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Trump initially responded to May’s criticism of his... (Associated Press) FILE - In this May 25, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, speaks to British Prime Minister Theresa May during in a working dinner meeting at the NATO headquarters during a NATO summit... (Associated Press) LONDON (AP) — Growing calls to cancel President Donald Trump's state visit to Britain have put Queen Elizabeth II — who would host the U.S. president — in a difficult position. Khan accused Trump of promoting a "vile, extremist group that exists solely to sow division and hatred" | John Phillips/Getty Images London mayor calls for UK to cancel Trump visit after retweets Sadiq Khan called Donald Trump’s retweets of a far-right group a ‘betrayal’ of the two countries’ relationship. She said that she did not know what Britain First was when she retweeted the videos herself, but that she doesn’t “think it really matters, it’s a video.” “A video is a video is a video,” Coulter said. In this case, it was the prime minister, Theresa May, who extended the invitation to Trump on the queen's behalf just days after Trump assumed office. Trump later pushed back, telling May on Twitter “don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism.” Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable also demanded on Thursday that May not meet Trump, whom the party called an “evil racist” in a statement.

– President Trump fired back at Theresa May on Wednesday after the British prime minister condemned his decision to retweet a far-right group's anti-Muslim videos—but he started with the wrong Theresa May. "Don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!" Trump tweeted at a Twitter account belonging to a British woman named Theresa Scrivener, who has six followers and has tweeted nine times in eight years. Around 20 minutes later, he deleted the tweet and replaced it with one tagged with the British prime minister's official account, the Telegraph reports. May, who the AP describes as having "been under pressure to condemn Trump directly" while on a surprise trip to the Middle East, on Thursday called Trump's retweets "the wrong thing to do." After Trump tweeted the videos from ultranationalist group Britain First, some British lawmakers called for his state visit to be called off; Politico reports London Mayor Sadiq Khan called it "increasingly clear that any official visit at all from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed." But a May spokesman told reporters plans had not changed, saying the US "is one of our oldest and closest allies." The AP looks at the stickiness that would be involved in rescinding the invitation—the queen would have to do so—but notes one potential route: delaying the visit due to the queen's busy spring, with a new great-grandchild expected and Prince Harry's wedding scheduled. Trump's tweet was also condemned by both Democrats and Republicans, with GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch describing May as "one of the great world leaders."

Meanwhile, Samsung's jury misconduct claim is a nonstarter FORTUNE -- Apple (AAPL) lost an important ruling Monday night when a U.S. federal judge denied its request for a permanent ban on a collection of Samsung products that Apple charged -- and a jury ruled -- had willfully infringed Apple's patents. Judge Koh decided against the ban, claiming that the features Samsung had infringed upon were only "a small fraction" of the phones' features.

– A victory for Samsung in its long-running feud with Apple: A judge has refused to ban 26 of the South Korean firm's smartphones, as Apple wanted. A jury this summer found that Samsung had knowingly infringed on Apple's patents, but that's not sufficient grounds for a ban, Judge Lucy Koh says. Instead, Apple would have to prove "irreparable harm" by demonstrating that customers were choosing specific Samsung devices over the Cupertino company's own, Forbes reports. Koh also noted that just "a small fraction" of Apple's features suffered infringement, and "it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market," Reuters reports. Apple is likely to appeal the move, Forbes notes. In better news for the US firm, Koh nixed Samsung's call for a new trial over jury bias—leaving the $1.05 billion ruling in place, Mashable notes. Meanwhile, Samsung is ditching its bids for injunctions against Apple in Europe, where the European Commission in January planned an antitrust probe over Samsung patents. "We strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court," the company said in a statement to the Verge.

As much as we love Missy Elliott, the best part of Katy Perry’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, Feb. 1 was reserved for the dancing sharks that accompanied her during the melody of her hits “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream.” PHOTOS: Katy Perry's craziest style moments Though many tried to take credit for the ocean-dwelling dancers (including Snoop Dogg, who tweeted, “If you were wondering that was me in tha Shark costume! Myrick and two others left Swift’s tour for Perry’s and now there’s some “Bad Blood.” Swift referenced the incident (without directly naming Perry) in a September interview with Rolling Stone, saying, “She did something so horrible.

– Katy Perry will never forget performing at last night's 49th Super Bowl—because after her halftime show was over, she got XLIX tattooed on her finger, the Daily Mail reports. "I thought it would be appropriate to draw blood tonight," Perry captioned an Instagram picture of the tattoo artist at work on her. A follow-up picture shows the inked finger. As for the show itself, though it may have initially appeared Perry did not diss Taylor Swift as expected, the gossip media is busily attempting to disprove that: While performing "California Gurls," Perry's backup dancers wore high-waisted polka-dot bikinis, which Hollywood Life (and some Twitter users) think was a subtle reference to the very similar bikini Swift wore while on Cape Cod with Conor Kennedy in the summer of 2012. "Perry also flipped a few tutting hand signs, similar to the ones Swift playfully makes in her video for 'Shake It Off,'" Cleveland.com reports. And, during that same "California Gurls" medley, one of Perry's dancing sharks was Scott Myrick, one of the reasons Perry and Swift are feuding in the first place. Myrick was a dancer on Perry's 2011 tour, later scored a spot on a Swift tour, then quit that gig to go back to Perry, Us reports. That incident is apparently what prompted Swift's song "Bad Blood." But "a source close to the situation" tells Gossip Cop the whole idea that Perry dissed Swift is complete nonsense. Either way, Perry most definitely talked about Swift before the Super Bowl.

Young voters in Iowa favored Sanders by a margin of six to one, while older voters went overwhelmingly for Clinton—revealing a party split along generational lines. But Clinton’s margins were almost as impressive among older voters: she beat Sanders 58 percent to 35 percent among those aged 45-64, and by 69 percent to 26 percent among seniors. But Monday night’s entrance polls and other opinion surveys suggest a massive advantage for Sanders among those who do turn out — young women and men alike. Women And The Generational Divide Between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders Enlarge this image toggle caption Rob Brown/AP Rob Brown/AP Stephanie Hundley is an enthusiastic Bernie Sanders supporter. Many female Sanders supporters who spoke to NPR said they'd support Clinton as a general-election candidate (and many of her supporters say the same of Sanders). That almost exactly matched her total in the cumulative 2008 results against Obama, when gender was also somewhat muted: In that race Clinton carried 52 percent of women and 43 percent of men. Hillary Clinton, Snapchat, selfies and the road to wooing millennials Read more “Young people like Bernie because he sounds like a revolutionary,” she says. Still, Sanders’s overwhelming margins among Iowa’s younger voters—which exceeded even Obama’s 2008 showing—affirmatively answered the first critical question for the Vermont senator’s campaign: Would the connection with young voters evident at his rallies translate to the ballot box?

– Bernie Sanders didn't just defeat Hillary Clinton among the under-30 set in Iowa, he trounced her by an incredible margin of 6:1. And that holds true when looking solely at young female voters. What gives? Some related coverage: Clinton "has aggressively reached out to young women with the promise of breaking a glass ceiling that the women’s movement has worked for decades to shatter. The newest generation of feminists is responding with a shrug." The Los Angeles Times takes a deeper look, suggesting that millennials see Clinton more as "overcautious mother" than "trailblazer." Former New York Times editor Jill Abramson thinks it's because the idea of breaking the glass ceiling "doesn’t seem revolutionary to some younger women." In fact, this might be a "post-gender election." Read her piece at the Guardian. "The split has exposed a fault line around feminism in America, between women who grew up in an era when they weren't allowed to wear pants to work, for example—and young women who have never known the kind of discrimination and stereotypes their mothers faced." NPR also takes a look. The sentiment isn't unanimous. To read a passionate, all-caps rant against the Hillary backlash going on among young women—written by a young woman herself—see this post at Pajiba. "YES, I'M EMOTIONAL AND I'M YELLING." An Atlantic analysis looks beyond gender in examining the age differences of Clinton and Sanders supporters: Essentially, he got the younger ones and she got the older ones. "Democrats are facing not just a generation gap, but a Grand Canyon-sized chasm." The dividing line in this contest? Age 45, observes the Washington Post.

President Donald Trump alleged in a tweet storm early Saturday that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower before his election win in November — an accusation that a senior U.S. official told NBC News is baseless. An Obama spokesman rejected them as “simply false.” The outburst follows several days of stories raising questions about meetings between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials, particularly two previously undisclosed meetings between now Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. "This is Nixon/Watergate. "If there is something bad or sick going on, it is the willingness of the nation's chief executive to make the most outlandish and destructive claims without providing a scintilla of evidence to support them," Schiff said in a statement. Any suggestion is unequivocally false pic.twitter.com/qF04X3NUvq — Kevin Lewis (@KLewis44) March 4, 2017 “A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Lewis said. "As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen," he said. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” A senior U.S. official in a position to know told NBC News that Trump's allegations have no merit, and the president did not consult with people within the U.S. government who would know the validity of the charge before making claims on his favored communications platform. "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. This is McCarthyism!” Trump wrote as part of a series of tweets Saturday morning. Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017 Sessions is under fire for not disclosing during his confirmation hearing that he met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017 American law enforcement and intelligence agencies were known to have been examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and Trump associates, The New York Times reported in January. A FISA warrant would allow the FBI to intercept communications outside of the normal criminal process, but they would likely require the permission of a magistrate judge to extensively wiretap Trump Tower. Presidents do not have the authority to order such wiretaps and would not as a routine matter even be aware of them. There’s no magic wand in the hand of Barack Obama to order the FBI to go flip a switch and start collecting on a political opponent.” Ben Rhodes, Obama's foreign policy adviser, responded to Trump in a series of tweets, first stating that "No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you." Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told MSBNC this week that he believes the FBI is in possession of transcripts that might detail communication between top Trump campaign members and Russian officials. He later told NBC News that there are three possibilities for what occurred: "It’s all a misunderstanding, the Obama administration went way out of line or some judge somewhere said there’s something to the idea of the Trump Russia ties," Graham said. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said during a Clemson town hall meeting Saturday morning that it would be the biggest political scandal since Watergate if it’s true that Obama either wiretapped Trump’s phones, illegally — or was able to obtain a warrant to lawfully monitor Trump’s campaign activity with foreign governments. He said that if the alleged wiretap Trump was referring to was without authorization of the FISA court, “the President should explain what sort of wiretap it was and how he knows this.” "We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust, and the President’s allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots," Sasse said in a statement. "A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild civic trust and health." The tweet blasts began at 6:26 a.m. from the Winter White House at Mar-a-Lago in Florida when Trump raised the Sessions issue by noting the first meeting between the senator from Alabama and the Russian ambassador was set up by the Obama administration as part of an education program. Then: "Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wire tapping' a race for president prior to an election? Ryan responded by saying: "I don't think that's the case." https://t.co/G5v8q2Fm5k — Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) March 4, 2017 Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top-ranked Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, slammed Trump for offering no evidence to support "this spectacularly reckless allegation." — Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 4, 2017 Sessions recused himself from any Trump-Russia investigation after the Justice Department acknowledged he spoke twice with the Russian ambassador last year and failed to disclose the contacts during his Senate confirmation process. On Friday, he said he would submit amended testimony and respond to senators' questions over his contacts with Russia's ambassador. He lashed out at Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Friday, tweeting a picture of Schumer meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2003. Sessions faces calls for his resignation over the issue but Trump has backed his attorney general, saying he did nothing wrong. We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017 Trump's Saturday morning tweets come less than a day after radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh accused Obama of executing a "silent coup" to unseat Trump and render him "effectively immaterial" as president, using “the pretext of Russian interference in the election to justify wiretaps."

– A spokesperson for Barack Obama says President Trump's accusations about Obama wiretapping Trump Tower are "simply false," NBC News reports. "Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen," Kevin Lewis says. The Obama camp wasn't the only one denying the veracity of Trump's claim, which came in a flurry of tweets Saturday morning and was presented without evidence. A senior US official says Trump didn't speak to anyone in the government who would have knowledge of a wiretap. And a former deputy national security adviser says presidents don't have the power to order wiretaps on citizens. Nancy Pelosi responded to Trump's tweets by calling him the "deflector-in-chief" and demanding an independent investigation into his alleged Russia connections, USA Today reports. According to CBS News, Howard Dean pointed out that if Trump Tower was actually wiretapped, it means a judge found probable cause of Trump being involved in something criminal. And Paul Ryan says he doesn't believe the Obama administration was conducting surveillance on Trump. But Lindsey Graham said he was concerned about the accusations and promised "to get to the bottom of this" during a town hall meeting Saturday. In recent days, right-wing media has started accusing Obama of leading a "silent coup" to take down Trump.

U.S. officials believe he went beyond just being an inspiring spiritual leader to become involved in operational planning for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemen branch is called. The branch, led by a Yemeni militant named Nasser al-Wahishi, plotted several failed attacks on U.S. soil _ the botched Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up an American airliner heading to Detroit and a foiled 2010 attempt to main explosives to Chicago. Friday’s operation was the first time the agency had carried out a deadly strike from a new base in the region. A high-ranking Yemeni security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Awlaki was killed while traveling between Marib and Jawf Provinces in northern Yemen — areas known for having a Qaeda presence and where there is very little central government control. There had been an intense debate among lawyers in the months before the Obama administration decided to put Mr. Awlaki on a target list in early 2010, and officials said that Mr. Khan was never on the list. Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was believed to be key in turning al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen into what American officials have called the most significant and immediate threat to the Untied States. Al-Awlaki has said he didn't tell Hasan to carry out the shootings, but he later praised Hasan as a "hero" on his Web site for killing American soldiers who would be heading for Afghanistan or Iraq to fight Muslims. In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired" by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The elite counterterrorism unit was not deployed until August, because of fears of civil war in the capital. Eventually, the unit regained control of the city of Zinjibar, but the counterterrorism officer, who took part in the fight, said the militant forces appeared to have expanded during Yemen’s crisis, with recruits from Somalia and several Arab countries. A senior U.S. official said American intelligence supports the claim that he had been killed.

– American-born al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed by an airstrike in eastern Yemen, according to Yemeni and US officials. The radical preacher, a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been a most-wanted terror suspect for years. He is the biggest target to go down since Osama bin Laden. Tribal elders in the area say an airstrike, apparently from a US drone, hit an al-Qaeda convoy, the AP reports. Previous reports of Awlaki's death have turned out to be mistaken, but the New York Times quotes senior administration officials as confirming. Awlaki's online lectures have been connected to several terror attacks in the US and across the world, including the Fort Hood shooting, the would-be underwear bomber, and the would-be Times Square bomber of last year. He also had the distinction of being the first American placed on the CIA's "kill or capture" list. But a US official says his influence went beyond propaganda. “First and foremost, we’ve been looking at his important operational role,” the official tells the Times. “To the extent he’s no longer playing that role is all to the good.”

The man roared his way through an interview on Revolution Radio yesterday, where he made a surprise announcement: He’s planning to run against President Obama in 2012.

– It's on. Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too Damn High fame says he's running for president in 2012, reports Ben Smith at Politico (who says he normally avoids fringe candidates but couldn't resist this one). "Tell Obama I'm coming after his black ass," the former New York gubernatorial candidate told Revolution Radio. McMillan also pointed out a key difference between him and the president: "He plays basketball, I teach karate," notes Mediaite, which provides audio from the interview. (It's in the gallery.)

(Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters) Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee will formally switch his party registration Thursday, abandoning his status as an independent and joining the Democratic Party, the governor’s office told POLITICO. Chafee quietly informed President Barack Obama of his intention to affiliate as a Democrat after reaching that decision in private, Chafee spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger said. “I’m delighted to hear that Governor Chafee is joining the Democratic Party,” Obama said in a statement distributed by the Democratic National Committee. In an encouraging sign for Chafee, the White House publicly embraced him as a soon-to-be-minted Democrat on Wednesday, issuing a statement from Obama praising Chafee as “an independent thinker and leader” who hasn’t been constrained by party labels. I enjoyed working with Linc when he was a Republican in the United States Senate, and I look forward to continuing that collaboration on the issues that matter not just to the Democratic Party, but to every American.” DGA Chairman Peter Shumlin of Vermont welcomed Chafee, but said the DGA plans to support whichever candidate wins the Democratic nomination.

– It looks like Democrats will be adding another governor to their ranks. Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee plans to switch to the party before he launches his bid for re-election in 2014, reports Politico. Chafee used to be a Republican senator, but he won the governor's seat in 2010 as an independent. The governor's office hasn't confirmed the news yet, but the Washington Post also has it, and considers the switch good news for Democrats. For one thing, it means an independent Chafee won't be splitting the vote with a Democrat and potentially opening the way to a GOP win in a mostly Democratic state, writes Sean Sullivan. It doesn't mean, however, that victory will be a slam dunk for Chafee, who has lackluster approval ratings. In fact, he might end up being an underdog in his new party's primary, which the Providence Journal says will include Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and state treasurer Gina Raimondo.

(The Washington Post) NEW YORK — HBO host John Oliver hammered Dustin Hoffman about allegations of sexual harassment and the actor fired back with a ferocious defense, as a seemingly benign screening became an explosive conversation about Hollywood sexual misconduct on Monday night. “This is something we’re going to have to talk about because … it’s hanging in the air,” Oliver said to Hoffman at the discussion, an anniversary screening of the film “Wag the Dog.” He was alluding to an allegation made by Anna Graham Hunter last month that Hoffman groped her and made inappropriate comments when she was a 17-year-old intern on the set of the 1985 TV movie “Death of a Salesman.” “It’s hanging in the air?” Hoffman said. “From a few things you’ve read, you’ve made an incredible assumption about me,” he noted, adding sarcastically, “You’ve made the case better than anyone else can. I’m guilty.” The “Last Week Tonight” personality was moderating a 20th-anniversary screening panel at the 92nd Street Y on behalf of the Tribeca Institute, with stars Hoffman, Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal and director Barry Levinson on the stage. “And if you try to defend it, you’re guilty.” Oliver granted, “I see where you’re coming from,” but insisted, “it’s a little more complicated than that.” Several times, he expressed anxiety over ruining the audience’s night and the experience of watching the film again. “It is reflective of who you were. If you’ve given no evidence to show it didn’t [happen] then there was a period of time for a while when you were a creeper around women. It feels like a cop-out to say ‘It wasn’t me.’ Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?” Hoffman accused Oliver of “putting me on display” and said he felt blindsided because neither Oliver nor Tribeca organizers had told him that the moderator would raise the subject. But you and I are not the victims here.” When Oliver quoted from an account Hoffman’s accuser wrote, the actor asked Oliver, incredulous, “Do you believe this stuff you’re reading?” Oliver said he did “because she would have no reason to lie.” As this went on, the other panelists largely stayed mum. “Because there’s no point in [an accuser] lying.” “Well, there’s a point in her not bringing it up for 40 years,” Hoffman said. “It doesn’t feel self-reflective in the way it seems the incident demands,” Oliver explained, adding, “I get no pleasure from this conversation. How are we moving [the issue] forward?” Oliver, though, said he felt it was imperative to talk about it. “[But] there’s an elephant in the room because, this particular incident, a conversation has not been had.” He noted that the film they were gathering to discuss, “Wag The Dog,” dealt with sexual misconduct by a powerful man. Rosenthal fired back, “It wasn’t produced by Weinstein Co. or Miramax, so you don’t have a really big conversation. Let’s look at real sexual criminal predators.” After about 15 minutes, Hoffman appeared to have persuaded some in the crowd, but he voluntarily returned to the topic and re-engaged with Oliver. (Erin Patrick O'Connor,Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post) The conversation grew increasingly angry as it wore on. “I would not have made that movie if I didn’t have an incredible respect for women,” Hoffman said. “It’s shocking to me that you don’t see me more clearly.” Here’s the exchange: “Move on!” one person shouted. Let it go,” one woman could be heard shouting to Oliver. She was soon drowned out by other people, one of whom said “Shame on you.” Another yelled to Oliver, “Thank you for believing women,” to loud cheers. And yet, “I can’t leave certain things unaddressed,” Oliver conceded. “That leads to me at home later tonight hating myself, asking, ‘Why the f–k didn’t I say something? '” Hoffman asked Levinson, “Am I the powerful man?” Levinson said, “I wasn’t sure what the reference was, which powerful men.” Hoffman then offered examples of the empathy he had always tried to show for characters and colleagues during his 50-year career. “Does that feel like enough to you?” Hoffman replied, “First of all, it didn’t happen, the way she reported.” He said his apology over the incident, offered, he said, at the insistence of his reps, was widely misconstrued “at the click of a button.” But the Last Week Tonight host seized on the portion of the actor’s public apology, in which Hoffman said the events that happened on set didn’t reflect who he is as a person.

– As far as Dustin Hoffman is concerned, allegations about him sexually harassing a teen assistant on a movie set in the mid-'80s are a whole lot of nothing—but John Oliver made it into something Monday night. Oliver, host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, was moderating a 20th-anniversary screening of Hoffman's movie Wag the Dog in New York City. The panel—which included those two, plus director Barry Levinson, producer Jane Rosenthal, and Robert De Niro—stuck to what Deadline labels "typical Q&A material" and industry talk for the first half of the 45-minute discussion. But then Oliver noted the sexual misconduct claims were "something we're going to have to talk about because ... it's hanging in the air," per the Washington Post. To which a "defiant" Hoffman replied, "It's hanging in the air? From a few things you've read, you've made an incredible assumption about me." "You weren't there," Hoffman continued, to which Oliver replied: "I'm glad." The back-and-forth, which more or less took over the rest of the talk, became "increasingly angry," with Hoffman insisting he didn't recall even meeting his accuser, saying he felt ambushed by both Oliver and event organizers, and pointing to his movie Tootsie as evidence of his "incredible respect for women." "There's no point in [an accuser] lying," Oliver told Hoffman, who answered, "Well, there's a point in her not bringing it up for 40 years." Oliver said that broaching the subject wasn't pleasant for him, but that it was necessary. Audience reaction was mixed, with some chastising Oliver, though one spectator yelled: "Thank you for believing women!" BuzzFeed notes post-panel reaction on the internet leaned mostly Team Oliver, though some say he shouldn't have blindsided Hoffman at this type of event.

In 1964, when the Supreme Court held that the Civil Rights Act’s bar on racial discrimination applied even to a small, family-owned barbecue restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, the court rested its ruling on Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce, rather than on the Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection.” As Justice Tom Clark announced the opinion from the bench, Justice Arthur Goldberg scribbled a note to Justice William O. Douglas criticizing the court’s reluctance to base its decision on equality: “It sounds like hamburgers are more important than human rights.” Today’s two Supreme Court decisions on marriage equality might be similarly described. Rather, the court held that it didn’t have the authority to rule on the merits of Olson and Boies’s challenge to California’s ban because the initiative’s backers, who were defending the law on appeal when California’s lawmakers refused to do so, lacked authority to represent the state’s interests. In suing over “marriage” itself one is demanding that God change His definition of the union between a man and a woman.

– The Supreme Court's gay marriage rulings have pretty much everyone talking and typing. Many liberals are overjoyed, but others urge caution, while conservatives look for silver linings. Here's what people are saying: "This may be remembered as the day when the nation stopped regarding gay people as second class citizens," writes Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post, but there's still much more to be done. The Prop 8 ruling "leaves things basically the way they stood before—not after—the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling that struck down laws against interracial marriage." Adam Winkler at the Daily Beast complains that "to hear the reasoning of the court, it sounds like procedure is more important than people." Even the comparatively bold DOMA decision leans on process and states' "traditional authority," which "may have sent a signal to lower courts that limiting marriage to one man and one woman remains constitutionally permissible." Winkler also points out that the court rejected the Obama administration's arguments that laws discriminating against LGBTQ people should be subject to more rigorous judicial review, on par with race or gender. "The court’s refusal may be read by lower courts to mean that LGBT discrimination may still be constitutional, especially when it’s consistent with tradition rather than contrary to it." "This happened the right way—from the ground up, with argument, with lawsuits, with cultural change, with individual courage," writes Andrew Sullivan at The Dish. "So to those who are often tempted to write off America's ability to perfect its union still further … let me just say: I believe." June Thomas at Slate feels like she just won an Oscar. "As the decision was announced, I finally allowed myself to experience a feeling a belonging," she writes. "Perhaps the world really is changing." Meanwhile over at the conservative blog RedState, Dana Loesch looks on the bright side, arguing that this is "a loss for big government, not for marriage." After all, power was just removed from the federal government and returned to the states. "If big government is needed to define marriage then the people who make up the church" have failed to "live and evangelize their faith." For more conservative reactions, click here.

Prosecutors said the violation was because of "a drug-related offense."

– Redmond O'Neal has been busted again on drug charges. The son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal was taken into custody on Dec. 29 on a felony drug charge—the second violation of his probation for a 2008 drug arrest. O'Neal was ordered to go to an in-custody drug-treatment center in Pasadena for 30 days, Access Hollywood reports. O'Neal had been on a 24-hour pass from a residential treatment center, reports the LA Times. "When he came back, he told the program counselors that he had used drugs," said an LA County sheriff's spokesman. He then tested positive for unspecified drugs.

Although it cannot be seen in this photograph, this person was buried wearing... (Associated Press) The teen _ dubbed "The Boy with the Amber Necklace" because he was unearthed with a cluster of amber beads around his neck _ is one of several sets of foreign remains found around the ancient ring of imposing stones, whose exact purpose remains unknown. "The find adds considerable weight to the idea that people traveled long distances to visit Stonehenge, which must therefore have had a big reputation as a cult center," Timothy Darvill, professor of archeology at Bournemouth University, told The Associated Press . "Long distance travel was certainly more common at this time than we generally think." Stones in different parts of Europe also contain different ratios of isotopes of the element strontium.These two substances build up in children's teeth and remain there throughout adulthood, providing clues as to where the person grew up.One thing they share is that both seem to have borne some kind of illness. It isn't clear precisely what drew these people to Stonehenge, a site which has existed in various forms for some 5,000 years.

– Religious site? Healing temple? Whatever Stonehenge was used for, it was quite the tourist hot spot. Isotopic tests performed on a recently discovered skeleton—dubbed "The Boy with the Amber Necklace" because of the beads tied round his neck—found that he traveled from the north coast of the Mediterranean to get there. And scientists say his hundreds-of-miles journey gives credence to the belief that Stonehenge was a top tourist attraction in prehistoric times. Other skeletons have been traced to Brittany and the Alps, the latter of which was found buried with gold and copper items—a sign that foreign visitors were wealthy. The bejeweled skeleton belonged to a teen who died near age 14 or 15, potentially bolstering the belief that sick travelers came to Stonehenge in hopes of being healed, and were buried there if that didn't work out, reports the AP. Click here for more.

A wedding ring and a new dishwasher led to the sudden death of a Volusia County man on Thursday evening. Most watched: 4-year-old boy gets to implode 19-story Atlanta hotel Police said Ferguson was leaning on the dishwasher's metal door and his wedding ring touched an element in the back of the dishwasher that caused his electrocution. Ferguson's family was getting dinner ready as he assisted them with the new appliance about 7 p.m. "It was noticed that Mr. Ferguson was on his knees leaning against the dishwasher with his left arm extended behind the dishwasher and was not moving nor had he moved in a few minutes," officials said. The family said Ferguson was turning red and was not responsive, so they grabbed him and began CPR, police said.

– A good deed for his in-laws has ended in tragedy for a south Florida man. Jason Ferguson, 33, was installing a new dishwasher at his brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house Thursday when he was electrocuted, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Family members, who were sitting down to eat around 7pm, found him on his knees and leaning against the dishwasher's metal door. Ferguson was "turning red" and unresponsive, but his left hand was still behind the dishwasher, WKMG reports. Ferguson's family laid him on the ground to begin CPR, then called police, reports My Fox Orlando. Police and then EMTs took over, before he was taken to the hospital, adds WESH, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival. A sobering detail: Ferguson's wedding ring apparently touched something behind or in the dishwasher, causing the electrocution, police tell the Sentinel. Ferguson's family believe it was a copper wire, WKMG adds. (Other freak accidents lately include this construction worker, and this bowling alley employee.)

Tesla has unveiled a suite of new energy products, including a wall-mounted battery that will be sold for use in consumers' homes. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the Tesla Powerwall unit in an event late Thursday in California that was live streamed online. Musk also revealed a bigger version of the battery pack for use in energy storage for utilities, which are scrambling to meet renewable energy requirements throughout the U.S. That system is called the Tesla Energy. Speculation over the new product line has been building since Jeff Evanson, Tesla's investor relations director, sent a letter to investors and analysts saying the electric car company would soon announce a "home battery" and a "very large utility scale battery." "The issue with existing batteries is that they suck," said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. They're really horrible," he said. But Musk made it clear that he believes solar energy stored in home batteries offers a feasible and desirable alternative to fossil fuels. "Frankly, though, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can," he added. "That's the future we need to have," Musk said. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom.

– The guy who's diligently working on a plan to transport humans to Mars has also been toiling on a project that makes use of the sun. That project, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery made by Tesla called Powerwall, is designed to be installed in homes and store solar energy to be used at night or during power outages, CNNMoney reports. And that guy who announced it last night in a live-streamed unveiling in California is Elon Musk, the ambitious Tesla CEO who hopes this energy alternative will reduce our need for fossil fuels, the Detroit Free Press reports. "The issue with existing batteries is that they suck," he said, per the newspaper. "They're really horrible." Not the Powerwall, according to Musk, which is scheduled to start shipping sometime this summer, the AP reports. The 220-pound wall-mounted battery charges "using electricity generated from solar panels, or when utility rates are low," the Powerwall site explains. But there's a cost to get there: The batteries go for $3,000 or $3,500, depending on its juice capacity, plus installation. "The value proposition now is around reliability and backup power more than it is around savings, but over time that may change," says an analyst with GTM Research. Indeed, Musk's brother Kimbal, one of Tesla's board members, told CNNMoney earlier in the week that the battery would cut electricity bills by 25%. As the AP explains, as more utilities permit power prices to fluctuate throughout the day based on market conditions, Powerwall software will let customers use their own home-generated power—and not costly grid power—when grid prices are highest.

— Matty Tyler (@TylerMattyJames) January 12, 2015 Thank God I was already sitting down when I heard about Cadbury's Cream Eggs. Under a new recipe, the shell of the United Kingdom version of the eggs is now made with a "standard, traditional Cadbury milk chocolate," Stephanie Minna Cass, a spokesperson for Mondelez International told USA TODAY Network. It is similar, but not exactly Dairy Milk,” said a spokesman for Cadbury, which was bought by the US giant Kraft in 2010 and is now owned by Mondelez, with a flippancy almost as hard to stomach as this new, Frankenstein’s monster of an egg is bound to be. Story highlights Fans of Cadbury Creme Eggs are upset about a recipe change Cadbury Creme Eggs appear on shelves from January until Easter American food giant Kraft acquired British-based Cadbury in 2010 (CNN) The makers of Cadbury Creme Eggs are walking on eggshells with fans of the beloved Easter treat after a recent tweak in the recipe. Without the Dairy Milk shell – and I say this without having tried the new product, obviously – we are left with nothing less than an abomination. Fans took to Twitter to express their outrage over a recipe changes in Cadbury Creme Eggs in the U.K. (Photo: Paul Vathis, Associated Press) New changes to Cadbury Creme Eggs are proving to be anything but sweet for fans of the chocolaty treat. "The fundamentals of the Cadbury Crème Egg remain exactly the same -- delicious milk chocolate and the unique creme centre that consumers love." Oh and bring back the dairy milk shell.

– It's early January, but people in the UK are apparently already munching on a lot of Cadbury Creme Eggs—and many of them aren't happy about some changes inside the foil. The Easter treats used to be made with the Dairy Milk brand of milk chocolate, but the maker admits they're now made with "a standard, traditional Cadbury milk chocolate" instead, CNN reports. Chocolate lovers have taken to social media to voice their outrage at both the recipe change and the company's decision to cut the number of eggs in each pack from six to five, which it says is the result of "changes in economic factors," reports USA Today. "The Creme Egg had never been called Cadbury's Dairy Milk Creme Egg. We have never played on the fact that Dairy Milk was used," a company spokesman tells the Guardian, which notes that while the recipe change won't affect the American version, the US Creme Egg is already a "wretched creature" of 1.2 ounces, compared to 1.4 ounces in Britain. The Cadbury recipe changes follow a blow to British national pride in 2010, when Kraft bought the chocolate maker in a $19 billion deal; Cadbury has since 2012 been handled by Mondelez.

Story highlights PR executive no longer works for IAC Corporate communications head was on 12-hour flight when tweet went viral Justine Sacco's Twitter account was deleted Saturday IAC says, "There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made" The "tweet heard round the world" was followed by the sound of a slamming door Saturday. And as for the rest of us, I hope we take the suggestion of several good souls on Twitter — if you are (rightfully) offended by what she said, channel your rage into donating to an AIDS charity. Just kidding. I'm white!" The tweet Sacco sent before she left Friday for Cape Town, South Africa, went viral and created a social media firestorm. Sacco was the head of corporate communications for IAC, the media company chaired by Barry Diller that operates websites such as The Daily Beast, About.com, CollegeHumor and Match.com. "It seems she has left a trail of casual racism across social media on her various travels," Chris Taylor, a writer for Mashable, opined Still, Taylor wrote, "it was hard to ignore a disturbing feeling in the mob's response" to the Twitter messages "and something creepy in the trial by social media that was going on in her absence." But that didn't stop IAC from issuing a preemptive press statement: “This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC,” the company said. “Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an international flight, but this is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.” "Ms. Sacco," added The Times' Ashley Southall, "could not be reached for comment." Parody accounts started to appear on Twitter and Facebook that portrayed Sacco as a mean, bitter person. All of those messages disappeared, though, early on Saturday, when someone -- presumably Sacco -- deleted her Twitter account. Some good does seem to have come out of the incident, at least.

– A PR exec who became an instant Internet villain yesterday appears to have lost her job following fury over an AIDS-related tweet. Media firm IAC says it has "parted ways" with Justine Sacco, CNN reports. She won't be tweeting again anytime soon, either—at least not from the @JustineSacco account, which has been deleted. If you missed the fuss yesterday, Sacco tweeted the following from Heathrow Airport just before getting on a long flight to South Africa for a vacation: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" Sacco works as head of communications for IAC, which only seemed to amplify the outrage that immediately ensued. In fact, much of it played out while Sacco was incommunicado during the flight, notes Boing Boing, which calls it the "tweet heard round the world." Even before she landed, her employer issued a statement: "This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC." The company noted that "we hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core," the New York Times reports. Reaction has ranged disbelief at the line (see the HasJustineLandedYet hashtag, of course) to disbelief over how vitriolic the "mob response" has been. On that note, the Times notes that it appears someone tracked down Sacco at the Cape Town airport and took photos.

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2018, file photo, former Massey CEO and West Virginia Republican Senatorial candidate, Don Blankenship, speaks during a town hall to kick off his campaign in Logan, W.Va. Blankenship... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2018, file photo, former Massey CEO and West Virginia Republican Senatorial candidate, Don Blankenship, speaks during a town hall to kick off his campaign in Logan, W.Va. Blankenship... (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is urging West Virginia voters to reject a former federal convict and coal baron running in the Republican Senate primary, arguing that Don Blankenship would lose the general election. Some Republicans involved in the race said they were hoping the White House would intervene ahead of the Tuesday primary, though it remains unclear whether it will do so. Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. “A vote for Blankenship is a vote to advance liberal positions, higher taxes and abortion on demand,” the voice-over says. An outside group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Mountain Families PAC, has spent $1.3 million on a TV ad campaign targeting the former prisoner. Senior Republicans say they are also distressed that Jenkins and Morrisey spent nearly all of the campaign savaging each other.

– President Trump is urging West Virginia voters to reject a former federal convict and coal baron running in the Republican Senate primary, arguing that Don Blankenship would lose the general election. Trump tweeted on Monday: "To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can't win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!" Politico on Sunday wondered if the White House would get involved after speaking to four GOPers who said 11th-hour polls suggest Blankenship could be moving ahead of Republican challengers Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Blankenship responded to Trump's tweet by writing that Trump doesn't know him and "the establishment is misinforming him because they do not want me to be in the US Senate and promote the president's agenda." He added: "Tomorrow, West Virginia will send the swamp a message—no one, and I mean no one, will tell us how to vote. As some have said, I am Trumpier than Trump and this morning proves it." Per the AP, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Monday on Fox and Friends that the motivation behind the president's tweet is to "find the very best person" in West Virginia to challenge incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat. The primary is Tuesday. (Blankenship served a year in prison.)

Following a BuzzFeed News investigation into Uber's internal customer service system — which led to Uber's revelation that the company received five claims of rape, and 170 claims of sexual assault directly related to an Uber ride as inbound tickets to its customer service database between December 2012 and August 2015 — Uber responded shortly after publication with the following message, which we are publishing in full. In one screenshot, a search query for "sexual assault" returns 6,160 Uber customer support tickets. Though the company said it could not immediately provide internal statistics for the numbers of rape and sexual assault complaints on its platform, a 24-hour review by Uber's legal, safety, and data teams concluded that the rape ticket counts obtained by BuzzFeed News are "significantly overstated." (It's worth noting these are incidents in its customer service system, not an accounting of all incidents. You asked about screenshots in your possession (and since published) showing that if a customer service representative types “rape” or “sexual assault” into our database, they will see more than 5,800 results (i.e. These officials suggested that the thousands of tickets matching that search query may have been caused by "reports from riders who were making claims about sexual assault on other transport services, discussions about sexual assaults in the news, and reports about passengers who got into cars that were not Uber vehicles and were then sexually assaulted." Uber officials told BuzzFeed News that, in the instance of reported rape or assault, CSRs are told to reach out to the person who reported the claim and to escalate to law enforcement as appropriate. Company officials also noted that Uber temporarily deactivates the driver partner or rider during the investigation and that Uber's technology sends riders the license plate, make, and color of the car, and the driver's photo and name. An Uber spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, "we are deeply committed to providing a ride people can trust, and our technology allows us to focus on safety before, during, and after every trip. This is on top of a robust system of background checks.

– Between December 2012 and August 2015, Uber received five claims of rape and fewer than 170 claims of sexual assault stemming from an Uber ride, according to data the company provided to BuzzFeed. Those numbers differ greatly from those reflected in screenshots from Uber's Zendesk customer support platform that were obtained by BuzzFeed. Those images, which BuzzFeed says were provided by a former Uber customer service rep and confirmed by other parties, show 6,160 results for a search for "sexual assault" and 5,827 results for "rape." In a response to the BuzzFeed piece, Uber calls those search results "highly misleading," saying, for instance, riders may misspell "rate" or use the term "rape" out of context. Also, any word with the letters R-A-P-E in consecutive order will return a result for the search term "rape" (e.g., the name "Don Draper"). To that, BuzzFeed says the screenshots it obtained show nine complaint tickets with the subject "rape" that do not appear to be misspellings, names, or email addresses. As for "sexual assault," Uber tells BuzzFeed the high-volume query results on the obtained screenshots could be the result of riders making claims of assault on other transport services and discussions about sexual assaults in the news, among other things. In response to allegations of sexual assault, Uber tells BuzzFeed that its customer service reps are told to follow up with the person making the claim, and then report it to law enforcement if appropriate. The driver is temporarily deactivated during the investigation. If the investigation is inconclusive, the driver gets a warning and goes back to work. After two inconclusive investigations, a driver is permanently deactivated. While the data provided by Uber doesn't jibe with the screenshots, BuzzFeed notes, "The sheer quantity of these tickets makes it difficult to tell which ones are exaggerations or attempts at false escalations and which are legitimate and urgent requests."

Federal police... (Associated Press) Residents of Mochitlan haul supplies up a hill on the outskirts of Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Mexico was hit by the one-two punch of twin storms over the... (Associated Press) Marisela, 24, holds her newly-born daughter Paola Jazmin, in a shelter for residents affected by Tropical Storm Manuel, south of Acapulco, in Punta Diamante, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Hide Caption 11 of 35 35 photos: Storms slam Mexico Hurricane Manuel hits Mexico – An aerial view shows the extent of a landslide that wiped out part of La Pintada. Federal police... (Associated Press) Residents from the village La Pintada rest inside the Acapulco Convention Center after their town was affected by flooding, in Acapulco, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. With roads blocked by landslides, rockslides,... (Associated Press) A car lays buried in mud after flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Manuel as residents try to clean up their neighborhood in Chilpancingo, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Manuel was a Category 1 hurricane hugging Mexico's coast early... (Associated Press) A man uses a makeshift zip line to cross a river after a bridge collapsed under the force of the rains caused by Tropical Storm Manuel near the town of Petaquillas, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013.... (Associated Press) People stand on the edge of a collapsed bridge as they wait to ferry their goods via a boat across the Papagayos River, south of Acapulco, near Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013.... (Associated Press) Residents of Mochitlan, carry supplies up a hill, as others come down to get supplies, on the outskirts of Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday Sept. 18, 2013. After Tropical Storm Manuel destroyed bridges... (Associated Press) People stand on the edge of a collapsed bridge, background, as they wait to ferry their goods via a boat across the Papagayos River, south of Acapulco, near Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept.... (Associated Press) A family rests in a shelter as they wait to be ferried out by air, south of Acapulco, in Punta Diamante, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. "Right now we are facing a truly extraordinary condition," President Enrique Peña Nieto said, noting that the extent of the heavy rains over such a large part of the country had reached "historic" proportions. With roads blocked by landslides, rockslides,... (Associated Press) Residents of Mochitlan, haul supplies up a hill on the outskirts of Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Mexican officials said that more than 15,237 people had been flown out of the city on more than 100 flights by Thursday evening, out of the 40,000 to 60,000 tourists estimated to be stranded in the city. Tropical Storm Manuel, the same... (Associated Press) This image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Manuel taken at 3:45 a.m. EDT Thursday Sept. 19, 2013. Residents there sent photos to CNN showing streets that looked like rivers, with the tops of cars sticking out of the floodwaters. More than 1 million residents across Mexico have been affected in some way by the storms, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told reporters.

– At least 97 people have been confirmed dead in the wake of the tropical storm double-whammy that hit Mexico this week, Mexican authorities announced today—and that's not counting the many still missing. In the small town of La Pintada, for instance, 68 of the town's 800 residents are missing after a massive landslide Monday, the AP reports. "Half the homes in town were smothered and buried," one woman says. Several entire families were wiped out in the disaster. Tropical Storm Manuel is believed to have caused almost $400 million in damage, Voice of America reports. Thousands of tourists have been evacuated from Acapulco. CNN meanwhile visited the hard-hit town of Renacimiento, and found that cleanup crews had only just begun to arrive yesterday. "The government ignores us," complained one resident who watched flood waters wash away his kitchen. "They help everyone else, but they've forgotten about Renacimiento."

Today we learn her killer has died #spookytiming #RIPkitty A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Apr 4, 2016 at 3:54pm PDT Sunday's episode of Girls was titled "Hello Kitty" but creator and star Lena Dunham did not predict this coincidence would ever happen.Season five's seventh episode was named after Kitty Genovese, the woman who was stalked, raped and killed by in New York in 1964 by Winston Moseley . Winston Moseley died on March 28 at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, state prisons spokesman Thomas Mailey said. He had been cruising around for more than an hour on March 13, 1964, when, around 3:15 a.m., he encountered Catherine Genovese, known as Kitty, the manager of a bar in Hollis, Queens, as she was driving home after work. Her killing caused an outcry after reports that neighbors saw the attack and heard her screams but did not try to help her. He entered prison on July 7, 1964, and was one of the state's longest-serving inmates with 52 years.In November, Moseley was denied parole for the 18th time. ___ This story has been corrected to show the name of the facility is the Clinton Correctional Facility, not the Clinton Correction Facility.

– Winston Moseley has died in prison, 52 years after he was sentenced to death for a New York City murder that shocked the nation. In 1964, Moseley raped and murdered 28-year-old bar manager Kitty Genovese while neighbors ignored her cries, the New York Times reports. He had spotted his victim while driving around late at night and followed her to her building in Queens. Accounts that 38 people witnessed the murder and not a single person called police turned out to be exaggerated, but the killing prompted national soul-searching and many studies on the "bystander effect." It also led to Good Samaritan laws and hastened the adoption of the unified 911 system for reporting emergencies, the AP reports. In the Genovese murder, Moseley stalked his victim before stabbing her at least a dozen times. He left the scene after hearing a neighbor's shout but returned to resume the attack. After his arrest, he confessed to two more murders and eight rapes. He was sentenced to the electric chair in 1964, but the sentence was cut to life imprisonment in 1967. The following year, Moseley raped a woman and took five hostages during a prison breakout. In later years, he earned a college degree and said he wanted to make amends for his crimes, but he was still denied parole 18 times, most recently in 2015. People reports that Sunday's episode of Girls was based on the Genovese murder, which creator Lena Dunham calls the "weirdest coincidence."

Prince William and Kate Middleton have decided that they would like donations to be made to various charities in lieu of wedding gifts.According to RadarOnline.com , the royal couple have hand-picked 24 charities for people to donate to, instead of getting a wedding registry.

– Perhaps when you heard that Prince William won’t sport a wedding ring after he finally ties the knot with Kate Middleton, you thought it was some sort of royal tradition. Nope, turns out the prince just doesn’t like jewelry, the Daily Mail reports. “It is simply down to personal preference,” says an aide. “It was something the couple discussed but Prince William isn't one for jewelry—he doesn't even wear a signet ring—and decided he didn't want to.” And Kate’s fine with that, the aide says. Another source adds, “It is quite common for men in that strata of society not to wear a traditional wedding band. If they do, they tend to wear it with their family signet ring but William doesn't have one of those.” Most male royals do wear some type of wedding band, including Wills’ dad. The only other exception noted by the Daily Mail is the Duke of Edinburgh. For more royal wedding gossip, click to find out where the couple is “registered”—or check out rumors involving Queen Elizabeth and Snoop Dogg.

REUTERS/Tim Wimborne/File Photo SYDNEY (Reuters) - An American tourist has died in the Australian outback while hiking though sweltering conditions on the Larapinta Trail, renowned for its ancient Aboriginal sacred sites, police said on Thursday. Police said the man and a companion had climbed Mount Sonder, which is the fourth-highest peak in the Northern Territory, and were on the descent when they separated. The man, from California, had taken a wrong turn on descent, a police officer told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "[Mount Sonder] is about 1,300 metres tall and the actual walk that they undertook was about 16 kilometres there and back," Supt Rob Burgoyne said. “His partner made it back to the Redbank Gorge carpark and raised the alarm,” Northern Territory Duty Superintendent Rob Burgoyne told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “Unfortunately the 33-year-old didn’t arrive and his body was eventually located about 400 meters down the track where he’d turned the wrong way.” Police do not believe the death to be suspicious, although heat and exposure were likely contributing factors, police superintendent for the southern desert, Jody Nobbs, said a press conference in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. "It was about three hours from when he was last seen and when his body was found." Temperatures reached 42C The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed Alice Springs reached a top of 42 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, which Duty Superintendent Burgoyne said would have made trekking conditions difficult. "We are closely monitoring local authorities' investigation into the cause of death," an embassy spokesperson said. Police said the US consulate had been notified and a report would be prepared for a coroner.

– A US tourist has died while hiking in what police call "a beautiful but harsh environment" in Central Australia. The 33-year-old California man and a 40-year-old companion were descending Mount Sonder on a 10-mile hike Wednesday when they became separated. A Northern Territory police superintendent tells ABC Australia the American did "a very foolish thing" and "ran away from his companion." The 40-year-old returned to a parking lot, but the American did not. Three hours after he was last seen, the Californian—who police say had taken a wrong turn—was found dead a quarter to a half a mile from the car park, report Reuters and the BBC. It's not yet clear how he died—a fall or snake bite are possibilities—but authorities say heat and exposure were likely contributing factors. It was about 108 degrees in the area as the men were hiking a section of the Larapinta Trail described by a Parks and Wildlife Service rep as a "very exposed mountain walk." Though police say the California man did have some water, the rep tells ABC Australia "it's almost physically impossible to put back the fluids that you're going to lose as quickly as you're losing them." That means "people become dehydrated very rapidly before ... realizing that it's even happening," which is why long walks in such heat are discouraged. He points out visitors from the Northern Hemisphere are used to temperatures "much cooler than what they're encountering here." The US Embassy says it's "aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the Northern Territory" but has provided no additional information. (California can be deadly for hikers, too.)

Yet both of Mr. Trump’s most recent predecessors followed diplomatic conventions and worked within the institutions established after World War II to foster communication and cooperation among nations. “I said a long time ago that Nato had problems,” he said.

– President Trump's at-times awkward meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel was summed up as one that "could have been a lot worse" by German daily Bild, reports the New York Times, but Trump's comments on NATO are gathering some steam. During a joint news conference Friday, Trump thanked Merkel for working to move Germany toward paying 2% of its GDP to NATO (Germany currently pays 1.2%; only five of 28 member countries meet the 2% target). But on Saturday, he was more forceful on Twitter: "Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel," he tweeted. "Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!" Which immediately prompted many to point out that the White House shouldn't hold its breath waiting for a check that decidedly won't be in the mail. Former permanent rep to NATO Ivo Daalder responded, "Sorry, Mr President, that’s not how Nato works. The US decides for itself how much it contributes to defending Nato. This is not a financial transaction, where Nato countries pay the US to defend them. It is part of our treaty commitment." Explains the Guardian in quoting Daalder, "ultimately, members’ contributions are based on each nation’s capability. Therefore, Nato member nations do not 'owe' or have to compensate any other country."

Burger King Japan has been offering two hamburgers topped with apple slices in lieu of tomatoes and coated with cinnamon mayonnaise. The burger is called the BK Ringo ("ringo" means "apple" in Japanese) or the NY Whopper (a bigger, Whopperized version), and it made a previous appearance in Japanese Burger Kings back in 2012. According to Rocket News blogger Casey Baseel, the apple effect is, surprisingly, pretty good: The BK Ringo comes with a unique cinnamon infused mayonnaise, and a pretty generous portion at that. The cinnamon smells great, and the scent mixes with the meat and produces an almost Middle Eastern effect. It doesn’t impart as much sweetness as you’d expect, though. Baseel wrote, "There's a short burst of cinnamon flavor that comes just before you wrap your mouth around the sandwich, but once you bite in, the initial flavors on the tongue is mayonnaise, followed by the juicy meat and slight char." MORE: Burger King beefs up Big King, tops Big Mac Blogger Casey Baseel wrote in Rocker News 24 that the BK Ringo tastes like a "firm apple pie." The burgers are the BK Ringo (ringo means apple) with cinnamon mayonnaise and the NY Whopper with bacon.

– USA Today picks up on an odd food story out of Japan, where the burgers at Burger King tend to taste like apple pie. The reason? The new BK Ringo and the NY Whopper ditch tomatoes for slices of grilled apple. It also helps that the mayo is infused with cinnamon, notes food blogger Casey Baseel at Rocket News 24. And he's a fan of the combination, which "produces an almost Middle Eastern effect," he writes in what may be the most earnest fast-food review ever. "There's a short burst of cinnamon flavor that comes just before you wrap your mouth around the sandwich, but once you bite in, the initial [flavor] on the tongue is mayonnaise, followed by the juicy meat and slight char." No word on whether the chain plans to bring the concoction to the US, but Doug Barry at Jezebel notes that fast-food tomatoes are generally "sad, tasteless little testaments of humanity's defiance of the seasons," so why not? Of course, more people might be more interested in Baseel's observation that BKs in Japan also offer beer and cocktails.

President Barack Obama’s new head of Customs and Border Protection, Kerlikowske could have used a week of quiet as he began to figure out the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, with its 46,000 gun-carrying Customs officers and Border Patrol agents and massive $12.4 billion annual budget. Kerlikowske had already known that the Border Patrol was troubled, of course: It had taken 1,870 days into the Obama administration before he even became the first Senate-confirmed commissioner of the Obama era, and he was well aware he didn’t have much time to right an agency that was beset by corruption problems and excessive force complaints, the unfortunate legacies of a massive hiring surge that had doubled the force’s size in just a few years after 9/11. Will Congress start force-feeding Border Patrol again? But the Border Patrol has also become one of the nation’s deadliest law enforcement agencies over that same period, involved in more fatal shootings—at least 46—since 2004 than perhaps any other such agency. The result? The biggest threat to Border Patrol's turnaround right now is Congress. And Bonner knew that if he were going to succeed as CBP commissioner, he had to make an important decision quickly. Congress had to authorize the funding increases leading to all these hiring surges, but it was happy to do so. “No one had ever asked the question: What resources did you need to control the border?” Bonner recalls. As Ridge told me, “There was clearly a need for more bodies—what the magic number was, I don’t know.” As DHS secretary, he had initially laughed off the idea of dramatically growing the Border Patrol, labeling such dreams “fool’s gold.” “It’s nice to say you’re going to have 10,000 more Border Patrol agents in five years, but what other part of Homeland Security do you want to take the money from?” he had told one interviewer. Then, he realized Congress didn’t view it as an either/or; members would appropriate money for everything. As Ridge remembers it, “People just wanted to give me unlimited amounts of money.” The Border Patrol would get all those 10,000 agents—and a lot more. A bigger Border Patrol is a more corrupt Border Patrol According to Graff, Michael Chertoff, who became Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in 2005, came in with the goal of doubling the size of Border Patrol in two years. Eventually a “compromise” pace of doubling in four years was settled on, but even that seemed disconcertingly rapid, boosting the agency’s budget by billions of dollars a year. The head of CBP who oversaw the hiring surge told Graff: "I was very concerned when I was asked to grow the Border Patrol over that period of time...Normally, you'd want a chance to make a careful plan. You want to choose very carefully people who are put into a tough environment like that we had on the southwest border.” But Congress and the Bush administration prized speed and quantity over quality. “Their view was, ‘We’re going to field a small army and make up for decades of neglect by previous administrations.’ Almost any body in the field was better than no body,” explains one DHS official. - Shawn Moran, vice president, National Border Patrol Counsel New hires would then be asked to complete a 58-day paid basic academy training at the Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, N.M. “Training includes such topics as immigration and nationality laws, physical training and marksmanship,” the listing continues. “Out in the field, there was a culture to keep things to themselves. But border security was always a back-burner issue for Obama and his team until this year’s crisis of Central American kids at the border. CBP officials, just coming off the huge hiring surge that had doubled the size of the Border Patrol and increased Customs officers by thousands, had grave concerns about the people that they had hired. “So this is a step in that direction, but they will still be subject to the same budgetary cuts. The problem was that no one at CBP received what’s known as “1811 authority.” When DHS was set up, ICE was given exclusive “1811 authority” to conduct investigations in the border region; CBP was only given so-called “1801 authority,” a lesser classification that allowed Border Patrol agents and Customs officers to make arrests and enforce federal law—but not investigate. But the members of Tomsheck’s internal affairs unit were “1801s.” Lacking that “1811 authority,” CBP officials had to rely on DHS to investigate their own agency’s problems—assuming DHS had time, manpower or money to do so. So if Border Patrol's going to fix its problems, it needs to make sure new hires start getting properly vetted and trained. But it didn't lead to a change in the rules around use of force — which had been written for an era when a Border Patrol agent was on his own. “They might have to adjust their standards for hiring and there’s some evidence in recent years that there’s more complaints about border agents and more reviews of potential corruption, so a cost of rapidly expanding could be a lower-quality Border Patrol.” Nowrasteh said he expects to see little impact along the border with the new hires once in place. That caused a concern.” As use-of-force questions began to surface in 2010 and 2011, Congress pressured the agency to review its procedures, resulting in the Border Patrol asking the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington law enforcement think tank, to study its policies. Since the hiring surge started, the Border Patrol has never publicly disclosed disciplining an agent involved in a shooting. In September, for example, an internal investigation led to a Border Patrol agent actually being charged for assaulting a 14-year-old boy in immigration detention — a big step forward for a force that has barely disciplined misbehaving agents for the past several years. “The flow of illegal immigrants into the United States is more determined by our economic growth rates and job market opportunities for immigrants than it is by security or the number of Border Patrol agents,” he said. “If this is just an attrition class, with a few hundred or even a few thousand new agents, we’ll just get back to the 21,370 [agents] we’re authorized for. “I was anxious to get back to operations.” Yet it still took 14 months until Kerlikowske, who was officially nominated in August 2013 and confirmed in March 2014, took the job. Border Patrol is trying to hire a new wave of 1,600 agents in the next year — not to beef up its strength on the border, but just to fill in normal hiring needs and replace agents who've left.

– The US Border Patrol has ballooned into a massive agency where employee misconduct is reportedly rampant, but figuring out who to blame—or how to fix it—is no easy job, Politico reports via Vox. Driven by security fears after 9/11, federal officials threw billions of dollars at Border Patrol and expanded its workforce from about 9,200 to 46,000 agents, some of whom, officials admit, were hired a little too quickly. "From an integrity issue, you can’t grow a law enforcement agency that quickly," says Robert Bonner, the first head of the newly minted Customs and Border Protection in 2003. Before President Obama took office, CBP had agents (some reportedly cartel members) accused of smuggling drugs or letting in illegals, while 2,170 employees were arrested on various charges between 2005 and 2012—nearly one per day. Under Obama, a bureaucratic turf war developed as the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees CBP) apparently rebuffed FBI attempts to prosecute border agents. Homeland Security didn't empower CBP with its own fully functioning internal affairs office, so allegations ranging from DUIs to officer shootings went ignored. "Not a single Border Patrol agent for the last eight years has been disciplined for excessive use of force," says a retired CBP official. "With a workforce that large, that's amazing." So Gil Kerlikowske, CBP's first Senate-confirmed leader in five years, has a lot on his plate—including an extra $225 million to hire 2,000 more officers. "They’re pretty good at expanding rapidly and finding applicants to take these jobs," an analyst tells Fox News, but "a cost of rapidly expanding could be a lower-quality Border Patrol."

Lindsay Lohan -- See The New Mug Shot But the Lohan patriarch, who is Los Angeles attempting to visit his jailed daughter Lindsay, has admitted that he and Kate, a former magazine reporter, had a disagreement — and we can reveal the cause of the bust-up was two of Tiger Woods’ mistresses. But Michael told RadarOnline.com: “There can’t be any photos because nothing like that happened.” PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Arrives At Lynwood Correctional Facility Major exclusively released the following statement to RadarOnline.com, “The reason I am NOT speaking is because the truth will come out. “I just found out she drained one of our bank accounts without telling me.” And when asked if the wedding, scheduled for the end of this year in New York is still on, Michael responded: “I see no reason why the wedding wouldn’t still be on.” EXCLUSIVE VIDEO & PHOTOS: Lindsay Emerges From Hiding – To Shop Kate’s pals, however, say she’s terrified of Michael.

– The Delusional Quote of the Day comes to us from a source “very close” to Lindsay Lohan, who tells PopEater LiLo will be spending her time in jail writing music…and the resulting album “will definitely get nominated for a Grammy.” For more on her inevitable musical comeback, click here. More from the world o' Lohans: Some inmates are “pissy” about Lindsay’s “special treatment,” one recently released woman tells the New York Daily News. There are rumors, denied by the prison, of her own TV and dresser, special food, a private phone, and her own guard. “Tears were shed” when mom Dina and sister Ali recently visited her, a source tells Radar. Also on the list of people permitted to visit Lindsay: Samantha Ronson. Not on the list: Her dad. Speaking of that wacky Michael Lohan, his fiancée—Jon Gosselin ex Kate Major—accuses him of pushing her to the ground and kicking her in the face, TMZ reports. She has since filed a restraining order, Radar adds. Michael Lohan of course denies the whole thing, going so far as to tell Radar, “I see no reason why the wedding wouldn’t still be on.” He also, bizarrely, blames the whole fight on two of Tiger Woods’ mistresses.

It has been several years since the last time we did this.

– When McAllen, Texas, found itself with an abandoned Walmart on its hands, it didn't just bring in another store: It used the building to create a new library. And that library just so happens to be the largest single-story library in the country—and the winner of the International Interior Design Association's 2012 Library Interior Design Competition. PSFK has a number of pictures of the exceptional space, which includes a striking entrance, cheerful orange highlights, hip ceiling elements, and a special lounge for teens. The McAllen Public Library now clocks in at 124,500 square feet, or about 2½ football fields, and has seen new-user registration increase 23% in the first month after opening. "In a city like McAllen, with cartel violence across the river"—the town is on the Mexico border—"I think it's amazing that the city is devoting resources to a) not only saving a large and conspicuous piece of property from decline and vandalism, but b) diverting those resources into youth and the public trust," a McAllen native tells the Los Angeles Times. "It's easy to fall into drugs, drinking, and violence when you live on the border. It's not really easy to find a place to hang out when you're 14 that's not the mall, the movies, or Mexico."

Please enable Javascript to watch this video SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Police released new information Tuesday morning about the murder of 15-year-old girl whose body was found Monday. Baleigh arrived home, 1624 W. 500 North, from West High School just after 3 p.m. Monday and, responsible as always, called her mother to check in. "While she was on the phone with her mother, she was brutally attacked while inside of her home. He said Bagshaw was on the phone with her mother who heard screaming and immediately called a neighbor. The neighbor checked on the house and called police who took the call at approximately 3:08 p.m. Monday. At a press conference Wednesday, Brandon Shearer with the Salt Lake City Police Department said he French, 24, is the suspect in the killing of Baleigh Bagshaw. Shearer called it a "very violent attack," but police have not yet said how she died or if any weapons were involved. Police did not release any information about what Baleigh may have told her mother while on the phone or whether her mother heard anything that could identify the attacker. Police continued a nationwide search Tuesday for Shaun French, 24, whom they are calling a person of interest. Shearer declined to say how long or how recently French had lived there, but noted he was not living there at the time of Baleigh's death. Because French had a warrant for unlawful sexual contact with a minor when he was found, police can bring him to Utah more quickly, but Shearer said it still is a matter of a legal process in the court system. Formal charges have not yet been filed for the homicide and French remains in police custody in Colorado on charges for three felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Shaun French, 24, may be driving a 1991 Daihatsu Rocky, that is camouflage in color with Wyoming listing 19-13974. It is not yet known how French was found, only that he was taken into custody Wednesday.

– Baleigh Bagshaw, 15, had just gotten home from school on Monday and called her mom to check in. Then, the unthinkable: "While she was on the phone with her mother, she was brutally attacked while inside of her home. Her mother heard the attack going on and then the phone went dead," a Salt Lake City police sergeant tells Deseret News. Bagshaw's mother heard screaming and called a neighbor, who went to the house and called police. Police found the teen dead at the house, Fox 13 reports. After a manhunt, suspect Shaun French was taken into custody Wednesday in Colorado, KUTV reports. Police say he was "lying in wait" for the teen. French, 24, once lived in the same house as Bagshaw and her family, but did not live there when Bagshaw was murdered. Police say he and the teen had a consensual but illegal relationship, but it's not clear how long the relationship lasted or when French lived in the house. An arrest warrant charging him with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor was issued Tuesday; he has not yet been charged in Bagshaw's death. Police have not said how Bagshaw was killed or if weapons were involved, simply saying she died in a "very violent attack." Says the police sergeant, "I can't even guess what the mother would be going through right now. Our hearts and thoughts are with her." A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the family.

A Florida man apparently fatally shot his wife in their home while her 10-year-old daughter was upstairs — and then posted on his Facebook page Thursday a grisly photo of her contorted body, along with a bizarre confession. (Derek Medina via Facebook) The shocking post on his Facebook page claimed his wife, 26-year-old Jennifer Alfonso, was beating him. Police went to the couple’s home — a beige townhouse in South Miami — and found Alfonso’s body. There was a 10-year-old girl at the home, authorities said, but she was not hurt. The picture, which CBS4 and CBSMiami.com have chosen not to show, shows a woman identified in the post as Jennifer Alfonso, bent over backwards at the knees with her head in the corner of what appears to be a kitchen. In a Facebook post that was as tragic as Medina’s post was shocking, Alfonso updated her page Wednesday with a photo of her kissing Medina, the New Times reported. The Facebook page also had an alleged confession from Medina on the site that read as follows: “I’m going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys miss you guys take care Facebook people you will see me in the news” my wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did I hope you understand me.” The statement on Medina’s Facebook page came roughly at the same time as the photo of the body was published. After he left his family, he drove to the South Miami Police station and reportedly told a desk operator that he had just murdered his wife. Medina had just changed his profile picture on the social networking site to a picture of himself, a woman, and a young girl some 15 hours before the final post allegedly of Alfonso’s body. “They were married for three years, and then they got divorced, and they got remarried last year,” Medina Sr. said. According to marriage records, Medina and Alfonso had been married since April 2012.

– Unreal: A South Miami man reportedly posted a photo of his dead wife on Facebook—just after taking her life, CBS Miami reports. Derek Medina, 31, posted the photo of wife Jennifer Alfonso bent over backward in the kitchen of a townhouse with blood on her arm and face. "I’m going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys miss you guys take care Facebook people you will see me in the news," reads a separate post on Medina's page. "My wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did I hope you understand me," the post adds. About 15 hours before, Medina had changed his profile photo to show himself, a young girl, and a woman. A 10-year-old girl was at home during Alfonso's death but wasn't injured. Afterward, Medina went to police and confessed to shooting his wife, saying it all started with a domestic dispute. See more pics, including a blurred version of the death photo, at the Daily News. (Incredibly, Medina has written a self-help book on marriage.)

Every year, stores like Best Buy, Target and Walmart offer stunning deals on high-priced items like televisions and phones, as well as markdowns on other products that could make good gifts for the holidays. "I buy clothes and shoes in the stores,'' says Carlitos Ramirez, 32, a mechanic who lives in Port Washington, N.Y. "At Amazon, I buy car parts.” But Black Friday still has its fans. Buzz60 Black Friday doesn't have the shopping power it once had, a new analysis says (Photo: Andres Kudacki, AP) When it comes to holiday shopping sprees, Black Friday is no longer the prime event.

– Black Friday is here, and 2017's version looks like it might be the strongest one in recent years, reports Business Insider. Generally speaking, crowds are looking larger, perhaps thanks to metrics such as low unemployment and a rising stock market. "The turnout is clearly better than the last couple of years," says an analyst at Customer Growth Partners. Still, the frenzied madness of the day itself appears to be on the wane, as stores spread out sales to "Super Saturday" and, of course, online. During Thanksgiving week, 35% of holiday shoppers planned to get most of their shopping done on Black Friday, down from 59% in 2015, reports USA Today, citing a survey from PwC. Best online deals: Kinja is among the sites rounding up the best online deals for Black Friday, including Amazon tablets: the Fire 7 is $30, the Fire HD 8 is $50, and the Fire HD 10 is $100. Brick-and-mortar deals: Fortune has a guide to some of the best deals at the likes of Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Target, for instance, is selling the Xbox One S 500GB for $189.99, a discount of $90. Thrillist looks specifically at Walmart. TVs: The New York Times thinks the best deals awaiting customers might be on high-end TV sets that typically run $2,000 or more. Discounts of 15% to 30% can save big money, and the Times has a guide on what to look for here.

Customs and Border Protection, which has the largest U.S. drone fleet of its kind outside the Defense Department, flew nearly 700 such surveillance missions on behalf of other agencies from 2010 to 2012, according to flight logs released recently in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil-liberties group. Customs & Border Protection recently “discovered” additional daily flight logs that show the agency has flown its drones on behalf of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies on 200 more occasions more than previously released records indicated. In every case, the name of the government agency borrowing the drones was blacked out, but CBP officials separately provided overall totals of how often various agencies used its drones. This sensor, also known as Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar, was initially developed for use in the Afghanistan War and can detect the presence of people from as high as 25,000 feet. CBP states in its PIA that it stores data unassociated with a particular investigation for no more than 30 days, but much, if not most of this data will be associated with an investigation and may therefore be stored indefinitely—even if it includes footage of property, vehicles and people unassociated with the investigation.

– Domestic law enforcement agencies have flown a lot more drone missions than they let on, according to newly uncovered data. Customs and Border Patrol lent out drones from its fleet for almost 700 surveillance missions from 2010 to 2012, the agency has revealed, in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Originally, CBP had that number at around 500, but with a major court hearing pending, the agency said it "discovered that it did not release all entries" from its reports. The missions were flown on behalf of the DEA, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and local law enforcement. CBP refused to identify specific local agencies, nor would it say much about the nature of the missions, or why its earlier figure was so far off. The former acting head of the agency tells the Washington Post that as one of the few agencies with access to the robots, they were swamped with requests. But he says they were granted only in pressing situations. "There was a sensitivity attached to this."

Patti Hart — the Yahoo director in charge of the search that resulted in the hiring of Scott Thompson as its CEO, making her directly responsible for a clearly botched vetting of his academic record — will not stand for re-election to the board at the next annual meeting, according to sources close to the situation. Apparently, said sources, her own board asked her to remove herself from the Yahoo mess to better focus on the company she actually runs. “We have all been working very hard to move the company forward, and this has had the opposite effect.” Dana Lengkeek, spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, declined to comment. That will be officially announced later today, along with the hiring of an outside law firm to conduct the probe, which will be headed by independent director Fred Amoroso. “The special committee and the entire Board appreciate the urgency of the situation and the special committee will therefore conduct the review in an independent, thorough and expeditious manner,” a statement from Yahoo said. The biography for Thompson, who joined Yahoo from EBay Inc. (EBAY) in January, listed a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Stonehill College, a credential that wasn’t offered until four years after he graduated, Third Point CEO Daniel Loeb said. Third Point, which is trying to win seats on Yahoo’s board and has said the company is mismanaged, last week highlighted errors in Thompson’s resume and demanded that he be fired. Yahoo’s board said last week that it would review the matter and “make an appropriate disclosure to shareholders.” The company had earlier called the discrepancy an “inadvertent error” and said it “in no way alters that fact that Mr. Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies.” Thompson’s Apology Thompson, in a memo to staff yesterday, apologized for the fallout from the disclosures and said he takes “full responsibility.” He said he’s cooperating with the review. “Yahoo shareholders and employees will be best served if the board accepts responsibility quickly for this latest debacle,” Third Point said in a letter.

– Yahoo’s board is investigating the mess surrounding CEO Scott Thompson’s inflated résumé, and is hiring a law firm to oversee the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports. After shareholder Third Point LLC discovered Thompson has only an accounting degree, rather than a degree in computer science and accounting as his bio stated, the investor set yesterday as the deadline for Thompson’s ouster. When that deadline passed with Thompson's head still intact, Third Point demanded Yahoo allow it access to documents related to Thompson’s recruitment and vetting, the BBC reports. The committee investigating the matter will attempt to determine whether anyone at Yahoo knew about the errors in Thompson’s bio. While the same incorrect information was also available on his PayPal bio, regulatory filings by eBay and other companies where Thompson sat on the board did not include the misinformation and referenced only his accounting degree. Third Point also alleges that director Patti Hart (who was instrumental in getting Thompson hired) misrepresented her degree, and it called for her to resign from the board. She said today that she wouldn't stand for re-election at Yahoo's next annual meeting, notes the AllThingsD blog. Thompson, meanwhile, apologized to employees in a memo yesterday, taking “full responsibility” but not revealing how the error occurred, Bloomberg reports.

/ Updated By Alex Johnson and Tom Winter The late Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno knew about sexual abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky as early as 1976, according to an assertion in a Philadelphia court order made public Thursday. But in the new order, dated Wednesday, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary S. Glazer wrote in passing that the insurance company, Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association Insurance, had claimed that "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky." The claim emerged in a dispute over who should pay Penn State's share of about $60 million in settlements with 26 men who say Sandusky abused them when they were children — the university or its insurance company. Paterno died in 2012 at age 85 and his family has steadfastly maintained his innocence. "Over the past four-and-a-half years Joe Paterno's conduct has been scrutinized by an endless list of investigators and attorneys," the Paterno family's attorney, Wick Sollers, said in a statement. PennLive reached out to Steven Engelmyer, the lead attorney for Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association Insurance Co., which is arguing in the current case in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas that it has no duty to reimburse Penn State for more than $60 million in Sandusky-related civil settlements that the university has paid to date. Odds are this victim will not make his identity known or ever talk about his claim about Paterno. Fourth, it’s unclear what circumstances would have led to a child directly telling Paterno about sexual abuse or other inappropriate conduct. Gene J. Puskar / AP Glazer was careful to note that the claims are allegations, not proven facts, and that "since this is obviously not a criminal matter, this court is not governed by the higher standards of proof required in criminal prosecutions." "There is no evidence that reports of these incidents ever went further up the chain of command at PSU," Judge Gary Glazer wrote, in determining that because Penn State's executive officers - its president and trustees - weren't aware of the allegations, he would not bar claims from that time frame from insurance coverage.

– One line in a court order has revealed what PennLive calls a "bombshell" in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary S. Glazer wrote than an insurer—involved in a dispute over whether it should cover the $60 million in settlements Penn State has paid to 26 men who said they were abused by Sandusky, per NBC News—claims that "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he [the child] was sexually molested by Sandusky." The detail comes from a deposition, ostensibly with that victim, taken as part of the insurance case. If the allegation about Paterno is true, it would mean he knew about Sandusky's crimes 22 years earlier than stated in special investigator reports, which alleged that Paterno knew in 1998. Before his death, Paterno said he became aware of allegations in 2001. "An allegation now about an alleged event 40 years ago, as represented by a single line in a court document regarding an insurance issue, with no corroborating evidence, does not change the facts. Joe Paterno did not, at any time, cover up conduct by Jerry Sandusky," the Paterno family's lawyer says. Sports Illustrated outlines four reasons why "it will likely never be known if the allegation against Paterno is true, false or somewhere in between."

Cain: Trump Is GOP Front-Runner Because He's a Leader and a Fighter Cruz: Obama, Hillary Won't Even Try to Defeat ISIS Donald Trump joined “Fox and Friends” this morning to explain how he would stand up to ISIS as president. “When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families,” he continued. When they say they don’t care about their lives, you have to take out their families.” Trump’s comments came a day after the Lebanese government released Saja al-Dulaimi, the former wife of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as part of a prisoner swap with an al-Qaida affiliate. “And it’s not going to kill us at all.” Had Trump been president, he wouldn’t have gone to this week’s Paris climate change conference at all, he told Brian Kilmeade.

– Donald Trump said earlier this year that he doesn't want to tip his hand on how he would defeat ISIS, but he offered a bit of a glimpse into his anti-terrorism strategy on Wednesday. "I would knock the hell out of ISIS, I would hit them … so hard," the GOP front-runner declared on Fox & Friends, per Yahoo Politics. "When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. When they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families." He also took aim at what he calls a "very politically correct war" we're fighting, per NBC News. And when asked about civilian casualties, Trump added "one of the reasons we're so ineffective [is the terrorists are] … using [civilians] as shields. It's a horrible thing," the Hill notes. Trump, who just jumped even more to the front of the GOP pack, next laid into President Obama for what Trump believes are misplaced priorities in fighting the militant group, per Fox News Insider. "All he’s worried about is climate change," Trump continued, referring to the Paris environmental summit Obama is attending. "He thinks climate change is something that's going to go kill us. And it's not going to kill us at all." In fact, Trump added, he wouldn't have even gone to the conference if he were president. "I would have maybe sent a vice president," he noted. "But that might be too high a position." (He didn't charge Fox millions for these insights, did he?)

Mats Järlström in Beaverton, Oregon was fined $500 by speaking about engineering issues without a license, according to the board of engineer examiners, when he studied the calculations used to determine the length of the yellow light cycle after his wife received a ticket based on a red light camera. The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying responded with this dystopian message: "ORS 672.020(1) prohibits the practice of engineering in Oregon without registration … at a minimum, your use of the title 'electronics engineer' and the statement 'I'm an engineer' … create violations." Järlström identified himself as an engineer in emails he sent to city officials and the Washington County sheriff challenging the timing of Oregon's yellow traffic lights. They also say Järlström isn't alone in getting snared by the state engineering board's aggressive enforcement of its interpretation of the word. In 2014, he sued the City of Beaverton over the length of its yellow light lengths, but that case was quickly thrown out because a judge said he lacked standing to challenge it because "for purposes of standing, Plaintiff must allege that the short yellow-light intervals create a credible threat of imminent injury to him." After his wife got a ticket based on a red light camera in Beaverton, Oregon, Mats Järlström, a Swedish-born electronics engineer, studied the calculations used to determine the length of the yellow light cycle. It's a constitutional right," said Samuel Gedge of the Institute for Justice, a conservative public interest law firm representing Järlström.

– After electronics engineer Mats Järlström publicly challenged the mathematical formula used by the traffic cameras in his town of Beaverton, Ore., he was slapped with a $500 ticket for practicing engineering without a license. Now he’s suing the Oregon State Board of Examiners for squashing his First Amendment right to discuss public safety issues, reports NBC News. The story began in 2013 when Järlström’s wife received a $260 ticket for running a red light, Oregon Live reported in 2014. He studied the light cycles at various intersections caught by traffic cameras and claimed that the formulas were outdated; he believes the yellow light cycle is too short for turning lanes. He attended more than a dozen city council meetings, did interviews with local television stations, and even wrote to the state’s board of engineer examiners. That’s where his trouble started, reports Motherboard, because he included the words, “I am an engineer” in his email. State law says that engineers must be licensed by the state to practice engineering, which includes speaking on the topic. The automated traffic cameras in Beaverton resulted in 25,000 tickets between 2001 and 2014, many of which the 56-year-old Järlström believes are unwarranted. But for Järlström, who paid the board's $500 fine (his wife's original $260 fine was also paid), the matter is now more personal. "It's important in my mind we can share ideas freely in Oregon to promote innovation,'' he says, per Oregon Live. "I feel violated at this point in time.'' And his work is far from done: He's also working on an article on the subject he hopes to publish in an academic journal.

That similarity of software “adds another indicator that those responsible for the as-yet unconfirmed breach at Home Depot also were involved in the December 2013 attack on Target that exposed 40 million customer debit and credit card accounts,” Krebs wrote on his web site. Update as of 2:27 PM, September 11, 2014 Even though BlackPOS ver2 has an entirely different code compared to the BlackPOS which compromised Target, it duplicates the data exfiltration technique used by the Target BlackPOS. It will open device t: on 10.44.2.153 drive D. In one the biggest data breach we’ve seen in 2013, the cybercriminals behind it, offloaded the gathered data to a compromised server first while a different malware running on the compromised server uploaded it to the FTP.

– Home Depot admitted today that hackers really did breach the company's payment systems in US and Canadian stores and may have been breaking in since April, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Atlanta-based home-improvement chain said it investigated the hack with banks, law enforcement, and tech security companies like Symantec. The company promised that no customers would end up paying "fraudulent" charges, but it didn't say how many accounts were hacked or how long the hackers had access to the system, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports. Krebs on Security, which broke both the hack and the probe results, reports that the same hackers who got their hands on 40 million Target customer accounts last year may have struck Home Depot. They used a variation of the same software, BlackPOS (or "Kaptoxa"), which was invented by a Russian teenager two years ago. What's more, Home Depot customer card numbers have already shown up on the black-market cybercrime website Rescator.cc, where millions of cards from the Target hack were sold. Designed to breach point-of-sale systems that use Windows, BlackPOS can disguise itself as part of the system's antivirus software, reports Trend Micro.

Maybe we can figure out how to get a barbecue up here.” A few minutes earlier, Schwab spoke at a news conference attended by about 35 supporters to provide an update on his appeal to regain custody of five of his six children, who in 2015 were removed from his custody by the Kansas Department for Children and Families. In what has become a public battle against DCF, Schwab, a military veteran, contends his children were removed by authorities and placed in foster care because of his use of medical marijuana to treat chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. Schwab and his wife, Amelia, lost custody of five of their six children last April as they were preparing to move from Kansas to Colorado, where medical marijuana is legal. Schwab, 40, said Wednesday that after lunching with supporters, he would return to his makeshift shelter at the top of the Statehouse’s north steps. 2:13 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog DCF spokeswoman Theresa Freed declined to comment specifically about the Schwab case but said marijuana use is generally not reason enough for the state to keep children in foster care. “The first thing to point out is a lot of people assume that when we say that the case is unsubstantiated it means abuse didn’t occur and that is not the case,” Theresa Freed said about the investigation result categories DCF uses. Schwab earlier had said he would continue his hunger strike until either his children were returned; a “higher authority,” such as the federal government, intervened; or someone filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf. The Schwabs say their family is being also being subjected to this procedure because of their use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. “If I agree with what’s happening (Wednesday), after the press release, the hunger strike will be officially over,” Schwab said. A “Fools No More” rally in support of Schwab and relaxing cannabis laws in Kansas will be held at 11 a.m. Friday on the Statehouse’s south steps.

– Raymond Schwab, a Gulf War veteran and father of six, has ended his 17-day hunger strike on the steps of the Kansas Statehouse now that an LA-based attorney is filing a lawsuit on his behalf. Schwab, who says he uses medical marijuana to manage chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, lost custody of five of his six children last April, when the state placed them in foster care under allegations of emotional abuse, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal. (His other child is an adult and can thus remain in the home.) "Now I can eat!" exclaimed Schwab in front of 35 supporters on Wednesday, adding that he hopes the lawsuit will result in an injunction against the state and ultimately return his children to his custody. The Kansas Department for Children and Families said Wednesday that the lawsuit had not yet been filed, and it notes it's expediting the review of a "fairly thick file" on the case; Schwab says he lost custody because of his pot use, but the DCF says it can't disclose details. While documents from the department do show that claims of emotional abuse were unsubstantiated, its public relations director tells KSN that this doesn't mean abuse didn't occur, and it also doesn't mean that the children will be automatically returned. NBC News reports that Schwab and his wife, who were in the process of moving to Colorado (where medical marijuana is legal) when their children were removed from their home, have only seen their children three times since April. (A student held a hunger strike last year in neighboring Missouri.)

“I could quit my job, do whatever I wanted to do, pay off my student loans.” Unfortunately, none of that panned out. The mishap started when a TD Ameritrade financial consultant in the Boston area left a voicemail for Fleming informing her that “a deposit” had been made into an account she has with the company. The 26-year-old opened the company's app on her cellphone and was surprised to find $1.1 million instead of the $50 that she had left a few months ago. As it turned out, he explained to her, the money was meant to go into the account of an Ellen Fleming who lived in Florida, but something got “mixed up” along the way, Fleming said. “Please make sure that in my obituary, I am referred to as ‘One-time millionaire, Ellen Fleming,’ ” she wrote.

– For a few brief but glorious minutes, a Boston woman was a millionaire. Ellen Fleming says she received a voicemail from a TD Ameritrade financial consultant Wednesday afternoon that a deposit had been made into her account. The 26-year-old opened the company's app on her cellphone and was surprised to find $1.1 million instead of the $50 that she had left a few months ago, per the AP. Fleming tells the Boston Globe that she immediately thought about how nice it would be to pay off her student loans and quit her job. Instead, she called the consultant back and informed them of the mix-up. Fleming says the money was meant for a woman with the same name who lives in Florida. “You need to take every opportunity that’s handed to you,” she tells the Globe. “But that seemed like an opportunity that could lead me to federal prison, so it didn’t seem worth it.” In a tweet, she asks that in her obituary she is referred to as a "one-time millionaire."

On logging into www.malaysiaairlines.com on Monday morning, users were presented with an image of a Malaysia Airlines Airbus and messages that read "404 -- Plane Not Found" and "Hacked by Lizard Squad -- Official Cyber Caliphate." The browser tab for the website said "ISIS will prevail." The Malaysia Airlines homepage later changed to a black background featuring a mocked-up image of a lizard in a top hat complete with monocle. Lizard Squad, however, tweeted that it was "going to dump some loot found on malaysiaairlines.com servers soon," and posted a link to a screenshot of what appeared to be a passenger flight booking from the airline's internal email system. Story highlights Malaysia Airlines website taken down by group calling themselves Cyber Caliphate But the airline claims its systems were intact and users were instead redirected to hackers' site Hong Kong (CNN) The official Malaysia Airlines website has been hacked by a group claiming to support Islamist terror group, ISIS.

– A hacker group that's claimed responsibility for PlayStation and Xbox network outages in recent months has hit a new target. Hackers claiming to be from "cyber caliphate" Lizard Squad took over Malaysia Airlines' website for at least seven hours today, replacing the homepage with an image of a lizard in a tuxedo and the message "404 - Plane Not Found," the Guardian and the AP report. (The site is currently back up and running.) The words "Hacked by Lizard Squad -- Official Cyber Caliphate" were also visible. At one point, the browser tab read "ISIS will prevail," CNN reports. Users were directed to the Twitter page for @lizardmafia, where a posted tweet read, "Going to dump some loot found on malaysiaairlines.com servers soon." In a Facebook post, Malaysia Airlines said its domain name system was hacked rather than its internal servers, which hold passenger data. The "glitch" redirected visitors to the hackers' site, the airline said, noting the issue was reported to CyberSecurity Malaysia and the Ministry of Transport. However, a tweet from @lizardmafia says the airline is "lying about user data not being compromised." The account claims to have hacked Malaysia Airlines' email system and posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a flight booking by customer Amy Keh. She tells the AP she booked a flight for her mother and two relatives in October. "I am a bit worried about their security," she says. "Now the whole world knows that they will be going to Taipei."

Diesel supplies were running low in parts of France as unions announced that workers at all 12 fuel-producing refineries were now on strike, and many depots were being blockaded. Trapil, the company that operates the pipeline to the Paris airports, said Roissy-Charles de Gaulle could run out of fuel as early as next week. However, some 10% of filling stations have run out of petrol and panic buying has broken out in some areas. Strikers at oil refineries said their protest was about fighting recession-induced government spending cuts, such as Sarkozy's plan to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, and from 65 to 67 for a full state pension. "We are not here to bring France to its knees and create a shortage, we are here to make ourselves heard," Christian Coste, of the CGT trade union, told the Associated Press. The pension reforms have already been approved by the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament. The upper house, the Senate, has endorsed the key articles on raising the retirement age, and is due to vote on the full text on Wednesday. The CGT union called for the strikes at the SNCF train authority to be strengthened. A sixth day of protest is set for Tuesday, a day before the senate vote. The last weekend day of demonstrations was Saturday 2 October, when the numbers were about 900,000 according to police and 3m according to unions. Trade unions organisers said 3.5m had taken part. About 70% of people polled this week think the strikes will build into a national protest movement like the one in 1995, and more than half of those questioned said they would support it.

– Judging by the throngs on the streets of France today—somewhere between 800,000 and 3 million, depending on who's counting—it's safe to say that Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 is not all that popular. (Another day of protests is set for Tuesday, the day before a Senate vote.) Meanwhile, strikes at refineries have caused nationwide fuel shortages—serious enough that Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport warned planes to make sure they land with enough fuel to get home. "They must come with a maximum capacity in their fuel tanks," said a spokesman. "Obviously, these instructions apply only to short- and medium-haul flights" because oceanic flights can't "double carry" fuel. The finance minister went on TV to insist "there is no reason, no reason, I repeat, to panic because there is no risk of shortages." Late today, a key pipeline that supplies the airport resumed service, easing the immediate concern. More details from the AP, BBC, and the Guardian.

Chris Brown wishes ex Rihanna a happy birthday on Twitter amid rumors of music collaboration Singer answers 'Thanks!' PHOTOS: Rihanna and Chris' controversial romance "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBYN!" Three years after Chris Brown infamously assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna (real name Robyn Fenty), the Grammy winner continues to fuel hookup rumors, publicly reaching out to her via Twitter. The "We Found Love" singer's fans quickly posted responses of disbelief and disapproval, with "OMG" and "WTF" comments flying around the Web. Rumors have also been swirling that the two have been seeing each other in more than just the professional sense — with sources telling Us Weekly that "Rihanna loves to live dangerously and talking to and hooking up with Chris is all part of that." PHOTOS: Rihanna's edgy style A rep for Brown insists to Us: "He and Rihanna are just friends." PHOTOS: Rihanna's hair evolution Although Brown is currently dating aspiring model, Karrueche Tran, multiple sources confirm to Us Weekly that he and Rihanna have been secretly hooking up over the past year.

– Are Chris Brown and Rihanna getting cringingly close? Evidence is mounting that the relationship between the ex-lovers is percolating. Brown tweeted a happy birthday to Rihanna yesterday (in the wake of possible love tweets late last year), and Rihanna responded, triggering a tidal wave of OMGs and WTFs from startled fans, notes the New York Daily News. The two have also collaborated on not one but two new songs. The on-probation singer gushes: "I miss your body" on Rihanna's "Birthday Cake," and adds that he wants to do something with his missing Lady Love that does not involve punching (Rihanna's also featured on a new remix of Brown's "Turn Up the Music."). Rihanna and Brown have been into some sizzling extracurricular activities, sources tell Us, even though he has (another) girlfriend. "Rihanna loves to live dangerously and talking to and hooking up with Chris is all part of that," said one. One singer not about to forgive Brown for his 2009 assault on Rihanna is Miranda Lambert, reports Good Morning America. She's keeping up her criticism with a new tweet, noting: "I don't get it. He beat on a girl." Check out Brown's (NSFW) contribution to Rihanna's song in the gallery, or listen to Rihanna on Brown's remix at the Huffington Post.

MH370: data suggests plane was out of control as it plummeted into ocean Read more The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) on Tuesday released the findings from its MH370 First Principles Review summit of crash investigators, aviation experts and government representatives, held in Canberra over three days from 4 November. “There is a high degree of confidence that the previously identified underwater area searched to date does not contain the missing aircraft.” New analysis of the satellite data, combined with drift analysis, has identified the most likely point that MH370 hit the water as being close to the so-called “seventh arc”, north of the current search zone. Experts have identified a new area of approximately 25,000 sq km – between latitudes 33 degrees south and 36 degrees south – as “the area with the highest probability of containing the wreckage of the aircraft”, given the 110,000 sq km that have been eliminated. Story highlights New search area recommended after experts agree MH370 not in current zone Search was originally intended to finish in January or February 2017 (CNN) Teams searching for missing aircraft Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have very likely been looking in the wrong place, a new Australian government report confirmed. The Australian transport minister, Darren Chester, seemed to downplay the likelihood of the search being extended in a statement which reiterated the resolution of the tripartite meeting in July and said the report did “not give a specific location of the missing aircraft”.

– The only boat left searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 isn't likely to find it, experts say. A new report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says "there is a high degree of confidence" that the plane that disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, isn't in the Pennsylvania-sized search area that's been combed over two years, reports the BBC. Instead, experts believe MH370 lies to the north, within a 10,000-square-mile patch of the Indian Ocean that's about 20% of the size of the current search area, based on new flight simulations, an analysis of satellite communications, and debris drift patterns. The report adds there's only a 5% chance the plane was missed over the 42,500 square miles searched so far, reports CNN. Experts and investigators are "in agreement in the need to search an additional area" and "concluded that, if this area were to be searched, prospective areas for locating the aircraft wreckage, based on all the analysis to date, would be exhausted," the report states, per the Guardian. However, the governments of Australia, Malaysia, and China previously agreed to suspend the $145 million search effort in the new year "unless credible evidence is available that identifies the specific location of the aircraft." Australia's transport minister notes it does "not give a specific location of the missing aircraft." The report has been presented to the governments "for their consideration," an ATSB rep says.

Netanyahu, who since Thursday has repeatedly called the 1967 borders “indefensible,” helped set the stage for the torrent of White House criticism. Appearing irritated by the controversy, Obama said in his own speech to AIPAC on Sunday that his views had been “misrepresented several times.” “Let me reaffirm what ‘1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps’ means,” Obama said, sounding exasperated. For instance, he referred to the Islamist militant group Hamas more directly as a “terrorist organization.” Several experts said the president’s stance on boundaries was in line with past U.S. policy, albeit stated more bluntly.

– Top Democrats are making a show of standing behind Benjamin Netanyahu in his sort-of face-off with the White House, leaving President Obama more or less isolated, the Washington Post reports. In his own speech before AIPAC, Harry Reid offered a thinly-veiled jab at President Obama’s calls for a two-state solution based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders, saying, “No one should set premature parameters about borders, about building or about anything else.” Steny Hoyer, meanwhile, said that negotiations should begin “without preconditions,” and Robert Casey drew cheers for saying that Israel’s borders “must be determined by parties on the ground.” But then, Congress was in an applauding mood yesterday—it gave Benjamin Netanyahu a whopping 29 standing ovations during his speech, ABC News reports—four more than President Obama’s State of the Union address. Obama, of course, argues that the entire controversy is overblown. Click here for what he told AIPAC.

(CNN) -- The Endreson family lottery pool -- a tradition born out of their mother's long-term dreams -- finally paid off when the 17 siblings won a $20 million jackpot, New Jersey lottery officials said Thursday. Weird News Photos: 'Zombie Baby' in HOV Lane One of the sisters said the family began pooling small bills together 10 years ago because their mother wanted to invest in a future of family bungalows at the Jersey Shore. The family describes themselves as hard-working people who "go to work every day like everyone else." The jackpot winnings "couldn't have come at a better time," McHenry said. The siblings' father emigrated from Norway in the early 20th century, later meeting their mother on the Jersey Shore, where the family remained and settled in Ocean County, McHenry said. When she died, there was money left in a pot and they invested that in the lottery. Asked what their mother would say about the big lotto win, Schiabor's sister who purchased the winning ticket said, "She'd just be so laid back." They opted for a lump sum payment of $14 million -- about $10 million after taxes -- to share amongst themselves and with three children of a brother who died a few years ago. Then when she said it was the family lottery, I said, 'Oh my god.'"

– A huge Norwegian-American clan in New Jersey has a huge $20.1 million lottery jackpot to divvy up. The 17 Endreson siblings, ranging in age from 53 to 76, started a lottery pool a decade ago after the death of their mother, who dreamed of buying homes on the Jersey Shore, CNN reports. The sibling who bought the winning ticket—a $1 Pick 6 with the numbers 3, 12, 18, 34, 35, and 42—opted for a lump-sum payment of $14 million, which will be split among her 16 brothers and sisters and the three children of a brother who died a few years ago. Asked what their late mom would say about the jackpot, the woman who purchased the winning ticket said, "She'd just be so laid-back," while another sibling shouted, "Hallelujah!," reports NBC. At least three of the siblings lost their homes during Superstorm Sandy. "I just feel so lucky, and then this is just the icing on the cake," says John Endreson, who was able to rebuild with help from his brothers. "I depleted my savings and now things are looking up pretty good thanks to the state of New Jersey and my mom." Most of the siblings live in Ocean County, where 16 vehicle maintenance workers split an $86 million lottery prize last year.

Demonstrators left a trail of broken windshields as they moved down 17th Street, angering some residents.Police moved in after one officer was injured when struck by a car and another's gun was grabbed by a protester. But it ended without an incident despite the anger that has pervaded the shooting of Oscar Grant III and the subsequent trial of Mehserle. Grant, 22, was lying face-down on the Fruitvale Station platform when he was shot.The shooting triggered rioting days later and again in July, when a Los Angeles jury rejected murder and voluntary manslaughter charges but found that the officer acted with gross negligence.A four-hour peaceful demonstration at Oakland City Hall moved into the surrounding streets and took on a more aggressive tone Friday evening with marchers smashing windshields, making obscene gestures at surrounding police and noisily shouting slogans.Police in riot gear allowed several hundred marchers to move through the streets for about an hour before encircling a smaller number near 6th Avenue and East 17th Street. She said anything less than the maximum punishment would show that police officers are above the law. Rachael Jackson, an organizer of the group New Year's Movement for Justice, said, "We are out here to protest our disgust that Mehserle got two years for killing Oscar Grant. Among them was testimony from two people, including a friend of Grant, who said they heard the officer say he intended to use his Taser shortly before the shooting.

– Oakland police racked up 152 arrests last night of demonstrators angry that a transit cop got a 2-year-sentence for shooting an unarmed black man to death. Protesters took to the streets after a judge gave Johannes Mehserle the minimum prison sentence for killing Oscar Grant last year, reports the LA Times. Mehserle maintains that he mistook his gun for a Taser. Demonstrators staged a largely peaceful 4-hour rally in downtown Oakland, but police moved in when things turned aggressive after it broke up. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct or unlawful assembly, and the protest was far tamer than previous ones over the shooting, notes the Oakland Tribune.

In an interview on "Charlie Rose" the "Star Wars" creator called the past films he directed his "kids" and likened the split from the franchise to that of a breakup with a romantic partner. It was for the Kennedy Center Honors and conducted prior to the premiere of the film. I misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologize. Join the conversation on Facebook >> I have been working with Disney for 40 years and chose them as the custodians of Star Wars because of my great respect for the company and Bob Iger’s leadership. Disney is doing an incredible job of taking care of and expanding the franchise. I rarely go out with statements to clarify my feelings but I feel it is important to make it clear that I am thrilled that Disney has the franchise and is moving it in such exciting directions in film, television and the parks. Most of all I’m blown away with the record breaking blockbuster success of the new movie and am very proud of JJ and Kathy.” PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY, 4:32 PM: Star Wars creator George Lucas sat down with Charlie Rose to talk about the franchise’s legacy — and he appears to be a little bitter with what Disney did with it. After agreeing that the first six Star Wars films are his “kids,” Lucas referred his $4 billion deal with Disney: “I love [the movies], I created them, I’m very intimately involved in them, and I sold them to the white slavers that take these things and …” — with a rather nervous laugh, he trailed off. About a minute later, Lucas said of Disney: “They wanted to do a retro movie. "I don't like that. I like — every movie, I worked very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships — you know, to make it new. "But you have to just cut it off and say, 'End of ball game, I gotta move on.'

– George Lucas has made clear that he's not happy with all of Disney's decisions regarding the new generation of Star Wars films, but he's now apologizing for his eyebrow-raising choice of words, reports the LA Times. Turns out, he doesn't think Disney is made up of "white slavers," after all, a phrase he used in an interview with Charlie Rose. "I misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologize," he says in a statement released via Deadline. "I have been working with Disney for 40 years and chose them as the custodians of Star Wars because of my great respect for the company and Bob Iger’s leadership. Disney is doing an incredible job of taking care of and expanding the franchise. I rarely go out with statements to clarify my feelings but I feel it is important to make it clear that I am thrilled that Disney has the franchise and is moving it in such exciting directions in film, television and the parks." Lucas added that he's "blown away" by the success of the new JJ Abrams films. He sang a different tune to Rose, however, lamenting that Disney had taken his "kids," as he called his films, in a direction more about pleasing fans than telling a compelling story.

Raquel Lissabet said her daughter suffered a severe brain injury while wrestling in a sumo wrestling suit at a Spirit Day event at Mater Academy in Hialeah Gardens last October.Her mother said Celaida hit her head during the event and wanted to stop but event workers would not let her. July 22, 2014 6:11 PM MIAMI (CBSMiami) — An attorney announced Tuesday a lawsuit against a Hialeah school and a Miami event company, after a 15-year old girl suffered a major brain injury at a school event last year. It’s really tragic.” Wrestling in inflatable sumo body suits is a party activity loosely fashioned after the ancient Japanese sport in which hefty wrestlers compete to push each other out of a circular ring. In the version played in the sumo suits, the match is conducted on a ring that features a protective mat. But the lawsuit claims that Lissabet was not fitted in the suit properly and she ended up with severe brain damage after her head repeatedly hit the floor. “The second time she told the gentleman that her head was hurting and she was seeing blurry and she didn’t want to do it anymore and he told her that she had to do it three times,” said Raquel Lissabet. “The third time she was finally knocked down and they stood her up and sent her to class.” The suit said as a result of the injuries Celaida suffered, she can no longer communicate properly and displays child-like behavior. Celaida Lissabet, 16, pats her mother Raquel Lissabet on the head as she wipes tears while describing how her daughter suffered brain damage from an inflatable sumo suit. It’s a completely different person,” said Raquel Lissabet. Her mother, Raquel Lissabet, said Celaida now acts like a 7-year old. I don’t know if she’s ever going back to school.” The lawsuit targets both Mater Academy and Mega Party Events, the company that provided the suits used during the Spirit Day activities. The girl, 15-year-old freshman Celaida Lissabet, and her mother late last week sued charter school Mater Academy and Mega Party Events, the company that supplied the inflatable suits, which the lawsuit contends are designed for use in “violent recreational sumo wrestling games.” Adrian De La Rosa, owner of Mega Party Events, said the girl was outfitted according to instructions from the suit’s manufacturer. “You send your kids off to school to be safe and like I said, you come back and in a split second, your whole life has changed,” Raquel said. “She had big plans which no longer gonna be…that’s what doesn’t need to happen again,” she said. The Herald reported that in a Colorado case where a woman claimed she suffered severe brain damage while in the suit and was awarded $2 million in damages by a jury.

– Celaida Lissabet, 15, was participating in what was supposed to be a fun event at her Miami-area charter school last October, wrestling with a classmate while wearing an inflatable sumo suit during "Spirit Day"—but things went terribly awry, leaving the girl with severe brain damage, according to a new lawsuit. The 9th-grader fell off the protective mat and hit her head on the ground three times; after being sent back to class, she complained of blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, and headaches, and was taken to the hospital. Her mom says the teen now acts like a child, has trouble communicating, and is plagued by anxiety, the Miami Herald reports. "The second time [she fell] she told the gentleman that her head was hurting and she was seeing blurry and she didn’t want to do it anymore and he told her that she had to do it three times," says Celaida’s mom, Raquel Lissabet, according to CBS Miami. "The third time she was finally knocked down and they stood her up and sent her to class." Now Raquel Lissabet is suing the school, Mater Academy, and Mega Party Events, the company that provided the suits. The lawsuit claims that both failed to provide adequately trained personnel and adequately fitting helmets, reports NBC 6 South Florida. "It’s not my daughter," Raquel Lissabet says. "It’s a completely different person." In 2007, a woman in Colorado won $2 million in damages after falling in an inflatable sumo wrestling suit at a company retreat and suffering severe brain damage. (In another freak accident last month, a 2-year-old was killed by a statue.)

In the trove of tapes, the billionaire real estate mogul talked about inviting his first wife and mistress to go skiing in Aspen at the same time, bragged about his sex life, said "deeply troubled women" are "always the best in bed" and playfully batted away questions about his alleged past infidelities. “This is a story I’ve never told about that mountain, because it was sort of a horrible thing,” Trump began, as Stern and co-host Robin Quivers egged him on. Trump didn't come right out and say he thought Clinton was high at their last debate. "Do you think this is locker room talk?" “I mean, you could have any chick, so she must be doing tricks. Trump says he’s against same-sex marriage, but “it’s never been an argument that I’ve been, you know, that’s been discussed with me very much,” he says. "No one's ever advocated going that step where you get a little bit, 'hey I'm going to invade someone's space.' "Quite frankly, as someone just said, I'm surprised they didn't find these earlier," he said, adding that he hasn't spoken to Trump since just before the Republican convention this summer.

– Howard Stern has had Donald Trump on his radio show quite a few times, and last week, the Washington Post used clips from his appearances between 2002 and 2013 in a disparaging story about Trump. The paper noted that though none of the tapes are as lewd as the 2005 Billy Bush tape currently making waves, they do feature Trump rating women's bodies, discussing his sex life, and listening to Stern quiz Ivanka Trump about her own sex life, among other things. On his show Monday, Stern lashed out at the idea that the media "discovered" the tapes, since the shows were aired to the general public, Billboard reports. He also explained that he considers Trump a friend and that he won't be re-airing the interviews because that would be a "betrayal," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Donald Trump did the show in an effort to be entertaining and have fun with us," he said. "I fully knew what I was doing when I interviewed Trump. I knew I had a guy who loved to talk about sex … I had a guy who loved to evaluate women on a scale of 1 to 10. These are avenues I went down because I knew it would entertain the audience." But Stern did not defend the 2005 tape, and he disagreed with Trump's insistence that his words were simply "locker room talk." "I have never been in the room when someone has said, 'Grab them by the pussy,'" Stern said. "No one's ever advocated going that step where you get a little bit, 'Hey I'm going to invade someone's space.'" Billboard notes that Stern supports Hillary Clinton for president.

But a new study, presented this week at the Research Society on Alcoholism’s annual meeting, suggests the behavior may be more common than previously thought, and is an issue for male and female students. Dr Rinker's research showed that 8 of 10 college students, many of whom were men, recently engaged in at least one behavior related to drunkorexia. "College students appear to engage in these behaviors to increase alcohol effects or reduce alcohol-related calories by engaging in bulimic-type or diet/exercising/calorie-restricted eating behaviors," Dipali Rinker, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Houston and author of the study, said in a statement. Rinker’s study was based on a survey that included responses from 1,184 college students, most of them from the University of Houston, who had drunk heavily at least once in the past 30 days. The behaviors included inducing vomiting, consuming laxatives or diuretics, or not eating anything before drinking. Rinker found that students who lived in fraternity and sorority houses were the most likely to report engaging in the behavior, followed by those living in residence halls. Women were more likely to engage in the bulimic-type behaviors than men, according to the study, but both genders were equally likely to engage in some kind of drunkorexic behavior, such as skipping meals. A study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that 20 percent of incoming female freshmen responding to a survey said they had engaged in drunkorexic behavior in the last two weeks.

– The term "drunkorexia" has been used for several years to describe a particularly risky type of behavior on college campuses—students skip meals or exercise intensely before drinking, or deliberately purge during or afterward. Generally, the idea is to cut down on calories consumed or to increase the buzz, and sometimes a little of both. A new study, however, suggests that the practice is far more common that thought, reports Inside Higher Ed. The University of Houston survey rounded up nearly 1,200 students who had at least one bout of heavy drinking in the previous month and found that eight in 10 had engaged in at least one behavior linked to drunkorexia, including inducing vomiting, consuming laxatives, or skipping food entirely before drinking. The other surprise to lead researcher Dr. Dipali Rinker: This wasn't a phenomenon exclusive to female students. "Our study suggested that males are just as likely, if not more likely, to engage in these behaviors," she tells Medscape. "We suspect that this is because men, in general, just tend to engage in riskier drinking behaviors than women." Rinker presented her findings at the Research Society on Alcoholism's annual meeting in New Orleans, and another researcher's paper shows that the issue isn't confined to America. An Australian study of female college students found that nearly 60% used drunkorexia behavior. “It’s a new phenomenon ­involving disordered eating purely for the sole purpose of saving calories for alcohol,” says researcher Alissa Knight of the University of South Australia. (These are the heaviest drinking cities in America.)

– The story of a real-life couple who was compared to the fictional couple in the best-selling book and movie The Fault in Our Stars has reached its end. Katie and Dalton Prager, who both had cystic fibrosis, met on Facebook when they were 18 after Katie saw a picture of Dalton in the hospital, CNN reports. Though doctors warned them not to meet in person because CF patients can pass dangerous bacteria to one another, they not only met, but got married. "My heart was racing, but I just went right up to him and hugged and kissed him on the mouth without even saying hello," Katie once recalled of her first meeting with Dalton, soon after they started talking in 2009, when his mom drove him six hours from their Missouri home to Katie's Kentucky home. Seven years later, Dalton succumbed to his illness Saturday, and on Thursday, his wife also died. Dalton and Katie wed less than two years after their first meeting, and had some happy years in a home they bought in Kentucky. But in 2014, their lungs deteriorated; Dalton got a transplant that year, and Katie the year following. But he later fought lymphoma, pneumonia, and a viral infection, while Katie struggled with her transplant until doctors determined there was nothing more they could do and she entered hospice care. They last saw each other on their fifth wedding anniversary in July. Dalton's funeral was Wednesday, Kentucky.com reports. Then, "early this morning, [Katie] gained her wish of being at home, in her bed, surrounded by her mom, dad, brother and her dogs, dying peacefully, away from the hospital, tubes, IVs," Katie's mom wrote on Facebook. "I know Dalton was waiting with open arms." Click for more on their story.

Johnny Depp Had $30K Monthly Wine Habit, Ex-Managers Claim “Pirates of the Caribbean” star’s former managers file countersuit to actor’s $25 million complaint, claiming he lived a lifestyle he can’t afford Johnny Depp’s former managers have fired back at the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star after he sued them for fraud, filing their own cross-complaint accusing Depp of living “an ultra-extravagant lifestyle” that he “simply could not afford.” “[T]hroughout the entire 17-year period that TMG represented Depp, Depp lived an ultra-extravagant lifestyle that knowingly cost Depp in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford,” the cross-complaint filed by The Management Group, Joel Mandel and Robert Mandel on Tuesday, reads. Johnny Depp Had $30K Monthly Wine Habit, Ex-Managers Claim 1 / 1 Back to Gallery Also Read: Johnny Depp Slaps His Managers With $25 Million Fraud Lawsuit “In addition to the above, throughout the years, Depp supported his friends, family and certain employees at a cost of over $10 million,” the cross-complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims.

– Johnny Depp spent more than $3 million on a cannon to blast Hunter S. Thompson's ashes over Aspen, Colo., spent $30,000 a month on expensive wines, and apparently just wasted much of the rest of his income, according to a lawsuit filed by his former managers. The lawsuit, filed as a countersuit to Depp's $25 million suit against The Management Group, claims that Depp lived an "ultra-extravagant lifestyle" that he couldn't really afford, with other spending including $75 million on 14 residences around the world, $18 million on a 150-foot yacht, and $10 million to support family and friends, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The countersuit claims Depp needed 12 storage facilities for his collection of Hollywood memorabilia and fine art, the Telegraph reports. The former managers, who represented the actor from 1999 until 2016, say they repeatedly warned Depp about the unsustainable spending, meaning "Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today." Depp's lawsuit accuses the managers of mishandling more than $25 million and failing to file his taxes on time, costing him millions in penalties. (In 2016, Depp topped a list of overpaid actors for the second year in a row.)

According to researchers from Mexico, natural sugars derived from the agave plant, called agavins, greatly protected a group of mice against diet-induced obesity and type 2 diabetes, MedPage Today reported. In a new study presented at the American Chemical Society (ACS) annual meeting in Dallas, mice were distributed into seven groups. These findings were similar to the control group that received standard water. One group received a diet of plain water, while the other groups received water supplemented with either aspartame, glucose, fructose, sucrose, agave syrup or agavins. Mice that consumed agavins in their water reduced their food intake, lost weight, and showed a reduction in blood glucose levels, said Mercedes G. López, PhD, of the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados, Biotechnology and Biochemistry Irapuato, in Guanajuato, Mexico, at the American Chemical Society (ACS) annual meeting in Dallas. "They were, most of the time, not different from the control," she said in an email to MedPage Today. The study is the first to attempt to evaluate agavins -- fructans that are made of long branched chains of fructose that act as a dietary fiber and do not raise blood sugar -- as an alternative sweetener. "We believe agavins have a great potential as a light sweetener," Mercedes G. López, of the Centro de Incetagcioan y de Estudios Avanzados, Biotechnology and Biochemistry Irapuato, in Guanajuato, Mexico wrote in the ACS abstract. "They are sugars, highly soluble, with a low glycemic index and a neutral taste…This puts agavins in a tremendous position for their consumption by obese and diabetic people." Also, while agavins have half the calories of regular sugars, they are not as sweet, noted López in her email.

– The plant tequila is derived from could play a role in fighting obesity, and it doesn't involve getting people so drunk they forget to eat, researchers say. Natural sugars found in agave appear to protect mice against obesity and type 2 diabetes, Fox News reports. The sugars, known as agavins, acted as a dietary fiber and were not absorbed into the bloodstream, leading researchers to believe they could be an ideal artificial sweetener for obese or diabetic people. "In certain circumstances, artificial sweeteners are useful in helping people maintain glucose control," an expert tells MedPage Today. "If this is all true, it sounds like it could be another additional tool for people with diabetes." The researchers say "agavins have a great potential as a light sweetener," though two big obstacles exist: They aren't that widely available, and they aren't very sweet. And if you're an agave syrup fan, take note: That syrup is very different from agavins; the researchers liken it more to high-fructose corn syrup. (In more booze- and health-related news, click to read about the case of a man whose body produces its own alcohol.)

Frustrated and angry eurozone leaders fearing for the future of their common currency gave the Greek Prime Minister Alexis... (Associated Press) Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earned both cheers and jeers as he addressed lawmakers at the European Parliament, where he said his country is seeking a deal that might bring a definitive end to his country's financial crisis, not just a temporary stop-gap. Hewitt: The final showdown Lavish lifestyles on hold in Athens 'Yes' neighbourhood European media exasperated Wednesday - as it happened European leaders have set Thursday as the deadline for serious reform plans from Greece in exchange for more aid. Media caption Cheers and boos at the European Parliament Mr Tsipras was speaking only days after the Greek people decisively rejected the latest proposals from creditors in a referendum. Greek scenarios Greece's creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - have already provided more than €200bn in two bailouts since a rescue plan began five years ago.

– There have been plenty of meetings and plenty of deadlines over the years of the Greek debt crisis, but European Union leaders have never sounded so serious—and fed up—as last night, when Greece was ordered to deliver a workable plan for reforms in return for loans by the end of this week. "Tonight I have to say it loud and clear—the final deadline ends this week," European Council President Donald Tusk said after an emergency meeting of 19 eurozone leaders ended fruitlessly, per the New York Times. The BBC clarifies the recent timeline: After Greece didn't bring a proposal to the table yesterday as expected, a deadline of tomorrow night has been set for its proposal of which economic reforms it will institute in exchange for loans. On Sunday, EU leaders will again gather at a summit and decide, as the AP puts it, "whether the plan is good enough." European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker—who was "sputtering with rage," according to the Times—told reporters last night that plans for Greece exiting the eurozone have now been drawn up in detail. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that after the "serious, candid discussion," she is not optimistic that a solution will be found, reports the BBC. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seems to have been at a different meeting than everybody else: Reuters reports that he "sounded upbeat" after the summit, saying the talks had taken place in a "positive climate" and promising to deliver a plan quickly. Meanwhile, Greece this morning formally asked Europe's bailout fund for a three-year bailout, per the Wall Street Journal, which saw the letter Greece submitted. The Journal reports that the letter isn't very detailed on the measures Greece intends to implement; "the full list of overhauls and budget cuts is what will determine whether the application ... will be approved by the rest of the eurozone."

Trump Jr.’s meeting with Veselnitskaya took place on June 9, 2016, two days after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee. In one email, Goldstone, the British-born music producer facilitating the meeting, wrote, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump…” Trump Jr. responded, “If it’s what you say, I love it.” The person who asked Trump Jr. to attend the meeting was Goldstone, a music producer with ties to a Russian pop star named Emin Agalarov, according to The Washington Post. Rob Goldstone very much likes his hats pic.twitter.com/44yUnMu8CE — Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) July 10, 2017 The New York Times broke the story that Trump Jr., Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort had attended the meeting, although Trump Jr. says Veselnitskaya never produced information negative to Clinton. The Emails Reveal Goldstone Told Trump Jr. That Veselnitskaya Was a Government Lawyer With Information Damaging to Hillary Clinton In the statement that he released on the meeting, Trump Jr. did not name the intermediary. He has now identified the “client” as Russian pop star Emin Agalarov. Just into @CNN, Rob Goldstone, music publicist who set up mtg bw Trump Jr and Veselnitzkaya, says Trump "halted" talk when Magnitzky came up pic.twitter.com/ysDZVMm1Bj — David Shortell (@davidgshortell) July 10, 2017 The New York Times is now reporting that Goldstone allegedly sent an email to Trump Jr. before the meeting informing him “that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy.” Trump Jr. then released all of the emails himself. The email exchange shows an acquaintance with ties to Russia, music publicist Rob Goldstone, telling the son of then-candidate Trump last year that the attorney had “information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.” But Veselnitskaya, speaking to NBC News prior to Trump Jr. releasing the emails, flatly denied any connection to the Russian government. Later in the exchange, Goldstone wrote, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. What do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly?” In his own statement, Donald Trump Jr. wrote that he was “asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign.” The Times reported that Trump Jr. accused the lawyer of being a “Kremlin proxy.” Veselnitskaya told The New York Times in a statement to the newspaper that “nothing at all about the presidential campaign” was discussed at the meeting and said she has “never acted on behalf of the Russian government” and “never discussed any of these matters with any representative of the Russian government.” Trump Jr. also says in the statement that he was told that Veselnitskaya “had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton.” You can release the Trump Jr. emails with Goldstone here: 2. According to Bloomberg, “The last time Donald Trump made an appearance in Moscow was November 2013 for the Miss Universe contest he famously owned.” According to The New York Times, “The elder Agalarov boasts close ties to Mr. Putin: his company has won several large state building contracts, and Mr. Putin awarded him the “Order of Honor of the Russian Federation.” The son has boasted of the family’s ties to Trump. In response to Goldstone offering information about Hillary Clinton that he said would be incriminating. Trump Jr. said he was releasing the exchange “to be totally transparent.” But an editor for The New York Times said the emails were made public by Trump Jr. after he was informed the paper was publishing a story about them. Admits Meeting With Veselnitskaya but Says She Had ‘No Meaningful Information’ According to a statement released by Trump Jr., he was not told the lawyer’s name before the meeting and asked Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort to attend “but told them nothing of the substance.” The meeting occurred in June 2016, and Veselnitskaya “stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton. July 11, 2017, 11:11 AM GMT / Updated July 12, 2017, 12:26 AM GMT By Keir Simmons, Rachel Elbaum and Andrew Rafferty MOSCOW — The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the presidential campaign denied in an exclusive interview with NBC News that she had any connection to the Kremlin and insisted she met with President Donald Trump’s son in 2016 to discuss sanctions between Russia and the U.S., not to hand over information about Hillary Clinton’s campaign. She added that she now knows that it was arranged in part by pop-star Emin Agalarov, who appeared in a music video with Trump when the Miss Universe pageant, which Trump owned at the time, was held in Moscow in 2013. In describing how the meeting came about, Veselnitskaya didn’t name the person who set it up over the phone while she was in New York for work. He called the reports “much ado about nothing,” and noted that Veselnitskaya was not a government official and had not been a prosecutor since 2001. And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act. They wanted it so badly that they could only hear the thought that they wanted.” Related: Trump Jr. Tweets His Emails That Led To Russia Meeting Trump Jr. has confirmed that the meeting occurred, saying in a statement to The New York Times that he attended "a short introductory meeting" with the lawyer, where the topic of conversation was primarily about adoption. In a statement, a spokesman for President Trump’s outside counsel said Veselnitskaya misrepresented herself and alluded to ties to Democrats.

– The Russian lawyer who has emerged front and center in the new Trump-Russia stories tells NBC News that she has no ties to the Kremlin or any damning information about Hillary Clinton or Democrats. In describing her 20- to 30-minute meeting with Donald Trump Jr. last year, Natalia Veselnitskaya said he asked her only question: "whether I had any financial records which might prove that the funds used to sponsor the DNC were coming from inappropriate sources." She says she has no such information. So why did Trump, who was accompanied at the meeting by Jared Kushner (she says he left after about 10 minutes) and Paul Manafort (she called him "absent-minded") think otherwise? "It is quite possible that maybe they were longing for such an information," she says. "They wanted it so badly that they could only hear the thought that they wanted." Her account raises more confusion about why the meeting was brokered in the first place. The New York Times has reported that Trump Jr. got an email beforehand from a publicist named Rob Goldstone suggesting that Veselnitskaya would provide dirt on Democrats that came from the Russian government. (The tangled web: Goldstone works with a Russian pop star whose billionaire father has ties to Vladimir Putin and President Trump, per Heavy.com. Goldstone has said he arranged the meeting at the request of the pop star, Emin Agalarov.) Veselnitskaya, however, says she wanted to meet mainly to present her case against the Magnitsky Act, under which the US blacklists Russians accused of human rights abuses. She represents a client affected by it. Putin, who is a bitter opponent of that act, has said he doesn't know Veselnitskaya.

President Trump on Friday ordered the FBI to reopen the investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh’s background, a stunning turnaround in an emotional battle over sexual assault allegations that has shaken the Senate and reverberated across the country. Flake’s move puts in doubt the fate of Kavanaugh, who has in recent days drawn strong support from Trump and other top Republicans, but now faces another week of scrutiny and must watch as senators in both parties endure mounting pressure from their ­respective bases to either rally to his side or block his confirmation. Conservatives have demanded that Republicans confirm Trump’s second Supreme Court pick, a judge who could shift the high court to the right for a generation, or face political consequences in midterm elections in six weeks with the control of Congress at stake. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), and hailed by Democrats for forcing a one-week delay in the nomination process to allow for the federal inquiry. “That’s what this effort is about.” [‘Look at me when I’m talk­ing to you!’: Crying protester confronts Flake in Capitol elevator] The request for a supplemental FBI background check will almost certainly delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote beyond Tuesday, the tentative date eyed by Senate GOP leaders. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) then plans a Saturday procedural vote to formally move to the nomination, with a potential confirmation vote as early as Tuesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee, where the initial vote on Kavanaugh will be held, is narrowly split with an 11-10 Republican majority. Senate Republicans are racing to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, betting that the Supreme Court nominee was persuasive enough in his denial that he sexually assaulted a high school acquaintance to counter the powerful testimony of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. Those two moderate Republicans, along with Flake and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), met privately before the Republican meeting to discuss the nomination. Kavanaugh Confirmation GOP barrels toward Kavanaugh vote with key Republicans undecided The Senate Judiciary Committee is moving toward a Friday vote, and GOP leaders are planning to keep the chamber in session on Saturday. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) announced late Thursday that he would oppose the nominee, and on Friday, Sen. Joe Donnelly (Ind.) Collins and Murkowski have not declared a position on Kavanaugh’s nomination; neither has Manchin nor Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). But the biggest concern in the White House is that with more time, more women, more accusations and more stories could emerge. “It’s not the FBI investigation that sparks the fear like it is just another week of this,” one White House official said. Trump was “fired up” in a phone call with McConnell about Kavanaugh’s ultimate confirmation, according to two people familiar with the call, and said senators needed to take the vote. It was a reversal from an earlier call with McConnell in which Trump was upset as Ford delivered her emotional testimony, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Both Trump and McGahn had told others that they did not want an FBI investigation, two senior officials said — but that it was inevitable once it became clear that Kavanaugh could not be confirmed without one. Trump is telling advisers that he wants to stick by Kavanaugh. But he also says that “Republicans have been played like a fool,” according to a senior White House official. Still, one official involved in the confirmation process said that while Trump has expressed some frustration with the timing, he generally believes that McGahn and McConnell have the Supreme Court and other judicial nomination fights figured out. Repeatedly Democrats asked Kavanaugh to call for an FBI investigation into the claims. Judge told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that he either does not recall or flatly rejects the allegations about his and Kavanaugh’s behavior in high school. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who skewered Democrats for what he called a “despicable” attempt to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination, also received applause from the GOP, said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). “I really believe, I believe he will be on the court.” Carol D. Leonnig, Sean Sullivan, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane, Robert Barnes and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report.

– After Thursday's high drama, the Senate Judiciary Committee looks poised to advance Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate. The vote is scheduled for 1:30pm Eastern, reports NPR. Going into the day, the main suspense had been whether Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona would side with Democrats in voting against Kavanaugh, but he announced his support for President Trump's pick before the panel convened, reports the Washington Post. “I wish that I could express the confidence that some of my colleagues have conveyed about what either did or did not happen in the early 1980s," said Flake in a statement. “What I do know is that our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence." Several Democrats walked out of the panel's meeting Friday morning, reports the AP, though top Democrat Dianne Feinstein was among those who stayed. Assuming the committee OKs Kavanaugh's nomination later in the afternoon, it would move on to the full Senate, with a final vote possible as early as Tuesday, reports the AP. Kavanaugh's prospects there remain uncertain, with key moderate Republicans such as Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski undecided, notes Politico. Another senator to watch is Democrat Joe Manchin, up for re-election in red-state West Virginia.

Adult Toys Yes Yes Aerosol Insecticide Aerosol insecticides are not allowed in carry-on; however they are allowed in checked bags as long as they are not labeled as hazardous material (HAZMAT). No Yes (Special Instructions) Airbrush Make-up Machine Yes Yes Alcoholic beverages Alcoholic beverages with more than 24% but not more than 70% alcohol are limited in checked bags to 5 liters (1.3 gallons) per passenger and must be in unopened retail packaging. Alcoholic beverages with 24% alcohol or less are not subject to limitations in checked bags. Mini bottles of alcohol in carry-on must be able to comfortably fit into a single quart-sized bag. For more information, see FAA regulation: 49 CFR 175.10(a)(4). Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Alcoholic beverages over 140 proof Alcoholic beverages with more than 70% alcohol (up to 140 proof), including grain alcohol and 151 proof rum. For more information, see FAA regulation: 49 CFR 175.10(a)(4). No No Ammunition Check with your airline if ammunition is allowed in checked bags. Small arms ammunitions must be securely packed in fiber, wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition. Ask the airline about limitations or fees. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Antlers You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Artificial Skeleton Bones Yes Yes Axes and Hatchets No Yes Baby Carrier You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Baby Food Baby food is allowed in reasonable quantities in carry-on bags. Remove these items from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings. Please see traveling with children for more information. Yes Yes Baby Formula Formula, breast milk and juice are allowed in reasonable quantities in carry-on bags. Remove these items from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings. You do not need to travel with your child to bring breast milk. Please see traveling with children for more information. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Baby Powder Yes Yes Baby Wipes Yes Yes Balloons (not inflated) Yes Yes Bang Snaps No No Baseball Bats Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs) is prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage. No Yes Basketballs/Baseballs/Footballs Yes Yes BB Guns Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Bear Bangers No No Bear spray No No Belts, Clothes and Shoes To help TSA officers get a clear look at your bag and reduce the need for additional screening, we suggest you pack your bag in neat layers. Yes Yes Bicycle Chains Yes Yes Bicycle Pumps Yes Yes Bicycles Check with Airline Check with Airline Billy Clubs No Yes Binoculars Yes Yes Black Jacks No Yes Blankets Yes Yes Blasting Caps No No Blender Blenders are allowed in carry-on bags if the blade has been removed. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Blood Sugar Test Kit Please notify the TSA officer that you have diabetes and are carrying your supplies with you. Insulin pumps and supplies must be accompanied by insulin, and insulin in any form or dispenser must be clearly identified. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes Yes Bobby Pins Yes Yes Bocce Balls Yes Yes Body Armor Generally, body armor is allowed in carry-on or checked bags. Please note however that even if an item is generally allowed, our officers make the final decision on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint. Yes Yes Books Yes Yes Bottle Opener Yes Yes Bottled Water Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Bowling Balls Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs) is prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked bags. Yes Yes Bowling Pins Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs) is prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage. No Yes Bows and Arrows No Yes Box Cutters Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Boxing Gloves Yes Yes Brass Knuckles No Yes Bread Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Yes Yes Bread Machine You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Breast Milk Formula, breast milk and juice are allowed in reasonable quantities in carry-on bags. Remove these items from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings. You do not need to travel with your child to bring breast milk. Please see traveling with children for more information. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Breast Pump Yes Yes Bug Repellent Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Butane No No Butane Curling Irons (cordless) Cordless curling irons containing a gas cartridge and butane fueled curling irons are allowed in carry-on bags only. A safety cover must be securely fitted over the heating element. The device must be protected from accidental activation. Gas refills (spare cartridges) are not allowed in either checked or carry-on bags. Yes (Special Instructions) No Camera Monopod You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Camp stoves Camp stoves are allowed in carry-on or checked bags only if they are empty of all fuel and cleaned so that no fuel vapors or residue remain. Please wrap cords and layer items in bags so officers can get a clear view of the items. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Candy Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Yes Yes Canes Please visit our special procedures page for information on traveling through the checkpoint with a cane. Yes Yes Canned Foods There are some items that are not on the prohibited items list, but because of how they appear on the X-ray, security concerns, or impact of the 3-1-1 rules for liquids, gels and aerosols, they could require additional screening that might result in the item not being allowed through the checkpoint. We suggest that you pack this item in your checked bag, ship it to your destination or leave it at home. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Canoe/Kayak Paddles No Yes Car Parts Car engine parts and other car parts without fuel or traces of fuel are allowed in carry-on or checked bags. Car engine parts may be placed in checked bags only if the parts are packed in their original box and free of gasoline and oil. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. If you have questions regarding hazardous materials regulations, please see the FAA website. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Cast Iron Cookware No Yes Casts Yes Yes Cattle Prods No Yes Cell Phones Yes Yes Cereal Yes Yes Chapsticks Yes Yes Cheese (Creamy) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Cheese (Solid) Yes Yes Child Car Seat You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Chlorine for Pools and Spas No No Chocolate (liquid) Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Chocolate (Solid) Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Yes Yes Christmas Lights Yes Yes Cigar Cutters While cigar cutters are generally permitted, we recommend that you pack them in your checked baggage. TSA officers have the discretion to prohibit any item through the screening checkpoint if they believe it poses a security threat. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Cigarettes Yes Yes Cigars Yes Yes Clock Yes Yes CO2 Cartridge Except for personal medical oxygen cylinders, you can only carry an EMPTY compressed gas cylinder onboard a plane. To be permitted (in either carry-on or checked baggage), it must be clearly visible to the TSA officer that the cylinder is empty. No No CO2 Cartridge for Life Vest You may bring a life vest with up to two CO2 cartridges inside, plus two spare cartridges in your carry-on or checked bag. Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Coat Hangers Yes Yes Coffee (Beans or Ground) Yes Yes Coffee (Liquid) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Coffee Thermos (empty) You may take empty drink containers through the checkpoint and fill them afterward. Yes Yes Coffee/Espresso Maker Please carefully pack your electronics items and make sure all cords are wrapped. While you can pack expensive, fragile electronics items in checked or carry-on bags, we recommend packing them in your carry-on. Yes Yes Cologne Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Compressed Air Guns Including paintball markers, may be carried in checked baggage without compressed air cylinder attached. No Yes (Special Instructions) Concealer Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Conditioner Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Contact Lens Solution TSA allows larger amounts of medically necessary liquids, gels, and aerosols in reasonable quantities for your trip, but you must declare them to security officers at the checkpoint for inspection. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Contact Lenses TSA allows larger amounts of medically necessary liquids, gels, and aerosols in reasonable quantities for your trip, but you must declare them to security officers at the checkpoint for inspection. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes Yes Cooked Meat, Seafood and Vegetable (No Liquid) You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Cookies Yes Yes Cooking spray No No Cooler (empty) Yes Yes Corkscrews (with blade) Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Corkscrews (with no blade) Yes Yes Crackers Yes Yes Crampons No Yes Cream Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Creamy Dips and Spreads Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Cremated Remains We understand how painful losing a loved one is and we treat crematory remains with respect. Some airlines do not allow cremated remains in checked bags, so please check with your airline to learn more about possible restrictions. To facilitate screening, we suggest that you purchase a temporary or permanent crematory container made of a lighter weight material, such as wood or plastic. If the container is made of a material that generates an opaque image, TSA officers will not be able to clearly determine what is inside the container and the container will not be allowed. Out of respect for the deceased, TSA officers will not open a container, even if requested by the passenger. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Cricket Bats No Yes Crochet Hooks Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes Yes Crowbars No Yes Crutches Yes Yes Curling Iron (with cord) Yes Yes Cymbals Check with your airline prior to your flight to ensure your instrument meets the aircraft size requirements. Musical instruments must undergo screening when transported as carry-on or in checked bags. Musical instruments transported as carry-on require a physical inspection at the security checkpoint. Inform the TSA officer if your instrument requires special care and handling. Pack brass instruments in your checked bags. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Deodorant (aerosol) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Deodorant (liquid) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Deodorant (Solid) Yes Yes Desktop Computers Please remove the computer from your carry-on bag and place it in a separate bin for X-ray screening. Yes Yes Detergent (liquid) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Detergent (powder or pellet) Yes Yes Digital Cameras For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Disposable and Zippo Lighters Disposable and Zippo lighters without fuel are allowed in checked bags. Lighters with fuel are prohibited in checked bags, unless they adhere to the Department of Transportation exemption, which allows up to two fueled lighters if properly enclosed in a DOT approved case. Yes Yes (Special Instructions) Disposable Razor Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes Yes Divot Tools Yes Yes Dried Fruits Yes Yes Drills and Drill Bits No Yes Drones Drones are allowed through the checkpoint. Please check with your airline for their policy. Check with Airline Check with Airline Drumsticks Musical instruments must undergo screening when transported as carry-on or in checked bags. Musical instruments transported as carry-on require a physical inspection at the security checkpoint. Inform the TSA officer if your instrument requires special care and handling. Pack brass instruments in your checked bags. Yes Yes Dry batteries (AA, AAA, C, and D) Yes Yes Dry Ice The FAA limits you to 5.5 pounds of dry ice that is properly packaged (the package is vented) and marked. Airline approval is required. For more information, visit the FAA website. Check with Airline Check with Airline Dry Shampoo Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Duct Tape Yes Yes DVD Players For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Dynamite No No E-liquids Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Electric Blankets Yes Yes Electric Fans You may transport this item in carry-on or checked baggage. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Electric Razors Yes Yes Electronic Cigarettes and Vaping Devices The FAA prohibits these devices in checked bags. Battery-powered E-cigarettes, vaporizers, vape pens, atomizers, and electronic nicotine delivery systems may only be carried in the aircraft cabin (in carry-on baggage or on your person). Check with your airline for additional restrictions. Remove all electronic cigarette and vaping devices from carry-on bags if checked at the gate or planeside. Yes No Electronic Toothbrush Yes Yes Emergency Position-Indicating Radiobeacons (EPIRB) Check with Airline Check with Airline Empty Water Bottle Yes Yes Engine-powered Equipment Completely Purged of Fuel No amount of fuel may remain in the engine, including residual vapors. Even if completely purged, some airlines may refuse to allow engine powered equipment in carry-on if it has ever contained fuel. No Check with Airline Engine-powered Equipment with Residual Fuel Engine-powered equipment with residual fuel (e.g., chainsaws, generators, trimmers, etc.) is not allowed in carry-on or checked bags. No amount of fuel may remain in the engine, including residual vapors. Even if completely purged, some airlines may refuse to allow engine powered equipment in bags if it has ever contained fuel. No No English Christmas Crackers No No EpiPens TSA allows larger amounts of medically necessary liquids, gels, and aerosols in reasonable quantities for your trip, but you must declare them to TSA officers at the checkpoint for inspection. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes Yes Extension Cord Please carefully pack your electronics items, making sure all cords are wrapped and any DVDs, CDs, or cassettes are removed from their devices. While you can pack expensive, fragile electronics items in checked or carry-on bags, we recommend packing them in your carry-on. Yes Yes External Medical Devices Inform the TSA officer if you have a bone growth stimulator, spinal stimulator, neurostimulator, port, feeding tube, insulin pump, ostomy or other medical device attached to your body and where it is located before the screening process begins. You may provide the officer with the TSA notification card or other medical documentation to describe your condition. Submit the device for X-ray screening if you can safely disconnect. Consult with the manufacturer of the device to determine whether it can pass through the X-ray, metal detector or advanced imaging technology for screening. If you cannot disconnect from the device, it may require additional screening and those in sensitive areas are subject to careful and gentle inspection. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Eye Drops Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Eye Liners (liquid) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Fertilizer No No Fidget Spinners Yes Yes Film We recommend that you put undeveloped film and cameras containing undeveloped film in your carry-on bags or take undeveloped film with you to the checkpoint and ask for a hand inspection. Yes Yes Fire Extinguishers and Other Compressed Gas Cylinders No No Firearms Firearms carried in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at check-in. Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Firecracker No No Fireworks No No Fishing pole Fishing rods are permitted in carry-on and checked bags; however, passengers should check with the airline to confirm that the fishing rod fits within size limitations for carry-on items. Sharp fishing tackle that may be considered dangerous, such as large fish hooks, should be sheathed, securely wrapped, and packed in your checked bags. Like other high-value objects, you may wish to pack expensive reels or fragile tackle that does not pose a security threat (small flies) in your carry-on bags. Yes Yes Flammable Liquid, Gel, or Aerosol Paint No No Flammable Paints No No Flare Guns Flare guns in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, within hazardous material regulations, and declared to the airline at check-in. Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Flares No No Flashlights Flashlights longer than 7 inches (measured from end to end when assembled) are prohibited in carry-on bags; these items must be packed in your checked bags. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Flowers Fresh flowers are allowed through the checkpoint without water. Yes Yes Foam Toy Sword No Yes Football Helmets Yes Yes Fork Yes Yes Foundation Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Freezer packs Frozen liquid items and gel packs are allowed through the checkpoint as long as they are frozen solid when presented for screening. If frozen liquid items are partially melted, slushy, or have any liquid at the bottom of the container, they must meet 3-1-1 liquids requirements. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Fresh Eggs Yes Yes Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags within the continental United States. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Passengers flying from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland cannot take most fresh fruits and vegetables due to the risk of spreading invasive plant pests. Please visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture website for more information. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Fresh Meat and Seafood Meat, seafood and other non-liquid food items are permitted in both carry-on and checked bags. If the food is packed with ice or ice packs in a cooler or other container, the ice or ice packs must be completely frozen when brought through screening. If the ice or ice packs are partially melted and have any liquid at the bottom of the container, they will not be permitted. You also can pack frozen perishables in your carry-on or checked bags in dry ice. The FAA limits you to five pounds of dry ice that is properly packaged (the package is vented) and marked. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Frozen Food Meat, seafood, vegetables and other non-liquid food items are permitted in both carry-on and checked bags. If the food is packed with ice or ice packs in a cooler or other container, the ice or ice packs must be completely frozen when brought through screening. If the ice or ice packs are partially melted and have any liquid at the bottom of the container, they will not be permitted. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Fuels Any flammable liquid fuel, such as cooking fuel, is prohibited. No No Full Sized Video Game Consoles Please place the console in a separate bin for X-ray screening. Yes Yes Gas Torches No No Gasoline No No Geiger Counters Yes Yes Gel Ice Packs Frozen liquid items are allowed through the checkpoint as long as they are frozen solid when presented for screening. If frozen liquid items are partially melted, slushy, or have any liquid at the bottom of the container, they must meet 3-1-1 liquids requirements. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Gel-Type Candles No Yes Glass Yes Yes Glass Picture Frame Yes Yes Glass Vase (empty) Yes Yes Glow Sticks Glow sticks must follow the 3-1-1 liquids rule for carry-on bags. Please place them in a single, quart-size bag with other liquids, gels and aerosols. Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Golf Balls Yes Yes Golf Clubs No Yes Golf Tees Yes Yes Gravy Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Guitar Please check with your airline for their policy. Musical instruments must undergo screening when transported as carry-on or in checked bags. Musical instruments transported as carry-on require a physical inspection at the security checkpoint. Inform the TSA officer if your instrument requires special care and handling. Pack brass instruments in your checked bags. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Gum Yes Yes Gun Lighters No No Gun Powder Including black powder and percussion caps. No No Hair Clippers Yes Yes Hair Dryer Yes Yes Hair Gel Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Hair Straightener (Flat Iron) Yes Yes Hair Texturizer Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Hairspray Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Hammers No Yes Hand Grenades No No Hand Sanitizers Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Hand Warmers Yes Yes Handcuffs Yes Yes Harry Potter wand Yes Yes Headphones Yes Yes Heating Pad (Gel) No Yes Heating Pads (Electric) Yes Yes Helmets Yes Yes Hiking Poles No Yes Hockey Sticks No Yes Holiday lights Yes Yes Holsters Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. Yes Yes Honey Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Hoverboards Hoverboards are allowed through the checkpoint. Please check with your airline for their policy. Check with Airline Check with Airline Hummus Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Ice Frozen liquid items are allowed through the checkpoint as long as they are frozen solid when presented for screening. If frozen liquid items are partially melted, slushy, or have any liquid at the bottom of the container, they must meet 3-1-1 liquids requirements. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Ice Axes/Ice Picks Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Ice cream No Yes Inhalers TSA allows larger amounts of medically necessary liquids, gels, and aerosols in reasonable quantities for your trip, but you must declare them to TSA officers at the checkpoint for inspection. We recommend, but do not require, that your medications be labeled to facilitate the security process. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Insulin Please notify the TSA officer that you have diabetes and are carrying your supplies with you. Insulin pumps and supplies must be accompanied by insulin, and insulin in any form or dispenser must be clearly identified. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Insulin Pumps Please notify the TSA officer that you have diabetes and are carrying your supplies with you. Insulin pumps and supplies must be accompanied by insulin, and insulin in any form or dispenser must be clearly identified. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Insulin Supplies Please notify the TSA officer that you have diabetes and are carrying your supplies with you. Insulin pumps and supplies must be accompanied by insulin, and insulin in any form or dispenser must be clearly identified. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes iPod Yes Yes Jam and Jelly Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Jewelry If you are travelling with valuable items such as jewelry, please keep those items with you at all times (do not put them in checked baggage). You can ask the TSA officer to screen you and your valuables in private to maintain your security. Yes Yes Juice for Babies Formula, breast milk and juice for babies are allowed in reasonable quantities in carry-on bags. Remove these items from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings. Please see traveling with children for more information. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Juices Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Knitting Needles Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes Yes Knives Except for plastic or round bladed butter knives. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Kubatons No Yes Lacrosse Sticks No Yes Laptops Please remove the laptops from your bag and place it in a separate bin for X-ray screening. TSA Pre✓® travelers do not need to remove shoes, laptops, 3-1-1 liquids, belts or light jackets. Please see TSA Pre✓® for more information. Yes Yes Laser Hair Remover Yes Yes Leatherman Tools In general, you are prohibited from traveling with sharp objects in your carry-on bags; please pack these items in your checked bags. Scissors with blades smaller than 4 inches, small needles carried for special medical needs, and other sharp objects that do not contain a blade may be placed in carry-on bags. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes LED lights Yes Yes License plate Yes Yes Life Vest You may bring a life vest with up to two CO2 cartridges inside, plus two spare cartridges in your carry-on or checked bag. Yes Yes Light Bulbs Yes Yes Light Saber Sadly, the technology doesn't currently exist to create a real lightsaber. However, you can pack a toy lightsaber in your carry-on or checked bag. May the force be with you. Yes Yes Lighter Fluid No No Lipsticks Yes Yes Liquid Bleach No No Liquid Vitamins Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Lithium batteries with 100 watt hours or less in a device Lithium batteries with 100 watt hours or less may be carried in a device in either carry-on or checked bags. Loose lithium batteries are prohibited in checked bags. For more information, see the FAA regulations on batteries. Yes Yes (Special Instructions) Lithium batteries with more than 100 watt hours Lithium batteries with more than 100 watt hours may be allowed in carry-on bags with airline approval, but are limited to two spare batteries per passenger. Loose lithium batteries are prohibited in checked bags. For more information, see the FAA regulations on batteries. Yes (Special Instructions) No Live Coral Live corals in water and a clear transparent container are allowed after inspection by the TSA officer. Yes No Live Fish Live fish in water and a clear transparent container are allowed after inspection by the TSA officer. Yes No Live Lobster A live lobster is allowed through security and must be transported in a clear, plastic, spill proof container. A TSA officer will visually inspect your lobster at the checkpoint. We recommend that you contact your airline to determine your airline's policy on traveling with your lobster before arriving at the airport. Check with Airline Yes Longboards Yes Yes Lotion Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Magic 8 Ball For Carry-on bags: We asked the Magic 8 Ball and it told us…Outlook not so good! For Checked bags: We asked the Magic 8 Ball and it told us…It is certain! No Yes Magnets Yes Yes Makeup Remover Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Makeup Wipes Yes Yes Mallets No Yes Maple Syrup Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Martial Arts Weapons No Yes Mascara Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Meat Cleavers Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Medical Marijuana Possession of marijuana and cannabis infused products, such as Cannabidiol (CBD) oil, is illegal under federal law. TSA officers are required to report any suspected violations of law, including possession of marijuana and cannabis infused products. TSA’s screening procedures are focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers. Accordingly, TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs, but in the event a substance that appears to be marijuana or a cannabis infused product is observed during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer. No No Medically Necessary Personal Oxygen Personal medical oxygen cylinders are permitted through the screening checkpoint, however, the Federal Aviation Administration considers personal medical oxygen cylinders to be hazardous materials. You are not permitted to carry your own oxygen in the aircraft cabin. Please contact your airline for instructions on arranging oxygen service. Airlines are not required to provide oxygen service and many do not. Yes (Special Instructions) No Medications (Liquid) TSA allows larger amounts of medically necessary liquids, gels, and aerosols in reasonable quantities for your trip, but you must declare them to TSA officers at the checkpoint for inspection. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Medications (Pills) Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes Yes Metal Detector Because of the size limitations of overhead bins and space under seats, this item should be transported in checked bags. Due to airline polices on weight and size of checked bags, you should check with your airline for any potential guidelines for certain checked items. Check with Airline Check with Airline Microwave Microwave is allowed through the checkpoint. Please check with your airline for their policy. Check with Airline Yes Mirrors Yes Yes Mixer Mixer is allowed in carry-on bags. Please check with your airline for any size or weight restrictions. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes MREs Yes Yes Multi-tool without Blades Yes Yes Multitools In general, you are prohibited from traveling with sharp objects in your carry-on bags; please pack these items in your checked bags. Scissors with blades smaller than 4 inches and other sharp objects that do not contain a blade may be placed in carry-on bags. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Nail Clippers Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes Yes Nail File (metal) Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes Yes Nail Guns No Yes Nail Polish Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Nail Polish Remover Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Navigation GPS Yes Yes Nebulizers, CPAPs, BiPAPs, and APAPs Nebulizers, CPAPs, BiPAPs and APAPs are allowed in carry-on bags but must be removed from the carrying case and undergo X-ray screening. Facemasks and tubing may remain in the case. You may provide a clear plastic bag to place the device in for X-ray screening. A TSA officer may need to remove the device from the bag to test it for traces of explosives. Liquids associated with nebulizers are exempt from the 3-1-1 liquids rule. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Night Sticks No Yes Nitroglycerine Pills Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes Yes Non-Spillable Wet Batteries No more than two spare non-spillable wet batteries are allowed as long as each battery does not exceed 12 volts and 100 watt hours. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Nunchucks No Yes Nuts Yes Yes Oils and Vinegars Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Paintings Yes Yes Parachutes You may transport parachutes, either with or without Automatic Activation Devices, in carry-on or checked bags. Parachutes should always be packed separately from other baggage. If a TSA officer determines that a bag must be opened to inspect the parachute, you must be present to assist in the inspection. If you are not within the screening area, you will be paged using the airport intercom system; if you are not present to assist with screening the parachute, the parachute will not be allowed on the plane. For this reason, passengers with parachutes are encouraged to add 30 minutes to the airlines' recommended arrival window. TSA is not responsible for repacking parachutes. All parachutes should be thoroughly inspected at their end destination to make sure that the equipment is still safe to use. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Parts of Guns and Firearms Firearm parts, including magazines, clips, bolts and firing pins, are prohibited in carry-on, but may be transported in checked bags. Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Party Poppers No No Peanut Butter Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Pellet Guns Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Pen Yes Yes Pencil Sharpeners Yes Yes Pepper Spray One 4 fl. oz. (118 ml) container of mace or pepper spray is permitted in checked baggage provided it is equipped with a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge. Self-defense sprays containing more than 2 percent by mass of tear gas (CS or CN) are prohibited in checked baggage. For more information, visit faa.gov. We recommend checking with your airline as some may not allow this item in checked bags. No Yes Perfume Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Pet food (solid) Dry or "moist" pet food is considered solid food. Yes Yes Pet food (wet) Wet food must follow the 3-1-1 liquids rule for carry-on bags. There is no medical exemption for prescription pet food, even for service animals. Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Phone Chargers Portable chargers or power banks containing a lithium ion battery must be packed in carry-on bags. For more information, see the FAA guidance on portable rechargers. Yes Yes Pies and Cakes Yes Yes Pill Cutter Yes Yes Pillows Yes Yes Pizza Yes Yes Planting seeds Yes Yes Plants Check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Pocket Knife In general, you are prohibited from traveling with sharp objects in your carry-on baggage; please pack these items in your checked baggage. No Yes Pool Cues No Yes Pots and Pans Pots and pans are generally allowed in both carry-on and checked bags. However, cast iron skillets are prohibited in carry-on bags and must be placed in checked baggage. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Powder Makeup Yes Yes Power Banks Portable chargers or power banks containing a lithium ion battery must be packed in carry-on bags. For more information, see the FAA guidance on portable rechargers. Yes No Power Charger Portable chargers or power banks containing a lithium ion battery must be packed in carry-on bags. For more information, see the FAA guidance on portable rechargers. Yes No Power Inverters Yes Yes Printer Please remove the printer from your bag and place it in a separate bin for X-ray screening Yes Yes Printer Ink Yes Yes Propane No No Prosthetics Yes Yes Protein or Energy Powders Yes Yes Putty Balls Yes Yes Radio You may transport this item in carry-on or checked bags. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Rainbow Flame Crystals Many flame crystals contain HAZMAT. Passengers may bring flame crystals but only in checked baggage luggage. Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through checked baggage if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether to allow any item on the plane. Passengers should check the product label for indications of flammable contents or other hazards. No Yes Razor-Type Blades Box cutters, razor blades not in a cartridge are prohibited in carry-on. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Realistic Replicas of Explosives No No Realistic Replicas of Firearms No Yes Realistic Replicas of Incendiaries No No Recreational Oxygen Non-medically required, flavored or canned oxygen containers are prohibited. No No Remote Controlled Cars Please carefully pack your electronics items and make sure all cords are wrapped. While you can pack expensive, fragile electronics items in checked or carry-on bags, we recommend packing them in your carry-on. Yes Yes Rifle Scope (Scope Only) Firearms carried as checked baggage MUST be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at check-in. Read the guidelines. Check with your airline or travel agent to see if firearms are permitted in checked baggage on the airline you are flying. Ask about limitations or fees, if any, that apply. Yes Yes Rifles Firearms carried in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at check-in. Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Rocks Yes Yes Sabers Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Safety Matches One book of safety (non-strike anywhere) matches are permitted as carry-on items, but all matches are prohibited in checked baggage. Yes No Safety pin Yes Yes Safety Razor With Blades (allowed without blade) Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Salad Dressing Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Salsa and Sauces Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Salt Yes Yes Samsung Galaxy Note 7 The U.S. Department of Transportation, with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, have issued an emergency order to ban all Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone devices from air transportation in the United States. Individuals who own or possess a Samsung Galaxy Note7 device may not transport the device on their person, in carry-on baggage, or in checked baggage on flights to, from, or within the United States. For more information, read the announcement. No No Sand Yes Yes Sandwiches Yes Yes Saws Including cordless portable power saws. Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Scissors If packed in carry-on, they must be less than 4 inches from the pivot point. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Screwdriver (longer than 7 inches) Tools longer than 7 inches (measured from end to end when assembled) are prohibited in carry-on baggage; these items must be packed in your checked baggage. No Yes Screwdrivers (shorter than 7 inches) Yes Yes Segways Segways are allowed through the checkpoint. Please check with your airline for their policy. Check with Airline Check with Airline Self-Defense Sprays One 4 fl. oz. (118 ml) container of mace or pepper spray is permitted in checked baggage provided it is equipped with a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge. Self-defense sprays containing more than 2 percent by mass of tear gas (CS or CN) are prohibited in checked baggage. For more information, visit faa.gov. We recommend checking with your airline as some may not allow this item in checked bags. No Yes Selfie Stick Yes Yes Sewing Machine For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Sewing Needles In general, you may place your knitting needles and needlepoint tools in carry-on or checked baggage. Circular thread cutters or any other cutter or needlepoint tools that contain blades must be placed in checked baggage. You are permitted to keep scissors smaller than 4 inches in your carry-on baggage. Yes Yes Shampoo Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Shaving Cream Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Shell Casings Empty shell casings are allowed in carry-on bag as long as the projectile is no longer intact. They are allowed only if the primer has been removed or has been discharged. If the projectile is attached & the powder has been drilled out, it is considered a replica and not allowed in carry-on. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Shock collars Yes Yes Shoe Horn Yes Yes Shoe Tree Yes Yes Shoe/Snow Spikes Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs) is prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage. No Yes Skateboards Skateboards are allowed in carry-on bags. Please check with your airline for any size or weight restrictions. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Skates Including ice skates and rollerblades. Yes Yes Ski Poles No Yes Sleeping Bag Yes Yes Small Compressed Gas Cartridges You can only carry an EMPTY compressed gas cylinder onboard a plane. To be permitted (in either carry-on or checked baggage), it must be clearly visible to the TSA officer that the cylinder is empty. The gas cylinder regulator valve must be completely disconnected from the cylinder (in other words, the cylinder has an open end that allows the TSA officer to visually inspect the cylinder). TSA officers will NOT remove the seal or regulator valve from the cylinder. If the gas cylinder is sealed (i.e., the regulator valve is still attached), the gas cylinder is prohibited, regardless of the reading on the pressure gauge indicator. No No Small Fishing Lures Sharp fishing tackle that may be considered dangerous, such as large fish hooks, should be sheathed, securely wrapped, and packed in your checked luggage. Like other high-value objects, you may wish to pack expensive reels or fragile tackle that does not pose a security threat (small flies) in your carry-on baggage. Yes Yes Small Pets Small pets are allowed through the checkpoint. Please check with your airline for their policy. Please remove your pet from the carrying case and place the case through the X-ray machine. You should maintain control of your pet with a leash and remember to remove the leash when carrying your pet through the metal detector. Animal carriers will undergo a visual and/or physical inspection. Check with Airline Check with Airline Small Toy Cars Yes Yes Snacks Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked baggage. Yes Yes Snow Cleats Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs) is prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage. No Yes Snow Globes Snow globes that appear to contain less than 3.4 ounces of liquid (approximately tennis ball size) can be packed in your carry-on bag ONLY if the entire snow globe, including the base, is able to fit into your one quart-sized, resealable plastic bag. Each passenger can only bring one quart-sized bag with 3.4 oz or smaller containers. Larger snow globes must be packed in checked baggage. Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Snowboards Please check with your airline for any size or weight restrictions. Yes Yes Snowshoes Yes Yes Soap (Bar) Yes Yes Soap (Liquid) Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Soda Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Solar Panels For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Check with Airline Check with Airline Solid Candles Yes Yes Solid Foods Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked baggage. Yes Yes Solid Makeup Yes Yes Soups Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Sparklers No No Speakers For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Spear Guns No Yes Spices (dry) Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Yes Yes Spillable Batteries Except those in wheelchairs. No No Sports Cleats Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs) is prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage. Yes Yes Spray Paint No No Spray Starch No No Staplers Yes Yes Starter Pistols Starter pistols carried in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at check-in. Check with your airline to see if they allow firearms in checked bags. Read the guidelines for traveling with firearms. When traveling, be sure to comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international government. No Yes (Special Instructions) Steel Toe Boots To help officers get a clear look at your bag and reduce the need for additional screening, we suggest you pack your bag in neat layers. TSA Pre✓® travelers do not need to remove shoes, laptops, 3-1-1 liquids, belts or light jackets. Please see TSA Pre✓® for more information. Yes Yes Stick Pins Yes Yes Strike-anywhere Matches No No Stuffed Animals For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Stun Guns/Shocking Devices No Yes Sunscreen Sprays Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Supplements Yes Yes Support Braces (Knee, Ankle, Wrist, Back) Yes Yes Swiss Army Knife Except for plastic or round bladed butter knives. Any sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Swords Cutting or thrusting weapons, including fencing foils. Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Tablets Yes Yes Tampons Yes Yes Tape Measures Yes Yes Tattoo Guns Yes Yes Tattoo Inks Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Tea (dry tea bags or loose tea leaves) Solid food items (not liquids or gels) can be transported in either your carry-on or checked bags. Liquid or gel food items larger than 3.4 oz are not allowed in carry-on bags and should be placed in your checked bags if possible. Yes Yes Tea Kettle For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Tear Gas Self-defense sprays containing more than 2% by mass of Tear Gas are prohibited in both carry-on and checked baggage. No No Television Please carefully pack your electronics items and make sure all cords are wrapped. While you can pack expensive, fragile electronics items in checked or carry-on bags, we recommend packing them in your carry-on. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Tennis Rackets Yes Yes TENS unit TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) units are allowed in both carry-on and checked bags. If your doctor has told you that your specific TENS unit shouldn't go through an X-ray, you should notify the TSA officer so they can conduct alternate screening. To help you get through security more efficiently, remove your TENS unit from your carry-on bag and put it in the screening bin so the TSA officer can get a clear view of it. Yes Yes Tent Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Check with Airline Check with Airline Tent Spikes Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Thermometer Yes Yes Throwing Stars Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. No Yes Tobacco Yes Yes Tobacco Pipes Yes Yes Tools Power tools and all tools longer than 7 inches (measured from end to end when assembled) are prohibited in carry-on baggage; these items must be packed in your checked bags. No Yes Toothbrush Yes Yes Toothpaste Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Torch Lighters Torch lighters create a thin, needle-like flame that is hotter (reaching 2,500 F) and more intense than those from common lighters. Torch lighters are often used for pipes and cigars, and maintain a consistent stream of air-propelled fire regardless of the angle at which it is held. No No Tortilla Press Yes Yes Toy Guns and Weapons While these types of toys are generally permitted, we recommend that you pack them in your checked baggage. Squirt guns, Nerf guns, toy swords, or other items that resemble realistic firearms or weapons are prohibited. We recommend emptying water guns, which must follow the 3-1-1 Liquids Rule. Replicas of explosives, such as hand grenades, are prohibited in checked and carry-on baggage. TSA officers have the discretion to prohibit any item through the screening checkpoint if they believe it poses a security threat. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Toy Robots For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Tripods Yes Yes Trophy Yes Yes Turpentine and Paint Thinner No No Tweezers Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors. Yes Yes Umbrellas Umbrellas are allowed in carry-on bags. Please check with your airline for any size or weight restrictions. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Unused Syringes Unused syringes are allowed when accompanied by injectable medication. You must declare these items to security officers at the checkpoint for inspection. We recommend, but do not require, that your medications be labeled to facilitate the security process. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Used Syringes Used syringes are allowed when transported in Sharps disposal container or other similar hard-surface container. Learn more about transporting medication on your next flight. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Utensils Knives, except for plastic or round-bladed butter knives, are not allowed in carry-on bags. Yes Yes Vaccuum-sealed bags Vaccuum-sealed clothes bags are allowed but not encouraged. If they alarm, the TSA officer may need to open them for inspection. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Vacuum Robots Yes Yes Vacuum Sealed Bags Vacuum sealed clothes bags are allowed but not encouraged. If they alarm, we may need to open them for inspection. Yes Yes Vehicle Airbags No No Violins Musical instruments must undergo screening when transported as carry-on or in checked baggage. Musical instruments transported as carry-on require a physical inspection at the security checkpoint. Inform the TSA officer if your instrument requires special care and handling. Pack brass instruments in your checked baggage. Check with your airline prior to your flight to ensure your instrument meets the aircraft size requirements. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Vitamins Yes Yes Waffle Iron You may transport this item in carry-on or checked baggage. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes Walkers Yes Yes Walking Sticks No Yes Water for Babies Water for babies is allowed in reasonable quantities in carry-on bags. Remove this item from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings. Please see traveling with children for more information. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Wedding Dress You can bring a wedding dress through the security checkpoint for screening, but we strongly recommend that it is packed safely in a garment-style bag or other packaging to protect it during the screening process. We also recommend that you contact your airline to determine their policy for bringing and stowing the dress on the airplane, as well as how it fits into their carry-on bag limitations. If for some reason your dress cannot fit through the checkpoint x-ray machine for screening, alternate screening procedures will be taken to clear the dress and your garment bag will need to be opened. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes (Special Instructions) Wet Wipes Yes Yes Wheelchairs Yes Yes Wine bottle Alcoholic beverages with more than 24% but not more than 70% alcohol are limited in checked bags to 5 liters (1.3 gallons) per passenger and must be in unopened retail packaging. Alcoholic beverages with 24% alcohol or less are not subject to limitations in checked bags. Mini bottles of alcohol in carry-on must be able to comfortably fit into a single quart-sized bag. For more information, see FAA regulation: 49 CFR 175.10(a)(4). Yes (Less than 3.4oz/100 ml allowed) Yes Wrenches/Pliers Tools longer than 7 inches (measured from end to end when assembled) are prohibited in carry-on baggage; these items must be packed in your checked bags. Yes (Special Instructions) Yes Xbox Please carefully pack your electronics items and make sure all cords are wrapped. While you can pack expensive, fragile electronics items in checked or carry-on bags, we recommend packing them in your carry-on. For items you wish to carry on, you should check with the airline to ensure that the item will fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat of the airplane. Yes Yes

– While many travelers fret about whether they've exceeded the TSA limits for liquids in their carry-on luggage or whether they mistakenly packed their e-cigarettes in their checked bags (not allowed), others saunter right up to security checkpoints and baggage drop-offs with what the TSA calls "more offbeat items." The agency has compiled a short clip of the weirdest things its agents found in 2017, both in checked and carry-on luggage, and it's hard to imagine anyone would think these things would clear security. Here, the top five, which includes a scythe in a carry-on bag:

Indeed, gun control advocates believe that defeating Halvorson would send a message nationally that the climate has changed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in December. Still, Bloomberg’s ad onslaught comes as a number of Democrats have urged him to become a counterweight to the NRA when it comes to political spending, and as his aides have met with President Barack Obama’s advisers about coordinating on gun control efforts.

– To gauge how well the Newtown massacre translates into political reality, keep an eye on the special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr. in Chicago, reports Politico. Its story says New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pouring up to $2 million into the race via his super PAC to defeat Democratic frontrunner Debbie Halvorson, who gets an A rating from the NRA. The gun lobby group hasn't joined the fight by putting up ads for Halvorson, but Politico sees the race nonetheless as "ground zero of the national gun debate." An adviser to Bloomberg agrees: “The fact that it’s a special election, the fact that it’s in the middle of a national debate over the president’s plan … [there is an] understanding that it’s both a bellwether and a harbinger." The election is Feb. 26. President Obama, meanwhile, returned to Chicago last night to make his case not only for stricter laws but for stronger community intervention to fight gun violence, reports the Chicago Tribune. One of his key quotes: "There was something profound and uniquely heartbreaking and tragic, obviously, about a group of 6-year-olds being killed. But last year, there were 443 murders with a firearm on the streets of this city, and 65 of those victims were 18 and under. So that's the equivalent of a Newtown every four months."

The spots on the planet with the highest amount of lightning turn out to be Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela, where the combination of heat, humidity and wind from the surrounding Andes mountain range causes spectacular storms, and the far eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s another burning question: Where does lightning strike most frequently on the planet? Using data collected from two orbiting satellite sensors - the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite and the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) on the OrbView-1/Microlab satellite - NASA has put together a map of lightning strikes across the Earth, plotted by rate (number per square kilometre, per year). “We can examine seasonality, and variability through the day and year-to-year.” NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens using LIS/OTD data from the Global Hydrology and Climate Center Lightning Team.

– Bad news for us landlubbers: Lightning strikes more often here than it does on water, NASA reports. And things are particularly bad near the equator. In fact, some 90% of lightning on Earth strikes between the 38th parallels south and north, LiveScience reports. Want more specifics? A new NASA map reveals where lightning strikes occur most frequently, and Discovery reports the two top spots. One is northwestern Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo, which gets major storms thanks to local heat, humidity, and windiness. According to an io9 report from a few years ago, the area's residents experience so much lightning that they need to shut their blinds 300 nights per year; each night brings some 40,000 strikes. The other place is in the Democratic Republic of Congo's far east, between the country's Maiko National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve. That not-so-big area gets more than 10 million lightning strikes each year, the Weather Network reports, compared to the 2 million that all of Canada gets. As for why the equator experiences so much lightning—and why it happens more on land than on water—Popular Science explains that it's a result of heat. The equator is, of course, hot thanks to the amount of sun it gets; meanwhile, land gets hot faster than water does. The map comes from the data two satellites collected between 1998 and 2013. (Lightning could increase in the coming years.)

Story highlights National September 11 Memorial Museum is open to the public in New York The exhibition halls are filled with personal things as well as oral histories and photos Museum curator had the difficult task of deciding how much tragedy to show The museum is also about how people can be good to one another in times of crisis, curator says When does the ordinary -- letters, gloves, wallets -- become extraordinary? • Whether the presence in the museum of the "Ground Zero Cross,'' a cross section of steel I-beams found in the rubble that inspired many recovery workers, constitutes an endorsement of Christianity by a public institution. (From May 15th) Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY President Obama speaks during the opening ceremony for the National September 11 Memorial Museum at Ground Zero in New York City. We have to go through that to get to a more consensual place.'' Michelle and I just had the opportunity to join with others on a visit with some of the survivors and families—men and women who inspire us all—and we had the chance to visit some of the exhibits. Some were so brutalized that it's not hard to imagine the severe trauma to the heads those helmets were meant to protect. Jeffrey Melnick, a University of Massachusetts Boston cultural historian who has studied 9/11, says the museum's problem is the one that bedeviled redevelopment of the entire 16-acre World Trade Center site: "Too many different stakeholders trying to do too many different things in one place.'' Objects were all the families got back. But on Thursday at least one 9/11 survivor said he found the experience powerful. Hazem Gamal worked for OppenheimerFunds on the 34th floor of the South Tower. Among the controversies in which the museum has been embroiled over the past eight years: • Whether unidentified human remains recovered from Ground Zero should be kept in a private medical examiner's office site in the subterranean museum. "There were so many (firefighters) who died that sometimes you forget who lived and who died,'' he said. "If this project did anything for me, it has taught me to love every minute, love my family and friends, and take time to do the things that are really important." He had to change out his gloves frequently because they got so damaged. They didn't know where he came from, but they knew their lives had been saved by the man in the red bandanna. The hospitality tents had equipment and supplies donated by people from all over America. But the "Thank you" helped him get through trying days. At the event were Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, current Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Gov. Three years ago this month, after our SEALS made sure that justice was done, I came to Ground Zero. The front of the truck was on fire but it was still running and the lights were on. He knew their wives, their lives. Greenspan says the history that the museum seeks to convey to visitors "is still delicate.'' And from this day forward, all those who come here will have a chance to know the sacrifice of a young man who, like so many, gave his life so others might live. And today, as we saw on our tour, one of his red handkerchiefs is on display in this museum. Ramirez considers herself and her colleagues at the September 11 museum third responders.

– President Obama today helped dedicate the National September 11 Memorial Museum, and his comments opened with the recollection of a man who "emerged from the smoke, and over his nose and his mouth, he wore a red handkerchief." It was Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old working on the South Tower's 104th floor who, as Obama explained, had carried a red handkerchief with him since he was a child. And on 9/11, the "man in the red bandana" was a hero: "He called for fire extinguishers to fight back the flames. He attended to the wounded. He led those survivors down the stairs to safety, and carried a woman on his shoulders down 17 flights. Then, he went back, back up all those flights, then back down again, bringing more wounded to safety, until that moment when the tower fell. ... And today, as we saw on our tour, one of his red handkerchiefs is on display in this museum. And from this day forward, all those who come here will have a chance to know the sacrifice of a young man who, like so many, gave his life so others might live." In advance of his comments, Obama, the first lady, and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg toured the museum, whose seven stories hold artifacts from the attack, including what CNN calls the "ordinary": leather gloves (used during the recovery effort), a red wallet (owned by a Cantor Fitzgerald employee), a $2 bill (from the wallet of a victim who gave his wife one, too, as a reminder of their second chance at love). USA Today reports that 9/11 survivors, the victims' families, and first responders can visit for free between now and when it opens to the public (admission: $24) on Wednesday.

OXFORD, Ohio — If not for one Butler County Sheriff’s deputy, a local mother and her two children might have found themselves sleeping on the street. The next morning Deputy Brian Bussell pulled Gray into his office. '” Gray said Bussell loaded the family into his cruiser and took them to get food, then he paid for a hotel room for the family for the next 10 days, but that’s not all. According to Gray, the day ended with a shopping spree: new shoes and clothes for the kids, toiletries, snacks, and money out of the deputy’s own wallet. In a Facebook post Monday, said “(she) doesn’t know what (she) would have done” and said “no one sees the good in our officers.” Here is Gray's full, unedited Facebook post relating the story in her own words. “I’m thinking he’s going to say, ‘You guys can’t be here any longer… You have to find something else.’” But that’s not what Bussell had in store for Gray and her children. Finally, they turned to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for help, where they were met with blankets and allowed to stay in the lobby overnight, having only the clothes on their backs. In the meantime,Gray said family and friends are trying to gather enough money to get the young family a place to live.

– While feeling like she had finally hit rock bottom, a homeless mother of two found her guardian angel in the form of an Ohio sheriff's deputy, WCPO reports. Tierra Gray and her sons were rotating between the homes of friends, family, and church members after being evicted for failing to make a rent payment. On Saturday, with nowhere else to go, the family ended up staying at the Butler County Sheriff's Office. "My kids are here sleeping inside of a jail lobby," Gray tells WLWT. "I never thought I'd go through that, I mean, to that point. That right there was my breaking point." In the morning, she was approached by Deputy Brian Bussell. She thought he was about to kick them out, WCPO reports. Instead Bussell paid for a hotel room for Gray and her sons for 10 days while they looked for a new place to stay, WCPO reports. He also bought them food and new clothes. "There are good cops," Gray tells WLWT. "They're still out there. They're still heroes to our children." But Bussell wasn't done yet. With Gray's friends and family trying to pull together enough money for an apartment, Bussell used a connection to get them one, WLWT reports. It looks like they won't need all 10 days in that hotel: The family moves in Friday. "God has blessed us this week," Gray writes on her Facebook. "I don't know what I would have done." (An Indiana man's positive encounter with police is also going viral.)

I Won't Go to Jail Breaking News tells TMZ, his 270-day jail sentence for assault and false imprisonment is "ridiculous" and "absurd" ... and he won't rest until it's thrown out.As we reported, Francis was sentenced Tuesday for assaulting a woman at his home in 2011 and falsely imprisoning her friends, but on his way out of jail moments ago ... he still insisted, "I'm one hundred percent innocent.

– Your fondest dream has come true: Joe Francis, creator of that oh-so-classiest of franchises, Girls Gone Wild, has been sentenced to jail. Francis got a 270-day sentence yesterday for his conviction in a pretty crazy assault, but he assures TMZ he's not going anywhere. The sentence is "ridiculous" and "absurd," he says, and he's appealing it. It could take years for a judge to reject the appeal, TMZ explains, and Francis won't have to turn himself in until that happens. (Or he could win the appeal, which of course is what he predicts will happen.) "I'm 100% innocent and the evidence showed I'm 100% innocent and, I mean, there's really nothing else to say. I'm 100% innocent and the evidence showed it," Francis said. "There's no way that I kidnapped three girls in this car, this very car. ... There's no way I've ever had to force anyone to get in this car. Ever." Also included in his sentence: a year of psychological counseling and anger management, and three years of probation, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Play Facebook Twitter Embed University of Minnesota Football Team Returns To the Field 1:57 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog The University of Minnesota's football team will hit the field for the upcoming Holiday Bowl, they said Saturday, ending a brief boycott done in protest after 10 players were indefinitely suspended from the team. The suspension of the 10 players stems from a Sept. 2 incident in which a female student had sexual contact with players. Hutton, who is representing all 10 players, said he is working on their appeals. Play Facebook Twitter Embed University of Minnesota Football Team End Boycott 1:32 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog During a meeting Friday night with Kaler and university athletic director Mark Coyle, the students said they came to a different agreement: Allow the suspended players to get a "fair hearing" on the issue with a "diverse review panel" and have the school show greater support for the overall team. In making their decision, the team also acknowledged the issue of sexual assault — the reason that led to the players' suspension this week — and said finishing out the year was important. In the end, no players were ever arrested, and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office on Oct. 3 said it declined to press charges because of "insufficient" evidence. "We recognize that we must not let these people down." In a redacted police report, a police investigator said the sexual encounter with one player appeared to be consensual based on videos taken at the time and shown to police by the player, according to the Star-Tribune newspaper. But she was forced to have sex with others against her will, she said in court testimony in order to obtain a restraining order against five of the players.

– The University of Minnesota football team has ended its boycott of all football activities—meaning the team will compete in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27. NBC News reports the team announced the boycott Thursday after 10 players were suspended for an alleged sexual assault. Players were upset they weren't notified of the suspensions ahead of time and felt the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action investigation that led to them lacked "due process," according to NPR. The team met with school administrators Friday. They said they decided to end the boycott after "it became clear" the suspended students would not be reinstated. In return, they say the university agreed to give the suspended players a "fair hearing" with a "diverse review panel." The 10 players are facing a range of punishments from expulsion to a one-year suspension for the alleged gang rape of a female student in September, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The woman had been drinking when she went to a football player's apartment. According to police reports and her testimony, at least a dozen men got in line to have sex with her against her will. She says she "felt scared, trapped, isolated." She says the men ignored her cries for help, laughed at her, and cheered each other on. The accused players say the sex was consensual, and no criminal charges were filed. In a statement following the end of their boycott, the football team said, "There is no misperception: Sexual harassment and violence against women have no place on this campus, on our team."

– Plenty of observers see the Libya conflict in the shorthand of Obama vs. Gadhafi (as much as the US president objects), and the two main players made fresh appeals today: Gadhafi: In a 3-minute address on state television, he remained defiant, reports the BBC. "In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them," he said in during a visit to a site in Tripoli hit by bombs. "I am here, I am here, I am here." He also called for "all Islamic armies" to join the fight. "We will be victorious in the end." Obama: Amid reports of friction about which nation will take the lead once the US steps back, Obama declared in El Salvador that "I have absolutely no doubt that we will be able to transfer the control of this operation to an international coalition." Obama also spoke with Britain's David Cameron and France's Nicolas Sarkozy on the phone aboard Air Force One, notes the New York Times. Click to read Hillary Clinton's view that Gadhafi may be looking for an exit strategy.

First, I was able to place a call from my office — something which was impossible for me to do a week prior. On my first full day of testing, I did have several Verizon calls that dropped out for a few seconds, before recovering. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Finally, a lot has changed in the years it’s taken the iPhone to come to Verizon. Phones that run Google’s Android software have eaten a lot of the iPhone’s lunch. Yes, that’s a lot of footnotes and “yes, buts.” Even so, most people don’t care about overseas compatibility or simultaneous calling and surfing or Verizon’s tactics. Of course, Verizon customers who wait might be resentful if their version of the iPhone isn't upgraded at the same time as AT&T's. A huge part of that, of course, was the AT&T factor; people bought Android phones so they could be on Verizon’s network. And the millions of iPhone 4s that Apple has sold so far are testament to that. This Verizon version of the iPhone 4 seems to have none of the same antenna issues. (Contrary to blogger belief, the redesign doesn’t help with the famous Death Grip issue, in which holding the phone in a certain way makes your signal bars drop. They want an iPhone — an iconic, beautiful, fast, elegant iPhone — that doesn’t drop calls. network entailed four adjustments, some of which you won’t like. In numerous tries over nine days, I had only three dropped calls on the Verizon unit, and those were all to one person who was using an AT&T iPhone in an especially bad area for AT&T: San Francisco. My guess is that the most common things you'd want to check while talking would be your calendar, contacts and notes. Last time this happened — to AT&T — the weight of all those bandwidth-sucking iPhones swamped the network, causing interruptions that persist to this day. For millions of iPhone owners, or would-be iPhone owners, who dislike AT&T's wireless service or prefer Verizon Wireless service, liberation is at hand. (Google doesn’t screen or supervise what’s on the Android store, as Apple does. Prices for voice and data plans are a bit different. Starting Feb. 10, Apple's iconic smart phone finally will be available in the U.S. on a second carrier, Verizon, instead of just on AT&T, which has been the exclusive iPhone network since the device launched in 2007. The AT&T model handled both voice and data everywhere I tried it there. In these many tests, despite a few Verizon victories here and there, AT&T's network averaged 46% faster at download speeds and 24% faster at upload speeds. Many other app phones have it — AT&T says its iPhone will get it soon — but Apple’s execution is especially nice. It’s not a big deal, but those buttons no longer fit existing AT&T iPhone cases. Then again, the problem emerges only when you’re in a very weak signal area, so you’ll see it less often on Verizon. As sort of an aside, the one other issue brought up when taking about CDMA versus GSM is that the CDMA version of the iPhone won’t be able to roam internationally. For many countries, particularly those in Europe, that is true. Bottom line: In my tests, the new Verizon version of the iPhone did much better at voice calling than the AT&T version, and offers some attractive benefits, like unlimited data and a wireless hot-spot capability. For now, if you’re going to be doing a lot of traveling, you’re likely to be out of luck. Hotspot The big new feature that was touted at the press conference unveiling the Verizon iPhone was the “Personal Hotspot” option. Up to five laptops, iPod Touches or other gadgets can get online, using the phone as a glorified Internet antenna. But when you hang up, you can push one button to resume. That’s hugely important, because these personal hot spot features are merciless battery drains. The Verizon wireless hot-spot plan costs $20 a month for 2 gigabytes of data, but gets expensive if you run over: $20 for each extra gigabyte. That is something AT&T once offered new customers, but has since replaced with capped plans offering fixed amounts of data at $15 or $25 a month. Officials at both Apple and Verizon will only say they don't intend to make Verizon customers unhappy, but that could mean anything. If the top of your screen says “3G,” an indication that you’re in a high-speed Internet area of Verizon’s network, incoming calls take priority and interrupt your online connection. In my tests, I was easily able to transfer all my apps, music, photos, settings, music and videos from the AT&T iPhone to the Verizon model, using iTunes, and I didn't run into any apps or media that failed to work as expected. Of course, the iPhone still wins on battery life, simplicity and both the quality and quantity of the app store. Even if Verizon’s network is the best in America, its policies and prices are still among the worst. If you’re an AT&T iPhone customer at the end of your contract who lives in an area with poor AT&T service, you need to get to an Apple or Verizon store next week to get this updated device. If you’re an AT&T iPhone customer still on contract who lives in an area with poor AT&T service, I would definitely consider getting this updated device. It may be a few hundred dollars out of pocket, but think of that compared to what you’ve paid to AT&T over the years. If you’re an AT&T iPhone customer still on contract who lives in an area with good AT&T service, then no, this probably isn’t the device for you. If you’re a non-iPhone user who is interested in checking it out but has been waiting for it to come to Verizon, this is absolutely for you. The caveat to all of this is that it’s well known that Apple releases a new version of the iPhone every summer. So if you buy this iPhone 4 on Verizon right now, know that there’s a good chance that an iPhone 5 will be out in six months or less. One can only hope that Apple and Verizon would do the right thing and allow the early Verizon iPhone adopters to upgrade to the iPhone 5 for a heavily discounted (if not fully subsidized price). Hell, we don’t even know for sure that Verizon will get the iPhone 5 this summer. This is the company that just eliminated its “new phone every two years” discount policy, that just cut its new-phone return policy to 14 days from 30, that doubled its early-termination fee (to $350 if you cancel your two-year contract before it’s up). Also, because Verizon's iPhone—like most other Verizon phones—doesn't work on the world-wide GSM mobile-phone standard, you can't use it in most countries outside the U.S. AT&T's iPhone does work on this standard, and can be used widely abroad, albeit at very high roaming rates.

– The iPhone 4 has finally arrived on Verizon, and what that means is … now you can actually make successful phone calls on your iPhone. Reviewers give it a thumbs-up: “The Verizon iPhone is nearly the same as AT&T’s iPhone 4—but it doesn’t drop calls. For several million Americans, that makes it the holy grail,” writes David Pogue in the New York Times. In five cities, including San Francisco and New York (“the two Bermuda Triangles of AT&T reception”), the Verizon version successfully held a call to a landline while the AT&T version dropped it, sometimes more than once. OK, the “holy grail” did drop one call, and AT&T has better coverage in some areas, but the bottom line is: “The Verizon iPhone has more bars in more places.” Walter S. Mossberg concurs that the Verizon version is “much, much better with voice calls,” and it also has “the ability to use the phone, for an extra monthly fee, as a Wi-Fi hot spot for Internet connectivity to multiple laptops or other devices,” a feature he found to work fine. But, he writes in the Wall Street Journal, “if you really care about data speed, or travel overseas, and AT&T service is tolerable in your area, you may want to stick with AT&T.” “It’s here. And yes, it works. Beautifully,” writes MG Siegler on TechCrunch. “I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been to walk through the city while being able to maintain a phone call, or Internet connection. Naturally, there are still a few places I was unable get service, but they’re typically places where it’s understandable—like underground.” The stellar reviews did come with some caveats (Verizon's "policies and prices are still among the worst" in America, Pogue writes). Click through for more reasons you might want to hold off on buying a Verizon iPhone.

Now, the Los Angeles Times, almost in passing, reports something which, if true, would be a much more serious violation of core rights than delaying Miranda warnings - namely, that prior to the magistrate's visit to his hospital room, Tsarnaev had repeatedly asked for a lawyer, but the FBI simply ignored those requests, instead allowing the interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group to continue to interrogate him alone: "Tsarnaev has not answered any questions since he was given a lawyer and told he has the right to remain silent by Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler on Monday, officials said. "Until that point, Tsarnaev had been responding to the interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, including admitting his role in the bombing, authorities said. A senior congressional aide said Tsarnaev had asked several times for a lawyer, but that request was ignored since he was being questioned under the public safety exemption to the Miranda rule." That's why Marcy Wheeler was arguing from the start that whether Tsarnaev would be promptly presented to a federal court - as both the Constitution and federal law requires - is more important than whether he is quickly Mirandized. The problem is that we're unlikely to get much transparency on this issue because to the extent that national politicians in Washington are complaining about Tsarnaev's treatment, their concern is that his rights were not abused even further: "Lawmakers were told Tsarnaev had been questioned for 16 hours over two days. Injured in the throat, he was answering mostly in writing. "'For those of us who think the public safety exemption properly applies here, there are legitimate questions about why he was [brought before a judge] when he was,' said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), a former federal prosecutor who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. "Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the committee, wrote Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asking for a full investigation of the matter, complaining that the court session 'cut off a lawful, ongoing FBI interview to collect public safety information.'"

– In a recent Los Angeles Times article about suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Glenn Greenwald spotted a tidbit that appalled him (emphasis Greenwald's): "Tsarnaev has not answered any questions since he was given a lawyer and told he has the right to remain silent by Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler. Until that point, Tsarnaev had been responding to the interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, including admitting his role in the bombing, authorities said. A senior congressional aide said Tsarnaev had asked several times for a lawyer, but that request was ignored since he was being questioned under the public safety exemption to the Miranda rule." If that detail is true—and Greenwald acknowledges that it's a bit thinly sourced—then we should all be concerned. This is a much bigger deal than delaying the reading of Tsarnaev's Miranda rights. "This is a US citizen arrested for an alleged crime on US soil: There is no justification whatsoever for denying him his repeatedly exercised right to counsel," writes Greenwald in the Guardian. Worse, no one in Washington cares, because they're more concerned that Tsarnaev's rights weren't violated even further—they're piling on the judge who finally Mirandized him. You may not like Tsarnaev, writes Greenwald, but you should still be concerned over the way he's treated. As Thomas Paine put it in 1795, "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." Click for Greenwald's full column.

Story highlights The two U.S. troops were killed by an Afghan soldier in eastern Afghanistan The deaths raise the number of troops killed in such attacks to at least 42 A group of Afghan soldiers turn their guns on their own unit, killing 10, officials say The Interior Ministry says the Taliban is behind the killings of 17 people An Afghan soldier killed two American troops Monday in the latest attack by Afghan security forces on coalition soldiers, authorities said. Afghan authorities, meanwhile, are investigating the attack by five soldiers on their own unit in Helmand's Washir district, which killed 10 people and wounded four, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand's provincial governor. Earlier reports by the Interior Ministry that said the victims were beheaded were incorrect, according to Ahmadi, who said the 17 were either shot or stabbed. The Interior Ministry says the attack happened Sunday in Helmand province and that gunfire was also involved.

– Taliban insurgents beheaded 17 men and women yesterday for participating in a music event in Afghanistan's Helmand province, officials report. The decapitations occurred after people gathered for a celebration, and were playing music and dancing, according to the chief of the Musa Qala government. They were apparently punished for breaking religious strictures. The area where the slaughter took place is completely in Taliban control. Gunfire was also reported by witnesses, so the victims may have been shot before they were beheaded, AP reports.

This time, LPGA star Lexi Thompson took center stage, and the blunder cost her a major championship. As Thompson was putting on the 12th hole during the final round, the Golf Channel commentators began talking about a rules infraction that had recently been brought to their attention — but it happened in the third round. Officials deliberated for two hours before informing Thompson that she had replaced her ball an inch away from its original position on a 1-foot putt on the 17th hole Saturday. Officials retroactively assessed Thompson with a two-stroke penalty for playing from the wrong place, plus an additional two strokes for signing an incorrect scorecard after the third round. RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – A stunned Lexi Thompson received a four-stroke penalty walking off the 12th green Sunday at the ANA Inspiration. Thompson called the ruling "ridiculous" and fought tears on the 13th tee as she prepared to hit her drive. Thompson lost the tournament on the first sudden-death hole to Soyeon Ryu. — Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) April 3, 2017 Who the F#*k is sitting at home zooming in on that stuff?? UPDATE: The LPGA released the following statement.

– Lexi Thompson is taking a "very needed" three-week break after what she describes on Instagram as "an emotional day." The professional golfer was taking part Saturday in the ANA Inspiration championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif., when she did something that no one noticed—except for a sharp-eyed viewer who emailed the golf association a day later after spotting the infraction, Golf.com reports. The rules violation: Thompson picked up her ball to mark it before a putt, then put it back in the wrong place. Officials on Sunday reviewed the video, then docked Thompson four strokes in total (two for the ball that was misplaced by an inch, two for signing an incorrect scorecard) and notified her as she was leaving the 12th hole, per Golfweek. "Is this a joke?" a stunned Thompson said, calling the ruling "ridiculous." She was leading the tournament when informed of the infraction but suddenly found herself trailing by two strokes. She managed to rally, only to lose in a playoff to So Yeon Ryu. An LPGA official involved in making the call says she doesn't think the ball-moving was intentional and that it "made me sick" to have to penalize Thompson. Even Tiger Woods weighed in, tweeting, "Viewers at home should not be officials wearing stripes." (Thompson was once the youngest person ever to win an LPGA competition.)

The senior Walton was born Ronald Stan, a Canadian living in the former Township of East Williams, Middlesex County until September 29, 1977, when he was reported missing after a mysterious early-morning barn fire. Provincial police in Ontario pieced together the story of Stan in July, when they reopened the file on his disappearance as part of a routine audit of the case file. CTV Ontario Provincial Police Middlesex County OPP Const. Laurie Houghton with the Middlesex County OPP attributed the resolution of the case to modern investigative techniques not available in 1977. “We were able to connect the dots.” Stan, who was 32 years old when he disappeared, is considered legally dead in Canada. He was declared deceased by a court in 1986, nearly a decade after his disappearance amid circumstances that still remain murky. “They were my father’s pigs in that barn. "I remember that one quite well because we dug through dead pigs and so-on with our boots on, and had done our very best to find human remains," retired firefighter Jim Walsh told CTVNews. Laurie Houghton, pictured, said that charges are not expected to be filed against Stan, who has been living under the name of Jeff Walton.

– In 1977, a man went missing after a barn fire in Ontario; in 1986, with no sign of him, authorities declared Ronald Stan dead. Turns out they were wrong: He has now turned up again after decades, and he's living in Oklahoma, CTV reports. Stan went missing at age 32. He's now known as Jeff Walton, and he's 69, CTV notes. Police say they can't offer information as to why he went missing. "I’m still trying to put all the puzzle pieces together myself," Walton's son, Jeff Jr., tells the Toronto Star. Walton Jr. learned of his father's previous identity this month from police; his stepmother hadn't known, either. One uncle in Canada, however, does appear to have seen Stan in 1997: "He came up when his dad died," the uncle says. How police found him isn't entirely clear; the case was reopened in a routine audit, the Star notes, and new police methods solved it. "There's a lot that's available to us now for investigative tools that wasn't available to us back in 1977. As a result, we were able to connect the dots, essentially, and lead us to the state of Oklahoma," an officer tells that paper, per the New York Daily News. "It’s been tough on me, but he’s still my father," says the son of Walter/Stan. "It doesn’t change the man I knew for 35 years." No criminal charges are expected. (Elsewhere, police suspect a champion boat racer faked his own death.)

When we first encounter her, Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) seems to have grown, though perhaps not in the most constructive ways. She drinks a lot, pulls at her hair and seems generally unconcerned with other people. Spurred on by a birth announcement she interprets as a cry for help, Mavis returns from Minneapolis to her hometown of Mercury, Minn., intent on rescuing her high school boyfriend Buddy (Patrick Wilson) from a life of what she assumes to be parental misery. We assume that a romantic comedy will turn on the redirection of desire from the wrong person to the right one. That was impeccable young adult logic, but “Young Adult” itself is a little more complicated, and much harsher. The supporting characters provide the homespun humanity Mavis lacks, especially Wilson as her Minnesota Nice former beau, and Elizabeth Reaser as his fun-loving wife. Looking on mockingly is Matt (Patton Oswalt), a wisecracking former classmate of Mavis and Buddy's. He is also a reminder of the brutal underside of high school, which Mavis chooses to remember as a time of power and glory. And yet Mavis can look at him and complain, without irony, about how much she has suffered in her life. If Ms. Theron hadn’t already appeared in a film called “Monster” (for which she won an Oscar), that title might suit “Young Adult” just as well. Directed by Jason Reitman; written by Diablo Cody; director of photography, Eric Steelberg; edited by Dana Glauberman; production design by Kevin Thompson; costumes by David C. Robinson; produced by Mr. Reitman, Ms. Cody, Russell Smith, Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich and Mason Novick; released by Paramount Pictures.

– Young Adult, from the writer/director team behind Juno, stars Charlize Theron as a selfish thirtysomething returning to her hometown with the belief that she can win over her high school boyfriend—who's now married with a kid. Critics love it, though it can be hard to take: The film "systematically demolishes a china shop full of shopworn sentimental touchstones about—for starters—high school, small-town life, heterosexuality, Minnesota, and the capacity of human beings to change, learn, and grow," notes AO Scott in a New York Times' Critics' Pick review. "In this tale of stunted development, Theron is a comic force of nature, giving her character considerable density and humanity despite her monstrous aspects," observes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. "But fair warning: The laughs in Young Adult leave bruises." Several critics don't expect it to be an immediate fan favorite. "After the screening I attended, everyone on the elevator (other than me) was visibly angry about the movie they’d just watched. But I admired Young Adult for its chutzpah and Theron for her go-for-broke performance," writes Dan Kois in Slate. In the Star Tribune, Colin Covert agrees. "Audiences may not embrace Mavis," Theron's character, "immediately—she's too spiky for that. But there's little doubt that in time she'll join Marge Gunderson and Juno McGuff as another of Minnesota's enduring and iconic film characters."

But clashes between pro- and anti-Trump forces were too much for museum brass to justify the art project.

– Shia LaBeouf's "He Will Not Divide Us" project was supposed to be livestreamed for the duration of Donald Trump's presidency, meaning a minimum of four years. Instead, on Friday, 3 weeks into said presidency, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens announced that it was shutting the project down, Page Six reports. LaBeouf had confronted a white supremacist on the livestream and even got himself arrested for another confrontation, but those weren't the only problems. TMZ reports there were other physical altercations, and the NYPD had started patrolling the area regularly. The department said there were "numerous arrests" related to the project. Locals had also complained about noise, drug use, and public urination from guests who came to ogle the "He Will Not Divide Us" painted on the museum's wall where the camera was mounted. In the space where the livestream used to be on the project's website, it now simply says, "THE MUSEUM HAS ABANDONED US." The next presidential inauguration occurs 1,440 days from today. (Click for a list of crazy things Shia has done.)

Hachette paid the $500,000 in question, according to the Aug. 26 complaint, as part of a $2 million advance in 2010 for Smith's next two books. Hachette claims their 2010 deal specified that the first book would be "a sequel to or spinoff of" Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and the second would be on a topic to be determined by the author subject to Hachette's written approval. "At the request of BGI and Smith, Hachette twice extended the delivery date for Book #2 from the original contractual date of June 3, 2013 ... totaling in all an extension of 34 months," writes Hachette's attorney Alexander Gigante. The deal also gave the publisher termination rights if any manuscript was delivered more than 60 days after it was due. The title had to be in the same style as "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," but Smith's personal-services company Baby Gorilla could pick the novel's subject, according to the complaint. The publisher claims it was "in large part an appropriation of a 120-year-old public-domain work," materially varies from the agreed-upon word limit and is on a subject Hatchette never approved in writing.

– When Seth Grahame-Smith published the hit novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with Hachette Book Group in 2009, which sold more than 2 million copies and was translated into more than 20 languages, he was largely credited with "unleashing" zombie mashups on the world, as the Guardian reports. But the emerging literary mashup genre, which involves reinterpreting older classics with new thematic elements, such as zombies and werewolves, may invite some confusion as to how much of the content need be original, and Grahame-Smith's own narrative is a case in point: Hachette is now suing him for $500,000, a portion of the advance it paid him to write a sequel they are calling a dud, reports Courthouse News Service. The original agreement, according to court documents, specified that Grahame-Smith would write two more novels following his 2010 hit Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. He delivered on the first of the two, The Last American Vampire, which was published in 2015. But Hachette alleges that the other manuscript he delivered in June 2016—it was originally supposed to arrive in 2013—was never approved and "varied so materially and substantially from that described in the agreement" that the publishing house wants its advance back. It even alleges that Grahame-Smith didn't file an original work at all, but "an appropriation of a 120-year-old public-domain work." Grahame-Smith hasn't commented publicly on the lawsuit, notes the Hollywood Reporter. (See how Detroit toyed with zombies.)

Advertisement A video clip showing Bill Clinton shaking hands with election clerks at Holy Name, alongside Mayor Martin J. Walsh, had some people on Twitter questioning the former president’s appearance indoors. It was there that he spoke with workers, bought a cup of coffee, and apparently took a photo with one woman, according to press pool reports. “We have heard about it, and the clerks have been instructed and the campaign has been instructed that 150 feet is the rule,” said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin’s office. Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for Walsh’s office, said Walsh joined Clinton to thank poll workers, but “they were not campaigning inside the polling location.” McNiff was asked if Clinton’s presence would, on its own, constitute a solicitation. “How is this legal?” a second person asked on social media. Secretary of State William F. Galvin told the New York Times that he had to remind election workers that “even a president can’t go inside and work a polling place.” “He can go in, but he can’t approach voters,” Galvin said. Advertisement When one woman asked for a photo with him in West Roxbury, he replied, “As long as we’re not violating any election laws,” according to a pool report.

– Hours before his wife was named the Massachusetts primary winner on Super Tuesday, apparent political novice Bill Clinton strolled into a polling station in Boston. Standing with Mayor Marty Walsh at the Holy Name Parish School, Clinton greeted poll staff and voters and even kissed an elderly woman on the head, reports Boston.com. When one woman asked to take a photo with him, he responded, "as long as we're not violating any election laws," reports MassLive.com. He might have done just that. The office of Massachusetts' Secretary of State William Galvin notes Hillary Clinton's campaign had to be "reminded" that state election rules bar the solicitation of a vote within 150 feet of a polling location. The former president had also entered a polling station in Newton, reports the Boston Globe. When asked if his presence alone was a violation, a rep said, "He's a well-known person and he's a spouse of a candidate. That should answer the question." Galvin, however, says Clinton was permitted in polling stations as long as he didn't solicit votes. "We just took the extra precaution of telling them because this is not a usual occurrence," he tells the New York Times. Galvin adds Clinton is "not from here so he may not know" the rules, noting penalties are only dished out in cases of "absolute disobedience," per CBS Boston. A rep for Walsh says he and Clinton "were not campaigning inside the polling location."

CLOSE On Wednesday, December 20, statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis were removed from Memphis parks Wochit Buy Photo December 20, 2017 - People gather to watch workers removing the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue from Health Sciences Park on Wednesday night. The City Council unanimously approved the sale of Health Science Park, home of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, and its easement on Fourth Bluff Park, home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, for $1,000 each to Memphis Greenspace Inc. Fourth Bluff, or Memphis Park, is owned by a group called The Overton Heirs. The sale — which is almost certain to result in a lawsuit from statue supporters — allows Greenspace to legally do what the city of Memphis cannot: Remove the statues from their visible perches in the parks, Chief Legal Officer Bruce McMullen said. He said they would be stored in an undisclosed location for security reasons. CLOSE The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis at Fourth Bluff Park in downtown Memphis was taken down Wednesday, Dec. 21. Video by Daniel Connolly/ The Commercial Appeal "Health Sciences Park and Memphis Park have been sold," Mayor Jim Strickland said in a social media post soon after the vote. “History is being made in Memphis tonight,” he said at a news conference later in the evening. MEMPHIS — The City Council here voted Wednesday to sell two city parks with Confederate monuments, clearing the way for two statues to be removed before the city commemorates the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. After the vote, Memphis police quickly deployed from the riverfront area near the Interstate 40 welcome center in Downtown and cordoned off the parks with yellow crime scene tape. Live video from Health Sciences Park captured cheers as the statue of Forrest was lifted off its marble base and placed on a flatbed truck late Wednesday. “Honestly, each city needs to be able to do what’s best for themselves.” U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, released this statement, referencing the graves of Forrest and his wife currently resting under the statue: “I commend Mayor Strickland and the City Council for finding a way to legally remove statues from an era that is not representative of Memphis today and have remained an affront to most of the citizens of Memphis,” Cohen said. The Tennessee Historical Commission voted Oct. 13 to deny the city's application to remove the Forrest statue, prompting the administration to appeal the decision to Chancery Court and, separately, to argue before an administrative law judge that the city has the authority to remove the statue without a waiver. By 10:30 p.m., cranes had maneuvered into Memphis Park and around a statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Protesters have called for the removal of the Forrest statue, saying it represents racism and bigotry. At about 10:45 p.m. it was dangling aloft by thick yellow straps from a crane, minutes later, the statue was settled onto the back of a truck. But he was also a pre-war slave trader, alleged war criminal, and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan — a group he later renounced.

– Two Confederate statues came down in Memphis on a dramatic night that had been months in the planning. Statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest were removed from two parks Wednesday night after the city sold the parks to a nonprofit called Memphis Greenspace Inc. for $1,000 each, the Commercial Appeal reports. The City Council voted unanimously earlier Wednesday to sell the parks, a move that allowed the legal removal of the statues. The city had been barred from taking down the Confederate statues under the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, which bans the removal or renaming of memorials on public land, the New York Times reports. In October, a state agency rejected the city's request to waive the heritage law and allow the removal of the two statues. The Greenspace nonprofit was incorporated the same month. Memphis Chief Legal Officer Bruce McMullen says the two statues will be stored in an undisclosed location, the AP reports. The Times reports that onlookers cheered as a crane lifted the statue of Forrest—a former slave trader, alleged war criminal, and early Ku Klux Klan member—from its pedestal, with some chanting "Hey hey! Ho ho! That racist statue has got to go." "History is being made tonight," said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in a long series of tweets explaining the move, which comes ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Memphis assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In the end, Pegula got the team.

– Twitter user @MommaLynch24—also known as Delisa Lynch, mother of Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch—channeled her inner mama bear after President Trump attacked her son in a tweet Monday. "What NFL team do Trump own?" she asked. "Oh yeah they wouldn't let him have one!" She was apparently referring to Trump's failures to buy an NFL team, including in 2014, when he was outbid for the Buffalo Bills, Sports Illustrated reports. Lynch himself rarely makes public comments, though he had plenty of defenders after Trump called for him to be suspended for refusing to stand for the anthem, reports the Washington Post. Among them was Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who said the "bully-in-chief" should worry about his approval ratings instead of "picking on people."

The species, named Patagotitan mayorum, is thought to have weighed around 62 tonnes and measured more than 35 metres from nose to tail. Advertisement Patagotitan lived 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, and was a sauropod – a huge plant-eater with a long tail and neck, that stood on four legs.

– One hundred million years ago, a sauropod that stretched more than 120 feet and weighed some 70 tons existed—perhaps the largest creature to ever roam the Earth. Over the past few years, researchers have excavated fossils from six young-adult dinosaurs from a Patagonian quarry, and New Scientist puts stats for Patagotitan mayorum in perspective: The creature would have been the length of about seven elephants. The AP estimates it would have been as heavy as a space shuttle, with team member Diego Pol noting that placing Patagotitan next to a T. rex would be like putting "an elephant by a lion." Per the Atlantic, that means the plant-eating Patagotitan was double the size of the already-huge brachiosaurus and apatosaurus, and about 10% larger than the reigning dinosaur giant, a titanosaur known as Argentinosaurus. As the study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal details, this find sheds more light on how sauropods in the 12- to 20-ton range saw their mass triple, evolving into lognkosaurs, of which Patagotitan is a member. Charlotte Brassey, a Manchester Metropolitan University researcher not tied to the study, speculates that this animal from the Cretaceous period ballooned in size perhaps due to increasingly diverse and abundant plants that were like an "all-you-can-eat buffet for these dinosaurs," the AP notes. Brassey notes that the Patagotitan's skeleton, metabolism, or behavior (or all of these things) could have changed and spurred the growth spurt. "Maybe someone can find a bigger [dinosaur], but I feel like maybe this is the limit," study co-author Jose Carballido says. (This dinosaur devoured sharks.)

The meeting involving members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee followed President Donald Trump calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "dishonest" and "weak" after the Group of 7 summit in Quebec over the weekend. Freeland's visit comes after President Donald Trump insulted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the... (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators from both parties sought to mend a frayed relationship with Canada during a closed-door meeting Wednesday with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. "We applaud Prime Minister Trudeau's effort in helping us in the world," Menendez said he told the foreign minister. As with most intimate relationships, there have been rough spots. Bruce Heyman, former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said he believes the Trump administration is determined to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and has created "an anti-Canadian narrative" that will help him when he pulls the plug.

– Senators from both parties sought to mend a frayed relationship with Canada during a closed-door meeting Wednesday with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. The meeting involving members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee followed President Donald Trump calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "dishonest" and "weak" after the Group of 7 summit in Quebec over the weekend. Per the AP, Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the committee, said senators expressed concerns about the president's use of a national security waiver to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada. Corker said he believes it's an abuse of presidential authority. Corker has sponsored legislation that would require Congress to sign off on such tariffs, called Section 232 tariffs, but he has struggled to get a vote. Many Republicans are reluctant to pick a fight with Trump over trade right now as he seeks better deals with China and a slew of US allies. Freeland said Canada values its relationship with the US. However, she called the administration's use of Section 232 tariffs "frankly absurd." She added that the action is illegal under World Trade Organization rules and the North American Free Trade Agreement, "and we have raised cases in both tribunals." She said the answer to the dispute was simple: "The US has to remove these unfair, illegal tariffs from Canada and from its allies." Trump enraged US allies Canada, Mexico, and the European Union two weeks ago by slapping tariffs on their steel and aluminum shipments to the US; most other countries have been paying the tariffs since March.

The 48% of voters who wished to Remain in the European Union are so mortified by the Leave result that a parliamentary petition calling for a second referendum is swelling in signatures. ‘We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum,’ the petition, filed pre-referendum, reads. At the time of writing, the petition is difficult to access, presumably due to a surge of traffic. The count is at 55,000 right now and climbing at roughly a thousand signatures a minute. Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month All petitions to the site that receive over 100,000 signatures must be considered for debate in Parliament by law, as was the case with the cannabis legalisation one. Update 9:04am: petition.parliament.uk completely inaccessible. Update 11:54am: The 100,000 threshhold is passed, with 101,526 signees. Update 5:12pm: 145,570 and climbing *Live coverage of the EU referendum fallout and Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation* Shape Created with Sketch. 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 1/6 More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 2/6 No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 3/6 Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation – a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods – food and clothes being the most obvious – but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 4/6 Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 5/6 Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economy’s future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6/6 And we wouldn’t even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years’ time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images 1/6 More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 2/6 No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 3/6 Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation – a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods – food and clothes being the most obvious – but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 4/6 Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 5/6 Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economy’s future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6/6 And we wouldn’t even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years’ time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images Of course, a second referendum would almost certainly be rejected, as referenda are not the sort of thing you get a second crack at. Britain voted to leave the European Union by a narrow margin yesterday, with a turnout of 72 per cent. Leave won the referendum with 51.9 per cent (17,410,742 votes), while Remain finished on 48.1 per cent (16,141,241 votes). David Cameron, who backed the Remain campaign, announced his resignation outside Downing Street this morning. He said that it was “not right” for him to be “the captain that steers the country” in a new direction. With his voice breaking, he continued: “I Iove this country and will do everything I can to serve it,” but added “the will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.” Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London (which overwhelmingly voted Remain), insisted there is "no need to panic" in light of the Brexit, but said that "we all have a responsibility to now seek to heal the divisions that have emerged throughout this campaign - and to focus on that which unites us, rather than that which divides us."

– As for what the "EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum" petition has to say, you may have to take the Independent's word for it: The petition.parliament.uk site was mostly down this morning, ostensibly due to an inability to keep up with the flow of traffic to it. The Independent reports that the petition requests the "HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum." Per the Guardian, turnout fell shy of that mark, at 72.16%; Leave captured 52% of the vote. Petitions that hit 100,000 signatures must be addressed by Parliament; after several tries, Newser accessed the petition, which was up to 104,029 signatures.

Image copyright Facebook Image caption Canadian film-maker Rob Stewart went missing after diving off the coast of Florida The body of a Canadian film-maker who disappeared off the coast of Florida has reportedly been found. "There are no words," says a Facebook post by Stewart's sister Alexandra. "We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved. We are working on how best to honour his incredible work." The Stewart family kindly asks that they are given some private time to grieve. He was in the area filming a sequel to his documentary “Sharkwater.” Body of diver Mr Stewart reportedly found @ depth of 220 ft by ROV assist to Key Largo Vol Fire Dept. He has also written two books Described by co-producer Tyler MacLeod as a "warrior for this planet and a warrior for what's right" His family issued a statement after the announcement. "Unfortunately it is with a heavy heart that I share Rob has been found. We are deeply saddened but take comfort that he passed while doing what he loved," family spokeswoman Victoria Gormley wrote, according to Canadian broadcaster CBC. Mr Stewart's friends fundraised and crowdsourced for volunteers to help with the search after he went missing. Went missing on Tuesday The Toronto filmmaker and conservationist went missing Tuesday evening during a dive off the Florida Keys. A coast guard spokesperson said Stewart was "diving on a wreck off of Islamorada" with three other divers when he disappeared. While it wasn't clear what made Stewart go back underwater, his sister, Alexandra Stewart, told CBC Toronto earlier this week that it was a "particularly difficult" dive, going to a depth of nearly 70 metres. pic.twitter.com/pTzrazLbBd — D Films (@DFilms) February 4, 2017 Stewart was best known for directing and producing the 2006 film “Sharkwater,” a critically-acclaimed conservation film that helped get shark finning banned worldwide. He was in Florida filming its sequel, according to his social media accounts. The film is credited with boosting shark conservation around the world His second film Revolution suggested that environmental collapse could end human life. It blossomed to a love of the marine, leading Stewart to study biology in school at the University of Western Ontario and zoology and marine biology in Kenya and Jamaica. Toronto Mayor John Tory and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, among others, have expressed condolences to Stewart's family. The Coast Guard solicited volunteer help, as did film distributor D Films, which worked with Stewart and considered him a “dear friend” of the company.

– The body of an award-winning Canadian filmmaker was found Friday, three days after he disappeared while diving in the Florida Keys, the BBC reports. Rob Stewart, 37, was diving at the site of a shipwreck Tuesday while filming a sequel to his 2006 documentary Sharkwater. He disappeared after surfacing following a dive, and his family believes he may have passed out. The US Coast Guard—and others—scoured 5,500 square miles for Stewart's body and had just announced it was calling off the search when Stewart's body was found. According to Variety, his body was discovered by a remote operated vehicle 220 feet underwater. It was only about 300 feet from where Stewart had surfaced and disappeared, CBC reports. Stewart's family describes him as being found "peacefully in the ocean." His sister says their family is "happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved." In addition to being a filmmaker, Stewart was a conservationist. Sharkwater, which won more than 40 awards, was instrumental in getting the practice of shark finning banned internationally.

SAN FRANCISCO — Facing accusations that Uber executives turned a blind eye to sexual harassment and other corporate misbehavior, the ride-hailing service’s board moved on Sunday to shake up the company’s leadership, ahead of the release this week of an investigation’s findings on its troubled culture. In addition, a representative for Uber’s board said the directors “unanimously voted” to adopt all of the recommendations made in a report by the former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr., who was retained to investigate the company’s culture.

– Privately valued at $70 billion and operating in 80 countries, Uber seems to have as much potential as it does scandal. And that’s precisely what its board members are meeting about Sunday, reports the New York Times, when they’re set to discuss a possible leave of absence of CEO and cofounder Travis Kalanick. During the meeting, the board will also review an exhaustive investigation into the company’s troubles led by former attorney general Eric Holder and his Covington & Burling colleague Tammy Albarran. The report, known as the "Holder Investigation" by insiders, seeks to shed light on the seemingly nonstop scandalous headlines that have painted Uber’s work culture as toxic. Among other things, the job of senior VP Emil Michael is reportedly in danger. Before Sunday’s meeting, few had seen the report, which was launched in February after a former engineer detailed alleged sexual harassment that resulted in workplace repercussions in a viral blog post. One source told Recode that its findings were “ugly” and “a story of a workplace gone wrong in a lot of key ways.” Though the months-long investigation involves hundreds of interviews, the Times points out that Kalanick and members close to him have more voting power than the rest of the board given their “founder-friendly” governing structure, essentially giving them the power to ignore its recommendations. But empty gestures from the top can backfire, warns attorney Stephen Hirschfeld: “It can have an even worse impact on company morale if people already know it’s a total joke.”

Richard Martinez — the father of a 20-year-old victim of the rampage unleashed by Elliot Rodger near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus — read a statement announcing his son Christopher's death on Saturday but funneled his grief into an emotional speech about in the U.S. Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed 2:38 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog "Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA (National Rifle Association)," Martinez passionately accused. "They talk about gun rights but what about Chris' right to live? "When will this insanity stop?" ADVERTISEMENT Richard Martinez said his son, Christopher, was "a really great kid," adding that his death “has left our family lost and broken.” Christopher Martinez was one of six people who were killed by Elliot Rodger, 22, on Friday evening in the town of Isla Vista, officials said. RICHARD MARTINEZ: "When will enough people say: 'Stop this madness! And Rodger, the son of a Hollywood director, had three previous run-ins with police, all within a year of his carefully planned massacre, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Saturday. And in perhaps the most telling evidence of Rodger's state of mind, a family member called police to alert them of videos the had posted on YouTube "regarding suicide and the killing of people," according to a family attorney. "When will enough people say, stop this madness, we don't have to live like this? We should say to ourselves, 'not one more.'" Santa Barbara’s mayor, Helene Schneider, said Sunday that California “has very strict laws.” She said lawmakers need to focus on “the national healthcare system in our country.” The California Firearms Laws Summary addresses mental health, but only people who are voluntary patients in mental health facilities are barred from legally purchasing firearms.

– Richard Martinez lost his son in Elliot Rodger's shooting spree, and yesterday publicly lashed out at those he holds responsible for Chris Martinez's murder: "Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?" Martinez says his family is "lost and broken," and that Chris Martinez was "a really great kid." NBC reports that the NRA has thus far kept its silence on the shooting, and has not responded to requests for comment. Rodger obtained his guns legally. Continued Martinez, as per the Hill: "You don't think it will happen to your child until it does. When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say, stop this madness, we don't have to live like this? Too many have died. We should say to ourselves—not one more."

“All I can say is: Gen. Powell, you disappoint us,” McCain said Thursday on Fox News Radio’s “Kilmeade and Friends.” “And you have harmed your legacy even further by defending what is clearly been the most feckless foreign policy in my lifetime.” Text Size - + reset Colin Powell endorses Obama Sununu: Powell's endorsement of Obama race-driven Colin Powell over the years Play Slideshow Powell, a retired four-star general, had endorsed Obama over McCain in 2008. Piers Morgan’s question was whether Colin Powell should leave the party, and I don’t think he should," Sununu said. “I think one of the sad aspects of his career is going to the United Nations Security Council and telling them things about Iraq that were absolutely false,” McCain said, though he said he is an “admirer” of Powell’s.

– John Sununu is co-chair of Mitt Romney's campaign and thus not happy that Republican Colin Powell endorsed President Obama. But the former White House chief of staff raised eyebrows last night on CNN with how he dismissed its importance: "When you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to look at whether that's an endorsement based on issues or he's got a slightly different reason for endorsing President Obama," he told Piers Morgan. "I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him." That immediately roused the Twitters with accusations of the race card, and Sununu soon walked it back in a statement: "Colin Powell is a friend and I respect the endorsement decision he made and I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president's policies." John McCain also criticized the endorsement, notes Politico, but he kept race out of it: “All I can say is: Gen. Powell, you disappoint us,” McCain said on Fox News Radio. “And you have harmed your legacy even further by defending what has clearly been the most feckless foreign policy in my lifetime.” While he was on the subject, he blasted Powell's "absolutely false" presentation to the UN before the Iraq war in 2003.

The heartbreaking chronicle of little Bea, subjected to public humiliation and the Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right diet (sort of a "kid-oriented" version of Weight Watchers), begins thus: As Bea grew I was relieved to cross several items off my mental checklist of possible issues she might develop. "Yeah, but it's got a lot of dressing on it and we're trying--" "Just olive oil!" • Not letting Bea partake in "Pizza Fridays" at school • Making Bea go without dinner because she ate "nearly 800 calories of brie, filet mignon, baguette and chocolate" at school for French Heritage Day (I wish I went to that school) Also a red flag: Weiss admits to having had issues with food her whole life, including obsessive dieting, fasting, using laxatives, etc. We all know that the reasons we eat or deprive ourselves of food don't always coincide with appetite. ), Weiss chose to project her own self-loathing onto her daughter. Which is, of course, the opposite of Weiss's approach: Sometimes Bea's after-school snack was a slice of pizza or a gyro from the snack vendor. "Other days I forced her to choose a low fat vegetable soup or a single hard-boiled egg. Occasionally I'd give in to her pleas for a square of coffee cake, mainly because I wanted to eat half of it. When she was given access to cupcakes at a party, I alternated between saying, "Let's not eat that, it's not good for you"; "Okay, fine, go ahead, but just one"; "and "Bea, you have to stop eating crap like that, you're getting too heavy," depending on my mood. Then I'd secretly eat two when she wasn't looking." I don't think it will ever be for either of us. An anonymous blogger for New York magazine added: "I'm pretty sure Weiss just handed her daughter the road map to all her future eating disorders." After Bea lost 16 pounds—meeting her mom's weight-loss goal for her before a Vogue photoshoot—Weiss wrote about her daughter's reaction: "That's still me," she says of her former self. "I'm not a different person just because I lost sixteen pounds." I protest that indeed she is different. The thing is, she fully acknowledges that, stating, "Who was I to teach a little girl how to maintain a healthy weight and body image?" A tear rolls down her beautiful cheek, past the glued-in feather. "Just because it's in the past," she says, "doesn't mean it didn't happen."

– When Dara-Lynn Weiss wrote in Vogue about her yearlong struggle to help her clinically obese 7-year-old daughter lose 16 pounds, she probably wasn't expecting quite the level of backlash that has ensued. Yahoo has highlights from Weiss's article, including her admission that she herself has struggled with eating and body image issues her entire life. Among the tactics Weiss used with daughter Bea: depriving her of dinner because she ate 800 calories at school during "French Heritage Day," refusing to allow her to participate in "Pizza Fridays" because she once added a corn salad on the side, and angrily dumping out her Starbucks hot chocolate when the barista couldn't tell her exactly how many calories it contained. Yahoo rounds up some reactions: Katie Baker pulls no punches on Jezebel, writing that Weiss "has to go down in history as the one of the most fucked up, selfish women to ever grace the magazine's pages." Yes, Weiss found herself in a complicated and difficult situation, but "the obvious fact that Weiss was projecting her hatred of her own body onto her child throughout her yearlong diet" is "truly disgusting." On Fashionista.com, Dhani Mau notes an incident in which Weiss steps between her daughter and a salad nicoise, physically preventing her from eating it. "This may have not been the best way to set up the article if she wanted the reader to believe her to be a sane, reasonable person," Mau writes. "Weiss comes across as obsessive and the fact that she made such an issue of her daughter’s weight, both in public and in Vogue—seems wrong." "Rather than identifying the cause of the overeating … Weiss chose to project her own self-loathing onto her daughter," writes an anonymous blogger and mom in New York. "I'm pretty sure Weiss just handed her daughter the road map to all her future eating disorders."

"After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump," Cruz wrote in a Facebook post "A year ago, I pledged to endorse the Republican nominee, and I am honoring that commitment. Mr Cruz said he would fulfil his promise to vote for the Republican nominee and that electing Hillary Clinton would be "wholly unacceptable". Mr Trump responded to the Cruz reversal by saying he was "greatly honoured" to have the endorsement of "a tough and brilliant opponent". The move -- three days before Trump's critical first debate with Clinton -- comes as the Trump and Cruz camps have moved closer in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Trump campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who previously worked for a super PAC supporting Mr Cruz, expressed her relief on social media. Like many other voters, I have struggled to determine the right course of action in this general election," Mr Cruz announced in a Facebook post. The two men clashed repeatedly during the primaries, as Trump taunted the senator with the nickname "Lyin' Ted," suggested Cruz wasn't eligible to be president due to his Canadian birthplace, and even speculated that Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination. Trump also said Cruz should "be careful" or he would " spill the beans on your wife ," and retweeted an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016 On his last day of the GOP campaign -- the Indiana primary in early May -- Cruz let loose against Trump , calling the businessman a "serial philanderer," "utterly amoral," and "a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen. At the RNC in Cleveland, Cruz gave a memorable speech espousing conservative values but ended without endorsing Trump, as Trump allies booed from the convention floor. Image copyright Twitter Analysis - Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington By endorsing Donald Trump now - after all the heat he took for his "vote your conscience" stand in July - Mr Cruz appears to be acknowledging two realities. "I'm not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father," Cruz told members of the Texas delegation . The Texas senator has to run for re-election in 2018, and he faces the threat of a pro-Trump primary challenger. At the Republican National Convention in Ohio, Mr Cruz refused to throw his support behind the official Republican nominee while giving a speech during a primetime slot. He also suggested that Mr Cruz's father, Rafael Cruz, was connected to the assassination of US President John F Kennedy.

– Ted Cruz believes an "utterly amoral" "serial philanderer" who's also an unprecedented "narcissist" and "arrogant buffoon" should be the next leader of the free world. That's right: Cruz has officially endorsed Donald Trump for president. In a Facebook post Friday, Cruz says he's decided to vote for Trump "after many months of careful consideration, of prayer, and searching my own conscience." He cites his own stance as "#NeverHillary" and Trump's positions on energy, immigration, national security, and more as reasons to vote for a man he once said some very negative things about. According to CNN, Cruz previously said he wouldn't endorse Trump after Trump implied Cruz's father may have been involved in the JFK assassination and insulted Cruz's wife's looks. While CNN calls it a "stunning" move, the BBC notes there are a few reasons Cruz may have changed his tune. One, Trump now appears to have a better shot at winning—or at least not embarrassing himself—lessening the chances Cruz can say "I told you so." It also now appears that "Trump-ism is the future of the Republican Party," and Cruz has to worry about facing a pro-Trump primary opponent in 2018. In a statement, Trump says he's "greatly honored by the endorsement." Trump had previously said he wouldn't accept an endorsement from "Lyin' Ted" Cruz.

Protest timeline 31 May: Protests begin in Gezi Park over plans to redevelop one of Istanbul's few green spaces 3 June: Protesters establish camps with makeshift facilities from libraries to food centres 4-10 June: Protests widen into show of anti-government dissent in towns and cities across Turkey; clashes between police and demonstrators 11/12 June: Night of clashes see riot police disperse anti-government demonstrators in Taksim Square, which adjoins Gezi Park; camps in the park remain 13 June: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issues a "final warning" to protesters to leave Gezi Park 14 June: Government agrees to suspend Gezi Park redevelopment plans until a court rules on the issue, PM holds talks with members of a key protest group 15 June: Protesters vow to continue occupying Gezi Park Q&A: Protests in Turkey Why is Gezi Park so important? No amount of gas can keep us out of the park.” By 3 a.m. Sunday, the police were chasing protesters in the streets in Istanbul near the contested park, firing tear gas, water cannons and, according to many demonstrators, rubber bullets. Media caption Quentin Sommerville reports from Gezi Park: "The mood here in the park still remains defiant" Five people have died and thousands have been injured since the protests began on 31 May, spreading to the adjacent Taksim Square a day later and then to other towns and cities across Turkey.

– Yesterday, Turkey's government offered to stop pushing the redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park until after a court ruling; today, protesters say that's not enough. They plan to hold their ground, they say, per the BBC: "We will continue our resistance in the face of any injustice and unfairness taking place in our country," says the Taksim Solidarity Group of demonstrators. "This is only the beginning." The decision comes after Taksim Solidarity members discussed the government's offer with fellow protesters, prompting calls of "Cowards! Liars! Sheep!" the New York Times reports. "The government thinks the solidarity group represents all of us, and the rest are extremists and terrorists, but that is just not true," says a protester. "We do not have a representative." The stance could pave the way for new clashes with police, the Times notes. The capital, Ankara, saw just such action last night as police cleared protesters with tear gas and water cannons; some 30 protesters were reportedly arrested, the BBC notes.

– Some rare good news in the fight against climate change: Plants are an even greater ally than we knew, absorbing around 16% more carbon than previously thought, according to new research. University of Texas researchers took a fresh look at climate models and at how CO2 is absorbed by plants, analyzing the way it spreads inside leaves, reports the BBC. "There is a time lag between scientists who study fundamental processes and modellers who model those processes in a large-scale model," says one of the authors of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers say the findings could help clear up some discrepancies in current climate models. The findings suggest "it will be slightly easier to fulfill the target of keeping global warming below 2 degrees—but with a big emphasis on 'slightly,'" says a climate modeler at Britain's Center for Ecology and Hydrology, explaining that emission cuts in the next few decades "will still have to be very large" to hit that target. An energy systems analyst at Melbourne University agrees that cuts are still vital. A larger carbon turnover in plants doesn't necessarily mean greater carbon storage, he tells the Australian, "in the same way that larger cash turnover in a business does not necessarily result in larger profits." (Another recent study predicted that if CO2 levels continue to increase, we'll have "big plants but nothing to eat" by 2070.)

Caption The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clinton’s rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. But the new numbers gave Sanders five delegates and Clinton three. "We are very gratified that we not only won the pledged delegates in Colorado, we apparently won them by a larger margin." Palacio downplayed the discrepancy, saying the site with the results — coloradocaucus.org — "is only used for reporting to the press. The official results were reported correctly, but when they dialed them in using the touch-tone, it looks like something got transposed."

– Bernie Sanders was shorted a delegate in Colorado's March 1 caucus after—in the words of the state's Democratic Party chairman—"a little weirdness" happened when vote totals were punched in, the Denver Post reports. Chairman Rick Palacio says a "reporting error" by a volunteer resulted in Sanders getting 570 votes—nearly 4%—fewer than he should have. The Colorado Democratic Party realized the error a week after the caucus and corrected it but didn't publicly acknowledge it until the Post discovered it Monday. "It was an embarrassment on our part for sure," Palacio says. And while the party discussed the new results with the Clinton campaign last week, it didn't inform the Sanders campaign because, as Palacio puts it, "it didn't necessarily affect" them. The Sanders campaign found out about the situation from the Post on Monday. The shift of one delegate can have big ramifications for both campaigns in Colorado. The new tally gives Sanders 39 delegates to Clinton's 27 with 12 superdelegates in play. Clinton was expected to get the support of the superdelegates and end up taking a majority of Colorado's total delegates. Now the best she can do is tie Sanders. And if Sanders picks up even one of the two superdelegates who remain undecided, he takes the majority. This is undeniably good news for Sanders, but don't get too excited yet. The Washington Post reports Clinton still has a huge delegate lead over Sanders—even without taking superdelegates into consideration—and "will almost certainly be her party's nominee."

Rescue workers rushed to Langham Place on Argyle Street after the one of longest indoor escalators in Hong Kong suddenly stopped and reversed direction at around 4pm Saturday.

– At least 18-people were injured Saturday in Hong Kong when a 150-foot-long escalator suddenly stopped and reversed, speeding up as it sent shoppers tumbling, the South China Morning Post reports. The escalator travels between the fourth and eighth floors of the shopping mall at Langham Place; it's one of the longest escalators in Hong Kong. It was acting as an "up" escalator Saturday afternoon when what officials believe was a malfunction instantly turned it into a "down" escalator. Witnesses estimate it sped up to anywhere between twice and quadruple its normal speed. Shoppers lost their footing and fell, piling up at the bottom of the escalator. Others tried to run up it or jumped over the sides. "I heard screaming," one witness says. "People started to panic." Another witness says the escalator reversed "so sudden that people couldn't respond in time." One of the injured shoppers was in serious condition with a head injury. A spokesperson for Langham Place says the escalator passed its most recent inspection on Thursday. Officials are investigating the cause of the malfunction. Video of the scary scene can be seen here and here.

They want to know when it's going to happen and what it's going to look like. Possibly in just a couple of years with the "coming collapse of the international monetary system." A lot can happen over 25-years as our country struggles to recover from this." Editor's Note: Money Morning has released their exclusive interview with Jim Rickards to the public. The goal of Jim Rickards’ Strategic Intelligence is simple — help you prepare and profit from the coming collapse of the dollar. However, suffice to say we think Mr. Rickards is way off in his political if not economic analysis. But what you can be certain of, is that there is going to be an avalanche.

– A CIA analyst known for his dire economic predictions is speaking up again, warning that the next Great Depression may be right around the corner. Jim Rickards, a "financial threat and asymmetric warfare adviser" for the CIA, tells Money Morning that Americans should be preparing for a $100 trillion financial catastrophe. "Everybody knows we have a dangerous level of debt," he says. "Everybody knows the Fed has recklessly printed trillions of dollars. ... But all signs are now flashing bright red that our chickens are about to come home to roost." Another reason for gloom: According to Rickards, the so-called Misery Index maintained by the Federal Reserve contains far worse data than most people believe. The Misery Index adds the true unemployment rate with the true inflation rate, but Rickards contends that the Fed has altered the index's calculations in order to hide the truth—that "the Misery Index has reached more dangerous levels than we saw prior to the Great Depression," he says. "This is a signal of a complex system that's about to collapse." His prediction? A "70% stock market crash" followed by a 25-year depression, possibly sparked by a "major credit collapse" in China, he tells Reuters. His advice? Invest in "hard assets" like railroads, coal, wheat, or gold. Again, he's not known for mild predictions: In a recent monthly newsletter, Rickards claimed that by 2020, all G-20 gold will be hidden under a Swiss mountain to keep it away from the world's economic system, Goldseek reports.

A wide array of progressive groups drew tens of thousands of activists to the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday for a rally aimed at firing up their members and showcasing the diversity of their movement. They say the message is about job creation, quality education and justice. In a fiery speech that opened the "One Nation Working Together" rally on the National Mall, MSNBC host Ed Schultz blamed Republicans for shipping jobs overseas and curtailing freedoms. The more than four hours of speeches, poetry and music were buttressed with testimonials from out-of-work Americans, immigrants, veterans and Native Americans. Schultz told the raucous crowd of thousands. Saturday's gathering featured many speakers; at times it appeared that organizers wanted to give everyone an opportunity to have their say. "It's time for Democrats to stand up and fight for what they believe in. One Nation organizers said they began planning their event before learning about Beck's rally, and said Saturday's march is not in reaction to that.

– Left-leaning supporters staged a rally of their own in Washington today. Tens of thousands of progressives gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for the "One Nation Working Together" rally, reports the Washington Post. The goal of the event—organized by groups including the NAACP and the AFL-CIO—is to counter the rallies held by tea partiers of late and to gin up support among Democrats a month before the midterm elections, says the Post. "This is a defining moment in America," MSNBC host Ed Schultz told the crowd. "Are you American? This is no time to back down." He borrowed a sentiment from Glenn Beck, who conducted a DC rally of his own last month, and urged the crowd to "take back our country." Except Schultz blamed Republicans and big corporations, notes AP.

An autopsy will be held to determine cause of death.” Dyson – who also worked on Superman II, Moonraker and Dragonslayer – was nominated for an Emmy award for his film special effects supervision.

– The man who created Star Wars' most famous droid has died. Tony Dyson, the British inventor who built R2-D2, was found dead at his home in Malta, on the island of Gozo, the Guardian reports. He was 68. "A neighbor realized the front door was open and called the police," a police spokesman says. "Officers entered the apartment and he was found dead." Foul play is not suspected and an autopsy will be conducted. Gizmodo and the Telegraph note that R2-D2 was brought to life through a collaborative effort that included a designer, special effects and sound effects crew, and actor Kenny Baker, who donned the R2 costume. But it was Dyson who actually built the droid and "brought the blue and white astromech into beeping, whirring existence," per the Telegraph. (Check out the original R2-D2 blueprint Dyson tweeted out a couple of years ago.)

First Lady Michelle Obama and guests applaud as President Barack Obama delivers his 2014 State of the Union address. | John Shinkle/POLITICO STATE OF THE UNION 2015 Who’s sitting with Michelle Obama at State of the Union First lady Michelle Obama’s guests for Tuesday’s State of the Union address include the man who was jailed in Cuba, an astronaut and an immigration reform advocate, the White House said Monday. The guest list Rebekah Erler (Minneapolis) Letter writer Rebekah Erler, 36, is a working mother from Minneapolis. When her husband Ben’s construction business dried up amid the recession, she enrolled in community college and got work as an accountant to help keep her family afloat. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP) Victor Fugate (Kansas City, Mo. ), letter writer Fugate first wrote to the president three years ago, sharing how he went from being an unemployed new father continuing his education to obtaining his degree and working with low-income patients to obtain medical care. Retired Army Staff Sgt. Jason Gibson (Westerville, Ohio), letter writer, wounded warrior Gibson first met Obama in 2012 at Walter Reed while recovering from injuries he sustained serving his country in Afghanistan. Alan and Judy Gross (Washington) After five years of wrongful imprisonment in Cuba, USAID sub-contractor Alan Gross was reunited with his wife Judy and his family on Dec.17. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP) Nicole Hernandez Hammer (Southeast Florida), mother and sea level rise researcher Growing up in South Florida, Hammer knows firsthand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise and is raising awareness to the disproportionate effects felt along the coast and beyond. Obama’s approval ratings at this point in his presidency are similar to those of Ronald Reagan’s as he began his final two years in office. Scott Kelly (Houston), astronaut This March, Kelly will launch to the International Space Station and become the first American to live and work aboard the orbiting laboratory for a year-long mission. (Photo: Patrick Kovarik, AFP/Getty Images) Anthony Mendez (Bronx, N.Y.), student, "Reach Higher" Initiative Growing up in the South Bronx with his mother and three siblings, Mendez names two experiences from his formative high school years. Overcoming these experiences, he became the first high school graduate in his family – his story of perseverance represents the core of first lady Michelle Obama's Reach Higher initiative. Larry J. Merlo (East Greenwich, R.I), president and CEO, CVS Health Merlo, 59, is president and chief executive officer of CVS Health, which serves 100 million people each year through its 7,800 retail pharmacies, 900 walk-in medical clinics, and a pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 65 million plan members. Katrice Mubiru (Woodland Heights, Calif.), letter writer, career technical education teacher In January 2012, Mubiru, a career-technical education teacher for the Los Angeles unified school district, sent a letter to the president encouraging him to support K-12, adult and career technical education. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could have refused treatment for her pre-existing tumor, but on Aug. 28 — now fully insured — she had surgery to remove the tumor. (Photo: Donato Sardella, Getty Images for Coalition for E) Tiairris Woodward (Warren, Mich.), Chrysler auto worker Working for the local school system, Woodward, 43, wasn't making enough money to support herself and her three children, the youngest of whom has special needs. Phillip C. Tingirides (Irvine, Calif.), Los Angeles Police Department The south Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts has seen dramatic improvement in the crime rate since the area was tied to the eponymous race riots of 1965 and a spate of gang violence in the '90s — and Tingirides has worked toward and seen a continued decrease in crime since the start of the Community Safety Partnership program in late 2011. Catherine Pugh (Baltimore City, Md.) ), Maryland Senate majority leader State Sen. Pugh is a small-business owner who currently serves as the Maryland Senate majority leader and is also president-elect of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Dr. Pranav Shetty (Washington), International Medical Corps Dr. Shetty is the global emergency health coordinator for International Medical Corps, a critical partner in the U.S.-supported effort to bring the Ebola epidemic under control in West Africa. Ana Zamora (Dallas) Letter writer, student, DREAMer Zamora, a DREAMer from Dallas, came to the United States as an infant and has gained work authorization through the administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Malik Bryant (Chicago) Letter writer Chelsey Davis (Knoxville, Tenn.) Student, Pellissippi State Community College William Elder Jr. (Englewood, Colo.) Medical school student LeDaya Epps (Compton, Calif.) Laborer apprentice Kathy Pham (Washington, D.C.) United States Digital Service Carolyn Reed (Denver) Letter writer, small-business owner Prophet Walker (Carson, Calif.) Watts United Weekend, co-founder Tiairris Woodward (Warren, Mich.) Chrysler auto worker — Provided by the White House

– President Obama goes into tomorrow's State of the Union address with some momentum: A Washington Post-ABC News poll finds his approval rating now stands at 50%, which is the highest since spring 2013; improving views on the economy are a big factor, the Post reports. Meanwhile, the White House has released a list of Michelle Obama's guests for the event—a list that likely offers a preview of some of the issues the president will address. Among those guests, per Politico and USA Today: Alan Gross, a US subcontractor, was recently freed from five years of detention in Cuba; he rejoined his wife, Judy, the day President Obama announced warming relations with Cuba. Larry Merlo is CEO of CVS Health, which recently stopped selling tobacco products. Pranav Shetty led a pair of Ebola treatment units in Liberia, the White House says. Ana Zamora is one of a number of guests who caught the president's attention through letters. She's a student who has benefited from Obama administration programs to ease restrictions on migrants who arrived in the US as kids. Scott Kelly is an astronaut who's about to spend a year aboard the International Space Station; the work is aimed at helping send people to Mars "by the 2030s," per the White House. Malik Bryant is another letter writer. For Christmas, the boy from Chicago wrote to Santa Claus: "All I ask for is for safety I just wanna be safe." His letter made it to the president. Click for the full list.

It's not just jargon that has become increasingly dense over the past century, according to a team of neuroscientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, but the language of science itself has also become more taxing to decipher. To test whether published research has become harder to read over time, the researchers downloaded 707,452 biomedical articles from 122 journals in the science database PubMed, all produced between 1881 and 2015. Their study1, posted on the preprint server bioRxiv on 28 March, suggests that it’s not just the technical jargon that has been on the rise. Fourth-grade readers Thompson and his colleagues examined the texts using standard indicators of reading ease, which measure factors such as the number of syllables per word, the number of words in a sentence and the number of words in the paper not included in a predefined list of common words (the New Dale–Chall, or NDC, list). "As a regular reader of research papers, I am often staggered by their leaps of reasoning or omission of key details, especially when I discover that these gaps are no less real to experts," Ball writes. He also suggests that papers could be improved by scientists learning to look outside of their field to find good role models. Good science can be held back without good communication, so taking a page from their favourite writer's book is something all scientists – and science writers – could certainly benefit from. "Why not encourage students to put down Nature and pick up Darwin, Dawkins or Dickens?"

– Put off by the high-level mumbo-jumbo that proliferates in science journals? You're not alone, Swedish researchers have found. In a study published in the preprint server bioRxiv, William Hedley Thompson and his Karolinska Institute team checked out more than 700,000 English-language abstracts from nearly 125 biomedical journals from 1881 to 2015 and discovered technical jargon has been on the upswing—but it's not just profession-tied vernacular sneaking into the text. The researchers also found an uptick in "general scientific jargon," or longer words that aren't necessarily of scientific origin (e.g., "furthermore") that keep turning up in science papers and muddling comprehension. Per Science Alert, the researchers held the abstracts up to two readability yardsticks that looked at how many syllables words had, sentence length, and reader familiarity with the language. What they found, from 1881 onward, is that readability has declined steadily over the years, results they call "concerning" considering it means scientific findings are less accessible. But Philip Ball, writing for Nature, points out issues with the study, noting that the readability gauges used common words measured against US fourth-graders' comprehension, not that of adults; that some of the earlier data (pre-1960) may not have been terribly reliable; and that technical jargon isn't inherently bad if it eventually places more scientific words in our everyday vocabulary. What Ball thinks could help: researchers being exposed to more good writing that would inform their own documentation and make it clearer for readers. "Why not encourage students to put down Nature and pick up Darwin, Dawkins, or Dickens?" he asks. (UK bureaucrats were told to drop the jargon a few years back.)

Rep. Maxine Waters Maxine Moore WatersMaxine Waters cancels events over 'very serious death threat' Is civility in America really dead? "I have no way of telling people how to protest, what they should protest. "I believe in peaceful, very peaceful protests," she told reporters on Capitol Hill. “For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him, they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they're not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president ‘No, I can't hang with you, this is wrong, this is unconscionable and we can't keep doing this to children,’ ” she said. Her comments, fueled by frustration over migrant families separated at the border, came at the end of a week when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was heckled by activists at a restaurant in Washington, DC, and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia "Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. Pressed on whether she supported the idea of kicking someone like Sanders out of a restaurant, Waters said she supports "their right to protest." Trump tweeted earlier on Monday Waters' remarks prompted criticism from Democratic leaders Monday, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who tweeted an article about Waters and wrote that Trump's "daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable." “Be careful what you wish for Max!” Waters disputed that she talked about physically harming his supporters. “Trump is the one who is creating lies, trying to have people believe that I talked about harming people. There’s nowhere in my statement anytime, any place that we talked about harm,” she said. “Protest is about peaceful resistance to the kind of actions that we are experiencing from this president,” she added. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer Charles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerOvernight Health Care: Amazon enters the pharmacy business | Two Republicans to play pivotal role in Supreme Court abortion fight | Senate panel approves medical research boost Lewandowski: Pelosi is not the leader of the Democratic Party Perez: 'Time will tell' if Ocasio-Cortez win signals need for new Dem leadership MORE (D-N.Y.) called it “not American” to harass political opponents.

– Rep. Maxine Waters fired back at President Trump on on Monday, saying the president "lied again" when he claimed she called for harm to his supporters. Waters said that when she called for the public to confront members of the Trump administration, she was calling for peaceful protests, CNN reports. "I believe in peaceful, very peaceful protests," the Democrat said. "I have not called for the harm of anybody." In a tweet earlier Monday, Trump slammed Waters as an "extraordinarily low IQ person" and told her to be careful what she wished for. She was more gently admonished by leading Democrats, with Nancy Pelosi calling for people to act in a way that promotes unity and Chuck Schumer saying it was wrong to call for the "harassment of political opponents." Waters said her remarks at a rally in California on Saturday came from anger at the policy of separating families at the border, the Hill reports. She said fellow Democrats had been talking about civility, not directly criticizing her. "Don't put this on Nancy Pelosi," Waters said. "Put it on Trump. Trump is the one who's creating lies, trying to have people believe that I talked about harming people. There is nowhere in my statement—any time, any place—that I talked about harm." She added: "Protest is civility. Protest is about peaceful resistance to the kind of actions that we are experiencing." (On Monday, Trump also strongly criticized the "filthy" Virginia restaurant that refused to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.)

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted Monday that he's "not backing down" on his plan to impose stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum despite anxious warnings from House Speaker Paul Ryan and other congressional Republicans of a possible trade war.

– President Trump has a notable new critic of his plan to impose big tariffs on steel and aluminum: House Speaker Paul Ryan. “We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan,” says a spokesperson for Ryan. “The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains.” In fact, congressional GOP leaders have not ruled out the idea of taking some kind of legislative action to block any such tariffs, assuming Trump makes them official as promised in the coming week or two, reports the Wall Street Journal. Members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee also oppose the tariffs, as do various Senate Republicans, notes the Washington Post. Trump, for his part, sounded unfazed by the pushback. "No, we're not backing down," Trump said in the Oval Office, while with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, per the AP. Earlier Monday, Trump said Mexico and Canada might be able to avoid the tariffs, but only if they agreed to better terms on NAFTA. Trump reaffirmed the point with reporters. "We've had a very bad deal with Mexico, we've had a very bad deal with Canada—it's called NAFTA," Trump said.

In Florida, allies of former governor Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio are tussling over many of the same donors. Rick Perry and Sen. Ted Cruz. Mike Pence, Louisiana Gov. But with Jindal, that was never really in doubt — especially because he is termed out as governor in early 2016. With so many potential candidates — but no clear front-runner — the early maneuvering has had the effect of “just freezing” many donors, who are meeting with candidates but not making an early commitment, said Dan Senor, who advised GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. “This is going to be chaotic and cluttered for some time.” Establishment Republicans contemplating bids by figures such as Bush, Perry, Romney and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are pondering how to whittle the field to one of them, worried that a drawn-out primary process could produce a weakened GOP nominee. “It’s really important for those donors who share the center-right philosophy to try to clear the field,” said Bobbie Kilberg, a longtime Republican fundraiser in Virginia who, with her husband, raised more than $4 million for Romney’s 2012 campaign. “If Hillary is the Democratic candidate, she will be in a position of being able to define the leading Republican candidate long before it’s clear who has won. The same must be done to Hillary in order to be sure she doesn’t gain an advantage.” The prospective 2016 candidates face more intense pressure than ever to raise substantial sums of money, with GOP strategists predicting that the winner will need at least $75 million to get through the first three primaries — and $1 billion by Election Day. But there’s a reason politicians pander: because they don’t like to alienate people whose votes (and money) they need. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) held strategy sessions in Washington with advisers and supporters last month. Scott Walker and top Republican donors.

– If you had to name the Democratic candidate in 2016, one name that ends in Clinton quickly comes to mind. But for Republicans? The Washington Post recently counted up no fewer than 23 potential candidates. Which might explain why the New York Times reports that the GOP's top donors have been meeting in private to get behind a single candidate and avoid a brutal primary. The newspaper says the talks revolve around Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and, yes, Mitt Romney. For example, the story says that previous Romney backer Woody Johnson, a billionaire who owns the New York Jets, has met with both Bush and Christie but won't commit to either until Romney decides whether he's in or out, which might not be until summer. Rand Paul and Rick Perry are mentioned later in the story. "Talk of an establishment coronation is likely to incur the wrath of party activists and outside groups seeking a more conservative nominee," writes Nicholas Confessore. A separate Post article today report that an "invisible primary" is well underway as candidates vie to lock down the support of wealthy donors, but it adds that these donors are unusually wary about committing early. The result "could stall the GOP race for months." For the record, the Post's predicted winner at this point is Paul, followed by Christie, Bush, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker.

Pitt stars in the new film, “War Machine,” in which he plays a slightly fictionalized version of Gen.... (Associated Press) In a recent interview, Brad Pitt spoke to The Associated Press about his new film, "War Machine," in which he plays a slightly fictionalized version of Gen. Stanley McChrystal; stepping back into the limelight for the first time since Angelina Jolie Pitt filed for divorce from him; and his future in movies. Pitt's forthcoming Netflix original movie, War Machine, is based on an original 2010 Rolling Stone story by the late journalist Michael Hastings. "Anytime I've gotten in trouble, it's because of my own hubris." "I feel for him," Pitt said. For us, it's opened up a whole new world of possibilities. ___ ON WHY HIS CHARACTER ISN'T NAMED GEN. STANLEY McCHRYSTAL We had no interest in impugning General McChrystal or any of his guys. "For me, the problem is more systematic ... [War Machine is] after something and we don't know where we’re going to end up. In 2014, Pitt visited the military medical center, Walter Reed and it inspired him to work on War Machine. That's Barry Jenkins' — and the cast and crew —that's their vision, but to be able to help get it over the hill — a difficult movie, a challenging film like that, that feels good. It just really made me question who is spending this currency of dedication. Who's writing the check? Who's making the order?" The reality for the studios is it just doesn't make sense for them on paper. "Nothing that we've ever done has said that more troops are going to do anything but cause any more damage, more loss of life and limb ... supporting our troops is much more than giving them money and a pat on the back ... it's being responsible to how we use that ultimate dedication."

– In a new interview with the AP, Brad Pitt acknowledges he's been in some dark places lately—of his drinking problem, he says, "I've got no secrets. I've got nothing to hide"—but he insists things aren't that dark. "I'm not suicidal or something," he says, per Rolling Stone. "There's still much beauty in the world and a lot of love. And a lot of love to be given. It's all right. It's just life." He adds that his children help to keep depression at bay: "Kids are everything. Kids are your life. They're taking all the focus, as they should anyway."

The study, entitled The Economics of Ride-Hailing: Driver Revenue, Expenses and Taxes, and which was carried out by the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, surveyed more than 1,100 Uber and Lyft ride-hailing drivers combined with detailed vehicle cost information — factoring in costs such as fuel, insurance, maintenance and repairs — to come up with a median profit per hour worked. In the new analysis, the researcher reported the higher median profit of $8.55 an hour. The study, which factored in insurance, maintenance, repairs, fuel and other costs, also said that for 54% of drivers, the profit is less than the minimum wage in their states and that 8% of drivers are losing money on the job. Given inevitable costs of maintenance, repair and depreciation, “effectively what you’re doing as a driver is borrowing against the value of your car,” Zoepf said, adding: “It’s quite possible that drivers don’t realize quite how much they are spending.” After the Guardian first published a story on the research last week, Uber’s CEO slammed the paper and published a rebuttal from the company’s chief economist alleging a “major error” in Zoepf’s study. And by the way you have no social coverage because you’ve got to take care of that yourself.” At the time of writing neither Uber not Lyft had responded to a request for comment on the MIT study. “There is a lot of turnover in the industry, and that’s the No 1 reason I hear from drivers why they are quitting – they are not making enough.” Campbell pointed out that Uber itself had struggled to properly consider vehicle costs. It dubbed the strategy a ‘Good Work Plan’ — billing it as an expansion of workers rights and saying “millions” more workers would get new day-one rights, coupled with a tighter enforcement regime on platforms and companies to ensure they are providing sick and holiday pay rights. In an email to the Guardian on Monday, an Uber spokesperson did not address the new numbers but said: “We thank Professor Zoepf for acknowledging a major shortcoming of his methodology and support his decision to conduct a thorough revision of the paper over the coming weeks.” A Lyft spokesperson said in an email last week: “We have not yet reviewed this study in detail, but an initial review shows some questionable assumptions.”

– A new report from the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research found a full 30% of Uber and Lyft drivers are actually losing money while working due to costs associated with the job. The Guardian reports the situation isn't much better for the other 70%, as the median profit for drivers for the two ride-share companies is just $3.37 per hour before taxes. In fact, researchers found 74% of drivers are earning less than their state's minimum wage. “This business model is not currently sustainable,” says Stephen Zoepf, co-author of report. "And the drivers are essentially subsidizing it by working for very low wages.” Researchers surveyed over 1,100 drivers and analyzed vehicle cost data, including insurance, repairs, and fuel. “It tells you that it’s a great place if you’re a company," the CEO of Mangrove Capital Partners, which has compared the gig economy to sweatshops, tells TechCruch. "It’s really a poor place to be an employee or be a worker.” A report last year found just 4% of Uber drivers last longer than a year, NPR reports. The current report found a median earning for drivers of 59 cents per mile and median cost of 30 cents per mile resulting in an average driver profit of $661 per month. “It’s quite possible that drivers don’t realize quite how much they are spending," Zoepf tells the Guardian. While the report raises further concerns about labor standards and the rights of ride-share drivers, Uber calls it "deeply flawed," and Lyft says it made "some questionable assumptions."

– The critics have weighed in on President Trump's firing of the FBI chief, generally with unflattering comparisons to Richard Nixon. But what does Trump himself say? "James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI," he tweeted Wednesday morning. And he predicted the move will be validated: "Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike," he wrote. "When things calm down, they will be thanking me!" The president also cast Democrats as hypocrites for suddenly having Comey's back. They've said "some of the worst things" about him, "but now they play so sad!" he tweeted. Trump struck a similar theme in a tweet Tuesday night, in which he seems to have christened a new nickname for the Senate minority leader. "Cryin' Chuck Schumer stated recently, 'I do not have confidence in him (James Comey) any longer.' Then acts so indignant." Schumer, for his part, said the firing makes it all the more important to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Russian interference in the election. And he told Trump the move was a "big mistake," per the Hill.

But it was disconcerting to us that Amazon’s otherwise stellar system was being marred. After all the ballyhoo about cloud computing delivered by Amazon (New York Times, Netflix and countless others) it sent ripples through the tech community to see favorite tech sites Reddit, Quora, and FourSquare offline on Thursday, due to an outage for the Amazon EC2 service at the company’s Northern Virginia data center. However, we believe that the success of the public cloud will help will drive private cloud adoption.

– Amazon still hasn't fully resolved the massive computer glitch that has brought down or slowed websites large and small, but one thing is clear: “This is a wake-up call for cloud computing,” an industry analyst tells the New York Times. “It will force a conversation in the industry.” With cloud computing, companies pay to use the huge computer servers of others, and Amazon has emerged as a leader in a field expected to grow to $55.5 billion by 2014. But this week's problems at Amazon's northern Virginia data center highlight the risks. Specifically, companies will need to more carefully assess which information goes to the clouds and which stays in the home office. They also may need to pony up more money for what amounts to cloud insurance by having data spread out over different sites. In a Forbes blog post headlined "The Day the Cloud Died," Eric Savitz hopes Amazon's mess "illustrates the need for proper planning and design, not a condemnation of cloud computing in general."

In fact, all people with Down syndrome have sexual feelings and intimacy needs. Children with Down syndrome experience the same sequence of physical and hormonal changes associated with puberty as other children their age. One of every 700 to 900 babies born worldwide will have Down syndrome, although this number is lower in Australia with about 270 babies born each year with Down syndrome. Between 35 and 50 percent of children born to mothers with Down syndrome are likely to have trisomy 21 or other developmental disabilities. It is often difficult for a couple with Down syndrome to conceive a child due to low fertility in the male and lack of ovulation in the female and the likelihood of entering menopause early. Contraception should always be used, unless a couple has decided upon parenthood. Impact: Feature Issue on Sexuality and People with Intellectual, Developmental and Other Disabilities ici.umn.edu/products/impact/232 Contains articles offering perspectives and information; published by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota ici.umn.edu/products/impact/232 Contains articles offering perspectives and information; published by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota Planned Parenthood Federation of America www.plannedparenthood.org Often supports, through affiliates, educators trained to design and implement sexuality programming for individuals with intellectual disabilities www.plannedparenthood.org Often supports, through affiliates, educators trained to design and implement sexuality programming for individuals with intellectual disabilities Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) www.siecus.org Provides broad information and advocacy on sexuality issues, sexual health and sexual rights www.siecus.org Provides broad information and advocacy on sexuality issues, sexual health and sexual rights Sexual Health Network - TSHN mitchelltepper.com/sexual-health-network Offers articles and blog posts on disability and sexuality mitchelltepper.com/sexual-health-network Offers articles and blog posts on disability and sexuality Leslie Walker-Hirsch, M.

– Michael Cox and Taylor Anderton just want to tie the knot, have four kids, and enjoy the rest of their lives together, but their families are balking at the second part of the young Australian couple's plan. Not because they're in a Montague-and-Capulet-style feud, but because they worry Cox and Anderton—dating for nearly two years, engaged for almost one—won't be able to handle parental responsibilities, since they both have Down syndrome, Australia Story reports. "That makes me feel very worried, apprehensive, and concerned," Anderton's mom says, and Cox's dad agrees: "I don't see parenthood being something that they're going to achieve, or really they probably should achieve." He notes it would be "very difficult" for the couple to handle not only day-to-day activities such as having jobs and driving, but also parenting skills such as helping out with homework and dealing with adolescent issues. The couple gained recognition in May when a clip about them aired on ABC Australia. A geneticist tells Australia Story a couple with Down syndrome becoming pregnant is a rarity, and that if they did conceive, chances would be about 50-50 they'd have a child with Down syndrome. Michelle O'Flynn, director of Queensland Advocacy Inc., notes the couple's parents could try to block a pregnancy by getting a sterilization order, though she says they'd probably fail and that that option is "abhorrent." Disability advocates like O'Flynn say it's Cox and Anderton's right to retain "bodily integrity" and reproduce if they want. But Cox's dad dismisses that, noting, "[The advocates are] not the ones picking up the pieces." Michael Cox understands their parents' concern, noting, "Their heart is in the right place," but he says they're "overprotective." (A Nova Scotia dad calls his son's Down syndrome "beautiful.")