality work of art that shows us they were rulers entering into a period of great power and who were allying themselves with others to compete, in this case, with Tikal."

 La Corona "was the place where the most important historical Mayan political movement began to take shape."

 The Serpent Kingdom expanded from its capital Dzibanche to present day north Guatemala, Belize and the Mexican state of Campeche but was finally defeated by Tikal.

 The altar's inscriptions reveal a lot about the political machinations of the sixth century Serpent Kingdom Dangerous excavations

 "Having information about what happened next, how they were plotting a political strategy here, teaches us a lot about politics in those times and the fight for territory," said Barrientos.

 Excavating and investigating in the remote Mayan Biosphere Reserve where La Corona lies can be hazardous, though.

 The region is constantly at threat from looting, invasions and incursions by criminal gangs, drug-traffickers and illegal ranchers, accused by environmentalists and authorities of starting forest fires that damage pre-Columbian monuments.

 Culture deputy minister, Gladys Palala, told AFP that authorities are trying to counter encroachment by criminal groups besieging Peten, an area ripe with "archeological remains."

 "Wherever you go and excavate, you find (something). It's an eminently archeological area," she said.

 The Mayan culture reached its apogee during the classical period from 250-900 before going into decline over the next 300 years.

 Explore further: Rare early Mayan portrait is found ||||| A team of archaeologists co-led by Tulane University professor Marcello A. Canuto have discovered a 1,500-year-old carved limestone altar at a site called La Corona located in the jungle of northern Guatemala.

 The discovery was announced on Wednesday (Sept. 12) at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City where the altar is now on display.

 The altar allowed the team of archaeologists to identify an entirely new king of La Corona and explain the beginnings of the expansion of the Kaanul Dynasty in the Maya lowlands, Canuto said. Weighing nearly a ton, the altar displays the image of the previously unknown king Chak Took Ich'aak, carrying a double-headed serpent effigy. Researchers said that hieroglyphics on the antiquity likely date back to May 12, 544 A.D.

 "For several centuries during the Classic period, the Kaanul kings dominated much of the Maya lowlands," said Tomas Barrientos, co-director of the project and director of the Center for Archaeological and Anthropological Research at the University of the Valley of Guatemala. "This altar contains information about their early strategies of expansion, demonstrating that La Corona played an important role in the process from the beginning."

 The group of researchers have been working in the region since 2008. Since then they have uncovered a vast network of thousands of ancient Mayan structures hidden for centuries under the thick canopy of the northern Guatemalan jungle.

 The team has used a technology called LiDAR (light detection and range technology) to uncover more than 60,000 ancient structures covering 1,305 square miles.

 The technology uses sensors to pierce through the thick jungle canopy to create high-resolution maps that reveal the man-made structures under the vegetation.

 The team also includes David Stuart, the director of the Mesoamerica Center of the University of Texas at Austin along with Guatemalan archaeologists Maria Antonieta Cajas and Alejandro Gonzalez. |||||

– How do you conquer a powerful Mayan city-state? Forge a political dynasty, ally with smaller surrounding cities, and slowly envelop until you become leader of the Serpent Kingdom—at least according to one take on a newly unveiled Mayan altar, the AP reports. Discovered in 2017 at the Guatemalan site of La Corona, the nearly 1,500-year-old engraving depicts a king named Chak Took Ich'aak conjuring gods from a shaft shaped like a snake. Ich'aak later governed the nearby city of El Peru-Waka, suggesting that the so-called Serpent Kingdom or Kaanul dynasty forged a movement that grew until it defeated the towering city-state of Tikal in 562 A.D. "... In this case, around 1,500 years ago, I would call this the historical Mayan version of Game of Thrones," excavation co-director Tomas Barrientos tells Phys.org. Archaeologists already knew that Kaanul kings dominated the Maya lowlands for decades, but the altar—which likely dates to 544 A.D.—shows that La Corona "was the place where the most important historical Mayan political movement began to take shape," says Barrientos. Team leader Marcello Canuto sees the dynasty rising up with a mix of cultural appropriation, like conjuring old gods on the tablet to gain legitimacy; marriage, with a princess from neighboring Mexico; and other alliances with powerful forces. Otherwise, beating Tikal "would be the equivalent to Cuba defeating the United States in a war," says Canuto. "They could only have done that ... if they had had the backing of the Soviet Union." Announced Wednesday, the altar is on display at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City, per the Times-Picayune.


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– Police in northern India have made two arrests in connection with the rape of an Israeli tourist, who was assaulted after she accepted a ride with six men while traveling in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Police were using security camera footage from the town of Manali, where the victim was left after the attack, to identify the suspects, NDTV reports. The victim told police that two of the men in the car assaulted her. The local police chief described the men arrested as "locals," according to the Guardian, adding, “A search operation is on to arrest the remaining four accused. The vehicle involved in the crime has also been recovered." The 25-year-old victim is the third tourist raped in the area in that past four years, the Times of India reports. In 2013, three men raped an American woman as she was hitchhiking. The year before, an Australian woman reported being raped in her hotel room by a man she met through Facebook. The Israeli woman told police that she was trying to find a taxi early Sunday to join friends in a nearby town, the Times of Israel reports. The suspects offered her a ride, saying they would take her to Manali and she could get a cab from there. The woman was being treated at a hospital following the attack. Despite increased punishments for rapists in India, the Guardian notes, sexual assault remains a a big problem in the country, "with incidents hitting the headlines almost every day."

MANALI: A 25-year-old Israeli woman was allegedly gang-raped near Manali after she hitchhiked a car ride in the wee hours of Sunday, a police official said.According to police, the woman was planning to visit Kaza in Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh and was looking for a taxi when a vehicle without a numberplate offered her a lift to Manali, so that she could get a taxi from there. The victim alleged that the vehicle had six men and two of them raped her at a location she could not identify, and then dropped her in Manali. Kullu superintendent of police (SP) Padam Chand said, "The medical examination has been carried out and sent Mandi for expert opinion. The woman has reported that she was looking for an auto or any vehicle near Manali when she was offered the lift."Police are yet find any clues in the case as woman does not know much about the vehicle and the accused. However, police are confident of cracking the case soon as the entire town and its surroundings are under the surveillance of high-definition CCTV cameras. "The complaint has been registered. We are checking video footages. Investigations are headed in the right direction," the SP said.Though the incident took place early morning in the darkness, the woman went to the police station around 10am with a friend. Police are now collecting evidence and checking night-vision camera footage.This is the third incident of rape reported by a foreigner in the past four years in Kullu district. In June 2013, a 29-year-old American woman was gang-raped inside a truck by three Nepalese men when she had hitchhiked a ride from Vashisht to Manali. She was also robbed of her money and cellphone. Instead of taking the victim, who was married and travelling alone in India, to Manali, the accused had taken her towards Rohtang Pass and raped her in a secluded area. In May 2012, a 22-year-old Australian woman was allegedly raped in Kasol village of Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh by a Chandigarh man she had befriended on Facebook. The victim had alleged she was raped in her hotel room when she was "unconscious" after attending a party. ||||| An Israeli woman reported that she was gang-raped in northern India on Sunday morning by two men after she accepted a ride in their vehicle.

 The incident took place at around 3 a.m. Sunday near the town of Manali, after the woman, 25, tried to reach Kaza in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, the Times of India reported. Police opened an investigation.

 The woman had been trying to reunite with friends who had already left for the nearby town of Keylong after they all arrived in Manali a few days earlier.

 Unable to find a taxi, the woman accepted a ride in a vehicle without license plates that was carrying six men. The occupants assured her they would take her to Manali, where she could catch a taxi to Keylong.

 At some point along the way, two of the men raped her, the woman told police. After the assault she was dropped off in Manali where, together with a friend, she reported the incident to police later that morning.

 The woman was being treated in a hospital after she reported the attack. The assailants fled.

 “The medical examination has been carried out and sent Mandi for expert opinion,” said Padam Chand, the police superintendent in the Kullu district. “The woman has reported that she was looking for an auto or any vehicle near Manali when she was offered the lift.”

 “She is being shifted today to a bigger hospital in Mandi town to carry out a proper medical examination,” Gandhi Ram, another police officer in Manali, said by phone.

 The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Indian police had confirmed the rape complaint but that Israeli officials had yet to receive further details.

 Although the victim was apparently unable to identify the vehicle, police were confident they could track the suspects, as the area is heavily covered by CCTV cameras, including some with night-vision capabilities, the report said.

 “The complaint has been registered,” Chand said. “We are checking video footage. Investigations are headed in the right direction.”

 India hiked punishments for rapists as part of an overhaul of sexual assault laws in the wake of a fatal gang-rape in 2012 that shone a global spotlight on frightening levels of violence against women in India.

 But rape and sexual assault remain commonplace, with incidents hitting the headlines on an almost daily basis.

 An American woman was raped in Manali in 2013 by three men when she took a ride with them in a truck. In 2012 an Australian woman was also raped in the same area, located in the picturesque Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh state.

 AFP contributed to this report. ||||| This article is over 2 years old

 A 25-year-old woman reports being raped by two men after flagging what she thought was a taxi in the Himalayan town

 Indian police have arrested two men suspected of raping a 25-year-old Israeli tourist in the popular northern Himalayan resort town of Manali, local officers said.

 The arrests were made on Monday following a complaint by the woman that she had been attacked early on Sunday after flagging down what she thought was a taxi and asking for a lift to a nearby town.

 “Two of the six accused of raping an Israeli national have been arrested. Both the men are locals,” said Sanjay Kumar, the police chief of Himachal Pradesh state.

 “A search operation is on to arrest the remaining four accused. The vehicle involved in the crime has also been recovered,” Kumar added.

 Earlier on Monday police Superintendent Padam Chand said the woman had alleged that there were six people in the car, two of whom raped her before fleeing.

 The woman had been trying to reunite with friends who had already left for the nearby town of Keylong after they all arrived in Manali a few days earlier.

 Why is the rape crisis in rural India passing under the radar? | Priya Virmani Read more

 Police were examining CCTV footage from cameras installed on the streets on Manali, popular with holidaying foreigners and Indians, in the hope of identifying the suspects. The Israeli embassy has been informed, Chand said.

 The woman was being treated in hospital after she reported the attack, which took place at about 3am.

 “She is being moved today to a bigger hospital in Mandi town to carry out a proper medical examination,” Gandhi Ram, another police officer in Manali, said.

 India increased punishments for rapists as part of an overhaul of sexual assault laws following a fatal gang-rape in 2012 that shone a global spotlight on the levels of violence against women in India.

 However, rape and sexual assault remain commonplace, with incidents hitting the headlines almost every day.

 An American woman was raped in Manali in 2013 by three men when she took a ride with them in a truck. In 2012 an Australian woman was also raped in the same area, located in the picturesque Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh state. ||||| Highlights The woman had been assaulted on Sunday evening 6 men had offered her a lift while she was waiting for a taxi to Keylong Two of the men had raped her, she said in her complaint

 Two people have been arrested allegedly for raping a 25-year-old Israeli tourist in Manali, Himachal Pradesh.The woman had been assaulted on Sunday evening when the men had offered her a lift. She was waiting for a taxi to go to a nearby town, Keylong.There were six people in the car, two of whom raped her, she had alleged. She is undergoing treatment at a local hospital.Himachal Pradesh police chief Sanjay Kumar said an accused has been arrested and the vehicle used in the crime has also been recovered. The arrest was made after the police examined the CCTV footage of the streets of Manali, to help identify the suspects.'We have formed four teams and hope to catch the other accused soon," said Mr Kumar. The police are looking out for five more accused.The picturesque hill resort of Himachal Pradesh is very popular with young Israelis, who travel in India after their military service, despite concerns about the safety of women.Two years ago, an American woman was raped in Manali by three men when she took a ride with them in a truck. In 2012, an Australian woman was also raped in the same area, located in the picturesque Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh state. |||||


Article:

Iran's supreme leader has challenged U.S. President Donald Trump over America pulling out of the nuclear deal, saying: "You cannot do a damn thing!"

 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments came Wednesday as he met with a group of school teachers in Tehran, a day after Trump announced he was renewing sanctions on Iran.

 Khamenei described Trump's speech Tuesday night as having "over 10 lies," without elaborating. He also said Trump's remarks threatened Iran's people and its theocratic government.

 Under Iran's Islamic Republic, Khamenei has final say on all state matters. ||||| Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has lambasted Donald Trump over his decision to unilaterally pull the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that his statement was “ludicrous and shallow”, as hardliners rejoiced at the US exit.

 “I say it on behalf of Iranian people, Mr Trump, you can’t do a damn thing,” said Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran, a day after the US president broke with European allies over what he said was a “horrible, one-sided” agreement.

 The Ayatollah said Trump’s statement on the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, also known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), contained “more than 10 lies”. He said: “He both threatened the system as well as the nation ... The body of this man, Trump, will turn to ashes and become the food of the worms and ants, while the Islamic Republic continues to stand.”

 Hardliners in Iran have been given a new lease of political life with Trump’s decision to torpedo the agreement and reimpose economic sanctions at the highest level, seizing on an opportunity to consolidate their power over reformists who championed the pact.

 On Wednesday the commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards congratulated the nation on the US exit. Mohammad Ali Jafari said: “I congratulate and see as a good deed the vicious withdrawal of the US from JCPOA, which was not credible even before the withdrawal … It was proved once more that US isn’t trustworthy in regards its commitments.”

 At the opening session of the Iranian parliament, a group of hardline MPs held up a paper US flag and the text of the JCPOA before setting fire to both and chanting “death to America”.

 The MPs’ protest was a nod to Khamenei, who had said in June 2016, prior to Trump’s election, that if the Americans “tear it up, we will set it on fire”.

 Q&A What is the Iran nuclear deal? Show Hide In July 2015, Iran and a six-nation negotiating group reached a landmark agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that ended a 12-year deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear programme. The deal, struck in Vienna after nearly two years of intensive talks, limited the Iranian programme, to reassure the rest of the world that it cannot develop nuclear weapons, in return for sanctions relief.

 At its core, the JCPOA is a straightforward bargain: Iran’s acceptance of strict limits on its nuclear programme in return for an escape from the sanctions that grew up around its economy over a decade prior to the accord. Under the deal, Iran unplugged two-thirds of its centrifuges, shipped out 98% of its enriched uranium and filled its plutonium production reactor with concrete. Tehran also accepted extensive monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has verified 10 times since the agreement, and as recently as February, that Tehran has complied with its terms. In return, all nuclear-related sanctions were lifted in January 2016, reconnecting Iran to global markets. The six major powers involved in the nuclear talks with Iran were in a group known as the P5+1: the UN security council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – and Germany. The nuclear deal is also enshrined in a UN security council resolution that incorporated it into international law. The 15 members of the council at the time unanimously endorsed the agreement. Read a full explainer here

 Khamenei said on Wednesday it was not feasible for Iran to continue implementing the agreement without making sure that the European partners in the agreement, the UK, France and Germany, could withstand US pressure. The EU wants to keep the agreement but a US exit might trigger a collapse of the deal because US sanctions will hamper European business with Tehran.

 “It is not logical to continue the implementation of the Iran deal without receiving enough guarantees from three European countries,” Khamenei said. “Now it is said that we continue [the deal] with the three countries. I even don’t trust these three countries. Receive practical guarantees from them. If you can, that’s fine. But if you cannot receive a guarantee, it will not be possible to continue implementing Barjam,” he said, referring to the Persian acronym for the JCPOA.

 Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament, said Tehran would wait to gauge how the European partners in the nuclear talks would handle the US exit from the deal. His comments echoed those of the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, who has said the agreement could survive if Europe defies Trump.

 Play Video 2:11 What is the Iran nuclear deal? – video

 The US exit from the agreement dominated Wednesday’s newspaper front pages in Tehran. “Barjam minus America,” read the main headline on the front page of the reformist Ebtekar daily. “US exit from Barjam puts an end to the world’s trust in the empire of lies,” Ettela’at’s front page said.

 Iran deal: Trump breaks with European allies over 'horrible, one-sided' nuclear agreement Read more

 “Trump tore up the agreement, now it’s time for us to set it on fire,” read the front page headline of Kayhan, an ultra-conservative daily whose editor is appointed directly by Khamenei.

 Despite Rouhani’s assurances that Iran is prepared to withstand the impact of a US exit, Trump’s decision has revived worries of conflict inside Iran, where people are concerned about the state of its already fragile economy, and consequences for the fate of reformists.

 On Tuesday night ordinary Iranians were on tenterhooks, monitoring any immediate impact on the country’s national currency, and prompting panic-buying of hard-to-find dollars amid political uncertainty. The rial traded at the all-time low on Wednesday. One US dollar was exchanged for 75,000 rials.

 Sadegh Zibakalam, a prominent political commentator and professor of politics at Tehran University, struck a pessimistic tone about the consequences of Trump’s decision.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Iran’s President Rouhani speaks about the nuclear deal in Tehran on Tuesday. Photograph: Reuters TV/Reuters

 “Many people are worried about war,” he told the Guardian by phone from Tehran. “Whenever the country faces a crisis in its foreign policy or economy, the situation gets better for hardliners, they’d be able to exert their force more easily.”

 He added: “At the same time, hardliners will gain politically from this situation, because they’ll attack reformists and moderates like [President] Rouhani that this is evidence of what they had been saying for years, that the US cannot be trusted, and that the US is always prepared to knife you in the back.”

 Foad Izadi, a Tehran-based conservative political analyst, said Trump’s aim was to confront Iran with greater force but that it could withstand the pressure. “For 40 years, we have been living under sanctions. The collapse of the nuclear deal will mean that we have to find ways to circumvent sanctions, something we have done in the past,” he said.

 For ordinary Iranians, however, the prospects are gloomy. One, Arash Tavanafar, said the psychological pressure of Trump’s decision on the Iranian population could prove more powerful than its economic effect. “The psychological pressure and worry is destroying us, especially the youth, because we neither have any trust in this political system, nor any hope for its reform. We’ve only become spectators of its downfall,” he said.

 Quick guide Telegram in Iran Show Hide It’s hard to overstate the power of Telegram in Iran. Of its 80m population, an estimated 40m use the free app created by Russian national Pavel Durov. Its clients share videos and photos, subscribing to groups where everyone from politicians to poets broadcast to fellow users. While authorities ban social media websites like Facebook and Twitter and censor others, Telegram users can say nearly anything. In the last presidential election, the app played a big role in motivating turnout and spreading political screeds. Telegram touts itself as being highly encrypted and allows users to set their messages to “self-destruct” after a certain period, making it a favourite among activists and others concerned about their privacy. That too has made it a worry of Iranian authorities. A channel run by an exiled journalist, Roohallah Zam, helped organise some of those who took to the street, including times and locations for protests, and was suspended by Durov after Iranian authorities complained that it was inciting violence. Zam, who denies the allegations, responded by launching new channels to spread messages about upcoming protests before the government ordered the app shut down.

 Mohammad, a postdoctoral student, said Trump’s decision would undermine moderates in Iran as the country might have to name a new supreme leader in the coming years. Khamenei is 78, and there has been speculation over his health. “Moderates can play a significant role in the appointment of the new leader if they’re not weakened, something that can hugely affect the future generations in the country,” Mohammad said. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Analysis: What's next for the Iran deal? Barbara Plett Usher explains

 France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says the Iranian nuclear deal is "not dead" despite US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw.

 The 2015 agreement curbed Iran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions that had been imposed by the UN, US and EU.

 But Mr Trump argued that the deal was "defective at its core", saying he would pull out and reimpose sanctions.

 Other signatories to the nuclear accord say they remain committed to it.

 The deal was agreed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, UK, France, China and Russia - plus Germany. It was struck under Mr Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

 Iran said it would try to salvage the agreement, but would restart uranium enrichment if it could not.

 In a statement, President Hassan Rouhani said: "If we achieve the deal's goals in co-operation with other members of the deal, it will remain in place."

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption There was fury in Iran's parliament following the announcement

 But the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was sceptical, saying he did not trust Britain, France or Germany, and would need "guarantees" before continuing the nuclear deal.

 "I said many times from the first day: don't trust America," he said in comments carried on his official website.

 How do key powers see Mr Trump's decision?

 In his comments to French radio, Mr Le Drian said "the deal is not dead. There's an American withdrawal from the deal but the deal is still there".

 He said there would be a meeting between France, Britain, Germany and Iran on Monday.

 Russia said it was "deeply disappointed" by Mr Trump's decision while China expressed regret.

 But the move has been welcomed by Iran's major regional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a prominent critic of the accord, said he "fully supports" Mr Trump's withdrawal from a "disastrous" deal.

 Why did the US withdraw?

 In his address on Tuesday, President Trump called the nuclear accord - or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as it is formally known - a "horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made".

 He said he would work to find a "real, comprehensive, and lasting" deal that tackled not only the Iranian nuclear programme but its ballistic missile tests and activities across the Middle East.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iran nuclear deal: Trump announces US pull-out

 Mr Trump also said he would reimpose economic sanctions that were waived when the deal was signed in 2015.

 The US Treasury said the sanctions would target industries mentioned in the deal, including Iran's oil sector, aircraft manufacturers exporting to Iran and Iranian government attempts to buy US dollar banknotes.

 Major European and US companies are likely to be hit. Some exemptions are due to be negotiated but it is not yet clear what.

 US National Security Adviser John Bolton is reported as saying that European companies doing business in Iran will have to stop doing so within six months or face US sanctions.

 Collision course

 Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent

 The deal was not perfect. It did not cover a range of worrying Iranian activities from its missile programme to its regional behaviour.

 The inconvenient truth for Donald Trump is that, as far as it goes, the nuclear deal was working.

 Despite this, Mr Trump presented it in stark and frankly erroneous terms - for leaving out things that it was never supposed to cover in the first place.

 He has put US diplomacy on a collision course with some of Washington's closest allies.

 And some fear that he may have brought a new and catastrophic regional war in the Middle East that much closer.

 What was agreed under the deal?

 The JCPOA saw Iran agree to limit the size of its stockpile of enriched uranium - which is used to make reactor fuel, but also nuclear weapons - for 15 years and the number of centrifuges installed to enrich uranium for 10 years.

 Iran also agreed to modify a heavy water facility so it could not produce plutonium suitable for a bomb.

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Iran limited its sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief

 In return, sanctions imposed by the UN, US and EU that had crippled Iran's economy were lifted.

 Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and its compliance with the deal has been verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who on Wednesday again said Iran was honouring its commitments.

 President Rouhani has warned that Iran could resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment if the agreement collapses.

 After the deal was implemented, it was estimated it would take Iran at least 12 months to gather enough highly-enriched uranium or plutonium to build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so.

 But experts say that it could still take Iran years to acquire a working nuclear arsenal. |||||
What is a summary?

– President Trump's decision to pull the US from the Iran nuclear deal drew a fiery response from conservative Iranian lawmakers Wednesday—during the opening session of the country's parliament, they burned a paper American flag and the text of the 2015 deal, chanting "Death to America." But they were scenes of celebration, not anger, the Guardian reports. Hardliners in Iran view the US pullout as an opportunity to gain power over moderates who pushed for the 2015 deal, analysts say. The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards issued a statement Wednesday congratulating the country over the US move, saying it "was proved once more that US isn't trustworthy in regards its commitments." Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, challenged Trump over the withdrawal Wednesday, saying "You cannot do a damn thing," CNBC reports. But while hardliners are calling for the country to immediately restart its nuclear program, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the deal can still be salvaged. He announced late Tuesday that he will send his foreign minister to visit the other signatories: China, France, Germany, Russia, and the UK. Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's foreign minister, said Wednesday that "the deal is not dead," the BBC reports. "There's an American withdrawal from the deal but the deal is still there," he said. Russian officials said they were "deeply disappointed" by Trump's decision, though it was cheered by Tehran foes Israel and Saudi Arabia.


Bodies believed to be of Japanese WWII soldiers discovered in Palau cave sealed off for 70 years

 Updated

 The bodies of six soldiers, believed to be Japanese troops who fought in World War II, have been discovered in a reopened cave in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau.

 The site — one of around 200 sealed caves on the island of Pelileu — was recently opened again for the first time in nearly 70 years.

 The caves were used when US and Japanese forces fought a fierce battle on the island's beaches in September 1944.

 Steve Ballinger, operations director with non-government organisation Cleared Ground Demining, said the bodies of the six soldiers would be repatriated.

 "The cave itself is in an area known as the promontory which is the defining point on the west coast of the island of Pelileu," he told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program.

 "At that location was an anti-tank gun in a heavily fortified concrete bunker and it took a number of days actually to capture this fortified position.

 "It's my understanding that those [bodies] were the crew, perhaps the officer and his men that were manning that gun ... a number of US soldiers died in that vicinity as well."

 Mr Ballinger said other war relics were also found in and around the cave.

 "During the detection and investigation we located hand grenades, large projectiles, small arms ammunition and (an) array of explosive remnants of war," he said.

 The decision to open the caves in Palau comes ahead of an imperial visit next week by Japanese emperor Akihito and empress Michiko.

 The team tasked with making the caves safe for anthropologists to investigate has been operating in Palau to clear remnants of WWII ordnance for six years.

 It is made up of 18 Palauans, two Britons and one person each from South Africa and Australia.

 Mr Ballinger said the team had been concerned about possible booby traps when they first entered the cave.

 "[We] had to check in the floor and the entrance of the cave to allow Japanese and US anthropologists and archaeologists in there," he said.

 "It was very tight, it was a very difficult entrance to the cave, a very harsh environment to work in."

 He said the cave the remains were found has since been resealed.

 "A lot of field caves will contain considerable quantities of human remains and as such you could designate them as graves and wouldn't be appropriate to use as tourist attractions," he said.

 An estimated 10,000 Japanese soldiers died during the fighting in the country, and the remains of some 2,600 troops have never been found.

 Topics: world-war-2, history, unrest-conflict-and-war, archaeology, palau, pacific, japan, united-states

 First posted ||||| On a remote coral island in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau , officials have been inching through foliage littered with explosives to open up a network of sealed caves and search for thousands of bodies believed to have lain inside since the Second World War .

 The grim and painstaking task, undertaken by a team of local and Japanese archaeologists and munitions experts, is aimed at finding the remains of Japanese soldiers trapped inside by United States forces during one of the toughest battles of the war.

 The Japanese used the caves, connected via tunnels and narrow passageways, as a base for their defence of Peleliu, a narrow island only six miles long. More than 10,000 Japanese soldiers died, but the bodies of 2,600 were never found.

 Now, Palau has agreed to open about 200 remaining sealed caves to try to locate the remains ahead of a visit early next month by Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

 The macabre task is risky and involves clearing a way into the caves through thick forest littered with unexploded ordnance.

 A team of experts took five days last week to clear their way into just one small cave with a 7ft opening.

 Archaeologists found a set of bones which are believed to be human and will be taken back to Japan for testing.

 "They found some bones while they were clearing the entrance of the cave," Bernadette Carreon, a local journalist, told ABC Radio. "They did not use heavy equipment because they have to make it clear of heavy ordnance. When it's clear, the archaeologists can go in and start bone collection."

 Marines smoke cigarettes, but keep their weapons close in a blasted landscape of Peleliu Island, Palau during WWII

 The attempt to find the bodies has been welcomed in Japan and is part of an effort to end a brutal chapter from the war, in which US marines were pitted against Japanese troops who had set up their defences in the intricate labyrinth of heavily fortified caves and underground bunkers. It is still regarded as one of the harshest conflicts in the history of the marines.

 Unlike previous battles in the Pacific, the Japanese did not focus their defence on using suicide charges to prevent the Americans from establishing a beachhead.

 Instead, the Japanese forces largely allowed the marines to land but staged their defence from inside the caves.

 The Japanese, who had occupied Palau for about 30 years, had spent decades using dynamite and axes to enlarge existing caves on Peleliu and blast out new ones. The caves and their entrances were then heavily camouflaged.

 • Japan receives biggest warship since Second World War

 • Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen: 'I've found wreck of long-lost WWII Japanese battleship'

 The US forces expected the battle in September 1944 to last only four or five days. "It will be a hard-fought quickie," predicted William Rupertus, the US marine commander. It took more than 10 weeks.

 More than 1,600 US soldiers were killed during the battle, which ended with the marines blowing up many of the caves, leaving thousands of the enemy trapped inside. Shortly before the Americans finally seized the small island in late November, Col Kunio Nakagawa, the Japanese commander, atoned for his defeat by committing ritual suicide in his post.

 About 35 Japanese soldiers remained hiding in the caves until April 1947, more than 18 months after the war officially ended. They were the last troops to surrender.

 Keiji Nagai, 93, and Kiyokazu Tsuchida, 95, two of the 35 soldiers who surrendered in 1947, met the Japanese emperor and empress earlier this month to provide an account of the hand-to-hand combat they experienced during the battle. The empress quietly told Mr Nagai: "You went through a lot."

 Authorities began collecting the remains at various locations around the island in 1953, but Japanese authorities say 2,600 soldiers have yet to be found. The bodies are believed to be holed up inside about 200 caves which were deemed dangerous and left sealed to prevent public access. About 450 Japanese soldiers survived the battle and later helped to direct the authorities to the site of graves.

 The island of Peleliu (Alamy)

 The entire island has become something of a monument to the battle, with unexploded bombs a constant threat to residents and tourists. Following the war, Japan created a peace park which included a Shinto shrine with the inscription "To all countries' unknown soldiers".

 Officials in Palau have worked closely with Japan to try to recover the remaining bodies and return them to the families of the soldiers. Some representatives of the families of the Japanese soldiers have assisted with the search.

 Sachio Kageyama, from a group representing families and fellow soldiers of those who fought on the island, told The Japan Times: "I hope the forthcoming visit by the emperor will pave the way for [further] collection of remains."

 Palau, a remote cluster of islands east of the Philippines with a population of about 21,000, was the scene of heavy fighting during the war. The fierce battle at Peleliu was over an airfield now deemed of questionable strategic value by most historians.

 The search for the bodies has also focused on a long-lost mass grave on the western side of the island, close to where the current cave search is being conducted.

 US military documents indicating the cemetery's location were found two years ago at a naval museum in California. The documents included a map created in January 1945 which says "Japanese cemetery" and points to the centre of the island. A separate report from a construction battalion says that logs were placed on the site to prevent people disturbing the graves. US officials reportedly told Palau in 1994 that a mass grave was located near Nakagawa's grave.

 US experts have also been searching Palau's coral reefs, lagoons and islands for planes that were lost in the conflict. Last year, underwater robots were used to find two warplanes on the ocean floor. |||||

Write a summary.

– The island nation of Palau is preparing for a visit from Japan's Emperor Akihito next week with an unusual and grim task: It's investigating long-sealed caves on the island of Peleliu to look for the remains of Japanese soldiers from World War II. The remains of six soldiers have been discovered so far, but that's just the start. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports they were found in one of about 200 sealed caves on Peleliu. An estimated 10,000 Japanese men were killed in a weeks-long battle with US troops during the war, and the bodies of 2,600 of them were never found. The Japanese used a network of caves and tunnels during the 1944 fighting, recounts the Telegraph, and largely "staged their defense" from within the caves. About 1,600 American troops were killed, but the US military blew up many of the caves (essentially sealing the Japanese within) and eventually gained control. The six newly found bodies were found in the vicinity of an anti-tank gun, and "it's my understanding that those [bodies] were the crew, perhaps the officer and his men that were manning that gun," says one of the search officials. "A number of US soldiers died in that vicinity as well." The task is painstaking because searchers need to guard against booby traps or the detonation of old munitions. An interesting side note from the Telegraph: Some 35 Japanese soldiers who had been hiding in the caves surrendered in April 1947—more than a year after the war's end. (In other WWII news, Anne Frank likely died earlier than thought.)


Summarize this article:

When Kristen Stewart and Alec Baldwin each took their shots at Donald Trump last Saturday night, a certain segment of the population waited for the president to explode on Twitter the next morning. “Every Sunday morning is a countdown until Trump tweets about SNL,” comedian Kumail Nanjiani joked. But Trump has kept mum on that subject so far, restricting his messages to the Super Bowl and undermining the U.S. judicial system. In the end, however, it wasn’t Baldwin or Stewart who reportedly got under Trump’s skin: it was Melissa McCarthy’s brilliant and enormously popular take on Sean Spicer. And now Trump’s decade-long foe, Rosie O’Donnell, is offering to help finish the job.

 Press Secretary Spicer is already on record as being casually displeased with McCarthy’s bullish, bombastic impression of him. He told Extra that McCarthy “needs to slow down on the gum chewing; way too many pieces in there” but generously called the show “really funny.” But according to Politico, it wasn’t the gum chewing that displeased Trump. “More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts,” a source close to Trump told the Web site, “it was Spicer’s portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president’s eyes.” Even worse, the potentially emasculating portrayal is allegedly “not considered helpful for Spicer’s longevity in the grueling, high-profile job in which he has struggled to strike the right balance between representing an administration that considers the media the ‘opposition party,’ and developing a functional relationship with the press.”

 Throughout his campaign, Trump made it clear that he has certain expectations when it comes to gender. He memorably kicked off a feud with former Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly when she asked him about his attitude toward women during a primary debate. Kelly’s perceived aggression prompted Trump to later claim she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” and to refer to her as a “lightweight” on Twitter.

 But the nastiest, gendered feud of Trump’s career (if you don’t count the 2016 election) is the public battle he’s fought with Rosie O’Donnell. Starting in 2006, when O’Donnell made disparaging remarks about the future president on The View, Trump told People, “Rosie’s a loser. A real loser. I look forward to taking lots of money from my nice fat little Rosie.” Like his odd fixation with Kristen Stewart, Trump’s public bullying of O’Donnell has continued for a surprisingly long period of time—a decade and counting—and he has taken every possible occasion to take shots at her. The president sometimes bent over backward to include an O’Donnell insult in completely unrelated conversations . . .

 . . . or even nationally televised debates. “Probably the Trump stuff was the most bullying I ever experienced in my life, including as a child,” O’Donnell told People in 2016. “It was national, and it was sanctioned societally. Whether I deserved it is up to your own interpretation.”

 Given their combative history, it should come as no surprise that O’Donnell would want to help S.N.L. pile on to its increasingly confrontational portrayal of the president and his close circle. When news circulated late Monday night that Trump’s biggest issue with S.N.L.’s Spicer sketch was McCarthy’s gender, someone floated the idea that perhaps his old nemesis, Rosie O’Donnell, should play Trump’s top adviser: Steve Bannon. And as that idea picked up steam on Twitter, it made its way to O’Donnell herself, who was immediately game.

 The person currently portraying Bannon on Saturday nights is new cast member Mikey Day, who—in full Grim Reaper drag—whispers demonically bad ideas into Baldwin’s Trump’s ear, forcing the president to sit at a miniature desk while he takes the seat of power in the Oval Office. But as TV critic Alan Sepinwall notes, Trump might actually view this depiction of Bannon as a twisted compliment:

 Portraying Bannon as the Grim Reaper doesn’t seem to have gotten Bannon into the same hot water the Politico article suggests Spicer is now in. Being told that your top adviser is evil is an easy joke, and maybe even something to be taken as a point of pride, given how much Trump and Bannon both like to brag about crushing their enemies. But portray Bannon at his biggest and sloppiest — while still forcing the classy POTUS himself to sit at the little desk — and that’s something that might actually make Trump question his trust in the man.

 Mikey Day’s version of Bannon—though demonically evil—is powerful. But on the subject of McCarthy as Spicer, a “top Trump donor” observed to Politico: “Trump doesn’t like his people to look weak.”

 Trump has time and again betrayed a curious obsession with body image. The Washington Post has a fairly exhaustive rundown of Trump’s many targets, which have included Jennifer Lopez, Chris Christie, Kim Kardashian West, former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, and, of course, O’Donnell. One suspects this evident preoccupation may have also played a role in Trump’s allegedly negative reaction to McCarthy, who launched a successful plus-sized clothing line in 2015 and often wears her own designs on the red carpet. So holding up O’Donnell—whom Trump has called a “fat pig” in the past—as a mirror to Bannon does seem like a perfectly crafted blow.

 It seems unlikely that S.N.L. will tap O’Donnell for the part. The show doesn’t often cast its roles by committee. But O’Donnell—a plus-size, gay woman—stepping into the role of the power behind Trump’s throne might just be the thing to send the president over the edge. (If that’s the goal.) And given the president’s recent reaction to whispers about the power Bannon holds over him (“I call my own shots,” he tweeted Monday morning in response to a New York Times article detailing Bannon’s supposed sway), Trump may already be teetering on the brink.

 VIDEO: What the Explosive Start of Saturday Night Live Was Actually Like ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201702/3515/1155968404_5312146791001_5312135519001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true White House rattled by McCarthy's spoof of Spicer Trump 'doesn't like his people to look weak,' a top Trump donor said.

 As the press secretary for a president who's obsessed with how things play on cable TV, Sean Spicer’s real audience during his daily televised press briefings has always been an audience of one.

 And the devastating “Saturday Night Live” caricature of Spicer that aired over the weekend — in which a belligerent Spicer was spoofed by a gum-chomping, super soaker-wielding Melissa McCarthy in drag — did not go over well internally at a White House in which looks matter.

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 More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was Spicer’s portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president’s eyes, according to sources close to him. And the unflattering send-up by a female comedian was not considered helpful for Spicer’s longevity in the grueling, high-profile job in which he has struggled to strike the right balance between representing an administration that considers the media the "opposition party," and developing a functional relationship with the press.

 "Trump doesn't like his people to look weak," added a top Trump donor.

 Trump’s uncharacteristic Twitter silence over the weekend about the “Saturday Night Live” sketch was seen internally as a sign of how uncomfortable it made the White House feel. Sources said the caricature of Spicer by McCarthy struck a nerve and was upsetting to the press secretary and to his allies, who immediately saw how damaging it could be in Trump world.

 Spicer on Monday was traveling aboard Air Force One from Florida to Washington, D.C., and gamely shrugged off the spoof that was playing in loops on cable news throughout the day.

 McCarthy “needs to slow down on the gum chewing; way too many pieces in there,” he joked in an interview with Extra.

 And on Monday, Spicer’s allies were trying to put a happy face on the incident. "He takes the job seriously but doesn't take himself that seriously," said a person close to Spicer, who said he also understood the instant-viral skit helped him reach a new level of fame. "He knows that put him up on the stratosphere of recognition on a level," this person said. "You've got to embrace it."

 But on Tuesday, Spicer has the uncomfortable task of facing reporters once again in the briefing room — where the elephant in the room will be the unflattering McCarthy caricature.

 White House sources said they expect him to cut the tension with humor, and that he has already been on a charm offensive before the "SNL" skit, knowing he has relations to repair with the press.

 Spicer has reached out to some reporters, in recent days, simply to wish them a happy birthday. Speaking at a forum at George Washington University last week, Spicer was self-effacing, making fun of his first stumble out of the gate, where even his ill-fitting suit was criticized by the boss. “I looked at my suit choice and made some changes there," he joked.

 But Spicer for weeks now has been fighting to repair his troubling first impression behind the lectern — he is still operating under a cloud that he created when he took no questions and made false statements about the crowd size at Trump’s inauguration, losing some of his credibility with the room of reporters he faces off with every day. Internally, people close to Trump are eager to point out that Spicer was also not Trump’s first choice for the high-profile position of press secretary, but that chief of staff Reince Priebus pushed for the former Republican National Committee spokesman to get the job.

 Spicer has taken the role seriously; in the final weeks during the transition, he was participating in mock briefing sessions to get ready for his on-camera performances. Since Jan. 20, Spicer has had the added difficulty of doing two jobs at once: He is acting as communications director on top of his job as press secretary, while the administration seeks to fill the former job. Senior White House officials Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks still attend the daily briefings and sit on the side to watch him — a move some interpreted as a sign that Spicer still needs supervision.

 The “SNL” clip was seen by some in Trump’s orbit as devastating because it was accurate. “I thought they had Sean down pretty good,” said one Trump ally, who thought Spicer has been set up in an impossible position.

 In a phone interview on Monday afternoon, Spicer tried to tack away from the skit. "I would much rather have the focus be on the president's agenda and the success he's having,” he said. “That's all I'm saying on it." When pressed about what his own reaction to the skit was, he demurred. “It doesn’t really matter what I think.” ||||| Lorne Michaels, your phone is ringing.

 Rosie O’Donnell, longtime nemesis of President Donald Trump, trended on Twitter late Monday as “Saturday Night Live” fans urged the show to cast her in a key role.

 Some suggested O’Donnell play White House chief strategist Steve Bannon while others ― no doubt remembering her 2006 impression of Trump on “The View” (above) ― were hoping she could play the president himself.

 The tweets were inspired by Melissa McCarthy’s unforgettable portrayal of White House press secretary Sean Spicer last Saturday, which drew rave reviews from fans.

 But at least one loyal viewer wasn’t very happy about the skit. Politico reported that Trump didn’t like that Spicer was played by a woman, which led to calls for more women playing Trump administration figures on the show, starting with O’Donnell:

 O’Donnell replied:

 available - if called i will serve !!! https://t.co/LT84EJjfsw — ROSIE (@Rosie) February 7, 2017

 Someone even came up with an image of what she might look like in the role:

 Others want O’Donnell to portray Trump.

 “SNL” already has a memorable Trump impersonator in Alec Baldwin. However, the actor told The New York Times in December that due to upcoming film roles, his appearances in future skits will be intermittent.

 So could O’Donnell play the president when Baldwin is off? She certainly doesn’t seem opposed to that idea:

 Trump, @Rosie, was upset that a staffer was played by a woman, and you do a great impression of him. Willing to take one for the team? — Calvin Enemy Philips (@calvininsf) February 7, 2017

 @calvininsf - i am here to serve - alec has trump - melissa has spice - i would need a few days to prepare - so if called - i will be ready — ROSIE (@Rosie) February 7, 2017

 Needless to say, fans were excited by the possibility:

 Dear @nbcsnl,

 Now that we know for sure that being played by a woman bothers Trump:

 ROSIE

 ROSIE

 ROSIE

 ROSIE

 ROSIE@Rosie

 Rosie O'Donnell — Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) February 7, 2017

 I vote for Rosie O'Donnell playing Bannon next. https://t.co/bEe6ybaVM6 — June (@junekazumi) February 7, 2017

 Nothing against Alec Baldwin, he's been doing a great job. But imagine the steam shooting out of Trump's ears if Rosie O'Donnell plays him. — Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 7, 2017

 Can we petition SNL to have Rosie O'Donnell play Trump next Saturday? That would put him RIGHT over the edge. https://t.co/ZIL605NMug — Brian Fitzpatrick (@therealfitz) February 7, 2017

 Rosie O'Donnell as Steve Bannon? pic.twitter.com/kGDwTgn4jB — Isabel Rontini (@isabelrontini) February 7, 2017

 TO DO LIST

 -Rosie O'Donnell as Bannon on next week's SNL

 -Massive coordinated fax machine FOIA requests for Trump tax returns — Seth Bockley (@sboke) February 7, 2017

 -oh god yes please!

 Rosie O’Donnell Offers to Help S.N.L. Drive Donald Trump Over the Edge https://t.co/IBgwAM4xKb — Joshua Freedman (@JoshuaFreedman6) February 7, 2017

 I love Rosie O'Donnell, & for her to have the last laugh on Trump by playing him or Bannon on SNL would be poetic justice. — LIZZY (@AprilLa32529573) February 7, 2017

 No but seriously can we draft Rosie O'Donnell to play Bannon on SNL? It might be the only way to save America. — Kate Cronin-Furman (@kcroninfurman) February 7, 2017

 Top choices to play Trump on SNL:

 1. Rosie O'Donnell

 2. Meryl Streep

 3. Megyn Kelly

 4. Hillary Clinton — Brooklyn Spoke (@BrooklynSpoke) February 7, 2017 |||||

– Sean Spicer may have laughed off Melissa McCarthy's portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live, but the White House is in fact "rattled," reports Politico, noting "it was Spicer's portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president's eyes." As one President Trump donor puts it, "Trump doesn't like his people to look weak." Some say Trump's silence on the skit on Twitter suggests it hit a little too close to home. And though Spicer described it as "cute" and "funny," sources say he actually found it upsetting. But "it doesn't really matter what I think," Spicer tells Politico. "I would much rather have the focus be on the president's agenda and the success he's having. That's all I'm saying on it." Steve Bannon should perhaps prepare for a similar portrayal. After Saturday's skit, a fan on Twitter suggested Rosie O'Donnell should dress up as Trump to get under his skin, reports Vanity Fair. O'Donnell responded that Alec Baldwin portrays Trump and McCarthy does Spicer, but she later agreed she'd like to play Bannon, whom Mikey Day has portrayed as the Grim Reaper on SNL. "If called, I will be ready," O'Donnell tweeted. "I am here to serve." The show hasn't said if O'Donnell is likely to appear, but support is growing on Twitter, with one user suggesting such a skit would let O'Donnell "have the last laugh on Trump" after a decade-long feud, per the Huffington Post.


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 BERLIN — Germany on Friday failed to persuade Hungary and three other Central European partners to accept joint European Union action and a quota to distribute migrants from the Middle East.

 The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, using blunt language that indicated Berlin might be losing patience, called the crisis “the greatest challenge the European Union has faced in its history.”

 Up to 40,000 people might arrive this weekend, he said — double the total warmly welcomed in an outpouring of emotion last Saturday and Sunday. The new figures came as questions mounted about the wisdom of throwing open the borders last weekend, in a humanitarian gesture that was described as a one-time exception, but which appears to have encouraged more asylum-seekers to join the migrant trail.

 In an indication that the government was troubled about maintaining control, Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defense minister, announced that 4,000 troops were on standby — a measure more often used to preserve order in natural disasters.

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 Mr. Steinmeier stressed that Germany now expects 800,000 migrants to arrive this year, and added, “None of these will be taken in by others, so I ask for understanding, that we discuss not only those who are already here, but a fair quota of distribution of those who are still on the way.”

 His statement during talks in Prague with Hungarian, Czech, Slovak and Polish counterparts suggested that neither he nor the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, had persuaded the former Communist countries, which have not been immigrant destinations, to adopt quotas to house 160,000 migrants as suggested this week by the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.

 The Prague talks were held in anticipation of a meeting on Monday of European interior ministers to discuss the Juncker proposals, and there were indications on Friday that heads of state and government might have to hold a summit meeting if no progress is made then. Officials in Berlin, speaking on condition of anonymity as they groped for a solution, even mentioned using majority voting — and not the traditional consensus — to decide the matter.

 That would be highly unusual in an affair so central to Europe’s destiny.

 But Mr. Steinmeier indicated that Berlin is keenly aware that failure to control the situation might tip the popular mood in Germany, and other countries like Sweden and Austria, where the welcome for the migrants has so far been mostly warm.

 While Social Democrats like Mr. Steinmeier have long supported immigration, the conservatives in Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, Ms. Merkel’s partners in her center-right bloc, have long been critical, and have grown more so this week. “We’ve lost control,” said Hans-Peter Friedrich, a former interior minister and deputy leader of the Bavarian party, in the newspaper Passauer Neue Presse.

 Throwing open the borders to migrants coming from Hungary by way of Austria last weekend “was a failure that we will have to deal with for a long time,” said Horst Seehofer, head of the Bavarian party and governor of that state. “I don’t see how we will put the cork back in the bottle,” he was quoted as telling Der Spiegel magazine.

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 Mr. Steinmeier said Europe needed a common message, that “not everyone who arrives has the right to asylum, or the right to a job.” Smugglers, he said, spread such rumors “and are working on purpose to lure people into undertaking dangerous journeys.”

 The harsh response to migrants in some countries in Eastern and Central Europe has spurred debate about why many in former Communist countries, which themselves spent four decades craving liberty, are in some cases unsympathetic, and even downright hostile, to those fleeing war and tyranny.

 Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary reiterated his criticism of migrants on Friday, and he warned that his country would soon take an even harder line.

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 “They have seized railway stations, refused to give fingerprints, failed to cooperate and are unwilling to go to places where they would get food, water, accommodation and medical care,” Mr. Orban said after a meeting with Manfred Weber, chairman of the conservative European People’s Party in the European Parliament.

 Tougher laws on immigration go into effect Tuesday, Mr. Orban said, and migrants who cross the border illegally will be arrested.

 At the meeting in Prague, some countries repeated that immigration policy was a matter of national sovereignty. Lubomir Zaoralek, the Czech foreign minister, said, “Every country has to have the sovereign right to decide who it will or will not accept.”

 Mr. Steinmeier took issue. “We can, as Europe, say that we will shut all borders, and not let anyone else in,” he said. But in doing so, “we would betray our values.”

 The United Nations on Friday gave qualified support to the Juncker plan. It “would go a long way” toward addressing the crisis, William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva, but he added that it was still insufficient.

 Continue reading the main story European Refugee and Migrant Crisis

 “Our estimates indicate even higher needs,” Mr. Spindle said, “but the focus must now be on ensuring all member states take part in this initiative, and that it is swiftly implemented.”

 Elsewhere on Friday, the Austrian railway said there would also be no regional traffic between Austria and Hungary this weekend, after Austria stopped rail service across the border with Hungary under the pressure of migrants streaming in.

 That prompted several groups of migrants who had arrived from Hungary to start marching toward Vienna along various routes, according to Helmut Marban, a spokesman for the police in the eastern Austrian province of Burgenland.

 The main highway in the direction of Vienna was closed at least for some hours on Friday because of the danger of migrants marching along the road.

 The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration said that in Geneva, a record 432,761 migrants had crossed the Mediterranean already this year, compared with 197,940 people crossing in all of 2014, Reuters reported.

 The situation also continued to deteriorate in Macedonia, where the authorities are scrambling to find ways to cope with an increase in the number of migrants traveling through the country.

 More than 11,000 migrants entered the country in a 24-hour period that ended Friday, according to the United Nations refugee agency, and the number was expected to remain similarly high over the next few days.

 Despite the challenges facing the country, a proposal on Thursday by Nikola Poposki, Macedonia’s minister of foreign affairs, to follow Hungary’s example of building a fence along its border was met with harsh criticism from domestic civil organizations and political parties. ||||| "As I watch the footage now, it's like I'm not watching myself. I honestly regret what I have done and take responsibility for it," wrote Petra Laszlo in a letter to Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet published on its website.

 In the footage, which spread rapidly across the Internet earlier this week, Laszlo, 40, can be seen tripping a man sprinting with a child in his arms, and kicking another running child near the town of Roszke, close to the border with Serbia.

 She was fired from her job at N1TV, an Internet-based television station close to Hungary's far-right Jobbik party, and also faces criminal charges for breaching the peace.

 Photo: Getty Images

 She was detained for questioning by police on Thursday and later released.

 "Only now could I get myself together enough to be able to write. I'm in a state of shock because of what I did and what has been done to me," she wrote to the newspaper.

 "I was recording with the camera when hundreds of migrants broke through the police cordon, one of them ran into me and I panicked.

 "I was afraid as they were rushing toward me and then something snapped in my head. As I had my camera in my hand I couldn't see who was coming at me, my only thought was that I was going to be attacked, and that I had to defend myself," she added.

 "As a mother I'm particularly sorry that fate had it that a child was running at me, and I wasn't able to sense that.

 "It's not easy to make a good decision when you're in a panic."

 Photo: EPA

 A "Wall of Shame" page on Facebook featuring pictures, videos and commentaries linked to the incident had gathered more than 35,000 likes by Friday.

 "You are a disgrace to your profession," was the typical sentiment from one user.

 Laszlo said she did not "deserve either the political witchhunt that is going on against me or the smears or the many death threats".

 "I'm just a woman, now unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision in a panic situation." |||||

– Despite the general opinion after a video surfaced of her kicking Syrian migrants, Hungarian Petra Laszlo says she is "not a heartless, child-kicking, racist camera-person." Rather, "something snapped in my head" when hundreds of migrants broke through a police barricade not far from the Serbian border in Roszke, Hungary, and "one of them ran into me," Laszlo writes in a letter, per AFP and New York Times. "As I had my camera in my hand I couldn't see who was coming at me, my only thought was that I was going to be attacked, and that I had to defend myself." Laszlo, who was filmed kicking a child and tripping a man with a child in his arms, says, "As a mother I'm particularly sorry that fate had it that a child was running at me, and I wasn't able to sense that." She adds, "I honestly regret what I have done and take responsibility for it," but she says she doesn't "deserve either the political witch hunt that is going on against me or the smears or the many death threats … It's not easy to make a good decision when you're in a panic." Laszlo has since been fired from Internet-based station N1TV and faces criminal charges of breaching the peace.