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2019-05-01 21:37:00

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties convened Tuesday’s hearing in part to discuss legislation introduced by California Representative Jackie Speier, whose resolution would remove the deadline for the ERA and pave the way for the amendment’s ratification. Though the bill passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate in 1972, it’s still one state away from reaching the two-thirds supermajority required to become a constitutional amendment. Speier and the other lawmakers and witnesses who testified on Tuesday in favor of the ERA argued that its principle purpose is to eliminate gender discrimination and establish a constitutional standard of equality for women. But they met repeated opposition from Louisiana Representative Mike Johnson, who insisted that the amendment would infringe on “the people’s right to protect the unborn.” “If the ERA were to become part of our law, restrictions on abortion would automatically be struck down,” the congressman said on Tuesday. The ERA’s supporters bristle at Johnson’s claims, which they see as a baseless—and familiar—tactic to block a constitutional amendment that could transform women’s lives from going into effect. “I think that the use of abortion rights to oppose the ERA is another red herring,” National Organization for Women President Toni Van Pelt said Tuesday. “They’re just trying to keep women from power—and their arguments are old and tired.” While supporters take issue with these claims that the ERA would be instantly transformative, it also appears that some are backing away from acknowledging any impact the amendment could have on reproductive rights. What the ERA would mean for abortion protections in particular is a question its advocates find it difficult to agree on. On Tuesday, Speier assured Johnson that the ERA is “no stalking horse for abortion,” emphasizing that the proposed amendment isn’t a ploy to enshrine additional abortion protections. And New York Representative Carolyn Maloney—one of the ERA’s most vocal leaders in Congress—added in her testimony that the amendment has “absolutely nothing to do with abortion.” “It has to do with equality of rights most of which has to do with equality and respect,” she continued. “Saying it has to do with abortion is divisive and a tool to defeat it.” Johnson’s case against the ERA appeared to borrow heavily from Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative activist who led the opposition to the proposed amendment in the 1970s. At the time, Schlafly argued that the legislation—first introduced to Congress in 1923—would encourage “abortion on demand” and buoy what she called the “abortion industry,” repealing “all and every kind of anti-abortion laws that we now have.” Watch More from VICE News: “The suggestion that the ratification of the ERA would be a sea change in abortion rights has been an argument folks have been making since the 70s, and I’m just not seeing it,” Linda Coberly, a Chicago-based lawyer and chair of the ERA Coalition’s Legal Task Force, said on the phone. “I’m not saying that the ERA has nothing to do with reproductive rights—I don’t think that’s true. But the idea that the ERA would instantly eliminate all restrictions on abortion is fearmongering." But others see an opportunity for the ERA to provide stronger legal grounds for abortion rights during a time when they’ve come under attack. “The ERA would help create a basis to challenge abortion restrictions,” Kelli Garcia, the director of reproductive justice initiatives and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, said Wednesday morning. “We see the ERA as another tool that would strengthen our existing protections.” As Garcia suggests, the truth about the ERA’s implications for abortion rights appears to lie somewhere between the two extremes presented on Tuesday. Expert witnesses who spoke at the hearing acknowledged that reproductive rights are essential to women’s equality under the law—and therefore not entirely unrelated to an amendment guaranteeing women’s equal treatment—but pointed out that it would ultimately be up to the courts to decide whether the ERA supports legal arguments against abortion restrictions or not. That is, there wouldn’t be any automatic changes if the amendment was ratified. The biggest obstacle to lawmakers who want to pass anti-abortion legislation continues to be Roe v. Wade, as well as the many Supreme Court decisions that have continued to uphold it—and advocates say that will continue to be true even if the ERA is ratified. “Even without the ERA we still have tools in our existing law and existing precedents to challenge and strike down many of the abortion restrictions we’ve been seeing,” Garcia said. “Yes, the ERA would provide another legal tool, but those restrictions are already unconstitutional.” But even those who contend conservatives are falsely linking the ERA with reproductive rights say that invoking abortion may not thwart the amendment this time. In Illinois—which joined Nevada last year in becoming the most recent states to ratify the ERA—11 anti-choice Republican legislators voted in favor of it. “I think there’s a recognition of the fact that the equality guarantee of the ERA goes way beyond reproductive rights,” Coberly said. “I think even a person who is ‘pro-life’ could easily conclude that equality is bigger than any one issue.” Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.

2017-02-14

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesians will vote on Wednesday in regional elections in more than 100 provinces, cities, and districts, with the contest for the powerful post of Jakarta governor turning into one of the more divisive political battles in the country’s democratic era. The race to lead the city of more than 10 million is being fought by three candidates - an ethnic Chinese Christian and two Muslims - and has triggered protests and stirred religious and political tension in the world’s third-largest democracy. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, commonly known as “Ahok”, is the incumbent governor who took over running Jakarta in 2014 when his then boss, Joko Widodo, won the presidency. Purnama, 50, is the city’s first ethnic Chinese and Christian leader, and has angered some Muslim voters for allegedly insulting the Koran. He has denied wrongdoing, but is on trial for blasphemy in a case that some view as politically motivated. He is backed by the country’s ruling party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Purnama’s popular policies include a commitment to tackling chronic flooding and traffic jams and improving the bureaucracy. Agus Yudhoyono, the oldest son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He retired from the military at the age of 38 to run for the governorship. He is backed by the Democrat Party and some Islamic parties. Yudhoyono’s campaign has focused on improving the lives of Jakarta’s poor and he has promised cash handouts to low-income families. Anies Baswedan, 47, was the former education minister in President Widodo’s government. He is supported by Gerindra, a party headed by an unsuccessful presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto. Baswedan’s campaign has focused on improving public education and combating the rising cost of living. Official results are expected to be announced by around March 8-10. If no candidate achieves a majority in the first round, a runoff is expected in May between the two candidates securing the most votes. Defeated candidates can dispute the results in the Constitutional Court. Purnama is on trial for blasphemy over comments he made about his opponents’ use of the Koran in political campaigning. If he wins the Jakarta election but is convicted of blasphemy, he is legally allowed to assume office as long as an appeals process is going on. Nearly 50 million voters are registered to vote in Wednesday’s regional elections all over Indonesia. Of that total, 7.1 million are in Jakarta. Elections will be held for governors, mayors and regents in 101 regions throughout the country. Seven provinces, including Jakarta, will choose a governor. There will also be 18 city elections and 76 district elections. Reporting by Ben Weir; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Robert Birsel

2019-05-12

The first step in a long-delayed plan for a withdrawal of rebel forces from Yemen's embattled Hodeida port has gone to plan, according to U.N. officials. Day one of the process seen as vital to maintaining a tenuous cease-fire, during which Yemen's Houthi forces have started withdrawing from three of Yemen's Red Sea ports, went "in accordance with established plans," the head of a UN monitoring mission said on Sunday. The development marks the first concrete step since a fragile U.N. cease-fire agreement was brokered between the war-ravaged nation's rival parties last December. "All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security," Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, head of the U.N.'s Redeployment Coordination Committee, said in a statement. The withdrawal process is crucial in allowing desperately needed humanitarian aid through the strategic port of Hodeida, which serves about 70% of Yemen's population. Hodeida city has been under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who overran Yemen's internationally-recognized government in early 2015. The city was the target of a major Saudi and Emirati assault in mid-2018, an escalation of which the cease-fire agreement aimed to prevent. Many Yemeni government officials remain skeptical about the Houthis' sincerity, accusing the rebels of staging a ploy, while the Houthis have claimed commitment to the Hodeida deal and urged all parties to abide by it. The agreement mandates a mutual withdrawal from the port by both rebel and government forces, though is vague on who will run it beyond that. The UN's Lollesgaard stressed that the rebel forces must fully carry out their withdrawal, which expects to be completed over three days. Fighting has continued in other parts of the country, in particular the southern province of Dhale. The conflict in Yemen, which saw a Saudi Arabian-led coalition launch a prolonged bombing offensive against the country's Houthi rebel movement, has created what the U.N. deems the worst humanitarian disaster in the world, marked by tens of thousands of deaths and millions more facing starvation. Rights groups have pointed to both sides as responsible for war crimes. The U.S. currently supports the Saudi-led coalition through intelligence, training and, up until recently, air refueling support, though both houses of Congress have now voted to end support for the Saudis in Yemen. The U.N. points to the Saudi air campaign as responsible for the vast majority of Yemeni civilian deaths.

2019-04-23

mid-2019@ SAN FRANCISCO, April 23 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Waymo said on Tuesday it had chosen a factory in Detroit to mass produce self-driving cars, looking to the historical heart of the auto industry to build the vehicles of the future. The company's chief executive, John Krafcik, said in a blog post that Waymo would partner with American Axle & Manufacturing to lease and repurpose an existing Detroit facility that will be operational by mid-2019. Waymo said in January it had chosen Michigan for its first production facility, adding it would receive incentives from the public-private partnership agency, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and create up to 400 jobs over time exclusively related to self driving. In a sea of rivals, Waymo is generally thought of as ahead in the self-driving race. It already operates a robotaxi service in Arizona that it plans to expand geographically over time. Global automakers, large technology companies and startups are all engaged in self-driving efforts, but experts expect it will be years before systems are ready to be rolled out in all areas, with software and regulations among the many challenges. Waymo is competing with rivals General Motors and Uber Technologies to deploy such vehicles for the masses. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also announced the company plans to launch a robotaxi service in 2020. Waymo, which has been working on self-driving technology for a decade, provided few new details. It currently retrofits Chrysler Pacifica minivans to use in its robotaxi fleet. In March 2018, Waymo said it would diversify the fleet, partnering with Jaguar to produce up to 20,000 vehicles by 2022, able to conduct about 1 million trips per day. American Axle, with which Waymo is partnering for its Detroit facility, was formed in 1994 when an investment team purchased five plants that General Motors had put up for sale. GM plans to end output at its last Detroit factory next year, after announcing in November a plan to halt production at five North American assembly plants and cut about 15,000 jobs. Fiat Chrysler, however, said in February it would invest $4.5 billion in five plants and create 6,500 jobs in Michigan. In January, Waymo said it planned to hire engineers, operations experts, fleet coordinators and others to retrofit vehicles with its self-driving technology. Both GM and Ford Motor Co have said they will build autonomous vehicles at Michigan factories. (Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

2019-11-15 00:00:00

MILAN (Reuters) - Vivendi (VIV.PA) could reduce its holding in Italian broadcaster Mediaset (MS.MI) in a potential deal to end a long-running legal row between the two companies, three sources close to the matter said on Friday. Such a deal would help a European expansion plan by the broadcaster controlled by the family of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, which is opposed by the French media group led by billionaire Vincent Bollore. Mediaset is trying to create a pan-European TV champion known as MediaForEurope, to take on competition from streaming app services like Netflix (NFLX.O). Vivendi has challenged this plan and the two have been given until the end of next week by an Italian court to attempt to reach a compromise. Under a potential settlement, Vivendi could cut its 29% stake in Mediaset, the sources said. One source said the French group could keep a smaller stake in MediaForEurope. No decision has been taken yet and talks may eventually fall apart, the sources said. Vivendi and Mediaset have been at odds since the French conglomerate pulled out of an 800 million euro agreement to buy Mediaset’s loss-making pay-TV unit in 2016. Vivendi went on to build its stake in Mediaset, which the Italian broadcaster considers hostile. The two groups have been embroiled legal spat ever since. Mediaset earlier this year launched a corporate reorganization plan to merge its Italian and Spanish businesses under Dutch holding company MediaForEurope. Mediaset this week raised its stake in German rival ProSiebensat.1 (PSMGn.DE) to 15% and CFO Marco Giordani on Friday said it could raise it further to 20%. Giordani also repeated a call for ProSieben to join MediaForEurope. Vivendi has challenged Mediaset’s corporate reorganization plan in the courts, saying the proposal would allow Berlusconi’s holding Fininvest to tighten its grip on the group. Last month, a Spanish court put Mediaset’s corporate overhaul on hold, ruling in favor of a Vivendi request. Vivendi has also asked a Milan court to freeze the Mediaset’s reorganization but a judge last week postponed any decision to Nov. 22, giving the two sides time to reach an agreement on the disputed corporate governance issues. As part of the attempt to reach a deal, the two groups are negotiating ways to resolve or curb their multiple disputes ahead of next week’s court deadline, people familiar with the situation said. Reporting by Elvira Pollina. Editing by Jane Merriman

2019-08-27 00:00:00

The 12th edition of the Governors Island’s art fair, now titled Portal: Governors Island and presented by the nonprofit 4heads, returns with exhibitions and installations from 89 artists. Advertise on Hyperallergic with Nectar Ads New York City’s Governors Island Art Fair will return this weekend for its 12th edition, this time under the name, Portal: Governors Island. Presented by the nonprofit 4heads, the monthlong art fair will feature 89 artists from New York and across the United States, chosen from approximately 800 open submissions. This is a selling fair where the selected artists can display their work free of charge (and keep 70% of sales) in and around the island’s former military barracks on Colonel’s Row, which is located in the Governor’s Island’s Historic District. New Yorkers and visitors who take the ferries from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge Park can expect to see the work of 70 artists with indoor presentations and 19 with outdoor installations. The exhibitions range in size and format and include sculptures, paintings, photography, video, and more. Some of the New York-area artists shown include Sherri Hay, Anne Muntges, Aaron Li-Hill, Lewis Derogene known artistically as PhenomenaLewis, Federico Muela, Kerry Lessard. As for the change in name, according to materials provided by the festival, 4heads moved to change it “as a signal that other iterations of the fair are being planned for future dates and locations around New York City.” We look forward to hearing what those will be. In the meantime, the Governors Island edition will run every Saturday and Sunday from August 31 through September 29, 2019. Note that the fair is free to browse, but that ferries on weekdays and weekend afternoons cost $2 round trip for adults. (It’s free for all on weekend mornings and free for children under 12, NYCID holders, and Governors Island members at all times; senior citizens’ fares are half price.) When: Saturday and Sundays, August 31-September 29 Where: Colonel’s Row (Governors Island, accessible by ferry from Battery Maritime Building at 10 South Street, Lower Manhattan, or Brooklyn Bridge Park)

2020-03-20 00:00:00

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez said on Friday her administration is preparing new flights to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where the local mayor on Thursday ordered trucks on to the runway to prevent a plane from landing. Following the unusual incident, the European Union asked Ecuador to guarantee access to its airports to ensure it can airlift citizens out of the South American nation. The Iberia flight which was unable to land was planning to repatriate 190 EU citizens. Gonzalez, speaking on radio station COPE, said she discussed the situation with the Ecuadorean foreign minister and her services are now planning to send planes to Ecuador on Saturday to repatriate EU citizens. Separately, Gonzalez reiterated her administration is taking care of its citizens overseas, repatriating some of them, and urging the majority to stay where they are if they are safe. Reporting by Inti Landauro

2020-02-26 00:00:00

More than 200 Cherokees and other Native Americans have signed onto a letter urging Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Ann WarrenBiden looks to shore up lead in S.C. Hillicon Valley: Dems cancel surveillance vote after pushback to amendments | Facebook to ban certain coronavirus ads | Lawmakers grill online ticketing execs | Hacker accessed facial recognition company's database Push for national popular vote movement gets boost from conservatives MORE (D-Mass.) to unequivocally retract claims that she previously made about having Native American ancestry. The letter, which was organized by Cherokee Nation citizens Joseph M. Pierce, Daniel Heath Justice, Rebecca Nagle and Twila Barnes, calls on the Democratic presidential candidate to “fully address the harm you have caused,” arguing that her past claims “have normalized white people claiming to be Native.” “Your actions do not exist in a vacuum but are part of a long and violent history,” the letter reads, citing a Los Angeles Times report that found more than $800 million in federal contracts reserved for minorities have been allocated to members of groups with suspicious ties to Native tribes. The Times first reported the Cherokee Nation's new request of Warren.  The letter goes on to argue that “as the most public example of this behavior,” Warren needs “to clearly state that Native people are the sole authority on who is — and who is not — Native.” Warren for decades claimed that her family history included Cherokee ancestry. She once said she was “American Indian” on a registration card for the state bar of Texas, and before announcing a White House bid in 2018, she released the results of a DNA test that found she was between 1/32 and 1/1,024 Native American. She has since apologized for claiming to be Native American and disclosing the results of the test in light of criticism from some Native American groups. In an extensive 12-page letter released on Tuesday night, Warren acknowledged that “she was wrong to have identified as a Native American, and, without qualification or excuse, I apologize.”  She emphasized her pledged efforts to support Native Americans if elected president, citing her plan to protect tribal lands and address the “epidemic of sexual assaults and murders committed against Native women.” The authors of the letter told the Times in an email that her apology was “vague and inadequate.” Nagle reiterated this criticism on Twitter, stating: “Our letter never asked Warren to apologize; we asked her to repair the harm she caused.” “What we're seeking is not forgiveness, but public education about Cherokee identity & sovereignty from some one who has created a great deal of public confusion,” she said. “Not because our personal feelings are at stake, but because the future and wellbeing of Native Nations are at stake.” What we're seeking is not forgiveness, but public education about Cherokee identity & sovereignty from some one who has created a great deal of public confusion. Not because our personal feelings are at stake, but because the future and wellbeing of Native Nations are at stake. Warren's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from The Hill.  The letter from the Cherokee Nation arrives as Warren struggles to gain a footing in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Despite gaining popularity early on in the campaign, she has struggled in the first three voting states. South Carolina becomes the fourth state to hold its primary on Saturday.  The controversy over her Native American ancestry claims has prompted continued attacks from President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump passes Pence a dangerous buck Overnight Health Care — Presented by American Health Care Association — Trump taps Pence to lead coronavirus response | Trump accuses Pelosi of trying to create panic | CDC confirms case of 'unknown' origin | Schumer wants .5 billion in emergency funds Trump nods at reputation as germaphobe during coronavirus briefing: 'I try to bail out as much as possible' after sneezes MORE and other Republicans, with Trump regularly referring to her with the pejorative term "Pocahantas."  When Warren first released her DNA test in October 2018, Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said that it was "inappropriate and wrong." He also noted that tribes set their own legal requirements for citizenship. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2020 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2018-05-19

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya will start the small scale export of crude oil from its fields in the far northern county of Turkana in June after an agreement on how to share the revenue, averting delays, the presidency said on Saturday. Tullow Oil and its partner Africa Oil discovered commercial reserves in the Lokichar basin in 2012. Total has since taken a 25 percent stake. A row had broken out after President Uhuru Kenyatta cut the share of the Turkana county government to 15 percent and that of the local community to 5 percent, leaving the rest to the national government. He then met officials from Turkana at State House in Nairobi to strike a new deal, which will raise the county government’s share to 20 percent and cut the national government’s to 75 percent. “We now have an understanding that can put Kenya on the map of oil exporting countries,” Kenyatta said in a statement. The deal will allow a long-delayed law on oil exploration and production to clear parliament, letting exports begin. “We will intensify our exploration efforts not just in Turkana but in the rest of the country now that we have a legal instrument that can help guide how oil and gas will be handled in our republic,” the president said. The deal was struck after the national government agreed to eliminate a cap on the revenue due to the county government and the local community, said a senior government official. Officials in Nairobi had proposed to cap the annual allocation from oil exports to Turkana, arguing that the local economy could not absorb a sudden influx of too much cash. “The clincher was the removal of the cap,” said Andrew Kamau, the principal secretary in the ministry of petroleum and mining. Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Andrew Bolton

2017-09-28 11:25:00

They’re there to prop each other up when one loses a shoe on the catwalk – but when they’re off the runway sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid are remain just as supportive. The duo have walked together in shows from Victoria’s Secret to Chanel, but they’ve also cultivated entirely separate careers: Bella is the face of Bulgari and Dior beauty, while Gigi is the face of Tommy Hilfiger and Maybelline. And as far as their relationship is concerned, those differences don’t matter. “Most of the time our markets are completely different, and if we get booked on a job and she gets it or I get it, we’re both happy for each other,” Bella tells Harper’s Bazaar Arabia (the inaugural cover of which Gigi landed in March). “There are enough jobs in the world for both of us. There’s no reason for us to be mad at each other or competitive. So if she gets it, then good for her. We’re in the family, so she can buy me a pair of shoes.” Bella once said for herself that she can’t believe she gets to experience her career with her “best friend” Gigi by her side. After all, it does come with its perks — like wearing crazy jewelry, as Bella does as the face of Bulgari. “Besides the security that has to follow me around everywhere?” she says about how she feels about wearing huge diamonds. “Up until this year I never wore jewelry like that. It’s such an honor. And I love Bulgari, so it’s perfect.” The diamonds aren’t the only thing she has at her disposal these days – she’s also showered in designer clothing, handbags and shoes, which, she says, is a sharp contrast to the way she grew up. “I never spent money,” she says of her pre-modeling years. “It still to this day freaks me out to spend money. It would make me happy to buy a really cute $5 T-shirt instead of a designer piece. I never bought anything designer until I was 18 and could buy it on my own. I bought my first pair of Louboutins and that was a very big moment for me. People always think that my parents would buy us stuff. My mom never bought me anything designer. My dad would buy me little things that are more meaningful than a designer purse. I would rather have riding boots. That was what made me so happy.” But as fun as the job is, she says, isn’t the most fulfilling. “It’s not very giving, being a model, it doesn’t warm your heart,” she says, adding “It’s not as rewarding for the soul as most things.” Which is why she tries to do as much good as she can, specifically when it comes to bullying — an issue that she’s dealt with personally throughout the years. “All of these teenagers need to know that you’re you and that’s the best thing you can be,” she says. “The hardest part is being judged, and that’s what they talk to me about. It’s really sad because it doesn’t happen just in America or just in Europe, it happens everywhere in the world. Bullying is a crazy thing.” What do you think of Bella’s take on the industry? Sound off in the comments below.

2017-07-12

Jennifer Palmieri, a former top adviser to Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonTop Sanders adviser: Warren isn't competing for 'same pool of voters' Anti-Trump vets join Steyer group in pressing Democrats to impeach Trump Republicans plot comeback in New Jersey MORE's presidential campaign, says in a new interview that she pressed reporters last year to take Russian election meddling seriously.  But "no one in the press really cared" at the time, she told HuffPost's "Candidate Confessional" podcast.  "It was so surreal," she said. "I felt as if I had been catapulted into another dimension where we would have these surreal conversations about the Russians and Trump and Mike Flynn and Carter Page and Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump pushes back on recent polling data, says internal numbers are 'strongest we've had so far' Illinois state lawmaker apologizes for photos depicting mock assassination of Trump Scaramucci assembling team of former Cabinet members to speak out against Trump MORE Jr. saying, ‘We’re really invested in Russia.'" Instead, Palmieri said, journalists seemed more interested in covering leaked emails coming out of the Democratic National Committee and the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server.  Palmieri, who served as communications director for Clinton's campaign, said she and Jake Sullivan, a former foreign policy adviser to the campaign, met off the record with major television news networks about the importance of Russian interference in the race. "Jake Sullivan ... and I went around to all the networks during the convention to do a briefing for them on Russia, about why they needed to take this more seriously," Palmieri recalled.  News outlets did cover efforts to hack the DNC, as well as the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia.  But Palmieri said that news coverage seemed to refocus on Clinton's email scandal and now-President Trump's campaign trail behavior, which ultimately distracted from Russia's meddling reports. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2019-09-10 21:59:00

Two Planned Parenthood clinics in Cincinnati will be the first to close as a result of a new Trump administration policy which blocks healthcare providers that refer patients for abortions—or perform the procedure with their own money—from receiving federal family planning grants. The Springdale and Western Hills clinics’ final day of services will be September 20, according to ABC News. Planned Parenthood withdrew from the Title X grant program last month, forgoing roughly $60 million dollars in federal funding in order to continue providing abortion referrals and care. The decision put Planned Parenthood health centers across the country at risk of closure, including those, like the two in Cincinnati, that don’t provide abortion care. Such is an inevitable side effect of the new Trump rule: While on paper the policy may appear to be laser-focused on abortion, in practice it limits people’s access to the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare, including birth control, STI testing, and breast and cervical cancer screenings. In Cincinnati, the need for these services is thought to be particularly urgent, as the city reports the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the state, and Ohio already ranks 48th in the country for access to publicly funded reproductive health services. “While we’ve been battling sky-high STI rates, [Republican] politicians...have spent years relentlessly working to chip away at Ohioans’ reproductive health care,” said Kersha Deibel, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, in a statement on Monday. “This is the world they want to see: one where women lose access to birth control, where information about how to access abortion is held hostage, and where, if you don’t have money, it’s almost impossible to access an STI test or a cancer screening.” Planned Parenthood officials say access to reproductive health services in Ohio has been precarious long before the recent Title X change, but the new rule accelerated the closure of these two clinics. Between 2010 and 2015, about half of Ohio’s abortion clinics shuttered, and in 2016, then-Governor John Kasich signed legislation that cut funding to the STI screening services Planned Parenthood provided for free. “We’re already seeing the impact [of these policies] across the state,” said Erica Sackin, the senior director of communications at Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “There’s no doubt that the combination of all of these restrictions, on top of the administration creating a hostile environment for reproductive healthcare, is forcing … thousands of people in Cincinnati to lose their trusted providers.” Though two Planned Parenthood clinics are the first victims of the revised Title X policy, independent clinics—that is, those that aren’t affiliated with national organizations like Planned Parenthood—continue to be the most vulnerable to federal attacks on reproductive healthcare providers. “Anytime there’s an attack [on abortion rights], it hurts all clinics,” Jay Thibodeau, the communications director for the Abortion Care Network, told VICE News on Tuesday. “But indies don’t always have the same sort of resilience and safety net that Planned Parenthood or hospitals have.” And once reproductive health centers close, it’s an uphill battle to reopen, even if the policies that forced them to shutter are eventually rolled back. When a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to have hospital admitting privileges went into effect in 2013, it shuttered more than half of the abortion clinics in the state. The Supreme Court overturned the law three years later in the landmark Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case, but many of the clinics still haven’t reopened, including some in the Whole Woman’s Health network. “Laying off a fabulous nurse, telling them they no longer have a job because of political interference is one of the hardest things we’ve ever done,” Whole Woman’s Health CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller told VICE in June, when Missouri’s last abortion clinic came close to shuttering. When staff members get laid off, “they’ll have to get other jobs, making it very difficult to reopen and rebuild [later on],” she continued. “It might not be something you can afford to do.” Catherine Romanos, an Ohio-based abortion provider and fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health, said she worries that the nurses and doctors who once served at the Cincinnati locations may not find a new place to provide reproductive healthcare in Ohio. She said she knows of three doctors who, in the last year, have left Ohio due to the constraints of the existing restrictions on abortion in the state, which she said have only been exacerbated by the new Title X policy. “Not only are we closing clinics and limiting access, but we’re creating an environment where no one wants to practice here,” Romanos said. “And then where are we? It’s hard to imagine Ohio residents’ health status would improve. We seem to be going backwards.” Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily. Follow Marie Solis on Twitter.

2017-12-28

Apple’s new flagship retail store in Chicago, the one with a MacBook-shaped rooftop, is nothing short of an architectural marvel. At least, that’s how some news reports put it when the store opened back in October. Beyond standing out among the less inspired buildings of the downtown Chicago area, the new Apple Store also happens to be very poorly thought through considering its thin roof now has dangerous icicles hanging perilously over public walkways. The deadly ice daggers have forced the closure of those spaces, as pointed out by local blogger Matt Maldre and reblogged by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. As Maldre explains, the fancy building design, while seemingly in service of Apple’s new “town square” ideal for its retail stores, doesn’t seem to have been designed for the actual city it’s located in. “Maybe next time Apple will consider the actual community where their stores are built,” Maldre writes. “Y’know, basic things like in Chicago, the weather gets cold. It snows. The snow falls off the roof. Don’t design a slopping roof where the snow can’t be caught or guttered off somewhere.”

2017-07-13 00:00:00

House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling joined this morning's Axios roundtable event on the economy with Chuck Todd and NBC News. He weighed in on how Republicans can move forward with tax reform and health care under President Trump: The schedule: "I think health care needed to be the lead, and I think it's critical to getting tax reform done." What tax reform will look like: "I still remain optimistic…I'm absolutely convinced that we'll see tax reform. Whether it's good, better, or best, I don't know yet." His economic fears: "I'm very concerned about the long term trends. Bailouts beget bailouts... I fear that we may be repeating the same mistakes." His thoughts on Trump: "Am I proud of President Trump? The short answer is 'yes' because I think he's going to make my constituents' lives freer and more prosperous…Personally, any doubts I ever had were erased when he chose Mike Pence."

2019-08-25 00:00:00

Generation Z artists have figured out how their peers consume music in the streaming era, and they're tailoring their release strategies to give their songs an otherworldly longevity on the charts. Why it matters: A traditional single launch with a big-budget music video isn't enough to create a mega-hit in 2019. True staying power requires a savvy use of memes, remixes and videos to sustain buzz — and the recent war for #1 between Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X utilized all 3, previewing the music industry of the future. Eilish's "Bad Guy" ended the record 19-week reign of Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week, making her the first artist born in the 2000s to hit #1 on the chart. If Eilish hadn't succeeded, "Bad Guy" would have spent a record-tying 10 weeks at #2 without ascending to the top spot. The big picture: Streaming is already the biggest factor for Billboard's charts. Last year, Billboard changed how streams count toward the Hot 100, granting the most weight to songs played under paid subscriptions with services like Spotify and Apple Music. And on-demand songs from ad-supported services (think YouTube and streaming services' free tiers) have more weight than songs played on programmed services, like Pandora. 84% of Gen Zers use their smartphones to consume audio content daily, according to a Consumer Technology Association survey. It also found that their 2 most popular sources of audio content were streaming services and online video. A Music Business Association survey found that 15- to 19-year-olds are far more likely to opt for paid streaming than other age groups because of their preference for mobile streaming — even though 24% said they weren't the ones paying for it. Eilish and Lil Nas X fought a months-long battle for #1, targeting their peers across their preferred platforms the whole time. "Old Town Road" first entered the chart at #83 in March, thanks to its plays in memes on TikTok, Gen Z's social platform du jour. Lil Nas X released a slew of remixes — adding artists like Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo, Young Thug and RM of BTS — to keep his song safe at the top with continued buzz. Eilish tried to deny his record stay at #1 by enlisting Justin Bieber for a "Bad Guy" remix last month, but that effort failed. Both used delayed music video releases to pique interest. "Old Town Road" saw its cameo-filled video drop in May — months after the song's initial release to guarantee tens of millions of new streams. And a mobile-centric alternate vertical video for "Bad Guy" came out just last week, a move that likely helped propel the song to #1. The bottom line: The world's biggest record labels have already caught on — and soon, these promotional strategies won't be limited strictly to the young. Go deeper: Taylor Swift unloads on Scooter Braun's Big Machine deal

2019-03-22

"Washington Monthly" editor-in-chief Paul Glastris told "What America's Thinking" on Friday that the recent college admissions bribery scandal is ironic because parents can legally use their wealth to get their children into universities. "Let's be aware that there are perfectly legal ways of bribing your kids [into college]," Glastris, whose publication releases an annual list of college rankings, told Hill.TV's Jamal Simmons. Glastris pointed to wealthy parents of certain students, mentioning President TrumpDonald John TrumpFacebook releases audit on conservative bias claims Harry Reid: 'Decriminalizing border crossings is not something that should be at the top of the list' Recessions happen when presidents overlook key problems MORE's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared KushnerJared Corey KushnerPresident tweets 'few work harder' than Ivanka, Jared PETA billboard in Baltimore calls Kushner a 'rich pest' Top immigration aide experienced 'jolt of electricity to my soul' when Trump announced campaign MORE, whose admission into Harvard University has drawn renewed interest following the recent college admissions bribery investigation. "Jared Kushner got into Harvard on the heels of a $2.5 million gift from his father to the school," Glastris said. "This happens pretty routinely. ... We have legacy admissions, and so forth." Kushner Companies spokeswoman Risa Heller said it was "false" that Kushner's admission was linked to his father's donation, adding his parents "are enormously generous" and have donated more than $100 million "to universities, hospitals and other charitable causes." ProPublica's Daniel Golden first reported in 2016 that Kushner's father, Charles, had made the legal donation shortly before his son was admitted into the Ivy League school. Fifty people, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, were charged earlier this month with being a part of what federal prosecutors have dubbed the “largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.” The scam involved bribing coaches to recruit students for athletic programs and cheating on college entrance exams. — Julia Manchester More than half of respondents in a new Hill-HarrisX poll said legal immigrants who receive public assistance such as food stamps or Medicaid should be eligible for green cards. An overwhelming majority of voters are concerned that the U.S. will enter a recession in 2020, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll released Monday. A majority of Republican voters -- 62 percent -- identify as both fiscally and socially conservative, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll released on Friday. More than half of voters would not consider reelecting President Trump in 2020, according to a new poll released on Thursday. Top-tier candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Two-thirds of voters said in a poll released Tuesday that President Trump’s next round of China tariffs will increase prices on U.S. consumer goods. Mental illness, weak gun laws and hateful public rhetoric are largely to blame for mass shootings in the United States, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll. Just over half of Republicans — 51 percent — said in a new Hill-HarrisX poll that the federal deficit is a problem that the government needs to deal with immediately.  Less than half of U.S. voters trust companies headquartered in Mexico and China, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll. President Trump’s job approval rating has dropped six points among voters between the ages of 18 and 34 in the latest Hill-HarrisX poll. A plurality of voters — 44 percent — say they think President Trump responds more fiercely to critics who aren’t white, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll released on Tuesday. Almost half of voters polled — 47 percent — say there was no clear winner from last week’s Democratic presidential primary debate in Detroit, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll. Twenty-seven percent of Americans said that they thought the latest two-year budget deal would have no impact on their financial situation, according to a new poll out Friday. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2018-04-12 00:00:00

(Adds more quotes from speech) By Michael Holden LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - The poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain with a nerve agent last month shows “how reckless Russia is prepared to be”, the head of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency said on Thursday in a scathing attack on the Kremlin. In his first public speech since taking over as head of Britain’s eavesdropping intelligence agency last year, Jeremy Fleming said the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England, was “particularly stark and shocking”. He accused Russia of “not playing to the same rules” and blurring the boundaries between criminal and state activity. Britain has blamed Russia for the attack on the Skripals while Moscow has denied any involvement. It has led to one of the biggest diplomatic crises between Russia and Western nations since the Cold War. “You’ve heard it said, and I’ll repeat, the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, was the first time a nerve agent had been deployed in Europe since the Second World War,” Fleming told a cyber conference in Manchester, northern England. “That’s sobering. It demonstrates how reckless Russia is prepared to be, how little the Kremlin cares for the international rules-based order, how comfortable they are at putting ordinary lives at risk.” Fleming, a former agent in Britain’s MI5 domestic spy service, said the robust response from Britain and its Western allies, which led to both side expelling scores of diplomats, showed the Kremlin that “illegal acts” had consequences. Russia has accused Britain of trying to drum up anti-Russian sentiment, suggested the British might have carried out the attack themselves. It has denied possessing the nerve agent Britain says was used while Russian President Vladimir Putin has said it was nonsense to think that Moscow would have poisoned Skripal and his daughter. Fleming said Britain had for decades collected intelligence on Russian capabilities and for more than 20 years monitored their cyber threat. “It looks like our expertise on Russia will be in increasing demand,” he added. “We will continue to expose Russia’s unacceptable cyber behaviour.” In his speech, Fleming also revealed that GCHQ had carried out a major cyber offensive campaign against Islamic State (IS)militants, the first time, he said, Britain had systematically and persistently degraded an enemy’s efforts as part of wider action. “These operations have made a significant contribution to the coalition’s efforts to suppress their propaganda, hindered their ability to coordinate attacks and protected coalition forces on the battlefield,” he said. “In 2017 there were times when Daesh (IS) found it almost impossible to spread their hate online, to use their normal channels to spread their rhetoric, or trust their publications.” (Editing by Stephen Addison)

2017-09-15

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Uni Select Inc * Uni-Select Inc.: The Parts Alliance acquires BBC Superfactors, a leading distributor of auto parts Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2019-10-31 00:00:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Darkening clouds over the global economy have led two of the world’s top oil firms to warn investors that promised growth in returns could be at risk for the first time since the 2014 oil downturn. Both BP and Royal Dutch Shell, which account for nearly 15% of the FTSE’s total dividends, signaled this week that billions of dollars in shareholder returns could be delayed as oil prices failed to make their expected recovery. The stark warnings led to sharp drops in the shares of both companies, weakening investors’ appetite for the oil and gas sector which has underperformed most other industries in recent years. Graphic: Oil majors' dividends, here Graphic: Oil Majors cashflow, here They echo, however, a growing trend across the Atlantic where investors are starving U.S. shale companies of new capital after they largely failed to deliver returns after flooding the market with oil and gas in recent years. To be sure, the bearish outlook overshadowed a steady and significant improvement in Shell and BP’s performance since 2014 as deep cost cuts and thrifty spending sharply boosted revenues despite a modest and volatile recovery in oil prices. Most of the world’s top oil companies can make profits at oil prices of $50 to $60 a barrel. Oil is currently trading at around $60 a barrel. But the companies still heavily rely on stronger oil and gas prices to deliver higher returns. “Our outlook is tied to an improved price and margin environment,” Shell Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl told reporters on a call, adding that she saw “clear signals” of slower economic activity in 2019 and 2020 than expected. Shell, the second largest but the most profitable listed oil and gas company last year after U.S. ExxonMobil, is in the midst of a three-year $25 billion share buyback program, the world’s biggest. But “the current conditions aren’t meeting where we said they needed to be, and if that continues into 2020 then we will need to extend the time period” for the buybacks, Uhl said. Shell’s shares were down over 3.5% by 1042 GMT. Earlier this year the Anglo-Dutch company also promised to return $125 billion to shareholders between 2021 and 2025. “The question for management is what is more important – does the company continue on the current run rate and sacrifice the balance sheet? Or does the company slow the buyback in order to maintain a robust balance sheet. Common sense suggests the balance sheet is much more important,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria, said in a note. Borkhataria, who has a “sector perform” recommendation on the stock, said that Shell requires an additional $30 billion in buybacks after 2020 in order to reduce the dividend burden. BP Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary on Tuesday told Reuters that trade tensions between the United States and China, the world’s largest energy consumers, are weighing on global oil and gas demand. Gilvary indicated in an analyst call that the London-listed company could delay an expected increase to its dividend by the end of this year to next year, linking it to the changing of CEOs in March. “We’ll certainly discuss it at 4Q, but it’s more likely it will be beyond that,” Gilvary said. BP’s shares dropped by 3.8% on Tuesday. The promise of bigger returns comes as the oil and gas sector faces increasing pressure from investors to tackle its carbon emissions and fall in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement targets to limit global warming. Some investment funds have dropped oil stocks from their portfolio all together, prompting oil firms to respond by pledging higher returns. France’s Total, which has emerged as one of the fastest growing oil majors in recent quarters in terms of output, has confirmed its commitment to boost the payout. Total increased its 2019 dividend by 6% and the board has committed to increase it by a further 5% to 6% per year until 2025. Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and David Evans

2017-08-15 17:10:00

There's nothing more alive than '90s nostalgia right now. No other decade is more fetishized than the era of *NSYNC and plastic chokers, and it's not just TV show revivals — but it's also dominating the beauty industry. We've seen retro hair accessories, Christy Turlington bobs, and brown lipstick as if none of those trends fizzled out 20 years ago. And thanks to Benefit Cosmetics, the '90s hype is not stopping there. Enter: Benefit Cosmetics Punch Pops. Here's the thing: Our childhoods were oversaturated with hundreds of different candies, all decorated in neon packaging and with commercials so enticing, we simply couldn't resist. (Show us someone who didn't slide at least four Pixy Stix boxes into their mom's cart when grocery shopping and we'll show you a liar.) Which is why this idea of Push Pop tubes making somewhat of comeback so exciting — only this time, the goodie comes in the form of lip glosses from Benefit. Lip gloss was the cornerstone of most beauty looks from the popular decade — just ask Cher Horowitz — so we're not surprised that this is the brand's next move. But instead of creating a sticky formula that was all the rage back then, these high-shine lip colors are hydrating (thanks to the vitamin E) and promise not to destroy your hair every time a light breeze passes through. Even better, each of the seven colors are bold and flattering on every skin tone. You can choose from Bubblegum (soft pink), Sugar Cookie (nude), Pink Berry (mauve), Watermelon (hot pink), Cherry (berry), Mango (coral), and Strawberry (red). Our prediction: These Punch Pops will be nearly as addicting as the real thing. Benefit Cosmetics Punch Pop! Liquid Lip Color, $18, available at Benefit Cosmetics. Related Video: Read these stories next: The Best Drugstore Mascaras For Every Need You HAVE To Try These Alternatives To Kylie Jenner's Sold-Out Lip Kits Under-$20 Makeup The Pros Actually Swear By

2017-08-11

The search engine giant Google has unveiled a new doodle on its home page commemorating the birth of hip hop 44 years ago. By clicking on today's Google doodle you are transported to an interactive player that allows you to choose records, fade between them, choose the pace of the beat and even scratch. For the celebration animation, Google has teamed up with visual artist and rapper Fab 5 Freddy. The story goes that Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc was the first to extend the break beat of a song by using two records, which in turn allowed dancers to move for longer and MC's to rap over the music. The first example of this, according to Fab 5 Freddy, was at a party in the South Bronx in New York City in 1973. The art form has moved on from the early days and a lucky few have made an extremely rewarding career. In a piece that trended on LinkedIn last year TV host Paul Carrick Brunson predicted that Sean 'Puffy' Coombs would become the first hip hop billionaire in 2017. Forbes currently calculates Coombs' worth to be about $750 million from his investments in drinks companies and fashion as well as music. Another rap mogul that could tip over into billionaire status is Andre Romelle Young, better known by his stage name Dr. Dre. The rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. Beats Electronics is a headphone and speaker company acquired by Apple in 2014 for $3 billion.

2018-06-22 08:29:33

On the once-mean streets of Dumbo, now known as #Brooklyn. CreditCreditStudents headed to the Maspeth High School prom posing for pictures on Washington Street. It’s 3 p.m. on a picture-perfect New York City Wednesday and gunshots are ringing through the streets of Dumbo. Throngs of pedestrians crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the action, but they can’t get near the scene. It’s not crime tape in their way — it’s a production assistant on a film set, trying to block off the intersection. That a camera crew set its sights on the cobblestone streets of Dumbo is not at all surprising. Tourists searching for the perfect selfie have rendered Washington Street borderline unpassable. Wedding and engagement shoots, camera-toting tourists, models needing head shots — this stretch under the Manhattan Bridge has become the outdoor runway for the chic and the shabby alike. Situated in a neighborhood that's almost a caricature of urban grit — where the city's early-20th-century streetscape meets the Instagram-era — Washington Street has become a must-visit because of the way the buildings frame the Manhattan Bridge and the bridge, in turn, frames the Empire State Building beyond it. As visitors began posting pictures of the spot on social media profiles, blogs and websites took notice, pointing even more tourists to the location where could get the perfect photo of #brooklyn. Looking at people looking at a bridge is a surprising delight. The promise of social media glory provokes inexplicable antics. Visitors hoist loved ones in the air, flip their hair relentlessly and gaze longingly at their unfiltered selves in their phone’s camera app. George Senior Jr. of Long Island pulled up to Washington Street at the end of May in a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible. He built the car with his brother, who died exactly six years before this picture was taken. He brought the car out to this spot on this particular day to honor him. Mr. Senior parks the car all over the city, letting anyone who’s interested hop inside to take a photo. Washington Street’s become one of his favorite spots. “I’ve had movie stars in this car that I just randomly met on the street,” he said. “The tourists really get a kick out of it more than anything.” Not everything here is as picturesque as your friends on Facebook would have you believe. Cameras here point one direction: toward the bridge. Looking through those viewfinders, you’d never know that happy brides like Deborah Furtado, of Brazil, were in fact posing next to hulking, graffitied cherry pickers. Like any good New York City attraction, it’s become part tourist trap, part commercial venture. Ekaterina Murphy looked primed for her wedding day. But Ms. Murphy is in fact a model, donning the outfit for a Ukranian dressmaker using the backdrop, along with shoots earlier in the day in Times Square, to sell the product. As a stylist cinched her dress, Artem Kubinskij huffed from a vape pen and livestreamed the whole ordeal, panning between Murphy and the bridge above. The real moments here happen between the people without the cameras in their hands. Something about this place lets visitors shed insecurities and mug for a picture in a way that shows their connection not only to the city, but also to one another. Horacio Gonzalez took notice of the photo-opportunities and decided to turn it into a side hustle, selling Polaroid-style photos — $5 for a pair of them — to visitors. He noticed everyone taking pictures on digital cameras and phones and figured he could bring a bygone approach to the historic streetscape. He compared it to the rage for vinyl records. “People are starting to appreciate physical things,” he said.

2016-08-22 12:08:53

TORONTO — Step on board, and the subway car immediately feels different. With a clear view down the length of the train, commuters walk from car to car searching for a less crowded spot to stand. Others gather in the accordion-style passageway between cars, an area once separated by doors. Nearly five years after Canada’s largest city introduced the spacious new cars, subway riders here — usually quick to find fault with the transit system — have given the trains a ringing endorsement. “You can fit more people, especially during rush hour,” said Louis Molnar, 43, an accountant who stood in the shifting connector between two cars on a recent evening. “In the past, sometimes you’d have to wait for the next car, and this makes it so much better.” Now, officials in New York City are embracing the car design to create more breathing room for subway riders as the system struggles with booming ridership and increasingly overstuffed trains. The new subway trains, which could start to appear in New York by 2020 or earlier, do not have doors between cars, creating up to 10 percent more space. These so-called open gangway trains are common in cities like London and Shanghai, but subway systems in the United States have not adopted them. Not far from New York on the other side of Lake Ontario, the trains have become popular in Toronto, a city that is also grappling with a growing population and an overtaxed transit system. Some riders even enjoy standing in the bouncing connector, comparing it to surfing or skateboarding. “It’s just kind of fun,” Chantal Wall, 33, a stylist, said as she balanced on a connector in heels. “It makes it a little bit more interesting. I feel like I get a little bit of a workout.” In New York, officials plan to order up to 750 of the cars to run on the subway’s lettered lines. The higher capacity trains are part of a broader push to ease crowding. The authority is also updating the signal system so that trains can run closer together and expanding the system with projects like the Second Avenue subway line, which is scheduled to open on the Upper East Side in December. The state-run transportation authority had planned to buy only 10 open gangway cars, but moved to expand the order after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, asked it to look at ideas from around the world, said Veronique Hakim, president of New York City Transit, the authority division that runs city subways and buses. The agency plans to work with the builder to make sure the cars arrive “as soon as possible,” she said. “When you look at other large systems — Paris, London, Toronto — you can really see and appreciate that these open-end car designs provide additional space,” Ms. Hakim said in an interview. To make it easier for riders to enter the cars, the new trains will have 58-inch doorways, up from 50 inches, though Toronto’s doorways are 64 inches. (To be fair, Toronto’s system is far from perfect; it still accepts tiny tokens while New York retired the coins more than a decade ago.) Toronto’s reputation as a livable city with good transit has helped it grow to more than 2.8 million people, on par with the population of Chicago. Toronto’s transit system — the third largest in North America — has about 1.7 million riders each weekday on its network of subways, streetcars and buses, but those figures are dwarfed by New York City’s nearly 6 million daily subway riders. Toronto’s transit system is facing major crowding challenges and uncertainty over funding. The city has three main subway lines, and its busiest, the Yonge-University line, is regularly packed at rush hour, mirroring conditions on New York’s busiest lines. Steve Munro, a longtime transit advocate in Toronto, said that the new cars had helped with crowding, but that the city should have built new subway lines to handle the rising demand decades ago. “By the time you realize you need the new trains, you already have a crowding problem, and there is a backlog of demand that will immediately fill the new capacity,” Mr. Munro, 67, said at a cafe near the busy Bloor-Yonge station. Mr. Munro, Toronto’s version of Gene Russianoff, New York City’s prominent voice for subway riders, cautioned that even with the new cars, trains would still be very crowded. Some riders in New York have raised concerns that regular subway annoyances — from “showtime” dancers to misbehaving riders — might now become the whole train’s problem, instead of being contained to one car. Andy Byford, the chief executive of the Toronto Transit Commission and an enthusiastic evangelist for improving the system, dismissed those fears, saying riders could easily escape unpleasant situations in the new cars. “You’re not then trapped in a single carriage,” Mr. Byford said from his office atop the Davisville station north of downtown Toronto. “You can get up and move.” If a rider urinates or vomits, someone could simply walk away, rather than waiting for a station and darting from one car to another. Shameen Miller, 33, said that was how she responded when she came across a man emitting a foul odor. “Think about it — their smell is not going to drift all the way down,” Ms. Miller said. One downside is that if a train has a technical problem, workers must remove the entire six-car train from service, Mr. Byford said, instead of separating a pair of cars and replacing them. But over all, he said, the benefits have outweighed the drawbacks. As major cities around the world have switched to open gangway subway cars, American cities have been reluctant to try them. Yonah Freemark, a transit blogger in Boston who created a map of all the cities where the trains are used, called the delay a case of “American exceptionalism in a really bad way.” New York’s decision to buy the cars was a major step, especially because the authority has been slow to adapt to technology, like countdown clocks or a new fare payment system. “It exhibits that the agency is moving into the 21st century when it comes to trains,” Mr. Freemark said. American transit officials have had reservations about whether the design could work on the nation’s aging subways and whether ridership levels warrant the expense of switching to the new cars, said Randy Clarke, a safety and operations expert at the American Public Transportation Association. In Boston, subway officials considered the idea for new cars on two lines but decided against it. Officials in New York have worked with engineering consultants on the plans and are confident the design is feasible, even though the subway is an older system, Ms. Hakim said. In Toronto, the best sign of the cars’ popularity is that riders whose lines do not have the trains are pleading for them. Sygmund Gaskin, 45, said he wished the older trains on his Bloor-Danforth Line could be replaced with the new cars. “I don’t know why it takes so long to get them for this line,” he said. “How come we don’t have them here as well?”

2018-05-19 00:00:00

SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Crouched on a sidewalk near Venezuela’s border with Colombia, construction worker Deiver Guarate said Sunday’s presidential election has already been decided in favor of President Nicolas Maduro, and he did not plan to stay around to hear the results. Unable to cover even the most basic of expenses amid hyperinflation, Guarate was emigrating to Colombia and had to spend the night on the street as he waited for overwhelmed Venezuelan migration authorities to stamp his passport. “People aren’t voting anymore because they know that it’s rigged. If we had any hope that this would change, we wouldn’t be migrating,” said Guarate, 35, huddled beside suitcases on a street were several hundred people have been sleeping this week. “The situation in Venezuela is critical,” said Guarate, whose grandmother died last year of kidney problems because the family was unable to obtain medicine due to drug shortages. Venezuela’s opposition has called on supporters to sit out Sunday’s vote due to concerns of fraud but tens of thousand of migrants are so skeptical of the election that they prefer to leave. They are flocking to border towns like San Antonio, where they anxiously push through streets crowded with informal vendors under sweltering sun to escape a country where a monthly minimum wage can at best buy a few pounds of rice. Maduro challenger Henri Falcon, who is breaking the boycott to face his rival, insists that a massive turnout by discontented Venezuelans would bring about change. Many among the opposition, however, believe Falcon is legitimizing a rigged process, which governments around the world including the United States and Latin American neighbors have condemned. Maduro, who insists the election is free and fair, has warned migrants they would face difficult circumstances abroad and recently said some are now “cleaning toilets.” He has said that Venezuela’s situation has been caused by an “economic war” led by U.S.-backed adversaries. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In April, Maduro launched a program called “Return to the Fatherland” meant to raise money for Venezuelans who sold their possessions to emigrate, then wanted to return. In San Antonio, migrants carrying tatty bags with their belongings did not believe the government would help them or that the vote represented an opportunity for change. “The situation is just too difficult. Money doesn’t buy anything,” said Alejandro Lugo, 25, a bodyguard who planned to settle in Colombian capital Bogota. “On Sunday there are elections. We all know what’s coming. They know the results already,” Lugo said. The border is closed over the weekend as a security measure during the election, so migrants would have to wait until Monday to cross or cut through dozens of illegal paths. The United Nations has estimated that 1 million Venezuelans left the country between 2015 and 2017. Some 13,000 per day leave in search of a new life from the Venezuelan state of Tachira, the most heavily trafficked border crossing state, according to Venezuelan military sources working in the area who asked not to be identified. Another 50,000 leave and return the same day or shortly after, the sources said. Emigrees who carry on get their passports stamped, then walk across the Simon Bolivar bridge with suitcases and backpacks to reach Colombia or continue on by bus toward Ecuador or Peru. The exodus of the last year has put a strain on neighboring Latin American countries, where Venezuelans are routinely seen sleeping on the streets. Maduro halted vehicle traffic over the bridge three years ago. Sweaty pedestrians now line up in the heat to get through Colombia’s border check point. Some cross to buy goods that have run short in Venezuela such as diapers or flour, while others smuggle goods to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, one of the few remaining ways to consistently make a living. “Here your money won’t buy anything, no matter how much you make,” said Wilma Morales, 50, a lawyer, waiting to cross the border on her way to Peru. “For me there are no elections. I’m not going to be legitimizing a dictatorship.” See graphics on upcoming elections in Latin America tmsnrt.rs/2wSwu9k and in Venezuela tmsnrt.rs/2IWH6ZD Reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Anggy Polanco; Editing by Leon Wietfeld, Alexandra Ulmer, Toni Reinhold

2018-01-26

The transport minister of Saudi Arabia said Friday that opportunities are coming up for international investment in the country's rail infrastructure. "We have long-term public/private partnership (PPP) concessions that are in play. We are looking at restructuring some of our airports as well, allowing them to be privatized and then the big one is railroading" Nabeel al-Amudi told CNBC. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, al-Amudi said talks with major firms about two different types of contract for rail infrastructure have already been initiated. "One is on the operation and maintenance for existing lines, and then some PPP agreements on new railways we want to build. Specifically the big one, the 'landbridge' between the west coast of the kingdom and the east coast," he said. The Saudi Landbridge Project is a planned railway that will connect Jeddah on the Red Sea coast with Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. It is primarily aimed at transporting freight. Al-Amudi said he expected the contracts to be announced in the next few months. His comments come as Saudi Arabia continues with the transformation of its economy away from oil. The changes are part of the kingdom's raft of economic and social reforms as part of its Vision 2030 program. Vision 2030 is being overseen by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and centers on three main themes to build a "a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation." A key part of the vision is to increase private investment and the growth of the private sector, which Saudi Arabia hopes will contribute 65 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.

2017-09-21

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday that Facebook will share information with Congress about suspected Russian-linked election ads. In early September, Facebook released results of an investigation into the 2016 U.S. election. The investigation found approximately $100,000 in ad spending from June 2015 to May 2017 associated with roughly 3,000 ads believed to be from Russian profiles. The ads had been shared with a special counsel investigating the Russian influence in the election. Zuckerberg said he instructed his staff on Thursday morning to provide those ads to Congress as well. Facebook has reached out to congressional leaders to agree on a process of handing over the ads. "We are committed to rising to the occasion. Our sophistication in handling these threats is growing and improving quickly. We will continue working with the government to understand the full extent of Russian interference," Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg's comments mark a shift in tone from his initial reaction to the election. Zuckerberg initially pushed back on claims that viral fake news stories could have any sway on the election, calling the idea "crazy " and saying that his critics lacked "empathy" for President Donald Trump's supporters. But pressure on Facebook has grown over time. Some congressional investigators saw Russian activity on Facebook as key to understanding the extent of Moscow's influence on the election. Federal Election Commission member Ellen Weintraub called for an overhaul of disclaimer rules around political advertisements on the internet earlier this month. "So we're going to bring Facebook to an even higher standard of transparency. Not only will you have to disclose which page paid for an ad, but we will also make it so you can visit an advertiser's page and see the ads they're currently running to any audience on Facebook," Zuckerberg said. Following Zuckerberg's announcement on Thursday, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called it an "important and absolutely necessary first step." Facebook said it didn't know the ads had been purchased by a Russian operation, and it's possible there may be more similar advertisements still on Facebook. Facebook has shut down about 470 accounts believed to be operated out of Russia, associated with an entity called the Internet Research Agency. "It's possible that government investigators have information that could help us, and we welcome any information the authorities are willing to share to help with our own investigations," Facebook's company blog post said. While Facebook does not usually disclose user content, Facebook said it decided to release the content to the government because "the public deserves a full accounting of what happened in the 2016 election." "Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're going to catch all bad content in our system," Zuckerberg said. "We don't check what people say before they say it, and frankly, I don't think our society should want us to. Freedom means you don't have to ask permission first, and that by default you can say what you want. If you break our community standards or the law, then you're going to face consequences afterwards. We won't catch everyone immediately, but we can make it harder to try to interfere." Zuckerberg called for other technology companies to collaborate on safeguarding future elections, so that bad actors that are abusing other platforms can be found more quickly. Zuckerberg's comments come ahead of Germany's elections this weekend. "We have been working to ensure the integrity of the German elections this weekend, from taking actions against thousands of fake accounts, to partnering with public authorities like the Federal Office for Information Security, to sharing security practices with the candidates and parties," Zuckerberg said. "We're also examining the activity of accounts we've removed and have not yet found a similar type of effort in Germany." He spoke on Thursday in a livestream on his Facebook profile. The feed started at 3:30 p.m. ET. Facebook also released two blog posts on the issue, one with overarching information and another from Facebook's general counsel. September 21, 2017 By Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Policy and Communications 1) Why did Facebook finally decide to share the ads with Congress? As our General Counsel has explained, this is an extraordinary investigation — one that raises questions that go to the integrity of the US elections. After an extensive legal and policy review, we've concluded that sharing the ads we've discovered with Congress, in a manner that is consistent with our obligations to protect user information, will help government authorities complete the vitally important work of assessing what happened in the 2016 election. That is an assessment that can be made only by investigators with access to classified intelligence and information from all relevant companies and industries — and we want to do our part. Congress is best placed to use the information we and others provide to inform the public comprehensively and completely. 2) Why are you sharing these with Special Counsel and Congress — and not releasing them to the public? Federal law places strict limitations on the disclosure of account information. Given the sensitive national security and privacy issues involved in this extraordinary investigation, we think Congress is best placed to use the information we and others provide to inform the public comprehensively and completely. For further understanding on this decision, see our General Counsel's post. 3) Let's go back to the beginning. Did Facebook know when the ads were purchased that they might be part of a Russian operation? Why not? No, we didn't. The vast majority of our over 5 million advertisers use our self-service tools. This allows individuals or businesses to create a Facebook Page, attach a credit card or some other payment method and run ads promoting their posts. In some situations, Facebook employees work directly with our larger advertisers. In the case of the Russian ads, none of those we found involved in-person relationships. At the same time, a significant number of advertisers run ads internationally, and a high number of advertisers run content that addresses social issues — an ad from a non-governmental organization, for example, that addresses women's rights. So there was nothing necessarily noteworthy at the time about a foreign actor running an ad involving a social issue. Of course, knowing what we've learned since the election, some of these ads were indeed both noteworthy and problematic, which is why our CEO today announced a number of important steps we are taking to help prevent this kind of deceptive interference in the future. It's possible. When we're looking for this type of abuse, we cast a wide net in trying to identify any activity that looks suspicious. But it's a game of cat and mouse. Bad actors are always working to use more sophisticated methods to obfuscate their origins and cover their tracks. That in turn leads us to devise new methods and smarter tactics to catch them — things like machine learning, data science and highly trained human investigators. And, of course, our internal inquiry continues. It's possible that government investigators have information that could help us, and we welcome any information the authorities are willing to share to help with our own investigations. Using ads and other messaging to affect political discourse has become a common part of the cybersecurity arsenal for organized, advanced actors. This means all online platforms will need to address this issue, and get smarter about how to address it, now and in the future. 5) I've heard that Facebook disabled tens of thousands of accounts in France and only hundreds in the United States. Is this accurate? No, these numbers represent different things and can't be directly compared. To explain it, it's important to understand how large platforms try to stop abusive behavior at scale. Staying ahead of those who try to misuse our service is an ongoing effort led by our security and integrity teams, and we recognize this work will never be done. We build and update technical systems every day to make it easier to respond to reports of abuse, detect and remove spam, identify and eliminate fake accounts, and prevent accounts from being compromised. This work also reduces the distribution of content that violates our policies, since fake accounts often distribute deceptive material, such as false news, hoaxes, and misinformation. This past April, we announced improvements to these systems aimed at helping us detect fake accounts on our service more effectively. As we began to roll out these changes globally, we took action against tens of thousands of fake accounts in France. This number represents fake accounts of all varieties, the most common being those that are used for financially-motivated spam. While we believe that the removal of these accounts also reduced the spread of disinformation, it's incorrect to state that these tens of thousands of accounts represent organized campaigns from any particular country or set of countries. In contrast, the approximately 470 accounts and Pages we shut down recently were identified by our dedicated security team that manually investigates specific, organized threats. They found that this set of accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another — and were likely operated out of Russia. — With reporting by CNBC's John Shinal, Jacob Pramuk and Sara Salinas.

2019-06-21

When New York City passed an aggressive set of greenhouse-gas-limiting laws in April, the buzz was, rightly, about the ambition of America’s biggest city putting a lid on its climate-changing ways. New York state has picked up the banner, too, putting into law this week a downslope to zero carbon emissions by 2050—the only other state to have a goal like that on the books is (you can guess) California. The Oregon legislature is dancing with the idea, too, assuming the governor can coax back to the capitol all the Republican legislators who are literally hiding so they don’t have to vote. Arguably the most interesting part of the New York City package isn’t the cap. It’s the trade—or, rather, the potential for it. Right now North America has two carbon markets, exchanges where members who emit less than a certain amount of greenhouse gases essentially earn tokens they can sell to gassier emitters. That’s cap-and-trade, a long-touted, little-implemented market approach to fighting climate change. California has a program linked to one in Quebec; after a rocky start, many observers now see it as a qualified success. On the other side of the continent, nine mid-Atlantic states from Maine to Maryland have the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, another qualified success. (There was almost a national cap-and-trade program; in 2010, Washington failed to get it done.)

2016-09-15 00:00:00

The accuser in the Derrick Rose rape case filed a police report with the LAPD two years after the alleged incident ... after she had already sued the NBA star in civil court ... TMZ Sports has learned. We broke the story ... a woman identified as Jane Doe is suing Rose for more than $20 MILLION, claiming he and friends gang raped her in 2013 after a night of partying. The obvious question ... why didn't she go straight to police? We asked her attorney, Brandon Anand, who says there's a perfectly logical explanation. "She was scared and didn't know what happened. She was in a state of shock and denial." Doe filed her lawsuit in August 2015. Law enforcement sources confirm she filed her police report AFTER she filed her lawsuit. Anand says he can explain that too ... the statute of limitations on civil suits was winding down and they wanted to file the lawsuit before time ran out. After that, they filed the police report. We're told Doe tried to reach a settlement with Rose before she took legal action -- "but [Rose] didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing," so she decided to get the authorities involved. The civil trial is set to begin in October. The criminal investigation is ongoing. We reached out to Rose for comment. So far, no word back.

2016-05-09

Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson said Monday that the Detroit-based housing lender won't settle with the government over allegations of filing false claims on federally insured mortgages. "For us, that's not something we can even begin to stomach," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box, " saying he welcomes a jury trial. "[To] look our 12,000 team members in the eye and say, 'guess what, we committed fraud against the United States government' … we didn't. We won't say it." Last year in a complaint, the Justice Department accused Quicken Loans of submitting or causing the submission of claims for hundreds of improperly underwritten loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration from September 2007 to December 2011. On the same type of issues, the DOJ has gone after many other lenders, which resulted in more than $100 million in mortgage settlements. "The largest, most well-capitalized lenders in the country have been systematically targeted by the DOJ. And they go in and take a look and threaten and they shame ... and try to put pressure on people to settle," Emerson said. He admitted simple mistakes are made when writing loans. "An example, we miscalculated income by $2.10. We over-lent somebody $26 on a loan program. Those are the type of things the Department of Justice is saying is committing fraud against the United States government. And it's just dead wrong." Last week, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro told "Squawk Box" he would not comment on ongoing litigation, calling it "looking backward into the past." Castro said: "The opportunity we have in front of us, particularly at FHA and HUD, is to insure that we work with lenders and borrowers to create good business certainty, and also to create great opportunity for hardworking middle-class families out there who are responsible and who can get a home loan and pay on that responsibly." Responding to Castro, Emerson accused the government of trying to have to both ways. "The [Obama] administration says, 'let's lend to more people,' on the other hand, 'let's go after lenders and hold them accountable and make them pay tons of money.'" — Reuters contributed to this report.

2017-06-01 12:51:00

Back in March, a Spirit Airlines pilot and his wife were found unresponsive on the floor of their bedroom by their own children. The couple’s 13-year-old son called 911, but Brian and Courtney Halye were dead when first responders arrived. This week, the coroner’s office released its findings: the Halyes accidentally overdosed on a lethal combination of cocaine and carfentanil, a powerful derivative of fentanyl often used to tranquilize rhinoceroses and elephants. Here are five things to know about the Halyes and their overdose deaths. 1. The Couple’s Bodies Were Discovered By Their Own Children Brian, 36, married Courtney, 34, in 2012, and they both had two children from previous relationships — he, two daughters and she, a son and a daughter. The children ranged in age from 9 to 13. On March 16, the Halye’s children peeked into their parents’ bedroom after the couple failed to wake them up for school, and found them unresponsive. Officials confirm the 13-year-old son called 911. “I just woke up and my two parents are on the floor … my sister said they’re not waking up,” the boy said as the three sisters cried in the background. “They’re not breathing … They were very cold.” 2. The Children Were Living With Relatives After Their Parents Died Courtney’s friend, Monica Camacho, told PEOPLE in April that the four children were living with relatives and were having a hard time handling coping with their parents’ deaths. • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. “The family has a strong support system,” Camacho explained. “They’re not doing well. They’re very sad. This was a shock to them, and they’re surrounded by people who are helping them cope with this.” 3. The Couple Overdose on Cocaine and Animal Tranquilizers According to officials, the Halyes had overdosed on a lethal combination of cocaine and carfentanil, a powerful derivative of fentanyl often used to tranquilize rhinoceroses and elephants. A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Coroner’s office says the couple combined the two potent substances. Their deaths have been ruled accidental. Medical examiners can not say for sure if the Halyes knew the cocaine they were taking had been laced with carfentanil, which is 1,000 times more powerful than morphine. But both the husband and wife injected the drug. Coroners initially listed the preliminary cause of death as being “consistent with a heroin or fentanyl overdose.” 4. Friends Said The Halyes ‘Had Their Issues’ Those who knew the couple claim that Courtney had a history of drug use. In an interview in late March, Camacho told PEOPLE she thought her friend had defeated her demons. “I knew that they had their issues,” Camacho explained, “but I honestly thought that she had things under control. This is so shocking to everyone.” Additionally, a police incident report from January 2016 alleged that Courtney — a Type 1 diabetic — had a history of drug use. According to the coroner, Courtney had a number of needle puncture marks on her right thigh and left wrist, while Brian had a single puncture wound on his right arm. 5. Brian Flew His Last Flight Six Days Before He Died In March, Spirit Airlines confirmed to PEOPLE that Brian was a pilot for the company. His last flight, according to the company, was on March 10 — six days before his overdose death. The company added in its statement to PEOPLE that it conducts random alcohol and drug tests on all employees, immediately terminating employment if any employee tests positive.

2018-03-14 14:15:00

Chrissy Teigen skipped out on the 2018 Academy Awards last week to complete a special mission: hunt down a taco truck she saw on the Netflix show Ugly Delicious. The model, who’s six months pregnant with her and John Legend‘s second child, was able to track down the coveted truck for a taco fiesta at her home. Now, Raul Ortega, the founder of Mariscos Jalisco, the truck in question, is sharing his experience of catering to two stars on Hollywood’s biggest night. Although it seemed on social media that Teigen got her taco fix in a snap, Ortega says her taco party almost didn’t happen: “It all started with a phone call that I didn’t answer. They traced my daughter’s phone number on the second truck so they got a hold of her,” he told the L.A. Taco website. “My daughter called me back and told me, ‘they told me it is only for 10 people.’ I responded, ‘even worse!’ We don’t do less than 80 people per event and our minimum is about a $1,000 per event.” I have cancelled Oscars Sunday and am trying to track down the taco truck featured in Ugly Delicious. does anyone around 6 months pregnant need a dress — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 4, 2018 Teigen’s people informed the Mariscos Jalisco team that they would pay the regular catering fee for their small group. “I saw my daughters trying hard to convince me to go,” said Ortega. “When they said they could pay me, I thought: Well, I don’t have to prepare a lot for that amount of people? We decided to go.” As seen on Teigen’s Twitter, the truck made it’s way to her home, leaving the mom-to-be so happy, she wrote, she “could cry.” IT’S HERE! 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮 pic.twitter.com/f5HegBLobo — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 5, 2018 I could cry @MariscosJalisco pic.twitter.com/eqnqAhLW3Z — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 5, 2018 Ortega, who wasn’t familiar with the famous couple, was welcomed by Legend and his family and was given a parting gift of wine bottles for his trip. “It was fun and something special for both us and them,” he said. “They are very, very nice and normal people who just wanted to have some tacos, you know?”

2017-01-05 00:00:00

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Shake Shack Inc * Shake Shack announces executive changes * Shake Shack Inc says appointed Zach Koff to serve as company’s first chief operating officer * Shake Shack Inc - company announced that jeff uttz will retire as chief financial officer in 2017 * Shake Shack Inc - company has retained Russell Reynolds to initiate an immediate search for a new chief financial officer * Shake Shack Inc - Uttz will remain in his current role through mid-march to oversee company’s fiscal 2016 reporting period Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2018-05-20 21:45:00

Bay-buh! Zedd, Maren Morris and deejay-producer duo Grey performed their smash hit “The Middle” at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night in Las Vegas. Confetti rained from the rafters of the MGM Grand Garden Arena as Morris led the crowd — including Halsey and Derek Hough — in a star-studded singalong of the soulful track before the audience rose in a standing ovation. Morris — who took home the prize for top country female artist — teased the performance on Instagram in the days ahead of the show, writing: “We’re pulling out the stops with this one.” The electronic dance music collaboration dropped the week before the Grammys in January and served as a departure for 28-year-old Morris, a country darling whose debut album HERO — featuring the hits “My Church,” “80s Mercedes” and “I Could Use a Love Song” — earned her multiple Grammy nominations. Check out PEOPLE’s full Billboard Music Awards coverage to get the latest news on music’s big night. “Zedd reached out a few months ago and sent the song, and I obviously gravitated towards it; it’s such a banger!” Morris told PEOPLE at the time. “And so I would have been crazy not to record it, and I just felt really connected to it. It all happened pretty quickly.” And the Grammy winner wasn’t nervous to hop on the genre-blending project. “I love what Zedd does. I mean, oh my gosh, every song that he releases is a huge smash; I listen to everything,” she said. “It didn’t feel like it was that much of a departure. And I think out of all the country artists, I’m certainly a genre-blender — so it wasn’t the biggest shock. But it still was cool to see the fans be like, ‘Oh my God, Zedd, Grey and Maren!’ It was cool. I’m glad it’s all happening.” Morris — who married singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd in March — won the top country female artist trophy at the 2018 BBMAs, where she was nominated alongside Kelsea Ballerini and Miranda Lambert. THIS DAY RULES! Thank you @BBMAs ! ✨🥂✨🥂 pic.twitter.com/B4fPXfTzdb — MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) May 20, 2018 BOKAY. Thank you @BBMAs for my first Billboard award + @kelly_clarkson for the epic shoutout. Performing soon! ✨✨✨ pic.twitter.com/A4bW64CRI2 — MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) May 21, 2018 The 2018 Billboard Music Awards were broadcast live on NBC from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 20.

2017-04-04 00:00:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker abruptly left the U.S. central bank on Tuesday after admitting a conversation he had with a Wall Street analyst in 2012 may have disclosed confidential information about Fed policy options. The 2012 leak had triggered a criminal investigation and came as the Federal Reserve was laying the groundwork for a massive bond buying package that it rolled out later in the year. The information was disclosed by Medley Global Advisors one day ahead of the publication of the central bank’s own minutes from its September meeting. Lacker said in January he would retire in October. But on Tuesday he said he decided to make his departure effective immediately because he had confirmed confidential information to Medley. It was not clear if Lacker was pushed out of his post although the Richmond Fed said in a statement it took “appropriate actions” after learning the outcome of government investigations into the leak. Lacker said he did not fully disclose details his 2012 discussion with a Medley analyst when he was interviewed by a Fed lawyer that year. He did, however, say in a 2015 interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that his discussion with the Medley analyst included confidential information. Lacker gave no reason for the time gap between the 2015 interview and his statement on Tuesday. The interview with the FBI also involved the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “I deeply regret the role I may have played in confirming this confidential information,” Lacker said in a statement, adding it had “never” been his “intention to reveal confidential information.” Lacker said he may have broken a policy “which prohibits providing any profit-making person or organization with a prestige advantage over its competitors.” He did not say he provided the analyst with details about the Fed’s policy options. Rather, he said the Medley analyst brought up confidential Fed information in their conversation. “I should have declined to comment and perhaps have ended the phone call. Instead, I did not refuse or express my inability to comment and the interview continued,” he said. The Medley report triggered furor in the U.S. Congress and became a source of friction between the central bank and lawmakers, leading to a criminal investigation. In May 2015, then Financial Services Committee chair Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who has called for stricter Congressional oversight of the central bank, subpoenaed Fed documents and communications related to the leak. Fed Chair Janet Yellen told Hensarling in a letter that month that she had a meeting with Medley in June 2012, but did not disclose any confidential information. The Richmond Fed is one of 12 regional reserve banks that are part of the U.S. central bank. They process payments and help regulate banks, while their presidents take turns as members of the Fed committee that sets interest rates. The Fed’s policy on external communications acknowledges the importance of Fed staff meeting with members of the public to gather information and help explain policy. However there are strict guidelines. “Staff will strive to ensure that their contacts with members of the public do not provide any profit-making person, firm, or organization with a prestige advantage,” the policy states.

2018-04-29

(CNN)President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the new US embassy in London, ahead of a planned visit to the UK in July. The billion-dollar embassy moved from its long-standing site in Grosvenor Square, central London, to its new home at Nine Elms, south of the city, in January. But during a rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump criticized the move. "We had the best site in all of London," he told supporters, before adding that now, "We have an embassy in a lousy location." Trump told the rally that the previous site in Grosvenor Square was "sold for like 250 million" -- but that organizers "spent all of that money, plus a lot more, to build a new embassy in a lousy location." His comments come ahead of a planned visit to the UK on July 13, Trump's first trip to Britain since becoming President, the White House and Downing Street announced last week. It will not be a state visit -- a move welcomed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who told British talk show host Robert Peston on Sunday that he was glad "the red carpet will not be rolled out" for Trump. Trump and Khan have frequently traded barbs in the past, notably when the US President appeared to misconstrue a statement by the mayor in response to a terror attack in London last year. Trump's visit follows months of back-and-forth negotiations over the trip, with Trump canceling a previous visit to London in January to officially open the new embassy. "I was supposed to cut the ribbon," said Trump at Saturday's rally, before blaming the embassy deal on the Obama and Bush administrations. In fact, the decision to move out of the Grosvenor Square building in the high-end Mayfair district was taken under the Bush administration in 2008, principally because the building was proving harder to secure in an age of terrorist threats -- and also, in small part at least, because the US government did not wholly own it. British property law historically allows the ground underneath buildings to be held by people and entities other than the owners of the bricks and mortar above. In this case, the land is owned by the Duke of Westminster, whose property empire controls much of the land in central London, and is leased back to the US at a nominal -- or "peppercorn" -- rent. "We looked at all our options, including renovation of our current building on Grosvenor Square," then-Ambassador Robert Tuttle said. "In the end, we realized that the goal of a modern, secure and environmentally sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility." The historic Mayfair site is now set to be converted into a luxury hotel by Qatari investors. From concrete to glass The new embassy is a world away from its former concrete home, which was designed by Finnish-American modernist architect Eero Saarinen. The 12-storey glass cube occupies an almost five-acre site, in a former industrial area south of the River Thames. Security requirements are tight -- it is set back 100 feet from the street and boasts a semi-circular pond as a security measure. Designed by Philadelphia architecture firm KieranTimberlake, the embassy houses around 800 staff and is expected to receive 1,000 visitors daily. The building was paid for by selling other US government properties in London. CNN's Carol Jordan contributed to this report.

2016-04-19 17:41:22

Bret Easton Ellis looked uneasy. He was sitting in the Schoenfeld Theater, waiting to see the Broadway musical based on his controversial novel “American Psycho” for the first time. He shifted in his seat and looked around at the crowd, then leaned back and sighed. “This is just another surreal aspect of my life,” he said. “It feels like the weirdest dream. I don’t know,” he continued wearily, his voice trailing off. Mr. Ellis, who had recently flown in from Los Angeles, seemed to be having doubts about the whole endeavor. Before heading to the performance, he had a panicked conversation with his boyfriend. “I said, ‘God, what the hell are they going to do with this?’” It’s a fair question. How do you turn a wildly transgressive, experimental novel about a slick Wall Street investment banker-turned serial killer into a mainstream Broadway musical? Mr. Ellis found out soon enough. The theater lights went down, and the ominous, drone-like music playing in the background got louder, building up to a piercing scream as the stage filled with smoke. Benjamin Walker, who plays the novel’s unhinged narrator, Patrick Bateman, a young banker whose hobbies include murdering and dismembering young women, rose up out of an opening in the stage floor. Buff and wearing nothing but tighty whities, Mr. Walker preened and strutted and described his elaborate grooming rituals, drawing bursts of laughter. Mr. Ellis chuckled quietly a couple of times, rubbing his knuckles over his lips, as Bateman and his sidekicks sang a raucous opening number that telegraphed the story’s central themes about the corrosive effects of unchecked narcissism, greed and materialism. His apprehension seemed to evaporate fully after the first musical number. He laughed loudly during a dinner party scene, when Bateman reaches into his blazer and pulls out a sharp butcher knife to aggressively cut his birthday cake. Later, Mr. Ellis cracked up when Bateman, parading around a gym locker room with his friends, praised Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.” Pretty soon, Mr. Ellis was reveling in the punch lines, most of them lifted straight out of the book, and silently congratulating himself, thinking, “That’s mine, that’s mine,” he said later. By intermission, Mr. Ellis’s mood had shifted from deep ambivalence to giddy enthusiasm about the production, which opens on Thursday. The show features music by Duncan Sheik and a punchy book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa that captures the novel’s over-the-top-satire and its slick, stylish sendup of late-’80s Wall Street hedonism. “It’s still relevant, and it’s dark,” Mr. Ellis said. “It’s not for the tourist.” He paused, looked around the theater and seemed to reconsider his assessment. “But maybe it is for the tourist.” He gushed about Mr. Walker, who brings an edgy, coiled energy and an unpredictable quality to the charming psychopath Patrick Bateman. “It’s not how I pictured the character, but Christian Bale wasn’t how I pictured the character, either,” he said, referring to the 2000 feature film adaptation starring Mr. Bale. During the second act, the violence and chaos escalates as Bateman goes on a killing spree, acting out after an oppressively boring vacation in the Hamptons. After the final scene, the crowd rose for a standing ovation, and a press agent arrived to escort Mr. Ellis backstage to meet the cast. Mr. Ellis, who was wearing jeans, sneakers, a black shirt and blazer and thick black glasses, had gone unnoticed in the theater, and the actors didn’t seem to recognize him until he was introduced. One of the actors jokingly asked Mr. Ellis if he was familiar with the material. “This must be so weird for you,” another actor said to him. “Thanks for letting us do this,” Mr. Walker said, with an air of formality. The group was ushered into a cramped hallway, where they paused briefly to snap a photo with the actor Bradley Cooper, who had come backstage to congratulate the cast. After the show, Mr. Ellis sat down at a nearby restaurant and struggled for a couple of minutes to collect his thoughts about the novel’s legacy and its unlikely reincarnation as musical theater. “My first impression is that it’s strange that something I wrote 30 years ago is a musical on Broadway,” he finally said. “To witness its tortured history, from this thing that was a quasi-victim of censorship to a mainstream Broadway musical, makes me feel very, very old.” Mr. Ellis, who has a round, boyish face at 52, said he was surprised by how well the story held up and seemed to reflect the current political and cultural climate. “It’s such a prescient commentary on where we are now,” he said. “I thought there should have been more Trump jokes, at least for this run.” He said he first came up with the idea for “American Psycho” in 1984, when he was just starting out as a writer, and before the publication of his successful debut novel, “Less Than Zero.’’ He wanted to create a character that symbolized the selfishness of the era. “It’s such a big symbol: Wall Street, greed, serial killer,” he said. “At 23, it seemed pretty original. Pretty, like, amazing.” Not everyone got the joke. His original publisher, Simon & Schuster, canceled his contract once it became clear how controversial the book would be. It was immediately picked up by Vintage and published three months later, in the spring of 1991. Critics savaged it as a misogynistic celebration of violence. Mr. Ellis got death threats. “Everyone said my career was over,” he said. “I knew everybody was wrong. I knew the book would survive it somehow and live on as what I intended it to be.” Not only did the novel survive, but its ultra-creepy narrator, Patrick Bateman, became a pop culture icon. Mr. Ellis went on to publish four other novels, including “Glamorama” and “Lunar Park,” but none have resonated as powerfully as “American Psycho.” The musical may be the ultimate rebuke to Mr. Ellis’s early critics. As Bateman dances around in his underwear or in a dapper pinstriped suit, there’s little doubt that the story works best as a hallucinatory, pitch-black comedy. Mr. Ellis doesn’t feel entirely vindicated by the reappraisal of the novel as a sharp satire. “Vindicated is too strong a word, because that would mean that I care too much,” he said. “I would say, I’m mildly surprised.” He had little to do with the musical, beyond agreeing to it. Years ago, the producers sent him the script to gauge his thoughts. “I didn’t really read it,” he admitted. He didn’t see the show during its sold-out run in London. Seeing the musical for the first time last Saturday, he felt relieved that the producers didn’t sanitize the story’s darkness and violence, although he could have done without the hints of Bateman’s transformation and redemption in the final scenes, he said. “I’m not so into that kind of quote unquote redemption, though I understand the impulse for the artist to go there,” he said. “To me, that’s not so fun.” After an hour at the restaurant, Mr. Ellis had to get back to his hotel room to finish a script for a web TV series he’s working on. He plans to see the musical again on opening night, and he’s no longer filled with dread at the prospect of seeing Bateman, the incarnation of pure evil, sing and dance with abandon. “There’s not really anything that I can complain about,” he said of the show. “And I like to complain.” A picture caption on Wednesday with an article about Bret Easton Ellis and the Broadway musical based on his novel “American Psycho” misspelled the name of the theater where the show is playing. As the article correctly noted, it is the Schoenfeld Theater, not the Shoenfeld.

2019-02-04 00:00:00

BRUSSELS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The British parliament is making an unreasonable request of Ireland to replace an already agreed solution to avoid a physical border on the island of Ireland after Brexit with something else, Ireland’s foreign minister said on Monday. The British parliament decided last week it wanted Prime Minister Theresa May to renegotiate the country’s withdrawal treaty with the European Union to replace the agreement reach on the Irish backstop with “alternative arrangements”. But Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told reporters in Brussels that so far he has heard of no “alternative arrangements” that would work. Reporting By Robin Emmott, writing by Jan Strupczewski

2019-09-03

Netflix applied for a license to continue operating in Turkey under the country’s new rules, the head of Turkey's television watchdog said Tuesday.  Ebubekir Şahin, head of Radio and Television Supreme Council, the state agency that monitors broadcasts, tweeted that the group received licensing applications from more than 600 groups, including Netflix. ADVERTISEMENT <!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display("dfp-ad-mosad_1");}); //--><!]]> "We have received license and permission applications from over 600 organizations including NETFLIX, BLU TV, PUHU TV, TURKCELL, VODAFONE, DIGITURK, TİVİBU, and other broadcasters in the sector. Good luck," he tweeted, according to a Google translation. Radyo, Televizyon ve İsteğe Bağlı Yayınların internet ortamından sunumuna ilişkin NETFLIX, BLU TV, PUHU TV, TURKCELL, VODAFONE, DIGITURK, TİVİBU gibi sektörde etkili yayıncıların da aralarında bulunduğu 600’ün üzerinde kuruluştan lisans ve izin başvurusu aldık. Hayırlı olsun. pic.twitter.com/EQ3vK7289V It follows the country’s move last month to grant the council oversight over all online content, including streaming platforms and online news outlets, Reuters reports. The new regulation requires content providers to get a new license to continue operating in Turkey and comply with the council's guidelines. Companies that don’t follow the guidelines will be given 30 days to change their content or face suspension or cancellation of their licenses, according to Reuters.  Turkey’s announcement last month did not specify what the standards are, according to Reuters. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2018-06-22 17:26:00

During a secretive reign of terror and killing carried out by his followers across Miami in the 1980s, a charismatic cult leader appeared to revel in his ability to get away with it all. “Are you some kind of fool?,” Yahweh Ben Yahweh, the founder and leader of the murderous Nation of Yahweh who called himself “the black God,” said malevolently during a moment of preaching. “You can’t kill God.” To those who still tried to cross him, “he sent out the ‘death angels,&apos” former FBI agent Herb Cousins says in the next episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults, which airs Monday on Investigation Discovery (9 p.m. ET), an exclusive clip of which is shown above. The audio of Yahweh Ben Yahweh depicts the sinister edge that eventually overtook the religious group, which began by offering Biblical inspiration to young African Americans during a period of racial tension and won endorsements from local leaders for tangible steps to clean up drug-riddled and dilapidated properties around South Florida. But the group devolved into a cult of personality with an increasingly strong-armed leader who ruled by intimidation — and then violence. Yahweh Ben Yahweh — the former Hulon Mitchell Jr. — was charged in 1990 along with 15 of his followers with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, racketeering, arson and extortion. In 1992 he and six of those followers were found guilty, with the leader himself sentenced to 18 years for conspiracy to commit murder. • For more on the Nation of Yahweh and its charismatic leader’s murderous reign, watch Monday’s People Magazine Investigates: Cults at 9 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery. The first killing in 1981 targeted a former sect member who challenged Yahweh Ben Yahweh’s teachings and left to form a splinter group with others. When the defector returned to seek out the leader at a warehouse remade by the group as its so-called Temple of Love, he was beaten by members of the leader’s security team, some of whom carried stainless steel machetes. “I saw a hammer,” a witness to the beating, former follower Kahlil Amani, says in the excerpt above. “He’s just being pounded out on the floor. … I still could hear him breathing with that sound of death.” Sometime later in the Everglades, “we find a head and body pieces,” former Assistant U.S. Attorney David DiMaio says on the episode. “They were sending a message with this killing.” Other defectors, including a woman named Mildred Banks, went to police with their suspicions. She and her husband were then attacked in their home; her husband was killed, and she was left for dead but survived and entered witness protection under a new name. “They’re going to cut his head off,” Banks recalled of the attackers, she says on the episode. “She was in fear for her life,” PEOPLE Senior Editor Alicia Dennis says in the excerpted clip. “God was helping them kill their enemies.” • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. In another audio viewers will hear on the episode, Yahweh Ben Yahweh asserts of his power: “If you don’t love me … you’re a snake.” Says Cousins, the former FBI agent who slapped the handcuffs on Yahweh Ben Yahweh upon his arrest: “To do what he did, and the way he did it, I personally believe that he was just plain evil.” The People Magazine Investigates: Cults episode on the Nation of Yahweh airs Monday (9 p.m. ET) on Investigation Discovery.

2019-06-07 00:00:00

There's something about drinking a tall glass of plain cow's milk that can feel kind of creepy — or at the very least, bland and tasteless. Blame it on the rise of tasty milk alternatives like almond or oat, or that infamous scene in Get Out, but milk's reputation has come a long way from the "Got Milk?" ads of the 90s. Nowadays, as our understanding of nutrition evolves, and the popularity of plant-based diets soars, it seems like every milk alternative is marketed as a much healthier and more appealing choice than milk that comes straight from a cow. So, is there any need for adults to drink cow's milk, or should we switch to almond for good? "I would argue that milk is really good for you," says Malina Malkani, MS, RDN, CDN, media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and creator of the Wholitarian Lifestyle. Cow's milk contains vitamins and minerals, and "almost every single nutrient that the body needs," she adds. That includes high-quality proteins, carbohydrates, and fat, as well as calcium and vitamin D, which are nutrients of concern that are lacking in most populations, she adds. "It's so well-balanced, there's no added sugar — there's so many great things about the combination of nutrients in milk," she says. And yet, as great as cow's milk's naturally-occurring nutrients are, there's a fraction of the population that can't produce lactase, the enzyme that allows people to digest lactose, a sugar that's found in milk and dairy products. Consuming any form of cow's milk product would then lead to abdominal pain, bloating, gas, nausea, and diarrhea. Luckily, there are lactase supplements that you can take to quell these miserable symptoms, as well as special kinds of milk that are made without these troublesome proteins and enzymes. But, for about 65% of the human population who has lactose intolerance, the best way to avoid this reaction is to steer clear of foods containing dairy — especially cow's milk. Malkani says there's a bit of a misconception around lactose intolerance. "Sometimes people think that if you have lactose intolerance, you won't be able to digest any amount of lactose," she says. And that's not actually true. Everyone is different, but lactose intolerance can really be managed, she says. "It's often a matter of degree, and it can be managed by eating or drinking just less of the lactose-containing products," she says. This might take some trial and error, but sometimes people who are lactose intolerant do just fine with a little bit of yogurt and cheeses that are low in lactose. To be clear, some people do have a true milk allergy, which can cause an immune response to proteins in milk, she says. But for the rest of the population, intolerance is not so black and white. Fat is another misunderstood component of cow's milk. "Sometimes people get a little bit confused because cow's milk contains naturally a small amount of natural trans fat," Malkani says. Trans fat and saturated fat has long been linked to cardiovascular disease. But there's more recent research that shows that full-fat dairy foods can absolutely fit into a healthy dietary pattern, that's not only balanced in calories, but also improves the standard biomarkers related to heart disease, she adds. "Even high consumption of foods, particularly yogurt, may also lower your risk of type 2 diabetes," she says. "So, that research is shifting, and the fear of whole fat dairy is changing." If you're still on the fence about re-introducing cow's milk in your life, the first thing to ask yourself is: what do you like to drink? If you like the taste and consistency of cow's milk, you might want to consider sipping it a few times a week. For example, Malkani says that milk is actually an effective post-exercise beverage, because it contains an ideal blend and ratio of protein and carbohydrates. Or if you prefer to get your dairy elsewhere, like from cheese or yogurt, then cow's milk doesn't have to be your thing. And if someone would have to tear oat milk out of your cold, dead body to get you to go back to cow's milk — well, who knows? In another 20 years you might be burnt out on oat and ready to return to the real thing.

2019-08-27 00:00:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. house prices rose solidly in June, but the pace of appreciation is slowing, which together with declining mortgage rates could boost the struggling housing market. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said on Tuesday its house price index increased a seasonally adjusted 4.8% in June from a year ago. That followed a 5.2% gain in May. Prices rose 0.2% on a monthly basis, matching May’s increase. They were up 1.0% in the second quarter. The FHFA’s index is calculated by using purchase prices of houses financed with mortgages sold to or guaranteed by mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci

2017-06-29 00:00:00

June 29 (Reuters) - MBF GROUP SA: * SAID ON WEDNESDAY THAT IT BOUGHT 2,400 SHARES IN INSTYTUT BIZNESU SP. Z O.O. FOR 60,000 ZLOTYS * AFTER THAT TRANSACTION COMPANY OWNS 52.97 PERCENT STAKE IN INSTYTUT BIZNESU Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)

2016-08-21

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - China’s failure to defend three of its badminton titles at the Rio Games was a shock for a nation used to dominating the Olympic courts but head coach Li Yongbo called for calm amid a storm of criticism. Four years after winning all five titles at London, China grabbed two gold medals and a bronze to top the medals table, but it was their lowest haul at an Olympics for 20 years. With teams restricted to two entrants in the singles, down from three at London and previous Games, the badminton superpower had fewer chances to win medals. However, the lack of a Chinese woman on the podium for both the singles and doubles was a major setback for a team that had built long dynasties in both events. Li has been the face of Chinese badminton for over a decade and survived a number of controversies by delivering unprecedented results at global and Olympic tournaments. But the 53-year-old has been lambasted online over the team’s performance in Rio, with Chinese social media users demanding his resignation. China will lose at least two of its Olympic gold medalists to retirement, with doubles veteran Fu Haifeng and twice singles champion Lin Dan playing their last Games. Zhao Yunlei, who won mixed doubles gold at London and took bronze in Rio, is also tipped to quit before Tokyo in 2020. Li said China had little to fear about the passing of the golden generation but conceded there would be more challenges as rival nations closed the gap. “Sometimes you’re strong, sometimes you fall back,” he told Reuters. “Indonesia was once strong and Denmark, too. China’s risen up but the champions eventually retire and the next generation comes up slowly. “So there will be some difficulties. This is normal. “But China will still have top players competing in future because we have a lot of juniors competing at high levels. “After these Olympics, our next generation will be strong. “For a country to maintain its excellence it definitely needs to emphasize systemic talent development and very good training systems. China has, so I am not worried about (the future).” Indonesia, Spain and Japan won the other titles in a high-quality tournament that spread the medals far and wide. “Badminton is developing on all sides,” said Li. “But there is no point judging everyone else’s progress, it’s a matter of concentrating on your own. “It is fair to say we have more difficulties than before but that does not mean we are going to fall behind. It is just others are progressing, so we still need to work hard.” Editing by Meredith Mazzilli

2018-10-04 00:00:00

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s foreign ministry criticized the United States for suggesting that Beijing was behind the cancellation of sensitive security talks planned for this month, underscoring the severity of trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement late on Wednesday suggestions made by a U.S. official that China had delayed the talks “completely distorted the facts, had a hidden motive and were extremely irresponsible”. A senior U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday that China had canceled a security meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis that had been planned for October. “China is extremely dissatisfied with this. The facts are that the United States a few days ago told China it hoped to postpone the second round of the China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue,” Hua said. “We request related parties stop this sort of behavior of making something out of nothing and spreading rumors,” she said. Beijing and Washington are locked in a spiraling trade war, with frictions between them threatening to move beyond trade. The meeting of the U.S. China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which first took place in Washington last year, was due to be held with Mattis and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. China said on Tuesday it had postponed the talks with the United States at the request of Washington. Reuters reported last week, citing sources briefed on the matter, that the key diplomatic and security meeting may not take place due to tensions in relations. Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Paul Tait

2017-05-10

Michael D'Antonio is the author of the book "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success" (St. Martin's Press). The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. (CNN) Though many individuals likely contributed to the President's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, one notable one may have been Roger Stone, a 64-year-old close friend of Donald Trump and central figure in the FBI investigation into Trump campaign ties to Russia. In the middle of the Watergate scandal, Stone, who engaged in dirty tricks during Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign, was discovered to have hired a Republican operative to infiltrate the George McGovern campaign and was subsequently fired from his job. After the President's resignation, Stone remained an ardent Nixon apologist and loyalist. He even had the man's face tattooed on his back and devoted his life to ruthless, anything-goes politics (or political consulting, as you may know it). Stone's motto was and continues to be: "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack." And anyone who has watched Trump closely over the years would think it was his personal slogan, too. Stone was introduced to Trump in the 1980s by the notorious Roy Cohn. Then a Manhattan lawyer who represented several reputed mobsters, Cohn had become infamous in the 1950s as the chief inquisitor during Joe McCarthy's "Red Scare" hearings in the United States Senate. After McCarthy's inquisition was shut down, Cohn began a new life as a political and legal fixer. He became a mentor to Stone and Trump and taught both men how to manipulate the media and bully opponents. After he died, they carried on in his spirit. In Cohn's absence, Stone became Trump's main adviser for many political efforts, beginning with a flirtation with a run for the White House in 1987 (Trump even gave a speech in New Hampshire). But as much as Trump may have appreciated Stone's extreme pugnaciousness, he also had his reservations. Stone traffics in conspiracy theories and misogyny (see his disgraceful comments about Hillary Clinton) and has repeatedly suggested that leading political figures should be killed or kill themselves. In 2015, Trump called Stone a "loser" and made a show of separating himself from him. Then, in the spring of 2016, Trump seemed to embrace him again. "Roger is never too far away from Trump," a source told Dylan Byers of CNN Politics. "He's always talking to Donald." Yet another source said, "Roger and Trump always wind up finding their way back to each other." In the White House, Trump has continued to answer calls from old friends, and Stone seems to be among them. Days ago, the DailyCaller published a story with the headline, "Roger Stone still talks with President Trump." Reporter Kerry Picket wrote, "Republican political operative Roger Stone says he still communicates with President Donald Trump, and the last conversation he had was relatively recent." Both CNN and Politico are now reporting that Stone has been among those urging Trump to fire Comey. And the President's longtime friend would have reason to want Comey fired. Stone is at the center of the controversy over Russia's attempt to influence the 2016 election -- after tweeting a message that predicted trouble for Clinton campaign official John Podesta, whose hacked emails were then published by WikiLeaks. Stone also hinted at an "October surprise" that would be devastating to Clinton and said he had communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. More recently, as he was subject to more scrutiny, Stone called the FBI probe into his activities "a witch hunt." In taking on the FBI directly, Stone employed his longstanding strategy of always staying on the offensive. Operatives who use this method view every conflict as a matter of survival, which justifies the use of any weapon that might be at hand. Thus, an opponent can be labeled a criminal, and crowds can be exhorted with chants of "lock her up." No tactic is too low if you are fighting for your life. Trump has adopted a similar approach to dealing with those who oppose him. His violent rhetoric about protesters -- "I'd like to punch him in the face" -- at his campaign stops and his indulgence of conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones of InfoWars, a radical right-wing radio show host, showed that he, too, was comfortable doing whatever was required to get what he wanted. In addition to their aggression, Trump and Stone also share a preference for defying convention. One reliable way to do this involves making statements that are too shocking to believe. Thus, we have Stone responding to Comey's firing with the comment it's "about time" and then Trump taking to Twitter to say, "Have not spoken to Roger in a long time -- had nothing to do with my decision." Stone later took to Twitter as well, saying that while he hadn't "urged" the President to dismiss Comey, he supported his decision "100%." Understanding this ruthless Stone/Trump approach makes it easier to recognize what may have happened with Comey. Since the FBI investigation into Trump campaign ties to Russia was hitting close to home, both Trump and Stone stood to benefit from Comey's dismissal. And given their 30-year history of working together to further their objectives by any means necessary, this decision fits well within an existing paradigm. With Comey's firing, we now have a new demonstration of the lengths to which these men will go to thwart their opponents. Under Stone's apparent influence, Trump has sacrificed the integrity of the presidency and thrown the nation into a political crisis that may eventually rival the one provoked by Nixon's abuse of presidential power. As CNN contributor Jeffrey Toobin noted, Stone subscribes to "Nixonian hardball," which includes using what others consider unethical methods in order to win. He and Trump have brought this style of play back to the White House.

2018-05-29 06:29:21

Mr. Wong is a Malaysian political scientist. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Call them “hoppers,” call them “frogs,” as soon as the surprise outcome of Malaysia’s recent election became clear, politicians from the losing parties started jumping over to the winners’ side. The moment the long-ruling coalition Barisan Nasional was voted out of power on May 9, it started to disintegrate. But even with Pakatan Harapan, a collection of long-suffering underdog parties, now in charge, the mass defections already are endangering Malaysia’s democracy: The system risks swinging from being dominated by one overbearing coalition to being dominated by another overbearing coalition. When ballot counting ended on May 10, the morning after the election, Pakatan Harapan (and its regional ally in the state of Sabah) had won 122 out of 222 seats in the lower house of Parliament. That camp now controls 126 seats, after members of Barisan Nasional and putative allies jumped ship. The uptick may seem marginal, but it reveals a much broader trend that has troubling implications. May 9 was also voting day for the assemblies of 12 of Malaysia’s 13 states. According to the initial results, Pakatan Harapan won five of those, Barisan Nasional won two (down from nine) and the Islamist party known as Pas won two. No single party won a majority in Kedah, Perak or Sabah. Yet soon enough Pakatan Harapan was able to form governments in all three states — in Perak and, most spectacularly, Sabah, that was thanks to defections from Barisan Nasional. In fact, in Sabah, on the island of Borneo, two chief ministers were sworn in within 48 hours: Barisan Nasional won 29 of the 60 seats in the state assembly and formed a coalition government with a local party — until six of its members defected, allowing Pakatan Harapan and its local ally to take over. Even the 13th state, Sarawak, also on Borneo, which didn’t vote on May 9 because it held its elections in 2016, might swing: Barisan Nasional remains in charge for now, but its local allies reportedly are contemplating forming an independent coalition. Defections are nothing new in Malaysian politics, and their dangers are familiar. Civil-society activists and members of Pakatan Harapan itself are now arguing that crossovers violated the popular mandate voters had handed to their chosen candidates, whatever the camp. They can also corrupt, the former minister Rais Yatim has warned: “If PH accepts into its fold everyone who feels pushed into a corner, then it would create BN 2.0, with all its destructive behavior.” Worse, postelection defections threaten democracy by suppressing political competition both inside the new ruling coalition and outside it — and that in turn often induces the opposition to adopt more hard-line positions. Many Malaysians vote according to their ethnicity, for parties they feel represent them on that basis. But since not all parties stand a chance of getting elected in every constituency, they have to forge long-term alliances among themselves and then convince supporters to vote for their allies. This arrangement gives party leaders a lot of power, especially in their selection of local candidates, and selection decisions often hinge more on loyalty than merit — undermining the a coalition’s electability in the long run. As its competitiveness waned over the years, Barisan Nasional — particularly its leading party, the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO — compensated with extensive patronage (barely veiled attempts to buy votes) and repression (blatantly trying to disadvantage opposition supporters). To overcome infighting within its ranks, it maneuvered to add seats in federal and state legislatures and redelineate voting districts to its advantage. It pacified party members who weren’t put up as candidates with government appointments or contracts. So, yes, Barisan Nasional was corrupt and illiberal — but it became that way partly in response to structural features in Malaysia’s political system that, when mapped onto the country’s ethnic and religious divisions, naturally, if paradoxically, create a distance over time between parties in broad coalitions and their constituents. Like the United States and Britain, Malaysia has a first-past-the-post voting system. But in a society as diverse and as divided as this one — Muslim-Malays make up about 60 percent of the population, and Chinese and Indian combined a little less than 30 percent — its operation can have perverse effects. Another example: Coalition politics under Barisan Nasional pushed opposition parties to harden their positions as they struggled to remain viable. Take the evolution of Pas, the main Islamist party, over the years, as it responded to UMNO’s claim to be the sole party capable of defending the interests of Muslim-Malays. Race riots in 1969 brought Pas and UMNO together — only for Pas to pull out of Barisan Nasional in the late 1970s as UMNO wrested away its stronghold state, Kelantan. By 1981, Pas was countering UMNO’s Muslim-Malay nationalism by attacking the ruling coalition for preserving a “colonial constitution, infidel laws and pre-Islamic rules” — in effect challenging the very legitimacy of modern Malaysia as a nation-state. And it intensified its calls to apply Shariah throughout the country. In response, Mahathir Mohamad (now the new prime minister; then also prime minister, but under the UMNO banner) enlisted Anwar Ibrahim (today the leader of Pakatan Harapan’s anchor party, but at the time a charismatic young Islamist also with UMNO) to rebrand UMNO as the standard-bearer of a modernist form of Islamization — promoting Islamic universities, Islamic banking and Islamic bureaucracies. One result of this tug of war over how to promote Islam in politics is that if the notion of making Shariah the official law of Malaysia was a fringe idea in the late 1980s, by 2013, 86 percent of Malaysian Muslims supported it, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Some people celebrate this month’s election as marking Malaysia’s move away from communal politics, pointing to the fact that Pakatan Harapan, a diverse grouping of parties representing different ethnic groups, has downplayed communal issues to focus on national matters, like corruption and an unpopular tax on goods and services. But they are overlooking some facts: Pas secured nearly 18 percent of the popular vote, 18 seats in the lower house of Parliament and control of two state governments. Though Pas had done better at the federal level in previous elections, these are impressive results considering that it joined forces with Barisan Nasional in recent years: It appears not to have been too tainted by the association. Pas now has little reason to moderate its core stances — and UMNO may have more reason to endorse them. Likewise, Barisan Nasional’s indigenous parties in Sabah and Sarawak may be tempted to double down on their traditional appeal to historical grievances in the two Bornean states — poverty, marginalization and exploitation by the central government — and harden their calls for greater autonomy and someday perhaps even separatism. Reacting to such concerns, Mr. Mahathir has recently said that new defectors would not automatically be granted formal membership in Pakatan Harapan. But that measure will only slow down, rather than stop, Pakatan Harapan’s slide toward becoming another overbearing ruling coalition, unless a healthy opposition can be groomed outside Pakatan Harapan. It is unlikely that Barisan Nasional as we know it will last through the year: not only because of its searing loss in the election, but also because of the likely fallout ahead from the scandals embroiling the former prime minister Najib Razak. Much may depend on whether UMNO can oversee a changing of the guard during its next party election, currently scheduled for June 30. But much more depends on Pakatan Harapan. After the 1970s, Barisan Nasional essentially turned Malaysia into an electoral one-party state. To prevent that from occurring again, the new government will eventually have to dismantle the country’s winner-takes-all system. A proportional electoral system is needed to cut across the country’s ethnoreligious and regional identities. Decentralizing and devolving more authority to the states, as well as restoring city elections, could also encourage moderation among opposition parties by offering them more opportunities to have some executive powers and access to resources. In the meantime, Malaysians must realize that there can be no good government if there is no good opposition. And Pakatan Harapan must realize that the best thing it can do for Malaysia’s democracy is what Barisan Nasional never did: protect its adversaries.

2017-03-21 15:10:02

Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and his Republican peers in the state legislature want to make certain that students in public schools can discriminate against LGBTQ kids. So even though the states’ civil rights laws already fail to protect LGBTQ people, the governor — who declared 2017 the “Year of the Bible” — signed a religious freedom bill that will effectively let students cite their religious beliefs as a reason to discriminate. The law, SB17, is meant to protect religious expression in school, generally adding all sorts of protections to this end — in reaction to a school cutting a Bible verse from a production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” One of the provisions in SB17 also lets student groups discriminate against would-be members: “No recognized religious or political student organization is hindered or discriminated against in the ordering of its internal affairs, selection of leaders and members, defining of doctrines and principles, and resolving of organizational disputes in the furtherance of its mission, or in its determination that only persons committed to its mission should conduct these activities.” LGBTQ advocacy groups claim that a student group in a taxpayer-funded school could use this section to argue that it can now prohibit LGBTQ members. The group can, for example, say that it religiously opposes homosexuality, and ban any gay students from the group since their existence would go against such a belief. And the student group could do this, LGBTQ groups argue, even if school or other on-campus policies ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination, because state law takes precedence. “Governor Bevin’s shameful decision to sign this discriminatory bill into law jeopardizes non-discrimination policies at public high schools, colleges, and universities,” Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the LGBTQ advocacy group HRC, said in a statement. “No student should fear being excluded from a school club or participating in a school activity because they are LGBTQ. While of course private groups should have the freedom to express religious viewpoints, they should not be able to unfairly discriminate with taxpayer funds.” But here’s the thing: As alarming as this may sound, a student group could already discriminate against LGBTQ peers under Kentucky law. So while a school on its own could ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination within its campus, state law offered no such protections. That’s because Kentucky, like most states, already fails to protect LGBTQ people in its nondiscrimination laws. And while LGBTQ groups argue that a creative reading of federal law should prohibit such discrimination, courts have yet to fully uphold that view — leaving anti-LGBTQ discrimination legal in most of the country. Under most states’ laws and federal law, LGBTQ people aren’t explicitly protected from discrimination in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations (restaurants, hotels, and other places that serve the public). This means that a person can be fired from a job, evicted from a home, or kicked out of a business just because an employer, landlord, or business owner doesn’t approve of the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The same applies in schools: Under most states’ laws and federal law, LGBTQ people aren’t explicitly protected from discrimination in schools. So a school principal or student group can discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. This was all possible before any religious freedom law was passed. To put it plainly: A person can simply say, “I do not like gay people,” and from that point forward ban any gay people from his business, citing absolutely no religious belief or religious freedom law whatsoever. So in Kentucky, a student group could already deny membership to LGBTQ people, and there would be no legal recourse under state law. The same is not true for discrimination based on their race or sex. That’s because most states’ laws and federal law ban discrimination based on race in all of these settings, and discrimination based on sex in all of these settings except public accommodations. But similar laws do not exist for sexual orientation or gender identity, so discrimination against LGBTQ people isn’t explicitly illegal. Advocacy groups argue, however, that federal bans on sex discrimination should shield LGBTQ people from discrimination, because discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is fundamentally rooted in sex-based expectations. For example, if someone discriminates against a gay man, that’s largely based on the expectation that a man should only love or have sex with a woman — a belief built on the idea of what a person of a certain sex should be like. Similarly, if someone discriminates against a trans woman, that’s largely based on the expectation that a person designated male at birth should identify as a man — again, a belief built on the idea of what a person of a certain sex assigned at birth should be like. But courts have yet to fully uphold this interpretation of federal civil rights law, so it’s not the law of the land. Until courts do uphold that view, anti-LGBTQ discrimination is legal in most of America and Kentucky, regardless of what religious freedom law Gov. Bevin and his Republican peers in the legislature can think up.

2016-01-21 00:00:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) directors raised Chief Executive Jamie Dimon’s total compensation by 35 percent to $27 million for 2015, a regulatory filing on Thursday showed. But the board cut the cash portion and tied three-fourths of the total to more performance-sensitive stock awards, the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. The company pegged Dimon’s base salary at $1.5 million, the same as a year earlier, and set his variable compensation at $5 million in cash and $20.5 million in performance share units. A year earlier the cash portion was $7.4 million and $11.1 million of stock came in more secure restricted stock units. The package was changed to tie more of Dimon’s compensation to objective measures of performance and leave less leeway for judgment and is a response to investor complaints that Dimon’s pay was too arbitrary, according to a person familiar with the matter. How Dimon’s pay is set is sensitive at JPMorgan. At the company’s last annual meeting in May, Dimon contended that criticism of the company’s compensation by services advising institutional investors on proxy votes was off base in its view that more restrictive formulas are better. The services usually comment on compensation packages once companies fill their annual proxy statements discussing rationales for pay. JPMorgan’s proxy is expected in April, according to Thursday’s filing, which also said the proxy will include more details of the latest pay decisions the board of directors made on Tuesday for executives. The decisions include raises of $1.5 million to $18.5 million for Chief Operating Officer Matthew Zames and for Daniel Pinto, the chief executive for the corporate and investment bank, according to the person familiar with the matter. Compensation for Mary Erdoes, the asset management chief executive, is rising to $18 million from $16.5 million compensation for Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake goes to $11 million from $10 million. Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Richard Chang and Grant McCool

2020-01-24 00:00:00

LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Publication of Libor interest rates that have become unreliable would be allowed for months but not years to ensure an orderly cessation, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has said, ratcheting up pressure to ditch the tarnished benchmark. Banks were fined about $9 billion for trying to rig Libor and ending its use is one of the biggest challenges the market is facing in decades. The London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor is used as a price reference across several currencies in financial contracts from mortgages to credit cards worth around $400 trillion globally. The FCA has set an end-2021 timeframe for phasing out use of Libor in sterling-denominated contracts and use an alternative like the Bank of England’s Sonia overnight rate. The derivatives industry has failed to find consensus on what would happen to Libor-denominated swaps contracts if the FCA ruled at any time that Libor is no longer “representative” or reliable for use. The market wanted guidance on how long Libor would still be published after such a determination. Richard Fox, head of markets policy at the FCA, said in a letter to global derivatives industry body ISDA and made public on Friday, that markets “should not assume that any period of non-representative Libor... would last for more than a short period, that is a period of months, not years. ISDA Chief Executive Scott O’Malia said on Friday the FCA had provided useful details. The guidance will help ISDA sound out members again to see if consensus can be reached on how outstanding Libor contracts could use an alternative interest rate after a “non-representiveness” determination. Libor is compiled by a panel of banks submitting quotes and they have agreed with the FCA to continue submitting quotes until the end of 2021. “Based on our conversation with a number of the panel banks, we anticipate limited willingness to contribute to a non-representative Libor for anything longer than the minimum period necessary to allow for an orderly cessation,” Fox said. The regulator has told firms they cannot avoid transferring existing contracts to an alternative interest rate by assuming that Libor will continue in some form after the end of 2021. “The FCA would not seek to prolong a non-representative panel bank Libor simply to benefit firms which had failed, or continued to fail, to act on opportunities to transition,” Fox said. (Reporting by Huw Jones Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

2016-12-20 00:00:00

Rogue One, it seems, is a success. The Star Wars prequel opened to a massive $155 million opening weekend, the second-largest in December (only behind the nostalgia-fueled juggernaut that was 2015's The Force Awakens). There's going to be tons more to say about Rogue One, both as a standalone movie and as part of the overall Star Wars movie franchise going forward, but there’s one thing that makes it stand out among 2016’s biggest hits: it has an actual ending. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE, BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, FANTASTIC BEASTS, AND OTHER 2016 FILMS FOLLOW Consider any major genre film from 2016, and almost all of them share the same inability to just tie up loose ends and call it a day. Films like Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad (just to name a few) all exist as installments, meant to serve an overarching saga that may never even conclude. Back in August, I wrote a piece about pop culture’s aversion to endings inspired by the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the issue has continued to plague major franchises. Doctor Strange falls flat at the end with an unsubtle Infinity Stone reference, and post-credit teasers for future Marvel mash-ups. Fantastic Beasts’s Johnny-Depp-as-big-bad-Grindelwald reveal all but admits that the real meat of the story is yet to come in future installments. Batman v. Superman ends with the pointless cliffhanger of Superman's apparent death, even though it oftentimes seems focused on setting up up a far more interesting Justice League film. Our stories today are so focused on setting up what comes next that they can barely reach any dramatic conclusion or catharsis unto themselves. At a certain point it’s easy to wonder if they’re even trying; after all, it’s much easier to make a sequel when every character can pick right back up where they started. In the process, pop culture has reverted back into 1960s Batman, where nearly every episode implores viewers to turn in next week — "Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel" — to resolve the previous week’s cliffhanger. And it seemed that the newly Disney-fied Lucasfilm was falling into the same trap. The Force Awakens, as I've noted before, ends with a literal hand-off to next year's upcoming Episode VIII. And with potentially limitless material for spinoffs, prequels, and side stories in the Star Wars universe, it seemed possible that Rogue One would condemn the Star Wars franchise to an endless plot treadmill, where events progress to an ever-escalating series of stakes but never climax or conclude. Instead, Rogue One is a refreshing blast of fresh air. In a world where every movie, book, and franchise is being mined to fuel an ever-expanding universe, Rogue One ends. Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso and the rest of the leads all fall in the final battle on Scarif, dying in various sacrifices large and small to successfully transmit the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance. Director Krennic, the antagonist, is obliterated by orbital bombardment. And sure, those plans do escape on the Tantive IV, but that’s an entirely separate story. Rogue One tells us how the rebels steal the Death Star plans, and stops there. Or, to put it another way, if A New Hope never existed as a film, Rogue One would still tell a complete story. It’s a conscious choice that sets aside future franchise ambitions for the good of the tale the movie’s telling. Throughout the film characters are introduced, a goal forms, and they accomplish that goal — all with some learning and character growth along the way. We're not left wondering where things will go next, there's no teaser for Rogue Two: This Time It's Twice The Death Stars. And while part of that is due to the fact that all the main characters sacrifice themselves in a variety of depressing ways, it's nice to at least have closure. A New Hope may be a sequel when it comes to plot, but cinematically, it’s a wholly separate entity. Rogue One isn’t reliant on A New Hope to be a successful story, and similarly, A New Hope stands alone without Rogue One. It's very easy to envision a Rogue One that ends with Jyn, Cassian, and the rest of the crew flying away for more adventures behind the scenes of the original trilogy, or one where Alden Ehrenreich pops up as the new Han Solo to start the promotional engine for the next spinoff. And those Rogue One versions could be perfectly serviceable films. But I would argue that the ending we're given, one that closes off the possibility of future sequels to tell its own self-contained chapter, is arguably much better. The sacrifice of Jyn and her friends gives a weight to Rogue One, one that movies like Captain America: Civil War — which, while extremely enjoyable, end with little change to the status quo — can’t muster. Now it's obviously extremely early days for the fledgling Star Wars Story spinoff brand, and the only other upcoming film — 2018's Han Solo prequel — is likely to offer far more sequel opportunities. But here's hoping Disney, Lucasfilm, and other studios learn a valuable lesson from Rogue One's success and tell future stories as their own self-contained units. The underlying richness of the Star Wars universe already gives the films a connective tissue that's far stronger than what any forced tie-in or post-credits scene could offer. Ultimately, the power of all of these films, books, and tv shows lies in the fact that they tell strong stories. And all good stories need an ending.

2019-03-05

(CNN)The South African musician Mampintsha has been charged with assault after a video emerged that showed him slapping his girlfriend, the pop star Babes Wodumo. Mampintsha, whose real name is Mandla Maphumulo, appeared in a Durban court Tuesday, national police spokesman Brig. Vishnu Naidoo told CNN. He was arrested after Babes Wodumo reported the incident, police said. "The video of the assault was brought to our attention, and while we were investigating the case, the singer(Wodumo) came to the police station to report the case," Naidoo told CNN. Mampintsha was granted bail. His next court appearance was set for May 15. What happened? The incident was broadcast on an Instagram Live video in the early hours of Monday. Babes Wodumo, whose real name is Bongekile Simelane, was speaking with her fans when Mampintsha is seen repeatedly hitting her in the face. The video provoked widespread anger in South Africa, and top government officials called for Mampintsha to be arrested. Mampintsha told reporters after his court appearance on Tuesday that he acted in self-defense. He added that he had filed a counter assault charge against the singer. The police told CNN they were not aware of his complaints. "We have asked them to provide evidence they filed charges; they can't come up anything. It is simply not true," Naidoo said. A post on Babes Wodumu's official Twitter handle on Monday said she was still "emotional about the situation." Babes Wodumo featured on the Black Panther soundtrack "Redemption". The incident has prompted renewed debate about gender-based violence. Figures from South Africa's National statistical service in 2018 showed that 138 out of every 100,000 women in the country were raped in 2016 and 2017.

2017-09-06 20:36:29

WASHINGTON — President Trump insisted that he and President Xi Jinping had a “very strong phone call” on Wednesday. But if Mr. Trump kept alive the rapport he has painstakingly cultivated with the Chinese leader, the 45-minute call still served to underscore the widening fissures between Washington and Beijing and the deepening confusion about how the Trump administration is managing the relationship. The National Security Council is conducting a review of the White House’s China policy — taking into account Mr. Trump’s populist trade agenda and differences over how to curb the rogue government in North Korea — but it has commanded little attention. Aside from Mr. Trump himself, it remains unclear who in the administration wields genuine influence on the relationship. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, who helped broker the first meeting between the two presidents last April, was once expected to function as a high-level conduit. But his involvement in China has waned; he did not accept an invitation from the Chinese to go to Beijing this month for a visit that some expected would be in preparation for Mr. Trump’s state visit in November. Other officials who have staked a claim to China, such as Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, have run afoul of Mr. Trump, either on specific policies or broader issues. And Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, is not playing the coordinating role on China that several of his predecessors did. That lack of a guiding hand has contributed to the administration’s dissonant signals toward Beijing. Two months ago, Mr. Ross tried to negotiate a deal with China on steel exports, only to be publicly rebuffed by Mr. Trump. On Sunday, the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, threatened to cut off trade with any country that does business with North Korea — an unsubtle, and impractical, warning to its main trading partner, China. “President Xi would like to do something,” Mr. Trump told reporters about their exchange on North Korea. “We’ll see whether or not he can do it. But we will not be putting up with what’s happening in North Korea. I believe that President Xi agrees with me 100 percent.” But there is little evidence that Mr. Xi will sign on to the steps now being pushed by the United States: a global embargo of oil supplies to North Korea. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who often acts as Mr. Xi’s proxy on these matters, declared that he would oppose such a move in the United Nations Security Council, where Russia holds a veto. Mr. Xi, a senior Trump administration official said, stuck to his talking points during the call with Mr. Trump. Among them: China was already doing the most it could to pressure North Korea, taking additional steps could create havoc in the region, and the best remedy for the current tension would be for the United States to enter talks with Pyongyang. If Mr. Xi refrains from putting more pressure on North Korea now, it will further test the relationship with Mr. Trump, which, analysts said, was already strained by the president’s resolve to hit China on the trade front. For all his rapport with Mr. Xi, Mr. Trump has a visceral dedication to his trade agenda. Last month, he announced an investigation of China’s rampant theft of technology from American companies. And when Mr. Ross presented him with a proposed deal under which the Chinese would agree to short-term goals for reducing their steel production capacity, Mr. Trump rejected the agreement out of hand, demanding instead steps that would impose tariffs on Chinese steel exports. Mr. Ross, a fellow billionaire who seemed to command Mr. Trump’s respect and affection, has lost influence with the president since that episode, according to current and former officials. An official close to him pointed out that Mr. Trump thanked Mr. Ross during a speech on tax policy last week in Springfield, Mo. Mr. Tillerson has tried to carve out a profile on diplomacy with China. But his relationship with Mr. Trump has grown frosty in recent weeks, in part because of Mr. Tillerson’s statement, in the aftermath of last month’s deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., that “the president speaks for himself,” which appeared to distance him from Mr. Trump. As the United States and China enter what is likely to be a turbulent period, former American officials and other China experts said the lack of a point man for the relationship could aggravate tensions. “Previous administrations have had a decisive point man on China,” said Jeffrey A. Bader, who served as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama on China. “This administration does not. Relations between Trump and Xi are strong and do stabilize the bilateral relationship. However, a president-to-president relationship is really not enough.” During the George W. Bush administration, Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary and former Goldman Sachs banker, coordinated China policy. In the Obama administration, the national security adviser, Tom Donilon, took ownership of the China portfolio. Mr. Kushner had seemed an obvious candidate to play that role. He and the Chinese ambassador to Washington, Cui Tiankai, orchestrated the April meeting at Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, at which the president and Mr. Xi got to know each other. In June, the Chinese government invited Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, to visit Beijing later in the year. White House officials said no visit was ever scheduled, and hence, none was canceled. Mr. Kushner’s initially prominent role on China policy, they said, ebbed naturally as other officials, including Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Mnuchin, settled into their jobs. Mr. Kushner, they said, remains involved in economic and trade issues regarding China. Some attribute Mr. Kushner’s lower visibility to his overflowing agenda — he is trying to broker a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, not to mention overhauling the federal bureaucracy — while others said the new White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, was insisting that Mr. Trump’s Asia trip be prepared through traditional channels. Mr. Kushner is also ensnared in the multiple investigations of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. People who know him heatedly deny that those inquiries have distracted from his day job, noting that he traveled recently to the Middle East for a week of intense diplomacy. As for the issue of having a point person on China, some White House officials said they decided not to adopt that model because it ran against the normal bureaucratic structure. Instead, they said, a team — General McMaster, Mr. Tillerson, Mr. Kushner, Mr. Mnuchin and the president himself — dominated the policy. “While it’s important to have big personalities involved in the relationship,” said Evan S. Medeiros, a China adviser in the Obama administration, “it’s more important to have a White House-led process to adjudicate the various disputes. On that front, there seem to be challenges.”

2016-02-01 00:00:00

(CNN)South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott will endorse Marco Rubio on Tuesday, two Rubio campaign sources told CNN, a potentially significant boost for the Florida senator in the third-in-the-nation voting state. One of the sources said the two senators would appear together for the announcement, but added that details were still being worked out. No additional information was immediately available. The support of his popular Senate colleague is key for Rubio, who is looking to consolidate the party establishment ahead of the South Carolina primary on February 20. Since state GOP began voting in 1980, all but one of the Palmetto State primary winners -- Newt Gingrich in 2012 being the rare exception -- has gone on to win the party's presidential nomination. Scott, who in 2014 became the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate from the South since the late 19th century, is the rare Republican with credentials across the party's factions. He was appointed to his seat after Jim DeMint left the upper chamber to lead the Heritage Foundation in 2013, and is expected to win reelection in a landslide in November. Over the past few months, Scott has been hosting town hall events with Republican presidential hopefuls. "He is very popular at home," fellow South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, told CNN in October. "He is a man of faith who appeals to the Chamber of Commerce and the tea party."

2018-04-17 00:00:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge late Monday dismissed environmental lawsuits filed against Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) over excess diesel emissions by Salt Lake County, Utah and Hillsborough County, Florida. The automaker praised the decision and said it will seek the dismissal of other pending lawsuits by local communities. U.S. Judge Charles Breyer said emissions rules were properly enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency. In total, VW has now agreed to spend more than $25 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, U.S. states and dealers and to make buyback offers. Reporting by David Shepardson

2016-06-27

June 27 (Reuters) - Guyana Goldfields Inc * Guyana Goldfields Inc. announces increase to previously announced bought deal financing to $130 million offering of common shares * Says underwriters have agreed to buy on a bought deal basis, 12.8 million common shares from company at C$9.40 per share * Says estimates that gold production through June 30, 2016 will total approximately 75,000 ounces at its Aurora mine Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Bengaluru Newsroom; +1 646 223 8780)

2019-12-11 00:00:00

The national capital region (Washington, D.C., metro area) accounts for 12% of all U.S. workers in the information security field — more than double the San Francisco Bay Area. Yes, but: When it comes to artificial intelligence talent, San Francisco and Seattle have almost 40% of the total workforce. Why it matters: "Regions should consider what kinds of skills they need to achieve to support their local economies, and then choose a couple of areas to make bigger bets (based on current gaps relative to where there is demand) to help an area thrive," said McKinsey partner Brooke Weddle, who co-authored a report with the Greater Washington Partnership to evaluate the D.C. region's talent pipeline. The large presence of the defense industry in the Washington, D.C. area helps draw in info-sec talent. Meanwhile, Big Tech companies on the West Coast are among the biggest investors in AI development. Quick take: Data security and AI are increasingly intertwined, and the potential for adversaries to use AI to automate large-scale attacks is a major threat. So look for these employment clusters to even out as the fields integrate over time. Go deeper: After HQ2, Northern Virginia tries to build a regional brand

2016-02-24

Concerns about asset quality, flattening yield curves, and tightening liquidity have meant a weak start to the year for financials - including banks and insurers. However, we believe the concerns are generally overdone given low valuations, manageable exposure to the energy sector, adequate capital positions and continued central bank liquidity provision in case of emergency. In this context, we think investors should maintain a preference for stocks in the European financial sector. On U.S. financials, we remain neutral. The sudden concerns about global financials that erupted in February have caught markets by surprise. The MSCI Europe Financials equity index is down by 20.2 percent year-to-date, and U.S. financials have fallen 12.8 percent in 2016. The cost of insuring European subordinated bank debt via credit default swaps was 2.68 percent this week. At one stage, this figure breached 3 percent, the highest level since March 2013. Behind the rout appear to be three main concerns. First, asset quality may be deteriorating, particularly given the weakness in oil and commodity prices, and signs of a slowdown in economic growth. Second, the yield curve is flattening. The difference between three-month deposit rates and 10-year lending rates in the U.S. is now at its lowest level since August 2012, and approaching early 2015 lows in the Eurozone, indicating future pressure on bank net interest margins. This could grow more problematic if central banks cut interest rates into negative territory and commercial banks are unable to pass these through to consumers. Third, credit conditions are tightening, raising the risk of a self-perpetuating spiral of tighter credit conditions, problems refinancing debt, and consequent difficulties for seemingly sound banks. However, we believe the current stresses are overdone. First, exposure to the energy sector is manageable (commodity loans are 5 percent of total loan exposure for European banks) and, unlike in the sub-prime crisis, the debt is generally not repackaged and/or re-leveraged. Even in a stress scenario of 50 percent of sub-investment grade commodity-related loans becoming non-performing, the capital impact for European banks should prove manageable. Furthermore, there is presently no clear evidence that the global economy is headed for recession. We forecast real GDP growth this year of 1.6 percent for the Eurozone and 1.5 percent for the U.S. Second, Eurozone banks have improved capital ratios since the sovereign debt crisis, so any deterioration in asset quality should have less of an impact than in the past. The average capital ratio among the major listed European banks rose to 12.6 percent in the first half of last year from 9.7 percent in 2008, and the vast majority of European banks have already reached 2019 capital requirement targets. Third, valuations are already discounting weak profitability in any case. European bank shares are priced at 0.6 times the value of their net tangible assets, comparable to 2008-12 valuations. In the U.S., large multinational banks are trading at a 33 percent discount to the S&P 500, or below 10 times their estimated earnings over the next 12 months. Fourth, central bank emergency provisions are still available. Banks in urgent need can exchange collateral for liquidity through the funding windows of the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank. Of course, banks are still inherently leveraged businesses, reliant on external confidence and funding. Investors will need to prepare for near-term volatility, and remain selective in their approach to investing in financial capital and equity. But we believe the system as a whole is not at significant risk. Within equities, we remain overweight European financials and neutral the U.S., where we favor large multi-national banks over diversified financials and insurance companies. Within investment grade credit, we favor senior unsecured bonds for banks with the most stable credit profiles. U.S. senior unsecured bonds remain less challenged relative to their European peers, as the largest U.S. banks benefit from a more unified regulatory environment and from having met fully phased in capital, liquidity, and leverage requirements. Commentary by Kiran Ganesh, head of investment advice solutions in the Chief Investment Office at UBS Wealth Management, which oversees the investment strategy for $2 trillion in assets.

2019-07-16 09:58:00

World Cup champion Ashlyn Harris is defending her team following accusations that the U.S. women’s national team is “not a welcoming place for Christians.” Harris, a goalkeeper, slammed fellow soccer player Jaelene Hinkle on Twitter Monday in light of a resurfaced interview in which Hinkle claimed to step down from a call-up to the USWNT in protest of the team’s decision to wear Pride jerseys. “Hinkle, our team is about inclusion. Your religion was never the problem. The problem is your intolerance and you are homophobic,” wrote Harris, 33. “You don’t belong in a sport that aims to unite and bring people together. You would never fit into our pack or what this team stands for.” Harris, who is engaged to teammate Ali Krieger, was responding to a since-deleted tweet from Christian advocate Obianuju Ekeocha, who included a video of Hinkle’s interview and wrote, “Apparently, the US women’s Football team is not a very welcoming place for Christians.” Don’t you dare say our team is ‘not a welcoming place for Christians’. You weren’t around long enough to know what this team stood for. This is actually an insult to the Christians on our team. Same on you. — Ashlyn Harris (@Ashlyn_Harris) July 15, 2019 Harris continued, “Don’t you dare say our team is ‘not a welcoming place for Christians’. You weren’t around long enough to know what this team stood for. This is actually an insult to the Christians on our team. Same on you.” The video clip of Hinkle was taken from a June 2018 interview with The 700 Club and featured the North Carolina Courage defender explaining her decision to decline the USWNT call-up days after the team announced they’d be wearing jerseys with rainbow numbers in support of the LGBTQ community. Jaelene Hinkle, is the 26-year-old American footballer who gave up the opportunity to be in the USWNT. I was very curious to know what happened so I went in search of her interview with CBN. Apparently, the US women’s Football team is not a very welcoming place for Christians. pic.twitter.com/iWXrG4Dkcw — Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) July 14, 2019 “I just felt so convicted in my spirit that it wasn’t my job to wear this jersey. And I gave myself three days to just seek and pray and determine what he was asking me to do in this situation,” Hinkle said. Hinkle, 26, eventually did withdraw from playing in two international friendlies games for the United States, and, according to the Associated Press, was later booed at Courage games by fans waving Pride flags. “I’m essentially giving up the one dream little girls dream about their entire life, and I’m saying no to it. It was very disappointing,” she said. “And I think that’s where the peace trumped the disappointment because I knew in my spirit I was doing the right thing. I knew that I was being obedient and like, just because you’re obedient doesn’t make it easy.” Hinkle, who said at the time she was stepping aside for “personal reasons,” was again called to the USWNT training camp in 2018 for the Tournament of Nations, but was released before making the cut for the final roster. The USWNT World Cup roster included several lesbian women, including Harris and Krieger, and co-captain Megan Rapinoe. The team also has several outspoken Christian players, including Julie Ertz and Tobin Heath. The women brought their faith with them to the field, taking part in prayer circles before and after each match. “The players have an inclusive bible study, they pray before and after the WC games, and they are open to whatever faith you follow,” Krieger’s brother Kyle wrote on Twitter. “Not all Christians are bigots. Hinkle, on the other hand, hides her bigotry behind her faith.” As someone close to the team, I know this is false. The players have an inclusive bible study, they pray before and after the WC games, and they are open to whatever faith you follow. Not all Christians are bigots. Hinkle, on the other hand, hides her bigotry behind her faith. https://t.co/9KOavesLpo — Kyle Krieger (@kylekrieger) July 15, 2019 A rep for Hinkle did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

2019-10-13 00:00:00

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday the last U.S. troops in northern Syria will be evacuated, one week after the White House surprisingly granted tacit approval to a Turkish invasion of that region that has resulted in the slaughter of U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters. “I spoke with the president last night after discussions with the rest of the national security team, and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria,” Esper told host Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Fewer than 1,000 U.S. troops remain in harm’s way, Esper said, adding: “It’ll be a deliberate withdrawal, and we want to conduct it as safely and quickly as possible.” The statement from the Pentagon chief came amid continued condemnation from Democratic and Republican members of Congress over Trump’s decision to clear out of the way for Turkey's offensive, as well as indications that the opening stages of the assault have allowed Islamic State prisoners to escape. Lawmakers had widely rebuked the administration's dramatic foreign policy shift as an abandonment of the Syrian Kurdish militias that helped U.S. forces stamp out the remnants of the ISIS threat in the region. The Turks regard the Kurds as an enemy because of Kurdish hopes of forming their own country in territory that includes parts of Turkey. “It's a very terrible situation over there,” Esper said. “A situation caused by the Turks by President [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan. Despite our opposition, they decided to make this incursion into Syria. And at this point in time, in the last 24 hours, we learned that they likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned, and to the west.“ Esper also expressed outrage over reported Turkish atrocities against Kurdish civilians. “It's terrible. It's a terrible situation. We condemn it. We have condemned it,” he said. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asserted that the U.S. did not have an obligation to protect the Kurdish fighters, but said the Trump administration would punish Turkey if necessary. “Our role in Syria was not to defend the Kurds,“ Mnuchin said. “You have a long-standing conflict between people helping us with ISIS and Turkey, which is a NATO ally. We've put them on warning. The president has authorized me to shut down the Turkey economy, and we can do that at a moment's notice on his command.“ Although the president's choice to leave Kurdish forces exposed has drawn a sustained torrent of denunciations on Capitol Hill, even from Trump allies such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, Mnuchin downplayed those criticisms of the White House on Sunday. “I like Lindsey Graham a lot. Lindsey Graham and the president are close. This is an area they don't agree on," he said. "These are complicated issues. I assure you the president and the national security staff are on top of the situation. Our No. 1 issue is making sure that ISIS is defeated." Trump mentioned Graham in a tweet Sunday, writing online that he was dealing with the South Carolina Republican and "many members of Congress, including Democrats, about imposing powerful Sanctions on Turkey. Treasury is ready to go, additional legislation may be sought. There is great consensus on this. Turkey has asked that it not be done. Stay tuned!“ Later Sunday, Graham tweeted his approval of Trump’s interest in sanctions. “This decision by President Trump will be a game changer — in all the wrong ways — for Turkey,” he said. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) expressed some regret about the White House’s Syria maneuver, but said he wasn’t sure Trump had many options in responding to what he described as an unavoidable confrontation. “I wish it had been different, I can tell you that, but I'm not sure the president had a lot of choices,“ he told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding: “Clearly, the Turks are not the type of ally that the Kurds are, but they are a NATO country, as you have pointed out, and it's not — it's never quite as simple as just a binary choice.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who released a bill with Graham on Wednesday that threatens a series of economic sanctions against Turkey, blasted the president's response to the ongoing military conflict. He argued Sunday that Trump's move Friday granting the Treasury Department "very significant new sanctions authorities" to target Ankara was insufficient. “For God's sakes, what are they waiting for, right? People are being killed right now,” he told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday." The Associated Press reported Sunday that hundreds of ISIS supporters had escaped from where they were being confined amid the Turkish bombardment, unleashing a new level of instability to the region. Mnuchin told ABC’s Jonathan Karl “the president was very clear on making sure that ISIS prisoners are not escaping,” but he didn’t offer any indication that the AP report was untrue. The administration’s actions drew the wrath of Democrats. “Since day one, President Trump has bent to the will of autocrats,“ said Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “He impulsively capitulated to Turkey’s offensive without thinking about what comes next. Now, instead of telling Erdogan to stand down, President Trump is in full retreat. It’s shameful.“ Calling an American presence in northern Syria essential for the fight against terrorism, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said Trump’s move to withdraw was ill-advised — not just because it sent an alarming signal to U.S. allies around the globe, but because it could indirectly contribute to a revival of ISIS forces. “The fight against ISIS is not entirely won," Rice said on CNN's “Fareed Zakaria GPS," adding that Trump has offered a “get-out-of-jail-free-card” to ISIS terrorists. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders echoed some of Rice’s sentiments on ABC’s “This Week.” “You don’t turn your back on an ally that lost 11,000 troops fighting against terrorism through a tweet and a discussion with Erdogan,“ the Vermont senator said. Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, also disparaged the administration as careless and disloyal. “Putting an end to endless war doesn't mean ending American engagement around the world,“ the mayor of South Bend (Ind.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.“ “Often, it means making sure we do our part to stabilize or help keep the peace, so that full-blown conflicts don't break out," he said. "Look at what's happened here. This isn't even a strategy or a policy. It is the president systematically destroying American alliances and American values. And that makes America worse off.“

2020-01-23 00:00:00

(Reuters) - Popular video app TikTok said on Thursday it had partnered with Merlin, bringing its users a wider choice of music from the labels and distributors associated with the digital rights company. TikTok, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, allows users to create and share short videos with special effects, and is hugely popular in Southeast Asia, including India. Merlin is a UK-based nonprofit group that negotiates with the likes of Spotify SA, Facebook Inc-owned Instagram and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube Music, on behalf of more than 20,000 independent record labels and distributors and handles routing payments. (This story corrects company name to “Merlin” from “Merlin Networks” in headline, paragraph 1 and 2) Reporting by Neha Malara in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli

2017-08-25

When given the chance, zebrafish willingly dose themselves with opioids — even putting themselves at risk in order to get their fix. Scientists tested the drug-seeking behavior in a tank that allows the fish to trigger the release of the opioid hydrocodone in the water. The new tool, described in a study published online today in Behavioral Brain Research, can be used to study the underlying biological pathways that push zebrafish to seek drugs. And because zebrafish and humans are surprisingly similar, that could tells us more about biological pathways in people. Eventually, this could lead to new treatments for addiction. Zebrafish share more than 80 percent of their genes with people, says study co-author Randall Peterson, a chemical biologist at the University of Utah Health. They also have the same opioid receptors and neurotransmitters, like dopamine, that we know play a role in addiction in people. “They are similar to us in many ways,” Peterson tells The Verge. Zebrafish are also inexpensive to keep in a lab and incredibly prolific — one female fish can produce about 200 eggs a day. That allows researchers to easily study thousands of zebrafish to find significant genetic mutations and test new drugs. Peterson and Gabriel Bossé, a postdoctoral researcher in his lab, were looking for a way to allow zebrafish to dose themselves with drugs. This is important because it’s thought that the effects of opioids are different if you’re administering them to yourself vs. passively receiving the drugs, Peterson says. So they created an automated system made of a plastic tank and two underwater platforms, a white one and a yellow one. When the fish swam over the white platform, nothing happened. But when they swam over the yellow one, a small dose of the opioid hydrocodone was released in the water. (The water in the tank was continuously flushed out and replenished, so that the fish had to keep triggering the system in order to receive a dose.) The zebrafish were allowed to swim in the tank for 50 minutes a day for five days. The researchers found that on the first day, the fish swam over the white platform just as much as they swam over the yellow one. But by the fifth day, they essentially ignored the white platform, swimming over the yellow one instead in order to get a dose of opioids. After this first week of dosing, the fish were even willing to engage in risky behavior, swimming in shallow waters, in order to get their fix. (Undosed zebrafish avoided the shallow waters, possibly because if fish are swimming near the surface, they are easier targets for birds and other predators, Peterson says.) Peterson is already using the tank to test existing treatment drugs in zebrafish, and see if any of the meds can interrupt or reduce this drug-seeking behavior. If a drug works in the fish, it could work in people too. “The hope is that those drugs, when we find them, would also be useful in reducing the impulse to seek opioids in humans,” Peterson says. Scientists could also run genetic tests to see if they can zero in on any particular mutations that influence drug seeking in zebrafish. Those same mutations could play a role in people too, and drugs could be develop to inhibit those mutations in order to treat addiction, Peterson says. Zebrafish also have transparent brains, allowing researchers to easily study in real time which cells and circuits are activated while the fish are seeking their fix of hydrocodone. Better understanding the underlying biological pathways of addiction is key to find new treatments. And with more than 52,000 people dying of drug overdoses in 2015, most of them due to opioids, new treatments are needed fast.

2017-04-14 00:00:00

April 14 (Reuters) - Joyoung Co Ltd * Says 2016 net profit up 12.5 percent y/y at 697.7 million yuan ($101.32 million) Source text in Chinese: bit.ly/2nMtdmG Further company coverage: ($1 = 6.8860 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom)

2016-05-04 00:00:00

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is dismissing claims from a Romanian hacker known as “Guccifer” that he managed to gain access to the private server where Clinton stored her emails while secretary of state. Hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, who was extradited to the U.S. in March to face computer crime charges, told NBC News and Fox News in jailhouse interviews that he looked at information on Clinton’s server after obtaining details about the set-up from emails Clinton exchanged with Clinton outside adviser Sidney Blumenthal. The interview is set to air Sunday. “It was like an open orchid on the Internet,” Lazar told NBC, claiming there were “hundreds of folders.” “For me, it was easy. It was easy for me, for everybody” to get into the system, he told Fox. Lazar told Fox he only looked at that server roughly twice because it was not interesting to him. “I was not paying attention. For me, it was not like the Hillary Clinton server, it was like an email server she and others were using with political voting stuff,” he said. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Lazar is untrustworthy and his assertions defied logic in light of the fact that Blumenthal’s emails were published online several years ago in a hack attributed to Guccifer. He is now under indictment over that hack and others, including one that involved a family member of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. “There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell,” Fallon said of Lazar. “In addition to the fact he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton’s server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims.” “We have received no indication from any government agency to support these claims, nor are they reflected in the range of charges that Guccifer already faces and that prompted his extradition in the first place. And it has been reported that security logs from Secretary Clinton’s email server do not show any evidence of foreign hacking,” the Clinton campaign spokesman added. In the interview with NBC News’ Cynthia McFadden, the Romanian hacker dismissed the Democratic front-runner’s claims that her use of a home server during her tenure as secretary of state was safe. “When Hillary Clinton says that her server is absolutely safe — you’re laughing,” McFadden started, according to a transcript released prior to the “Dateline” premiere. “That’s a lie,” Lazar disputed from a prison in Bucharest where he was being held before being sent to the U.S., according to NBC. Lazar ultimately did not provide documentation to support his claims, according to the NBC report. An internal FBI review of Clinton’s email records did not indicate traces of hacking, a source familiar with the situation told POLITICO. Fox News correspondent Catherine Herridge spoke to Lazar by phone at the Alexandria, Virginia, jail where he is being held. He is scheduled to face trial in September on the U.S. indictment.

2017-03-07

March 7 (Reuters) - Fox Factory Holding Corp: * Fox Factory Holding Corp announces secondary public offering * Fox Factory Holding Corp - intends to offer for sale an aggregate of 5.1 million shares of company’s common stock Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2017-08-06

.@KatrinaPierson: "We are talking about the losing team... They claim their server was hacked... To this day we have not seen the server." pic.twitter.com/PAmcRMngiP Katrina Pierson on Sunday said the investigation into Russian election meddling is based only on an allegation from the "losing team." During an interview on Fox News, Pierson, a former spokeswoman for President Trump's campaign, was asked why Trump calls the Russia probe a "fabricated story." "It's a fabricated story because look at where its origins came from," Pierson said. "We are talking about the losing team — the [Democratic National Committee], Debbie Wasserman Shultz and the left — they lost the election." She said that while the DNC claims its server was hacked and emails leaked to WikiLeaks, "We have not seen the server." "There's been no evidence put forth that this actually happened," she said. "And yet this is a story and a narrative and an investigation based upon an allegation from the losing team." Her comments come after news surfaced that special counsel Robert Mueller impaneled a grand jury as part of his probe into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russian election interference. The news fueled speculation the investigation is growing in scope and seriousness. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Mueller, whose team of prosecutors has swelled to 16 in recent weeks, now has a dedicated pool of 23 grand jurors charged with examining subpoenaed documents, listening to witness testimony and ultimately deciding whether criminal charges are warranted. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2017-11-10 20:05:52

Gail Collins Mitt Romney is coming back. Well, maybe. Romney seems to be angling for a Senate seat if Utah’s Orrin Hatch retires next year. And it’s a tribute to the times we live in that at the moment, he looks … wow, not bad. It is true that as a politician Romney would pander to a guppy. But this week he was a veritable profile in courage by Republican standards. He told his party to drop the “if true” hedge when they were talking about charges that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore once sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. “Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections,” Romney said. “I believe Leigh Corfman. Her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside.” Simple and straightforward. Election to high office is an honor, not a right. Voters, who have been urged in past elections to reject candidates for everything from bad hair to being pregnant, can look at the Moore story — including the multiple women who say he dated or tried to date them when he was in his 30s and they were 16 to 18 — and just say no. Romney is completely right. It doesn’t matter if you think he’s making a grab for attention. In a way, that’s the whole point. This is a man who always has his finger to the wind, and he intuited that this was the thing the American people want to hear: a political uprising against powerful men putting their grubby hands on powerless women. It’s not what they’re getting from most Senate Republicans, who are simply shaking their heads and saying Moore should step down … if it turns out he really did the terrible thing that The Washington Post reported in stupendously credible detail. (John McCain was one of the first to demand that Moore drop out; Jeff Flake was telling the world what a terrible person Moore was even before the sex accusations came up.) President Trump, according to his press secretary, believes “a mere allegation” shouldn’t “destroy a person’s life.” This is pretty unsurprising. After all, if the president had said anything less weaselly, we would swiftly point out that this is the guy who was recorded bragging that he didn’t bother to wait for permission before he started kissing women, adding “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” Which we now have no excuse for bringing up. Meanwhile, the Alabama Republican Party has been desperately trying to cover Moore’s tracks: ■ “Other than being with an underage person — he didn’t really force himself.” ■ “The same thing went on when President Trump ran for office; there was about 15 ladies who ran to the press and said the same thing.” ■ “There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.” That last was from the Alabama state auditor — the guy who cited the Bible and argued that Joseph did the same thing with Mary. I have covered politics for a very long time, but I swear this is the first time I’ve seen a race hinging on the issue of virgin birth. It’s very possible Moore will be elected. Alabama is a super-red state. American voters do not have a strong history of switching parties in order to punish a politician for personal misbehavior. And the ballot is already printed. (A Hollywood studio is erasing Kevin Spacey from an entire movie, but once you’re on a ballot, no earthly power can get you off.) The whole spectacle would be less awful if at least Republicans from outside the state had the spine to speak up — to follow Romney’s lead. Whoever thought we’d get to the point of urging everybody to just agree with Mitt? Romney appears to be a man with an exemplary private life, but on the political front he has had no moral spine whatsoever. He spent all of 2016 warning the world what a terrible, terrible person Donald Trump was, but then he wouldn’t even say who he voted for in November, except that it wasn’t Hillary. Which was exactly as helpful as sitting outside the polling place under a sign that says, “I’m sulking.” Now, however, we are looking at him with new eyes. And really, he’s due. George W. Bush is getting super-popular, and at least Romney never wrecked the entire Middle East. True, he did get the Republican nomination in 2012 by slamming his opponents as soft on illegal immigrants. But having a history of babbling about “self-deportation” somehow seems a lot less troubling these days. It’s also true that Romney once complained that Barack Obama had been elected with the help of college-age women trading their votes for “free contraceptives.” But now we’ve got a president who’s turning pregnancy prevention programs over to people who don’t believe in birth control. And yes, as a candidate Romney’s idea of expressing empathy for low-income Americans was saying, “There’s no question it’s not good being poor.” But that’s better than Trump’s recent revelation that he felt so sorry for rich people he had to propose eliminating the estate tax “just to give them something.” Who’d have ever thought it? I wish Mitt was president.

2019-11-04 00:00:00

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Indian shares closed higher on Monday, helped by the government’s plan to offer further tax reforms and more capital to finance the country’s infrastructure needs. The NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 0.43% at 11,941.30, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.36% to 40,309.53. Stocks have been gaining steadily over the last few sessions, buoyed by positive global cues, a strong set of corporate results and expectations of a better third quarter. Metals stocks were the top gainers, with the Nifty sub-index rising 3.14%. Meanwhile, the Nifty state-owned bank index climbed 0.7%. Shares of Bharti Infratel Ltd surged as much as 7.48%. The stock closed up 6.20% and was the top gainer on the Nifty. Zee Entertainment was the top loser with a 4.33% drop. (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)

2017-02-12 20:25:00

For you, some heartwarming news for your Sunday: Drake texted congratulations to Chance the Rapper today after the Coloring Book rapper received his first Grammy win of the night. Chance earned an award for his song "No Problem" before the ceremony had even started. The song, which also features 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, was nominated twice over. Once, for "Best Rap Song," and another for "Best Rap Performance." His win was specifically for "Best Rap Performance." We will find out later tonight if the song earns a win for Best Rap Song. (By the way the night is going, odds are looking good for the 23-year-old.)In a conversation revealed on Instagram via a screenshot, Drake wrote, "CONGRATS BOI!!!!" He is not present at this year's ceremony. Where is he? Why, in Manchester, of course. "I AM IN MANCHESTER HAVING A DRINK FOR U BROSKI," he continued. "MORE MORE MORE." Drake, we feel you — that's exactly how most feel about Chance The Rapper. More, more, more! Given that Chance the Rapper is also nominated for Best New Artist tonight, we won't be surprised is that isn't the only text congratulations Chance receives tonight from the Canadian musician. See the full post, below.

2019-10-16 00:00:00

(Adds details on ratification vote process in paragraph 2, closing share price) DETROIT, Oct 16 (Reuters) - General Motors Co and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative deal on Wednesday for a new four-year labor deal, moving closer to ending a costly month-long strike that shut down GM's most profitable factories in a test of wills over the future of U.S. auto industry jobs. Neither the UAW nor GM released details of the deal, which is subject to ratification by UAW members, a process that could last up to two weeks. A new contract is expected to include commitments by the automaker to invest billions in U.S. vehicle factories to build new generations of electric vehicles, as well as U.S. electric vehicle battery plants. Union leaders worry that a shift to electric vehicles could cost thousands of jobs at engine and transmission factories. Details of GM's last offer emerged over the weekend and Reuters had reported that the company boosted the amount it plans to invest in the United States to about $9 billion from its previous offer of $7 billion. That figure is unchanged in the final agreement, a person briefed on the matter said. The deal also would create or retain 9,000 UAW jobs, a "substantial" number of which will be new, the source said. GM in September said its initial offer would support 5,400 jobs - and a majority of those would be new jobs. If the contract is ratified, UAW workers who have been living on $250 a week in strike pay are expected to get one-time signing bonuses, as well as increases to base pay. The union had also pushed for temporary workers at GM plants who earned less than permanent UAW employees to get an easier path to full-time wages and benefits. GM shares closed 1.1% higher at $36.65 on Wednesday after rising as much as 2.6% during the day. Shares of some auto parts suppliers also rose after the UAW announced the tentative deal. The cost of the strike - and how quickly those costs can be recovered - will be a focus for investors as the automaker and its major suppliers report quarterly results over the next several days. Analysts have estimated the strike cost GM more than $2 billion in lost production, though some of that could be made up through overtime work. The strike halted production of GM's large pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles - key drivers of the company's global profit. POLITICAL EVENT The longest nationwide strike against a Detroit automaker since 1970 became a political event. Democratic presidential candidates joined UAW picket lines, eager to win union votes in Midwest swing states. For his part, U.S. President Donald Trump put pressure on GM Chief Executive Mary Barra before the strike to preserve jobs at a car plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that she had targeted for closure. The deal is not done yet. The union's national GM council will decide whether to accept the agreement during a meeting on Thursday. Then UAW members at GM will vote on the agreement. The strike continues at least until Thursday's meeting, the UAW said in a statement. The strike began on Sept. 16, with about 48,000 hourly workers of the UAW union at GM seeking higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of profit and protection of healthcare benefits. Other issues included the fate of plants GM has indicated it may close, and the use of temporary workers. GM's revised offer that emerged over the weekend also included an increase of its proposed ratification bonus by $1,000 to $9,000. GM also proposed 3% pay raises in the second and fourth year of the four-year-contract and 3% and 4% lump sum payments in the first and fourth year respectively. It agreed to make temporary workers with three years of service permanent and give those workers a $3,000 ratification bonus. The final agreement is similar to that offer on pay and bonuses, but includes some enhancements, the person briefed on the matter said. The automaker said during the talks that it had offered "solutions" for the Lordstown assembly plant and a large assembly plant in Detroit-Hamtramck that were targeted for closure. A group affiliated with electric truck maker Workhorse Group had proposed acquiring the Lordstown plant. GM also said it had proposed a "union represented battery cell manufacturing site in the U.S." GM was considering using the Detroit-Hamtramck factory to build a new line of electric trucks, sources said. These proposals could have changed or been dropped in the final days of the talks. If the deal is approved by the workers, the union will next begin negotiations with Ford Motor Co or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) , covering many of the same issues. The UAW previously agreed to temporary contract extensions with both automakers while it focused on GM. A successful ratification is not a sure thing as workers during the 2015 talks initially rejected a deal with FCA before eventually approving a revised offer. SHARING THE REWARDS This year's talks have been overshadowed by a widening federal investigation into corruption at the union. For GM and the UAW, the bargaining came at a time of industry uncertainty following nine years of strong sales and robust profit, fueled by the trucks and SUVs built by UAW workers. GM's Barra and President Mark Reuss joined the bargaining on Tuesday, indicating a deal was close. Union leaders said the rewards of GM's recovery from its 2009 bankruptcy had not been shared fairly. Inflation-adjusted wages for all U.S. auto workers have fallen 16% since 2010, and UAW workers at the Detroit Three have received only two base wage increases of 3% in the past nine years, according to CAR. GM management, on the other hand, sees UAW wages as 26% higher than the average for non-union auto factories in the Southern United States. High absenteeism and rich health benefits add to the cost burdens at a time when U.S. vehicle sales are projected to decline and automakers are funding investments in electric vehicles. (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Writing by Joseph White Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

2016-12-21 15:21:57

As consumers get their first taste of voice-controlled home robots and motion-based virtual realities, a quiet swath of technologists are thinking big picture about what comes after that. The answer has major implications for the way we’ll interact with our devices in the near future. Spoiler alert: We won’t be yelling or waving at them; we’ll be thinking at them. That answer is something the team of Boston-based startup Neurable spends a lot of time, yes, thinking about. Today, the recent Ann Arbor-to-Cambridge transplant is announcing $2 million in a seed round led by Brian Shin of BOSS Syndicate, a Boston-based alliance of regionally focused angel investors. Other investors include PJC, Loup Ventures and NXT Ventures. Previously, the company took home more than $400,000 after bagging the second-place prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition. Neurable, founded by former University of Michigan student researchers Ramses Alcaide, Michael Thompson, James Hamet and Adam Molnar, is committed to making nuanced brain-controlled software science fact rather than science fiction, and really the field as a whole isn’t that far off. “Our vision is to make this the standard human interaction platform for any hardware or software device,” Alcaide told TechCrunch in an interview. “So people can walk into their homes or their offices and take control of their devices using a combination of their augmented reality systems and their brain activity.” Unlike other neuro-startups like Thync and Interaxon’s Muse, Neurable has no intention to build its own hardware, instead relying on readily available electroencephalography (EEG) devices, which usually resemble a cap or a headband. Equipped with multiple sensors that can detect and map electrical activity in the brain, EEG headsets record neural activity which can then be interpreted by custom software and translated into an output. Such a system is known as a brain computer interface, or BCI. These interfaces are best known for their applications for people with severe disabilities, like ALS and other neuromuscular conditions. The problem is that most of these systems are really slow; it can take 20 seconds for a wearer to execute a simple action, like choosing one of two symbols on a screen. Building on a proof of concept study that Alcaide published in the Journal of Neural Engineering, Neurable’s core innovation is a machine learning method that could cut down the processing wait so that user selection happens in real time. The same new analysis approach will also tackle the BCI signal to noise issue, amplifying the quality of the data to yield a more robust data set. The company’s mission on the whole is an extension of Alcaide’s research at the University of Michigan, where he pursued his Ph.D. in neuroscience within the school’s Direct Brain Interface Laboratory. “A lot of technology that’s out there right now focuses more on meditation and concentration applications,” Alcaide said. “Because of this they tend to be a lot slower when it comes to an input for controlling devices.” These devices often interpret specific sets of brainwaves (alpha, beta, gamma, etc.) to determine if a user is in a state of focus, for example. Leisa Thompson/Neurable Leisa Thompson/Neurable Instead of measuring specific brainwaves, Neurable’s software is powered by what Alcaide calls a “brain shape.” Measuring this shape — really a pattern of responsive brain activity known as an event-related potential — is a way to gauge if a stimulus or other kind of event is important to the user. This brain imaging notion, roughly an observation of cause and effect, has actually been around in some form for at least 40 years. The company’s committed hardware agnosticism places a bet that in a few generations, all major augmented and virtual reality headsets will come built-in with EEG sensors. Given that the methodology is reliable and well-tested from decades of medical use, EEG is indeed well-positioned to grow into the future of consumer technology input. Neurable is already in talks with major AR and VR hardware makers, though the company declined to name specific partners. “For us we’re primarily focused right now on developing our software development kit,” Alcaide said. “In the long game, we want to become that piece of software that runs on every hardware and software application that allows you to interpret brain activity. That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish.” Instead of using an Oculus Touch controller or voice commands, thoughts alone look likely to steer the future of user interaction. In theory, if and when this kind of thing pans out on a commercial level, brain-monitored inputs could power a limitless array of outputs: anything from making an in-game VR avatar jump to turning off a set of Hue lights. The big unknown is just how long we’ll wait for that future to arrive.

2017-04-19 00:00:00

April 19 (Reuters) - Globe Trade Centre SA: * Its shareholders to vote on capital increase via issue up to 15.5 million series L shares of nominal value of 0.1 zloty ($0.03) each * Series L shares to be offered via private subscription to chosen shareholders and without pre-emptive rights Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: ($1 = 3.9703 zlotys) (Gdynia Newsroom)

2020-03-20 20:52:00

Since this is our 300th(!) episode I just wanted to give my thanks to everyone who’s been listening, whether you're a longtime fan or if this is your first episode, thanks for hanging with us. If you’ve been here for a while, thanks for coming along on this journey with us. Getting to make this podcast week in and week out for the past almost two years, and listening as a fan for the two years before that, has been such an amazing experience. I love working on Waypoint Radio because of this amazing space it fills, a games podcast that is sometimes serious, often hilarious, and always authentic. So thanks for supporting us, for welcoming and allowing my voice on the podcast, and most of all for listening. Here’s to 300 more! You can read an excerpt from today's podcast and listen to the full episode below. Patrick: It all just left Doom in a very strange place where like Bethesda seemed caught off guard with how much people loved the game, I was caught off guard by how much I loved the game, and what that's what made me so curious about, "Okay, given all this what was their takeaway from what worked in Doom right and what would they do with a sequel?" Austin: What do they learn from this success? What was the What was your expectation coming to this based on playing like the stuff at E3, did you think going into this like "alright they they got it they got it they got the basics of what what was good about that?" And then and then really the big one is like did they did they? Rob: Yeah, so it's it's weird. I don't know. I don't know when I got this feeling. Watching previews and trailers and such but I just got the vibe that Doom Eternal was maybe a little too, what's the way to put this? Uh, going back to what Patrick was saying about, with 2016 there's this uncertainty. Did you know what you accomplished here? Like, it's one of those unexpectedly good B movies where you're not entirely sure the creative team behind it knew why the the admixture of components ended up being so special, but it just is. Like you're watching the movie and it's great. It may be great because some weird decisions were made. Patrick: It's kinda like a movie that like, if you were to look at the raw footage, like this is trash, but then an editor comes in and like saves it. And like Doom in some ways felt like stitched together ideas that, it works, it works, somehow this works! But if I'd say if you were to make a sequel, that same creative team—Yeah, like you're not confident they would come away with the lessons learned from the editor that like stitched it all together, Rob: Right, and so Doom Eternal, somewhere along the line I got the vibe, maybe even just from the name, but the ways they were covering it, suddenly the stripped down nature of it, the "we're just gonna give you this, you know, extreme shooter experience," I think began to be the thing I was taking away from the marketing and that was that was my fear. And I think what actually surprises me the most about Doom Eternal though as I'm playing it is, if Doom 2016 was basically oppositional in its identity, saying, okay, here's what here's what a lot of modern shooters are doing. We're not doing that. We're not going to let the guy finish what he's saying we're going to cut, our main character is going to cut the cutscenes off, our main character is going to smash the widget that he's supposed to use to save the universe. With Doom Eternal, I am surprised by the degree to which all of that humor has bled out of the experience like Doom Eternal is not charming in that way. This transcript was edited for length and clarity. Discussed: Thanks for Listening 00:00, Doom Eternal 21:24, Stellaris 1:05:32, Dialect 1:47:03, Frostpunk: Last Autumn 1:51:24, Mysterium 1:55:35 You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. If you're using something else, this RSS link should let you add the podcast to whatever platform you'd like. If you'd like to directly download the podcast, click here. Please take a moment and review the podcast, especially on Apple Podcasts. It really helps. Interaction with you is a big part of this podcast, so make sure to send any questions you have for us to [email protected] with the header "Questions." (Without the quotes!) We can't guarantee we'll answer all of your questions, but rest assured, we'll be taking a look at them. Have thoughts? Swing by the Waypoint forums to share them!

2020-02-05 00:00:00

LONDON (Reuters) - A leading British scientist has made a significant breakthrough in the race for a coronavirus vaccine by reducing a part of the normal development time from “two to three years to just 14 days”, Sky news reported. Robin Shattock, head of mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London, said he is now at the stage to start testing the vaccine on animals as early as next week with human studies in the summer if enough funding is secured, Sky said. “Conventional approaches usually take at least two to three years before you even get to the clinic,” he told Sky. “And we’ve gone from that sequence to generating a candidate in the laboratory in 14 days.” The vaccine will be too late for this current outbreak but it will be crucial if there is another one, Sky said. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Estelle Shirbon

2016-02-29 19:43:00

National Briefing | Midwest A 14-year-old boy pulled out a gun in a school cafeteria near Middleton on Monday and opened fire, hitting two fellow students, and then ran from the school, threw the weapon down and was apprehended nearby with the help of a police dog, the authorities said. Two other Madison Local Schools students also were injured, possibly from shrapnel or from running away. None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, Sheriff Richard Jones of Butler County said. The campus is about 30 miles north of Cincinnati. Sheriff Jones said there was a known motive, but he did not identify it. The boy was charged preliminarily with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, inducing panic and making terrorist threats.

2020-02-23 00:00:00

Vandals reportedly struck Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersDNC warns campaigns about cybersecurity after attempted scam Overnight Health Care — Presented by American Health Care Association — Trump taps Pence to lead coronavirus response | Trump accuses Pelosi of trying to create panic | CDC confirms case of 'unknown' origin | Schumer wants .5 billion in emergency funds Biden looks to shore up lead in S.C. MORE’s presidential campaign headquarters in Seattle, throwing a rock through a window.  Sanders’s state field director, Shaun Scott, posted a video of the aftermath on Twitter, adding that no one was injured and campaign workers swept up pieces of glass and applied plywood. “We take our cues from Bernie; our campaign is nothing if not resilient,” he tweeted. Someone decided to put a rock through the window here at the Bernie Seattle headquarters tonight.Everyone is okay and we’ll be here sweeping up the pieces and applying plywood. We take our cues from Bernie; our campaign is nothing if not resilient. pic.twitter.com/gtGKJ7XKY6 Police are investigating the Friday incident, a spokesperson told The Hill in a statement. Officials have not identified any suspects or made any arrests.  “This is not going to be something that deters us, that makes us feel less bold and pushing for the changes that we need to see in our democracy,” Scott said, according to The Associated Press.  Sanders appeared in Tacoma, Wash. last week in front of thousands of people on his first trip to the state. Washington's primary will occur on March 10. Sanders has started strong in the first three races of the primary, winning in New Hampshire and Nevada and coming in second in Iowa. He currently has 31 delegates, although 26 delegates still need to be allocated to candidates from Nevada’s primary on Saturday. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2020 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2017-09-04 16:00:00

There's no doubt that London rapper and singer Stefflon Don has been poised for greatness since she first emerged, and a few weeks ago, she released her first official single "Hurtin' Me," which features French Montana. Though the track wasn't necessarily what some were expecting (there's a lack of rapping, for starters), I don't think that's actually a bad thing: it's important to subvert expectations and provide fans with something new, and as such a multi-talented artist, Steff has a lot of sides of herself to show. The one that takes the spotlight here is the soft, sexy Steff, whose distinctive singing voice floats over the sort of beat that captures late summer perfectly. Today, we've been graced with a video for the track, which is just as low-key as the music itself. It's a pretty literal interpretation of the lyrics, in that it depicts a spurned Steff dealing with the fact that her ex has "got a new gi-i-i-rlfriend," and it seems to roll out her aesthetic mission statement going forward: it's clean but stylish, with choreography that's true to her dancehall influences, and her hair is obviously impeccable. Watch above and click here to read our profile on Steff from earlier this year. Follow Lauren on Twitter.

2019-12-19 00:00:00

(Reuters) - AngloGold Ashanti said it expects its Obuasi gold mine in Ghana to produce about 350,000 to 400,000 ounces per year for the first ten years, after achieving its first gold pour since it was suspended five years ago. The initial capital expenditure for the mine, which has been in the process of redevelopment since last year, remains in the range of $495 million to $545 million, the company said on Thursday. “Following a ramp-up period, AngloGold Ashanti estimates mining at a rate of 2,000 tons per day from Obuasi during 2020, climbing to 4,000 tons per day by year-end,” it said. (This story corrects intended production figure in headline and paragraph 1) Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair

2017-04-28 00:00:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday he will either renegotiate or terminate what he called a “horrible” free trade deal with South Korea and said Seoul should pay for a U.S. anti-missile system that he priced at $1 billion. In an interview with Reuters, Trump called the five-year-old trade pact with South Korea “unacceptable” and said it would be targeted for renegotiation after his administration completes a revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. He blamed the U.S.-Korean trade deal, known as KORUS, on his 2016 Democratic presidential election opponent, Hillary Clinton, who as secretary of state promoted the final version of the trade pact before its approval by Congress in 2011. “It is unacceptable, it is a horrible deal made by Hillary,” the Republican Trump said. “It’s a horrible deal, and we are going to renegotiate that deal or terminate it.” Asked when he would announce his intention to renegotiate the deal, Trump said: “Very soon. I’m announcing it now.” Trump's comments stunned South Korean financial markets, sending Seoul stocks .KS11 and the won currency KRW= into reverse even as the country's economic outlook has started to brighten. South Korea’s foreign ministry said Seoul would continue to explain to the Trump administration the benefits of the free trade deal. Washington had not officially filed a request to Seoul to renegotiate the agreement, it said. “Our government will keep monitoring the situation and continue our efforts to explain to the United States the mutually reciprocal outcome of the South Korea-U.S. FTA, while preparing for countermeasures,” the ministry said. With global demand improving, exports of goods such as cars and electronics have been leading a recovery in South Korea and a number of other trade-reliant Asian economies such as Japan and Taiwan, boosting their manufacturing sectors. “Talk and actual policy are different,” a high-ranking official at South Korea’s finance ministry, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters. KORUS was initially negotiated by the Republican administration of President George W. Bush in 2007, but that version was scrapped and renegotiated by President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration three years later. The U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea has more than doubled since KORUS took effect in March 2012, from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $27.7 billion in 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Trump said the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system now being deployed in South Korea to defend against a potential missile attack from North Korea would cost about $1 billion and questioned why the United States was paying for it. “I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid. It’s a billion-dollar system,” Trump said. “It’s phenomenal, shoots missiles right out of the sky.” Asked about the remarks, South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement there was no change to the existing agreement that Seoul provides land for the deployment while Washington shoulders the cost of installing and operating the system. Moon Jae-in, the South Korean presidential frontrunner, said the new government should given the choice to decide whether to agree to the deployment. “I’ll decide after sufficient public consensus and parliamentary approval,” he said at a televised presidential debate ahead of the May 9 election. His top foreign policy adviser earlier told Reuters that Trump’s suggestion would be an “impossible option” because the U.S. military operates the system. The U.S. military started the deployment of THAAD in early March, despite strong opposition from China, which worries the system’s powerful radar can be used to spy into its territory. Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) is the prime contractor for the THAAD system. A former U.S. State Department official estimated the cost of the system at about $1.2 billion but said the United States would not want to sell THAAD to Seoul. “We want to retain THAAD in our arsenal, consistent with all other U.S. weapons systems deployed on the Korean peninsula. We own them. We retain them. We have the right to redeploy them,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Reporting by David Lawder and Phil Stewart, additional reporting by James Pearson, Christine Kim, Ju-min Park and Soyoung Kim in Seoul, Editing by Howard Goller and Bill Tarrant

2016-06-18 11:40:00

Street artist 1010 has yet to grow weary of traveling the world and covering it with his trippy sinkhole art. The work is identifiable by his signature portal murals on targeted urban surfaces. This time around, his choice of design recalls an underwater surrealism, with gradient downward-sloping spirals painted across the side of multi-level brick buildings in Berlin. The series of graffiti art, titled PM9 – colors, was curated by Streetartnews, JUSTKIDS, and Urban Nation. Rom Levy, who photographed the artwork, tells The Creators Project he is thrilled to be part of exhibiting 1010’s newest works to Berlin and to debut them to the world. “The entire process was super fun,” says Levy. “Working amongst the local residents and kids that visited us every day to see the progress. Bringing colors and fun to Berlin was the first motivation and I am thankful to Urban Nation (Berlin’s advocacy group for street and urban art) for giving us this chance.” 1010 completed his latest murals June 14th and they are free to view in the Berlin area (near Bulowstraße U-Bahn station). See more of 1010’s vortex-like murals on his Instagram, here. Related: Meet the Faces Behind Street Art’s Tropical Getaway Enter the Optical Illusion Graffiti Void Artist Folds Photographs into Endless Geometric Sculptures

2017-06-09

Washington (CNN)Senior White House aide Dan Scavino was reprimanded by the US Office of Special Counsel for violating the Hatch Act in a tweet, according to a letter posted by a Washington watchdog group. The letter addressed to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington states that Scavino, the White House director of social media, violated the Hatch Act on April 1 when he sent a tweet calling for the defeat of GOP Rep. Justin Amash in a primary. The Hatch Act prohibits employees in the executive branch, except the President, Vice-President and some other high-level officials, from engaging in political activity. RELATED: Trump aide keeps up Twitter attacks on Freedom Caucus' Amash In its letter to CREW, the Office of Special Counsel said that Scavino received a "warning letter" and "if in the future he engages in prohibited political activity while employed in a position covered by the Hatch Act, we will consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law." The White House has not yet responded to CNN's request for comment. OSC said it "cannot comment" on the letter. Scavino's tweet came on the heels of President Donald Trump's taking to Twitter in April to call out the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which Amash is a member of, for not supporting his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Amash was among the Freedom Caucus members who pushed back against the President, tweeting that Trump had surrendered to the Washington swamp he promised to fight. He eventually voted for the final bill. "The rules are clear that government officials aren't allowed to use their position for campaign activity," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. "OSC has made clear with this ruling that they are going to enforce these important rules and work to keep the government free from inappropriate politics." CNN's Ryan Nobles and Dan Merica contributed to this report.

2020-02-14 00:00:00

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - An Indian antitrust investigation of Amazon.com Inc and Walmart’s Flipkart has been put on hold by a court, three lawyers involved in the proceedings told Reuters on Friday. Amazon this week challenged the investigation in a court in Bengaluru and the court has granted a stay of two months, according to a lawyer from P&A Law Offices representing Amazon and two other legal counsels involved in the matter. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) last month ordered a probe into Amazon and Flipkart over alleged violations of competition law and certain discounting practices. “This comes as a major relief,” said the Amazon counsel, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to media. The CCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The CCI ordered its probe after a New Delhi-based trader group complained that the e-commerce giants were promoting select sellers and in turn hurting business for other smaller players. Over three days of hearings in the Bengaluru court, Amazon denied the allegations and argued that CCI did not have sufficient evidence to order the probe. A lawyer for the Indian trader group, Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, said he would appeal against the court’s decision to put the investigation on hold. Amazon and Flipkart have faced mounting criticism from Indian retailers which accuse them of violating local laws by racking up billions of dollars of losses to fund deep discounts and discriminating against small sellers. The companies deny the allegations. Last month, the trade minister said Amazon wasn’t doing India any “great favor” by announcing $1 billion in investment, laying bare the tensions with the U.S. online retailer. Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil; editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Jason Neely

2016-09-19 00:00:00

A year ago, the leaders of the world made a promise to the seven-and-a-half billion people on this planet that their lives — our lives — will get a lot better over the next 15 years. That promise was called the Sustainable Development Goals. It is a promise to save millions of lives, to stop injustice, and to protect our planet.  It is our job, as global citizens, to hold our leaders to that promise. To not let them delay, obfuscate or make excuses. Our leaders need to know that we are watching. That's why the Social Progress Imperative and Global Citizen have teamed up, and at the Social Good Summit on Monday we're launching the People's Report Cards (#peoplesreportcard) —  a way for every citizen to see the progress their country is making against these goals. It's the People's Report Card, because it is a tool for citizens everywhere to check whether their leaders are living up to the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals. Powered by the Social Progress Index — a robust and comprehensive measure of the real quality of life across the world — the People’s Report Cards offer a snapshot of whether everyone has those essential qualities of life to be safe, healthy and free. It uses a scale from F to A, where F represents humanity at its worst and A represents achieving the Sustainable Development Goals — humanity at its best. And not only have we produced a card for each country, but the results are combined into a score for the entire world. Today our world today scores a C+ overall — a long-way off from achieving the ambitious targets the United Nations has set.  "Today our world today scores a C+ overall." We will update these each year on the way to 2030, so that you, the people, can see how your country is performing. But the People’s Report Cards only work if they are shared with our leaders, so that those people in charge of taking the decisions that will shape our lives know that we are all holding them to account, and that we will not forget the promises they made in New York last year.  And, over the coming years, we are going to build up the People’s Report Cards so that citizens everywhere can give feedback on how their country, region or city is doing.  Check out how your country is doing, share the People’s Report Cards on social media and email them to your leaders. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you want your country and our world to get to an A in 2030.  — Michael Green is the Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative. This article is part of coverage at the sixth-annual Social Good Summit, which Mashable is presenting with the United Nations Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme, and the 92nd Street Y on Sept. 18 and 19 in New York. You can watch the event live at socialgoodsummit.com, and follow updates @MashableEvents.

2017-10-26

Oct 26 (Reuters) - SHW AG: * DGAP-NEWS: SHW AG: OUTLOOK FOR THE FULL YEAR 2017 CONFIRMED * ‍9MTH CONSOLIDATED EBITDA DOWN BY 6.8 PERCENT FROM EUR 32.5 MILLION TO EUR 30.3 MILLION​ * 9MTH ‍NET PROFIT FOR PERIOD ONLY FELL BY EUR 1.6 MILLION TO EUR 8.3 MILLION​ * ‍CONTINUES TO EXPECT EBITDA MARGIN IN RANGE OF 10.0-11.0 PERCENT FOR FULL YEAR​ * ‍SALES AND EARNINGS FORECAST FOR FULL YEAR 2017 REMAINS UNCHANGED​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)

2017-07-10 10:25:00

On Sunday, Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the Iraqi forces had regained control of the city of Mosul after a nine-month long battle against the Islamic State. We've republished this story, which explores the experiences of Iraqi women who lived under the control of ISIS in the Mosul area. Throughout the past couple years, we've heard about the thousands of people who have fled the horrors of war in the Middle East, the Islamic State's dominance, and other unimaginable conflicts. But, what about those who have been left behind? For more than two years, ISIS was in control of Mosul, a major city in northern Iraq. Mosul is country's second most populated hub and in June 2014 became the largest region controlled by the group. But in the fall of 2016, an American-led coalition, the Iraqi army, and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were able to start regaining control of the city, which stands near the border between Iraq and Syria. Around this time, photographer Abbie Trayler-Smith was able to travel to the area surrounding the city with Oxfam in an effort to capture what the experience was like for women who lived under the group throughout this period. They're now free from ISIS' control, but many challenges still remain. Trayler-Smith's work addresses many questions: What was it like to live under the tight rule of ISIS and to now be liberated? What was the magnitude of ISIS' presence, and how did it shape their lives for those two years? What about their families? And, where do they go from here? "When the forces first broke into Mosul and people were able to escape, the stories they told us were so surreal to me," she told Refinery29, adding, "[They told us] how nobody had been allowed a phone or a SIM card, and how people had been killed if they were found with either in their possession." The women interviewed by Trayler-Smith shared stories of loss, fear for the future, and resilience — from those who lost their partners, to those who were determined to rebuild their lives just like they were before ISIS' arrival. But if there was a common thread, it was the sheer horror of it all. "The story that really chilled me to the core was from a mother who told me how they’d had to stop their children from going to school so that they wouldn’t be brainwashed. And when I asked what she meant she said, 'You know, in Math class, they were counting like two guns plus two guns equals four guns, and singing songs about killing people,'" Trayler-Smith said. "It just made me realize what these people have lived through for two years." More than 300,000 people have fled Mosul since last fall, according to the office of the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq. The battle has lasted nine months, and the number of internally displaced people is expected to increase as the Iraqi forces regain control of the last sections of the city. Trayler-Smith emphasizes that even though the majority of the city has been retrieved from ISIS' control, the women's journey is far from over. The photographer said she wants people looking at her photos to see how many similarities exist between these women and any other person. "What I felt after meeting and talking to all of the women I photographed is that they are no different to me or my friends," she said. "I hope people just pause to look at the pictures and see the women in them as just another human being. I hope they can make a connection with them like I did when I was there with them. Despite differences in culture and life experience we all have similar concerns: health, family, loved ones, security. None of the women I photographed want ISIS around." This story was originally published on June 20, 2017.

2020-02-25 00:00:00

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Venture Global LNG Inc said on Tuesday it has entered a 20 year agreement with Électricité de France S.A. (EDF) to supply one million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of liquefied natural gas from its Plaquemines LNG facility in Louisiana. EDF will buy the super chilled fuel from the Plaquemines facility, effective its commercial operation date. Venture Global is expected to make a final investment decision on the facility early in 2020 and has targeted start up in late 2022. Plaquemines had previously sold 2.5 MTPA of LNG under a 20-year agreement to Polish Oil and Gas Co. (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

2017-09-30

The former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under President Obama blamed President Trump on Friday for rising health-care premiums around the country. Andy Slavitt, who was acting CMS administrator from 2015 to 2017, accused Trump on Twitter of "purposely raising" health-care premiums as part of his plan to let ObamaCare "implode." "I ran this government agency under President Obama," Slavitt wrote. "Make no mistake. Trump is purposely raising people's premiums." I ran this government agency under President Obama.Make no mistake. Trump is purposely raising people's premiums. https://t.co/TslDrlvnH3 Slavitt was reacting to news reports that Oklahoma's health commissioner was blaming the Trump administration for missing a deadline to approve a waiver for the state, which Oklahoma officials say will mean higher premiums for thousands of residents. "Three days later, beyond health plan commitment and rate filing deadlines, Oklahoma is forced to withdraw our waiver request due to the failure of departments to provide timely waiver approval," Oklahoma Health Commissioner Terry Cline wrote to administration officials earlier Friday. "The lack of timely waiver approval will prevent thousands of Oklahomans from realizing the benefits of significantly lower insurance premiums in 2018," the letter added, saying approving the waiver would have helped more than 130,000 Oklahomans and reduced premiums by 30 percent.  Trump has frequently threatened to end ObamaCare subsidy payments to insurers and let the program "implode" amid GOP efforts this year to repeal the health-care law. The Oklahoma letter emerged Friday after Health and Human Services Secretary Tom PriceThomas (Tom) Edmunds PricePress: Acosta, latest to walk the plank 'I alone can fix it,' Trump said, but has he? Chaotic Trump transition leaks: Debates must tackle how Democrats will govern differently MORE resigned following reports that his use of military flights and private jets cost more than $1 million since May. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2019-09-11 00:00:00

LOS ANGELES — Airbus wants to know everything passengers are consuming on board — from coffee to movies, even toilet paper. The European manufacturer and Boeing's chief rival, last month began flying one of its A350-900 wide-body aircraft to test what its executives think is the cabin of the future: full of sensors that collect data on the on-board habits of its passengers. "It's not a concept. It's not a dream," said Airbus' vice president of cabin marketing, Ingo Wuggetzer, at an industry conference in Los Angeles this week. The goal is to gather data on passenger behavior and consumption on board, information that could save airlines money and relieve pain points on board for passengers such as the mad scramble for overhead bin space and lavatory queues. So, how does it work? Airbus has added sensors throughout the aircraft, which it's using as a flying laboratory that would collect data about passengers' use of certain parts of the plane and items on board. The information collected from the so-called Flight Lab is shared with both cabin crew, to address with supplies on board, and with the airlines tasked with ordering them. For example, Airbus is planning to track how many times the lavatory latch is opened and closed so the airline and cabin crews know how often the bathrooms are being used, and have a better idea when to restock items, such as toilet paper or soap. That will also give airlines a better sense of how many lavatories they need on board, Wuggetzer said. The manufacturer also wants to track things like how many times seats are reclined, he said, to give airlines a better sense of when they need maintenance so airlines aren't suddenly left with a nonworking seat, forcing them to lose revenue. The data is gathered from the sensors through an onboard Wi-Fi system, and then shared with flight crews. The information will be shared with airlines once the plane lands. Airbus is also planning to add small cameras on board to monitor how many people are waiting for the bathrooms, and then let travelers know the approximate wait times or which one they should use. To minimize privacy concerns, Wuggetzer said passengers' faces will be blurred out. That also goes for food purchases and orders on board, so airlines don't over- or under-order items. The International Air Transport Association, an industry trade group that represents most of the world's airlines, estimated that carriers generated 5.7 million metric tons of cabin waste in 2017 and said due to growing numbers of passengers on board this could double by 2027. Don't expect these features to show up on your next flight in the very near future. Wuggetzer said commercial airlines are yet to test them out and it's not clear whether these carriers are willing to shell out more for the features. The tests on the A350 are scheduled to continue through the end of the year.

2019-04-23

Coca-Cola isn't new to coffee, but the global beverage giant is planning on making a big push into the industry this year. The company is releasing Coca-Cola Coffee in more than 25 markets around the world by the end of 2019. "Coke Coffee was designed to reach consumers during specific occasions and channels like the mid-afternoon energy slump at work," CEO James Quincey told analysts Tuesday. The drink, which blends Coke with coffee, has slightly less caffeine than a normal cup of coffee but more than a can of the soda. The move comes as consumers have shifted from drinking soda to choosing less sugary options, like bottled water and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. Coca-Cola Coffee contains less sugar than a Coke of the same size. The drink also allows the company to capitalize on a trend that is working: coffee. Ready-to-drink coffee is the fastest growing segment in the coffee category, growing 31% in 2016 and 2017, according to Mintel. Chilled coffee drinks such as cold brew are also growing in popularity with consumers. From 2013 to 2017, cold coffee grew at least 10% annually in the U.S., Mintel research found. The trend is less appreciated by European consumers, who tend to experiment less. So far, Coke's coffee business has largely been focused in Japan, where canned coffee has been popular in vending machines for decades. The Atlanta-based company's Georgia Coffee brand has surpassed $1 billion in sales and expanded to other Asian countries. Coke first tried to introduce coffee to its namesake brand back in 2006. The company discontinued the short-lived Coca-Cola Blak two years later. In 2017, Coke took another whack at it, introducing Coca-Cola Plus Coffee in Australia. The following year, the company brought it to Asia for more tests after retooling the formula to heighten the coffee aroma. "The early results are very promising, delivering incremental growth for the Coca-Cola brand with very little cannibalization," Quincey told analysts in July. The company also plans to start selling ready-to-drink Costa coffee products in European markets during the second quarter. Coke purchased the British coffee chain for $5.1 billion including debt and closed the deal in January. "We're in early days of working out exactly how we're going to bring to life the synergy plans for greater revenue growth and profit growth," Quincey said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street. " Coke's stock rose 2% in morning trading Tuesday after the company reported earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's estimates. The beverage giant earned 48 cents per share from continuing operations, beating the 46 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. Revenue rose 5% to $8.02 billion, topping expectations of $7.88 billion.

2019-07-25 00:00:00

Before this blondie hit it big on the big screen, she was a self-proclaimed goody two-shoes who grew up in western Massachusetts. She was also a super bookworm -- graduating Magna Cum Laude at the University of Pennsylvania. She later attended the prestigious American Conservatory Theater and worked in theater in NYC before landing some small roles. But, soon the small gigs turned into big roles ... first as Betty Brant in "Spider-Man" and later in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can" and Oliver Stone's biopic of George W. Bush, "W." Truth be told ... ya might have LOL'd during her scenes in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Can you guess who she is?

2020-03-25

March 25 (Reuters) - Water Intelligence PLC: * WILL ACCELERATE ITS GO-TO-MARKET PLAN WITH INSURANCE COMPANY CUSTOMERS Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2017-06-19 09:00:10

Lyft is touting a metric that its main rival can’t crow about – tip money earned through the platform. Lyft famously offers an in-app tipping option for riders, while Uber does not; and since Lyft announced that drivers had collectively earned over $100 million in tips four years after the company started its ride-hailing business, it’s been providing updates on the earning potential represented by tips on a semi-regular basis. Today, it has a new update on total earnings, and it’s rolling out new features that could contribute even more to tip-based earning potential. Just two-and-a-half months ago, Lyft announced that total tips had passed the $200 million milestone, so the additional $50 million accumulated between now and then has come at a faster rate than ever before. A few factors might be helping out here: First, Lyft has greatly improved its footprint in the U.S. in the beginning of 2017, expanding to well over 100 new cities. Second, Lyft is gaining ground on Uber in terms of market share as Uber reels from its cultural and leadership problems, at a rate that we haven’t seen before between the two rivals. Lyft is now going to start showing new pre-set tip options in rides to hopefully help drivers earn more on longer rides, the company revealed today. On trips where the fare is above $25, riders will now get $2, $5 and $10 tipping options instead of $1, $2 and $5 choices (custom tip options also remain for all rides). Lyft says than in its initial small group testing, it’s already seeing tips rise on those rides where the cost is over $25 and people are seeing the new selections. Just having tips at all is a competitive advantage on the supply side for Lyft, but the fact that it’s iterating on this to try to bump up earning potential means it’s aware and hopes to press that advantage. Uber has taken steps to try to shore up its driver-side product and address concerns of that client base, but Lyft’s focus on the upside here might help it earn more goodwill.

2019-06-03 00:00:00

June 3 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s shares fell as much as 7% on Monday following reports that the U.S. Justice Department may investigate Google for hampering competition. The potential investigation represents the latest attack on a tech company by the Trump administration, which has accused social media companies and Google of suppressing conservative voices on their platforms online. Alphabet’s market capitalization was reduced by $54 billion as its shares recorded their biggest drop outside earnings since April 2011. Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc were both down about 3%. Amazon shares were also pressured by news that the company could face heightened antitrust scrutiny under a new agreement between U.S. regulators which puts the e-commerce giant under the trade commission’s watch. Evercore ISI analyst Kevin Rippey cut his price target on the Alphabet stock by $50 to $1200, the second lowest on Wall Street and well below the median price target of $1350. “For investors, the investigation comes at a time when the stock’s bull case is challenged by concerns of an abrupt revenue slowdown last quarter,” Rippey said. “While precedent suggests that Google enjoys broad discretion over the direction of search results, the questions arising from an investigation will challenge the possibility of multiple expansion,” he added. Google’s search, YouTube, reviews, maps and other businesses, which are largely free to consumers but financed through advertising, have catapulted it from a start-up to one of the world’s richest companies in just two decades. Along the way, it has made enemies in the tech world, who have complained to law enforcers about its market dominance, and also in Washington, where lawmakers have complained about issues from its alleged political bias to its plans for China. Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post said a possible investigation could lead to a breakup. “To break up Google, the DoJ would likely have to file a lawsuit and convince judges that Google has undermined competition. It is very rare to break up a company but not unheard of,” Post wrote in a note. Google also faced a widespread outage on Sunday as it experienced high levels of congestion in the eastern United States, affecting multiple services in Google Cloud, G Suite and YouTube. The company later said it identified the root cause and resolved the issue, but did not elaborate further. (Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

2019-11-15 16:51:46

The verdict is in for Roger Stone’s trial — and a Washington, DC, jury found President Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser guilty on all counts Friday. Stone was convicted of one count of obstructing an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. The verdict makes Stone the sixth former Trump adviser to be convicted of or plead guilty to charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The special counsel indicted Stone in January, before completing his work, and Stone’s trial was the highest-profile loose end remaining from the probe. Prosecutors alleged that Stone tried to obstruct the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election by lying to the committee about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks, and by encouraging another witness to lie for him. The trial featured testimony from two other former top Trump campaign aides — Steve Bannon and Rick Gates. Both said that Stone repeatedly suggested he had inside information on WikiLeaks’s plans to release material that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton. Gates gave testimony suggesting that Stone shared this information with Donald Trump himself. And Trump’s name came up frequently in the trial — prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky argued that Stone’s motivation for his lies and obstruction was that “the truth looked bad for Donald Trump.” But what wasn’t really cleared up in the trial was whether Stone in fact had legitimate inside information about WikiLeaks and its posting of Democratic emails that had been hacked by Russian intelligence officers. To an extent, that makes sense — the charges against Stone weren’t about anything he did in 2016, but rather the alleged cover-up he perpetrated the following year. The government presented voluminous documentary evidence that the story Stone told Congress — that all his WikiLeaks information came from a single “intermediary,” radio host Randy Credico — was false. And they suggested Stone concocted this false story to hide his true WikiLeaks connection — conservative author Jerome Corsi. But what, exactly, Corsi learned, and how he learned it, remain murky. Stone, however, has now been convicted, and will be sentenced at some point in the coming months by Judge Amy Berman Jackson. He will likely try to appeal his case — and hope President Trump pardons him — but, as of right now, it looks like the legendary dirty trickster may well serve prison time. Stone has had a reputation for political shenanigans since he was a 19-year-old volunteer carrying out dirty tricks to embarrass Richard Nixon’s 1972 Republican primary opponent — something that earned Stone a minor role in the Watergate hearings. As a Republican campaign operative, he worked for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bob Dole; as a highly paid lobbyist, he worked alongside his friend Paul Manafort for a host of seedy clients. And he’s long been known as a colorful character who rejoices in the dark side of politics: scandals, smears, division, and negativity. Journalists have called him “the state of the art Washington sleazeball” and the “boastful black prince of Republican sleaze.” Stone also, incredibly enough, spent nearly three decades trying to get Donald Trump for president before Trump actually went through with it. The two met in the mid-1980s, as Trump hired Stone and Manafort’s firm to do lobbying and PR for him. After Trump released his book The Art of the Deal in 1987, Stone urged him to consider running for president the following year, but Trump demurred. In 1999, Stone ran a presidential exploratory committee for Trump — but Trump again ended up not officially running. The two had their ups and downs over the years (“Roger is a stone-cold loser,” Trump told the New Yorker in 2008, arguing he “always tries taking credit for things he never did”). But by 2011, as Trump mused about challenging President Barack Obama, Stone was egging him on again, urging him to spread conspiracy theories about Obama’s birthplace. So when Trump finally did launch his presidential campaign in June 2015, Stone was on board as an official campaign adviser. But he didn’t last long. After clashing with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, he left his official role in August 2015. Yet Stone remained in contact with Trump himself to some extent and continued to try to support Trump’s candidacy from the outside. And some of those outside efforts landed him at the center of the Mueller investigation, leading to his arrest and indictment this January. It was all the way back in spring 2016 that Stone began saying he knew that WikiLeaks had information coming that would damage Clinton, according to both Bannon (testifying under subpoena) and Gates (testifying as part of a plea deal he struck with the government). Back then, Gates was the deputy Trump campaign chair, serving under his longtime boss Paul Manafort. Gates testified that he and Manafort were initially skeptical that Stone really knew what he was talking about. But then, on June 12, 2016, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced that he had pending releases related to Clinton. Two days later, on June 14, the Democratic National Committee announced it had been hacked by the Russian government. At the trial, the government revealed that Stone had called and spoken with Trump that same day (though it’s unclear what they discussed). Gates also testified that, the following day, Stone told him that more information was coming soon. A little over a month later, on July 22, WikiLeaks posted the hacked DNC emails online. Gates testified that Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort then instructed him to keep in touch with Stone and find out what else he knew about WikiLeaks’s plans — so Trump could be briefed on them. On July 25, Stone emailed his associate Jerome Corsi, telling him to “get to Assange” and “get the pending WL [WikiLeaks] emails.” Gates also testified that he witnessed a phone call between Trump and Stone in late July, while Gates was in a car with Trump driving to LaGuardia Airport. Gates said that he could not hear exactly what was said on the call but that after the call ended, Trump told him that “more information would be coming.” About an hour after the call, Stone emailed Corsi again, to say a friend of theirs in London should see Assange. A few days later, on August 2, Corsi emailed Stone about what he said were Assange’s plans, and vaguely mentioned “Podesta” — a reference to John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair. (Podesta’s emails had been hacked, but that was not public knowledge at this point.) The next day, Stone emailed Manafort saying he had an idea “to save Trump’s ass.” Manafort was ousted from the Trump campaign in mid-August, and replaced by Bannon. Stone then emailed Bannon on August 18, saying he knew a way to win the 2016 election, but that “it ain’t pretty.” Bannon testified that afterward, Stone continued to suggest privately that he had a “relationship with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.” Bannon added that the Trump campaign didn’t really have an official access point to WikiLeaks — but that the closest thing to that would have been Roger Stone. Still, despite all of Stone’s ominous predictions, no one at the trial testified that Stone ever offered specific knowledge of WikiLeaks’s plans on timing or that he specified what information, exactly, they had in advance. In any case, none of that was actually the focus of the charges against Stone. The government alleged that when the House Intelligence Committee asked him to testify in their Russia investigation in 2017, Stone concocted a false cover story to hide whatever actually happened. Specifically, Stone omitted Jerome Corsi from the story, and claimed all of his information about WikiLeaks came from comedian and radio host Randy Credico. But, as prosecutors argued and Credico himself testified, that didn’t make sense with the timeline. Credico did get in touch with WikiLeaks to do a radio interview with Assange, but that wasn’t until late August 2016 — months after Stone started claiming to know about WikiLeaks, and weeks after his emails with Corsi. Stone was also charged with falsely telling Congress he had no emails or texts discussing WikiLeaks (he had a ton); with falsely saying he never asked for any requests to be communicated to Assange (he did); and with falsely saying he never discussed his conversations with his WikiLeaks intermediary with anyone in Trump’s campaign (Bannon and Gates said he did talk WikiLeaks with them). The fuller story of what happened with Stone and WikiLeaks remains unclear — but Mueller’s own conclusions are already in his 448-page final report on the Russia investigation, hidden under black bars.

2016-10-17

In late September, when Donald Trump spoke in Chester Township, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, he wasn’t the only star at the event. Kellyanne Conway, his new campaign manager, who grew up nearby, and who has become ubiquitous on television, was greeted as a celebrity. “Did you see the people asking me to sign their posters and hats?” she asked me in a text while Trump was speaking. “So weird.” In August, Conway, who is forty-nine, and a longtime Republican pollster, became Trump’s third campaign manager. Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart, a right-wing news site that has championed Trump’s candidacy, was named C.E.O. Conway, who is the first woman to run a Republican Presidential campaign, told me that she was proud of the milestone but not hung up on it. “I’ve been in a very male-dominated business for decades,” she said. “I found, particularly early on, that there’s plenty of room for passion, but there’s very little room for emotion.” She added, “I tell people all the time, ‘Don’t be fooled, because I am a man by day.’ ” When Conway took over, the campaign was foundering, owing to Trump’s repeated insults to the parents of Humayun Khan, a soldier killed in action in Iraq. Polls showed that Trump was losing to Hillary Clinton by up to ten points. By the time of the Chester speech, four days before the candidates’ first debate, Conway and her team had brought the race to a near-tie. Trump, reading from a teleprompter, sounded almost like a conventional politician as he spoke about “breaking up the special-interest monopoly” and described America as “a nation of strivers, dreamers, and believers.” Conway was being lauded as the “Trump whisperer”—the only person who could persuade him to prepare for his crucial showdown with Clinton. For the first twenty minutes of the debate, held at Hofstra University, on Long Island, on September 26th, Conway seemed to have succeeded. Trump adroitly pressed Clinton on the fact that she had once praised the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which she now opposes. The comedian Samantha Bee, on her show “Full Frontal,” depicted the start of the event with an image of Conway controlling Trump with an electronic dog collar. But Trump soon reverted to his natural state, bragging about not paying federal taxes, claiming that cheering for the housing-market crash was “good business,” lying about his support for the Iraq War, failing to apologize for his tenure as the leader of the birther movement, and gratuitously attacking Rosie O’Donnell. After the debate, Trump’s aides were slow to enter the spin room, a gymnasium, where each campaign made the case to reporters that its candidate had won. Bannon, in a blazer and open shirt, kept his distance from the cameras and the microphones. Conway, wearing a royal-blue lace dress, stepped forward to deliver the Trump campaign’s message. “I love the fact that he restrained himself tonight and he was a gentleman toward her,” she told a knot of reporters. “He definitely could’ve gone where a lot of America was thinking he should or could go, which is to talk about her husband and women, and he did not. He restrained himself, and you know what? Restraint is a virtue, and it is certainly a Presidential virtue, and I think many voters today, particularly women, probably saw that and respected that a great deal.” For almost three hours, Conway strolled around the Hofstra gym, spreading the message with a smile. Others in the Trump campaign thought his performance was catastrophic, and they blamed the Conway camp. (The Trump campaign has several power centers, and his advisers are quick to savage one another, though not always on the record.) “I view her as an enabler,” one Trump campaign official told me. “Right now, post-debate, I guarantee you there’s a fucking Kool-Aid cooler the size of a fucking wheat silo that they’re all drinking from. I guarantee you, because none of them can accept the blame for what they failed to do.” The next day, Conway was sitting in the Trump Grill, in the peach-marbled lobby of Trump Tower, which has served as a set for several of the campaign’s famous moments. The restaurant has a view of the escalator that Trump and his wife, Melania, descended when, on June 16, 2015, he declared his candidacy, and adjoins the area where, the same day, he claimed that Mexico was sending rapists to the United States. Eric Trump, the candidate’s thirty-two-year-old son, who is an executive vice-president of the Trump Organization and one of his father’s closest campaign advisers, was dining at a nearby table. Conway noted his presence with a wink, as if to signal that we should be on our best behavior in front of the boss’s kid. She had already appeared on four morning shows, but she seemed as energetic as ever. She was, though, irritated by some conversations on Twitter. Her assistant, who had access to her Twitter account, was posting the results of nonscientific polls that declared Trump the winner of the debate, and readers were pillorying Conway for sharing bad data. She tapped out an urgent message to her assistant, asking her to stop polluting her feed. Conway had no such control over Trump. As we met, he sent out a celebratory montage of the results of ten online polls. “Such a great honor,” Trump wrote. “Final debate polls are in—and the MOVEMENT wins!” In fact, according to polls that used representative samples, voters believed, by a two-to-one margin, that Clinton had won. There were other frustrations. The day before, BuzzFeed had posted an article suggesting that Conway was nothing more than window dressing for the campaign. “Well, I know better,” she told me. “I thought it was really sexist, and I’m not one to run around screaming about sexism.” Shortly after the debate, Stuart Stevens, who served as Mitt Romney’s top strategist in 2012, and who is outspoken about his distaste for Trump, had picked up the criticism. “Saw last night why campaign managers focus on helping their candidates prepare for debates & don’t live on tv talking about debates,” he tweeted. He later noted that, during the primaries, Conway had helped run Keep the Promise, a Ted Cruz super PAC , and that Trump had criticized Cruz’s wife’s appearance. “And yet Conway still goes to work for that man?” Stevens told me. “To me, that smacks of desperation.” The attacks stung Conway. She supported Romney four years ago, donating to his campaign and offering it advice. “I was a good little soldier,” she said. “And, even if they”—Romney and his former aides—“can’t give that kind of support in return, then they should at least realize, hey, give us our chance to lose eight of the nine swing states like you did! I’ve noticed a lot of people are very bold and blustery on Twitter, because it’s easy to do that with the poison keyboard and a hundred and forty characters.” Conway, who has four young children, continued, “For Stuart Stevens to say I, quote, live on TV? You know where I live? I live with four kids who need their mother, in a household that I run.” She added, “This smacks of misogyny and sexism, to suggest that I can’t do the job of a campaign manager—I can only go on TV. How about if I could do all of the above?” She said that she was trying to spend more time on campaign management, but for Trump a measure of her success was her presence on television. “I’ve cut my TV time in half,” she told me. “And he’s, like, ‘I didn’t see you on TV in the last hour. Where are you?’ I’m, like, ‘Mr. Trump, managing the campaign means talking to the state directors and the mail house and the R.N.C.’ ” Conway worked for Newt Gingrich in the nineties, when he was rising in the House of Representatives, and in 2012, when he ran for President. Gingrich, who is one of Trump’s most prominent supporters, told me that he had recently observed Conway and Trump on Trump’s plane. “They have very good chemistry,” he said, adding that previous advisers had made the mistake of trying “to reshape him.” Gingrich said, “That’s not going to happen, because he’s a seventy-year-old adult billionaire who has been on a top-rated TV show, had the No. 1 book in the country, beat sixteen people, got the record number of votes as the nominee. He actually thinks he knows something.” Gingrich went on, “Her view is that she needs to intuit what he’s good at and what he’s bad at, and how to deal with them.” Running Donald Trump’s campaign is like being the drummer in Spinal Tap: those who take the position tend to disappear in mysterious circumstances. First, there was Corey Lewandowski, an operative from New Hampshire, who oversaw Trump’s rise from reality-television star to Republican-primary front-runner, but who was seen as indulging his erratic behavior. “Corey was ideal for that first phase, because Trump just wanted someone who would follow orders,” a Trump adviser told me. “There was never any juncture during which Corey would ever say to him, ‘Well, wait a minute, Mr. Trump. Maybe that’s not a good idea.’ ” Lewandowski had near-total control of the campaign, and he gradually alienated Trump’s eldest children, Donald, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, and Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, the owner of the New York Observer . “The Trump children didn’t like Corey, because they thought Corey was becoming too familiar,” the Trump adviser said. “He started regarding himself as another Trump child. Corey, who is from a relatively poor, working-class background, became quite mesmerized with the life style.” In March, Trump hired Paul Manafort, a Republican lobbyist who was a partner in the firm Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly. His job was to make sure that Republican delegates would not be able to stage a coup against Trump at the Convention. The end for Lewandowski came when Manafort and Kushner allied against him. “When Manafort was brought on, Corey and Manafort basically went head to head,” the Trump campaign official said. “Jared, the son-in-law, who is a snaky little motherfucker, a horrible human being, hated Corey, so Jared sided with Paul to get rid of Corey.” Manafort became the campaign chairman in May, and took full control when, a month later, Lewandowski was fired. But Manafort turned out to be too blunt to get Trump to do his bidding. “You have to know how to influence Trump’s thinking, and that takes a mix of diplomacy and psychiatry,” the Trump adviser told me. Manafort, he claimed, had “no chemistry with Donald.” Manafort wanted Trump to pay for polling and focus groups to test TV advertisements. “Donald went berserk,” a Republican close to Manafort said. Trump is known to disdain the traditional tools of politics. He thinks “this is all just a public-relations exercise,” the Trump adviser said, “and he’s a master of public relations, and the rest is all bullshit.” Kushner sided with Trump. By early August, Manafort was further weakened, by scandals related to political work that he had done in Ukraine. After the Times reported that he might have received millions of dollars in cash payments from a party aligned with Vladimir Putin, there was open speculation about how long he could keep his job. “When the Ukraine stuff comes to pass, Jared now is holding the axe over Paul’s head,” the campaign official said. The Trump adviser added, “The real campaign manager, in fact, the entire time, has been Jared Kushner, who is still the real campaign manager, even today.” At the start of the election cycle, Conway talked to several Republican candidates, including Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Rick Santorum, and Carly Fiorina, about joining their campaigns. She spoke to Lewandowski, too, but she ended up working for Keep the Promise, the Ted Cruz super PAC . Keep the Promise had an important supporter, the conservative hedge-fund manager Robert Mercer, who donated more than ten million dollars to the PAC . Conway said that working for Cruz was “a geographic decision, because the Mercer super PAC is in New York.” But she also knew Mercer’s daughter Rebekah, who leads many of the family’s political efforts. “Rebekah’s a very close friend of mine, personally,” Conway said. During the primaries, Conway occasionally took shots at Trump on behalf of Cruz. She said that Trump should be “transparent” about his tax returns, and described his personal attacks on his rivals as “fairly unpresidential.” And she objected to his comment, in a television appearance in March, that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions. Conway passionately opposes abortion rights, but she knows the subject has to be addressed with care, and has spent years shaping language to articulate the pro-life position. When we spoke, she was still bothered by Trump’s statement. “Pro-lifers believe there are two victims in an abortion: the unborn child and the woman who felt that that was her best option,” she told me. “We never look at her as the perpetrator—ever.” Trump’s remark was “a great example of him just undoing decades of work where we worked really hard.” Steve Bannon had his own alliance with the Mercer family. Since 2011, Robert Mercer has been a major backer of Breitbart, Bannon’s news site, and Bannon has served as a political adviser to the Mercers. Breitbart enthusiastically embraces the nationalist right, and, as Trump’s political fortunes rose, Breitbart became his most obsequious media booster. “You can make the case that Breitbart pretty much wrote Trump’s immigration policy,” Kurt Bardella, who resigned as Breitbart’s spokesman in March, told me. He added, “Bannon is the poster child for that white, nationalistic, alt-right world view.” After Trump’s victory in the Indiana primary, on May 3rd, Cruz dropped out of the race, and the Mercers, with Bannon’s encouragement, moved into the Trump camp. Later that month, Rebekah Mercer and Conway met with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower to discuss the campaign. In late June, the Mercers transformed Keep the Promise into Make America Number 1, a Trump super PAC, and the Trump campaign, at the Mercers’ urging, hired Conway as a pollster. With Manafort falling out of the Trump family’s favor, Conway began subtly undermining his strategists. When Tony Fabrizio, the lead pollster, submitted a budget that Kushner thought was too high, Conway offered a cheaper alternative. “Kellyanne gives him a budget of between one and a half and three million dollars,” the campaign official said. “Come on. I mean, Senate races do more than that. You can’t do a modern Presidential campaign on that.” In August, the Mercers recommended that Trump bring in Bannon to lead a reorganized effort. “I’ve never run a campaign,” Bannon told Trump. “I’d only do this if Kellyanne came in as my partner.” Conway said that Trump offered her the job of campaign manager on August 12th, in a private meeting in his office. “We’re losing,” she told him. “No—look at the polls,” Trump replied. “I looked at the polls. We’re losing,” she said. “But we don’t have to lose. There’s still a pathway back.” In a sense, Conway’s life prepared her for a boss like Trump. Born Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, she grew up in Atco, New Jersey, twenty miles from Philadelphia. Her mother raised Kellyanne in a house that they shared with her grandmother and two unmarried aunts. “These four Italian women raised me,” she said. “It’s like South Jersey’s version of ‘The Golden Girls.’ ” When Kellyanne was a teen-ager, her mother worked at the Claridge Hotel and Casino, in Atlantic City, as a shift supervisor in the main cage, where players cash their chips. Her father was a truck driver, and was divorced from her mother by the time Kellyanne was two years old. She didn’t see her father again until she was twelve or thirteen. She said, rolling her eyes, that he is now married to his fourth wife. The family was religious. “We had pictures of the Pope and the Last Supper and anything I drew at school,” she said. “We never had pictures of Kennedy or Reagan. We never had a single political conversation that I can remember. I should’ve been a Democrat. I mean, I grew up with all women in the nineteen-seventies.” She recalled that someone gave her mother a subscription to Ms. She discovered politics in 1984, when, in high school, she wrote for a local paper about the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. “I loved Cuomo and Ferraro at the Democratic Convention,” she said. Geraldine Ferraro, the first female nominee on a major-party Presidential ticket, and Mario Cuomo, then governor of New York, were the two best-known Italian-American politicians in the country, and both gave speeches. But when she saw Ronald Reagan’s speech she knew that she was a Republican. “He really touched me,” she said. “I liked the more uplifting, aspirational, yet tough-guy kind of thing.” Conway went to Trinity Washington University, a Catholic college in Washington, D.C., and received a law degree from George Washington University. She pointed out that, while Hillary Clinton failed the D.C. bar exam in 1973, before passing in Arkansas, Conway was allowed into the D.C. bar after passing the exams in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Conway said she thought about that during the first debate: “Boy, she really can cram a lot of information into her head for one performance. How the heck did she fail the D.C. bar?” While Conway was in law school, she worked as a research assistant in the firm of Richard Wirthlin, Reagan’s longtime pollster and strategist. She briefly practiced law, and later worked for the Republican pollster Frank Luntz. The polling business was dominated by men. “I’m a female consultant in the Republican Party, which means when I walk into a meeting at the R.N.C. or somewhere I always feel like I’m walking into a bachelor party in the locker room of the Elks club,” she said. Conway found mentors in political fixers such as Charlie Black, a partner in Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly. To Conway, the firm’s principals, who worked for Reagan and George H. W. Bush, “were the untouchables. They were the gold standard of lobbying, Capitol Hill access.” Early in her career, Conway was invited to Black, Manafort, Stone’s Christmas party, and, she said, “it was, like, ‘What am I gonna wear?’ It was like Cinderella.” They talked, and she listened. “Charlie’s one of those men in Washington—and there have been many of them—who, early on in my career, took an interest in what I was doing and would stop by the office, or we’d go have lunch at the Palm,” Conway said. “I tended to learn from what I would consider the revered wise men, the veterans, the political veterans who really took an interest in my career.” Conway founded her own firm, the Polling Company, in 1995, and developed a niche advising corporations—American Express, Hasbro, Vaseline, and others—about consumer trends, especially among women. Her most well-known political clients, including Gingrich, Mike Pence, and Dan Quayle, have been socially conservative Republicans who needed help reaching female voters. “She spent most of her career looking at polling data, with a particular emphasis on consumers and on women,” Gingrich said. “So she sees them more holistically than a lot of political pollsters.” In the nineties, Conway started appearing on television, as a panelist on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect,” which brought together an eclectic group of entertainers and political commentators, and featured a new generation of female pundits. Bill Maher gave “a great platform” to “the young conservative women who were just coming into their careers,” Conway said. “You can’t put a young girl in her twenties of any political affiliation alone in a room with half of Congress. It’s like an occupational hazard. But I always felt Bill Maher was a perfect gentleman.” Maher said, “I think we’re the show that kind of made Ann Coulter and Kellyanne and Laura Ingraham—you know, those were, like, our blond Republican ladies.” For a time, Conway stopped appearing on Maher’s show, because she had grown tired of his anti-Catholic sentiments. Earlier this year, Trump showed his own lack of respect for the Church. Pope Francis said that a person who wants to build walls is “not Christian,” and Trump called the comment “disgraceful.” Conway spun this into proof of Trump’s virtue. “Oftentimes, Mr. Trump punches down,” she told me. “I actually think the Pope is punching up or punching across, if you will, if you’re Mr. Trump.” Maher, who despises Trump, said that he didn’t remember any disagreement with Conway—“I’ve blocked it out, like an uncle who molested me”—but he was incredulous at her description of Trump’s response to the Pope. “Wow,” he said. “That so epitomizes the whole campaign. Everything Donald Trump does is marked on a curve.” He went on, “Because Donald Trump is normally a giant asshole who punches down, the one time that he does it up to the Pope then we say it’s O.K. If there’s a Nobel Prize in hypocrisy, those people have got to win it this year.” Kellyanne’s husband is George T. Conway III, who as a young lawyer played a historic—and largely hidden—role in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Conway, a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, worked at the New York City firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and was a member of the Federalist Society, the conservative organization that led many of the legal challenges to the Clinton Administration. When Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment, Conway wrote the Supreme Court brief, though his name never appeared on it. The Court, in a landmark decision, agreed with Jones’s argument that a sitting President could face a civil lawsuit. During depositions in the lawsuit, Clinton denied having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, which eventually led to his impeachment trial. George Conway became deeply involved in getting out information from the depositions. During that period, he reportedly e-mailed Matt Drudge an infamous scoop about the shape of Clinton’s penis. In January, 1998, the month that Drudge broke the Lewinsky scandal, Conway saw a picture of Kellyanne Fitzpatrick on the cover of a Washington society magazine and asked a mutual friend to set them up. They met the following year, and married in 2001. Their four children are between the ages of six and eleven. “I had my first children at thirty-seven, then I had two daughters in my forties, forty-one and almost forty-three,” she said. “They say there are no eggs left in your forties, but there were two rolling around in there somewhere. I was surprised both times, like, ‘Oh! O.K. Not a stomach ache.’ ” In 2004, Conway wrote a book with Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, called “What Women Really Want.” “We have the common bond of struggling in a male-dominated business,” Lake said. “Lots of women consultants told us to be careful how much you do about women voters, because that can be a ghetto, not just a franchise.” Lake joked to me that Conway has tried to teach Trump some of the lessons of their book, which emphasizes that women respond better to the language of inclusion than to that of division, “but Trump won’t stay on the lessons learned.” In 2001, the Conways bought an apartment in Trump World Tower, near the United Nations, where they lived for seven years, and where she got to know Trump. “I sat on the condo board, and he’s very involved in his condos,” she said. “Over the years, he would ask me my opinion about politics.” One of her top clients at the time was Major League Baseball, which relied on her advice about marketing the game to female fans. In 2008, the Conways moved to a six-million-dollar home in Alpine, New Jersey, a town that Forbes has called “America’s most expensive Zip Code.” In late 2013, Trump was considering running for governor of New York, and Conway produced a poll for him. “She thought that it was possible for him to win New York,” Michael Caputo, a Trump adviser at the time, who resigned from his Presidential campaign after clashing with Lewandowski, told me. In a memo on the poll results, Conway wrote, “NY loves its celebrity politicians and families: the Kennedys, Moynihans, Buckleys, Clintons, and even the Cuomos. Donald Trump fits that (loose) bill, and he has the money and moxie to compete if he chooses to enter the race.” Conway’s research showed Trump losing to Andrew Cuomo by thirty-five points, but she chose not to include that figure in her memo. A Trump adviser involved in the discussion said that Conway misrepresented Trump’s prospects: “She produces an analysis that buries every terrible number and highlights every positive number. It’s just an enormous crock of shit.” He added, “She’s looking for a client because Trump is talking about spending a hundred million dollars to run for governor, which we both know he was never really going to do, just like he was going to spend a hundred million dollars in this race, which he has not done.” Conway responded, “I see nowhere in the memo where I claim Trump is ahead or can win.” She added, “This does not account for the private presentation I and another team member had with him about the data.” Conway told me that some advisers asked Trump, “‘If you’re going to run for office, why not start with President of the United States?’ And, you know, it’s a fair question, and he ultimately decided that.” The period after the first Presidential debate has been perhaps the worst of Trump’s campaign. Of the first two dozen swing-state polls that were released, Clinton led in all but one. Trump’s pre-debate gains evaporated as he reverted to the erratic caricature that the two previous campaign teams had struggled to control. The campaign official claimed that Conway and Bannon sent Trump onstage without a strategy for the debate or what followed. “These people make decisions knee-jerk and haphazardly,” he said. “There has never been a written campaign plan for this campaign, ever. ” Another senior member of the campaign said that the goal of the first debate was simply “risk mitigation,” and claimed, “I think he won. You know why? Because we got through the first big thing in front of eighty million people, where she’s the greatest in world history and she brought a good game, and guess what? Nothing happened, right?” He noted Trump’s direct hit on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but conceded that Trump was unable to deliver the lines that were prepared for him on immigration, Obamacare, and other policy issues. He had “five other packages ready to go. They didn’t come up—or he wasn’t able to bring them up into the debate.” During the debate, Clinton baited Trump by speaking about a woman named Alicia Machado, who was named Miss Universe in 1996. Later that year, Trump bought the contest, and he humiliated Machado, calling her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.” Conway and her colleagues couldn’t get Trump to let it go. On Twitter, he called Machado “disgusting” and told supporters to “check out” her “sex tape” (none emerged). Conway told me that she understood Trump’s impulse to respond once he’s provoked. “He and I have this in common,” she said. “I really don’t draw first blood. There’s no fun, there’s no point, and there should be no joy in gratuitously attacking someone or picking an argument out of whole cloth.” She continued, “He feels that he should be able to defend himself. Everybody says ‘no grievance too large or too small,’ but that’s just the way he feels: that there’s a way to settle the score.” On Friday, Conway’s task of spinning Trump became all but impossible. The Washington Post published a video from 2005 in which Trump talks about women in the most degrading terms. “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” he says. “You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy.” (Conway declined to comment.) Conway told me that she did have a productive conversation with Trump, on the day he hired her as campaign manager. She was upset with him after he appeared on CNBC and said that he wouldn’t mind if he lost, because he would just “go back to a very good life.” He added that he would take “a very, very nice, long vacation.” Conway confronted Trump: “I told him, ‘You can’t say that.’ Everybody thinks I sugarcoat it, but I don’t. I can actually deliver tough news in a friendlier way.” Conway says that she told him, “People believe that this election is not about you—it’s about them. And when you say ‘I, I, I’ you sound like her: ‘I’m with her,’ ‘Ready for Hillary.’ She should just shortcut all of her slogans to say ‘Me, me, me, me, me.’ ” Conway continued, “You’ve built a whole movement, and people feel like they’re part of it. Mr. Trump, people have stood in the rain for three hours just to say they were there when you were there. They so believe in you that when you say, ‘Eh, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to the happy place,’ they don’t think that they will.” Since his dressing down by Conway, Trump hasn’t repeated the remarks. At the end of our interview at Trump Tower, Conway told me that she will turn fifty on January 20th, Inauguration Day. Before she started working for Trump, she promised her family a trip to Italy to celebrate her birthday. Now she hopes to be in the capital, but, like Trump, she has a backup plan. “I’ll either be at a fabulous party in Washington, D.C., or I’ll be in Italy,” she said, with a smile and a wink. “I can’t lose.” ♦

2019-09-30 15:58:45

Among its many high-tech features, the F-35 is perhaps best known for its stealth.But a German radar maker says it used its passive radar, set up on a pony farm, to track the stealth fighter as it left an air show in Germany last year.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.COLOGNE, Germany — In the illustrious history of the F-35 fighter jet, add a pony farm outside Berlin as the place where one company claims the plane's stealth cover was blown.The story that follows is a snapshot in the cat-and-mouse game between combat aircraft — designed to be undetectable by radar — and sensor makers seeking to undo that advantage. In the case of the F-35, the promise of invisibility to radar is so pronounced that it has colored much of the jet's employment doctrine, lending an air of invincibility to the weapon: The enemy never saw it coming.But technology leaps only last so long, and Russia and China are known to be working on technology aimed at nixing whatever leg up NATO countries have tried to build for themselves.Now, German radar-maker Hensoldt claims to have tracked two F-35s for 150 kilometers following the 2018 Berlin Air Show in Germany in late April of that year. The company's passive radar system, named TwInvis, is but one of an emerging generation of sensors and processors so sensitive and powerful that it promises to find previously undetectable activities in a given airspace.What happened in Berlin was the rare chance to subject the aircraft — stealthy design features, special coating and all — to a real-life trial to see if the promise of low observability still holds true.Stories about the F-35-vs.-TwInvis matchup had been swirling in the media since Hensoldt set up shop on the tarmac at Berlin's Schönefeld Airport, its sensor calibrated to track all flying demonstrations by the various aircraft on the flight line. Media reports had billed the system, which comes packed into a van or SUV and boasts a collapsible antenna, as a potential game changer in aerial defense.At the same time, F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin was still in the race to replace the German Tornado fleet, a strategically important opportunity to sell F-35s to a key European Union member state. The company set up a sizable chalet at the air show, bringing brochures and hats depicting the aircraft together with a German flag.Showtime in Schönefeld The most convincing pieces of marketing for Hensoldt were meant to be two F-35s flown in from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The trans-Atlantic journey marked the jets' longest nonstop flight, at 11-plus hours, officials said at the time.But Lockheed and the US Air Force did not fly the jets during the show so that its engineers — and anyone walking by the company's booth, for that matter — could see if the aircraft would produce a radar track on a big screen like the other aircraft.Reporters never got a straight answer on why the F-35s stayed on the ground. One explanation was that there was no approved aerial demonstration program for the aircraft that would fit the Berlin show's airspace limitations.Regardless of the reason, with no flight by the F-35, companies could not try out their technologies on perhaps the most illustrious of test cases.Passive radar equipment computes an aerial picture by reading how civilian communications signals bounce off airborne objects. The technique works with any type of signal present in airspace, including radio or television broadcasts as well as emissions from mobile phone stations. The technology can be effective against stealthy aircraft designs, which are meant to break and absorb signals from traditional radar emitters so that nothing reflects back to ground-station sensors, effectively leaving defensive-radar operators in the dark.Because there are no emitters, passive radar is covert, meaning pilots entering a monitored area are unaware they are being tracked.There are limitations to the technology. For one, it depends on the existence of radio signals, which may not be a given in remote areas of the globe. In addition, the technology is not yet accurate enough to guide missiles, though it could be used to send infrared-homing weapons close to a target.Hensoldt said various radio station broadcasts in the area, especially a bunch of strong Polish FM emitters broadcasting deep into Germany, improved TwInvis calibration during the Berlin show. The border is about 70 kilometers away from Schönefeld Airport.During a system demonstration by Hensoldt at the exhibit, company engineers convened around a large TwInvis screen showing the track of a Eurofighter performing a thundering aerial show nearby. But the prized target of opportunity, the two F-35s, remained sitting on the tarmac.Horse country As the event ended, Hensoldt kept a close eye on any movement of the heavily guarded F-35s on the airfield. As exhibitors began to clear out, it looked like the chance of catching the planes during their inevitable departure back home would be lost.But in Hensoldt's telling, someone had the idea of setting up TwInvis outside the airport, which ended up being at a nearby horse farm.Camped out amid equines, engineers got word from the Schönefeld tower about when the F-35s were slated to take off. Once the planes were airborne, the company says it started tracking them and collecting data, using signals from the planes' ADS-B transponders to correlate the passive sensor readings.A spokeswoman for the F-35 Joint Program Office said she was unable to comment by press time on Hensoldt's claim of having tracked the aircraft in Berlin or about the plane's general vulnerability to passive radar.There are several horse and pony farms in the vicinity of Schönefeld Airport, offering everything from riding lessons to horse-themed summer camps for kids. A woman answering the phone at the business closest to the airfield, "Keidel Ranch," a couple kilometers to the west, confirmed to Defense News that "someone" from the Berlin Air Show had showed up and stayed for "two or three days."Hensoldt previously said its passive-radar detection works regardless of whether the targeted aircraft has radar reflectors (so-called Luneburg lenses) installed. Those features — little knobs on the roots of the F-35 wings — can be seen in photos released by the US Defense Department on the occasion of the journey to Berlin.The reflectors are often mounted on the stealthy aircraft to make them visible to local air traffic authorities during friendly missions, like air show appearances. They artificially create a radar cross section in the frequency bands in which airspace-deconfliction radars operate so that traditional, defense radar systems know what they are dealing with.According to a source close to the program, Luneburg lenses mounted on the departing F-35s would make it a certainty that the jets can be tracked, suggesting that the situation would be different without the reflectors installed."When the F-35 is not flying operational missions that require stealth — for example, at air shows, ferry flights or training — they ensure air traffic controllers and others are able to track their flight to manage air space safety," Lockheed spokesman Michael Friedman wrote in a statement to Defense News. "The Air Force can best address questions related to their F-35s participation at the Berlin Air Show."Hensoldt argues that passive-radar detection works in a different spectrum, making the presence (or absence) of reflectors irrelevant. In layman's terms, passive radar tracks the entire physical shape of planes, versus being triggered by smaller, angular features on the body of a jet.Talking stealth Whatever Hensoldt's claims, the German military has embraced passive radar as an emerging technology key for future capabilities, including air defense. Earlier this year, the country's air force was in the process of creating a formal acquisition track for passive sensing, Defense News reported.That step came after the Defence Ministry sponsored a weeklong "measuring campaign" in southern Germany last fall aimed at visualizing the entire region's air traffic through TwInvis.Also noteworthy, in the year and a half that followed the air show, emphasis on stealth features for the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System program, meant to be Europe's next-generation warplane, shifted.Officials from the industry teams involved in the program increasingly converged around the idea that stealth as we know it had lost its shine — this following rumors circling the German defense scene about how Hensoldt had apparently managed to light up the American aircraft on the radar screen.Valerie Insinna in Washington contributed to this report. Read the original article on C4ISRNET. Copyright 2019. Follow C4ISRNET on Twitter.

2018-06-19

China's central bank on Tuesday lent 200 billion yuan ($31 billion) to financial institutions via its medium-term lending facility (MLF), highlighting concerns over liquidity and potential economic drag from a trade war with the United States. The surprise injection of funds came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated the tit-for-tat trade scrap with Beijing by threatening to impose a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods. No MLF loans were maturing on Tuesday, whereas recent operations had come on days when MLFs were due to mature. The move also comes after the central bank's unexpected decision last week to leave borrowing costs for interbank loans unchanged after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its policy rate. Analysts had forecast the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to follow the Fed and increase rates modestly — as it has tended to do — to keep the spread between Chinese and U.S. yields stable. Tommy Xie, Head of Greater China research at OCBC Bank, said the MLF injection was probably "part of the package" of measures to counteract the potential fallout from the trade conflict. "With the stakes for trade war to increase to $200 billion, there is no way for China to match. But at least, it has signaled clearly that China will not give up its bottom line to support its own high-tech industries," Xie said. "Instead of becoming trapped in this tit-for-tat vicious cycle, we expect China to expedite its plan to boost its domestic demand via proactive fiscal policies to cut tax and increase expenses." He said the PBOC could become more "stimulative" against a backdrop of rising credit default risks, slowing growth and a looming trade war. The interest rate for the one-year MLF was 3.30 percent, the PBOC said, unchanged from the previous one-year MLF injection. The cash injection was to "make up for mid- to long-term liquidity gap in the banking system" to counter factors including tax payments, government bonds issuance and maturing reverse repos, according to the PBOC statement. David Qu, market economist at ANZ Bank in Shanghai, said the central bank was indeed facing some pressure on the liquidity front from rising corporate financing costs, suspended bond issuance and credit defaults. "The central bank is responding to those pressures," he said. "The MLF issuance today could also be aimed at easing the concerns financial markets had over the Sino-U.S. trade war." The PBOC said in the same statement that it injected another 100 billion yuan via reverse repos on Tuesday morning. 50 billion yuan worth of reverse repos is set to expire on the same day. The PBOC last injected funds via MLFs on June 6, lending 463 billion yuan to financial institutions as 259.5 billion yuan worth of MLF loans came due.

2017-04-24 00:00:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two former executives at the Hungarian telecommunications company Magyar Telekom will pay financial penalties and accept corporate officer and director bars to settle alleged anti-bribery law violations, U.S. regulators said Monday. The settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company’s former CEO Elek Straub and former chief strategy officer Andras Balogh come after the company settled related criminal and civil Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges back in December 2011. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

2018-10-25 20:21:41

BOSTON — Days before the opening of a trial accusing Harvard of discriminating against Asian-American applicants, the college issued new guidance to its admissions officers earlier this month on what personalities it is seeking in its incoming freshmen, a question at the heart of the case. The new guidelines for the Class of 2023 caution officers that character traits “not always synonymous with extroversion” should be valued, and that applicants who seem to be “particularly reflective, insightful and/or dedicated” should receive high personal ratings as well. The disclosure of the new guidelines on Thursday, the ninth day of the trial in Federal District Court here, address central concerns in the case. The group challenging Harvard’s affirmative action efforts, Students for Fair Admissions, says that the university limits the admission of Asian-American students by giving them lower personal ratings and stereotyping them as quiet and studious. Harvard has denied stereotyping or discriminating against any racial or ethnic group. The advice on personal ratings does not mention Asian-American bias. But the case has raised the question of whether elite colleges’ preference for certain character traits in applicants — such as extroversion — is culturally biased. One of the odder quirks of the trial testimony has been how often the word “effervescence” has come up. It has been hammered home that Harvard values applicants who are bubbly, not “flat,” to use another word in the Harvard admissions lexicon. Admissions documents filed in court awarded advantages to applicants for “unusually appealing personal qualities,” which could include “effervescence, charity, maturity and strength of character.” Now “reflective” could be a plus as well. The release of the new guidelines came as a surprise. A parade of admissions officers have taken the stand to say that they do not discriminate. But they have also said, in answer to a repeated line of questioning from the plaintiffs, that there are no written guidelines on how to use race in the admissions process. The new guidelines explicitly prohibit admissions reviewers from considering race or ethnicity when evaluating applicants on personal qualities — a directive that does not appear in the old guidelines. (The use of race is also forbidden when evaluating academics, extracurricular activities or athletics.) Race may only be considered, the 2023 rules say, in the “overall” rating, which is a summation and an impressionistic view of the whole applicant. But even in the overall rating, the new guidelines say, race and ethnicity may be considered only for how they contribute to the educational benefits of diversity at the college, and only as one of many factors. The existence of the new guidelines was first hinted at on Wednesday, during testimony from Tia Ray, a 2012 Harvard graduate who now works as a senior admissions officer and minority recruiter for the college. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Kat Hacker, asked what had by then become a boilerplate question. “You don’t know of any written document at Harvard that describes how race should play into the admissions process,” Ms. Hacker said. “Is that right?” “That is incorrect,” Ms. Ray replied, startling the lawyers for the plaintiffs and sending one bolting out of the courtroom. Ms. Ray had said differently in her deposition. Ms. Hacker quickly asked for a conference with the judge. Later, Ms. Ray explained that the new guidelines had been adopted very recently, after her deposition. The guidelines were filed in court on Thursday. Harvard officials said that Ms. Ray had brought up the document because she was in the middle of training admissions officers, and the guidelines were on her mind. The officials acknowledged that the issues in the trial were in the air, but said the new guidelines were part of a routine annual revision. The officials added that the guidelines were not meant to fix any lapse on Harvard’s part. Rather, the officials said, they simply put longstanding practices into writing. Anna Cowenhoven, a Harvard spokeswoman, said, “Harvard College’s admissions policies remain the same, the reading procedures are reissued annually, and 2023 procedures are this year’s version.” There has been much discussion of unconscious bias during the trial, including questions from the judge about whether “tips,” or admissions advantages, can work against some applicants even as they work in favor of others. The guidelines on assessing personal qualities also say that a top-rated student might have “enormous courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles in life,” or perhaps “a singular ability to lead or inspire those around them,” or even “extraordinary concern or compassion for others.” One thing has not changed. The lowest rating, once defined as “questionable or worrisome personal qualities,” is still the same.

2019-09-17 19:01:00

Disney has released more details (and a video!) showing off its much-hyped Guardians of the Galaxy ride. The indoor coaster, dubbed “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind,” was first announced in 2017, and the park has slowly been revealing features of the massive attraction, which will open in Epcot’s Future World in 2021 ahead of Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando’s 50th anniversary celebration. Now, Disney has shared exactly what the ride vehicles will look like and the unique way in which they’ll move. The coaster will be one of the longest enclosed coasters in the world, according to Disney Parks & Resorts Chairman Bob Chapek, but it will also maneuver along it’s track in a completely different way. Each four-seat car of the coaster will also spin 360 degrees to direct riders attention to different parts of the attraction as they pass through it. As Chapek put it, “Instead of whizzing by the action, you’ll be fully immersed in the story from the minute you launch.” The ride will also feature what Disney is calling the first “reverse launch” on one of its coasters — a moment which appears to be captured in a video that Chapek debuted at an industry conference in 2018. In the clip, the coaster appears to reach the end of a track and then the cars rotate 180 degrees. The launch itself, however, is not shown. According to the official Disney Parks Blog, the Cosmic Rewind experience begins inside the Galaxarium, “a planetarium-like exhibition that explores the similarities and mysteries of the formation of Earth’s galaxy and Xandar.” Needless to say, things go off the rails, so to speak, when the Guardians of the Galaxy turn up and “adventures across the cosmos ensue.” The ride building will also be massive. Per Chapek, the structure that houses the “storytelling coaster” could fit four Spaceship Earths inside of it. The new ride is part of a much larger overhaul of Epcot. According to the Disney blog, the park will be divided into four neighborhoods: World Showcase, where you’ll still be able to eat and rink your way across continents; World Celebration, a central corridor that includes the iconic Spaceship Earth sphere; World Nature, home to attractions themed to Finding Nemo and Moana; and World Discovery, where the Guardians will reside within the cheekily named “other-world showcase.” World Discovery will also include an expanded Mission: SPACE pavilion with a new restaurant, and PLAY! a gaming-centric attraction.

2017-06-14

WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Wednesday called for a “regulatory reset,” and delayed the effective date of a rule intended to speedily cancel the student-loan debts of borrowers defrauded by Corinthian Colleges Inc. and others, so that it can be rewritten. DeVos said the department is still granting debt relief that the students are entitled to by law as expeditiously as possible, and some borrowers should expect to obtain discharges within the next several weeks. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)