If you're having trouble deciding which city or country to visit for your next holiday, travel search engine Escape is a pretty nifty tool that will help you map out your best options.
Two rifts on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica are close to creating an iceberg over 560 square miles in size. Scientists say the calving event could happen any day now.
New findings from researchers at Ca' Foscari University of Venice in Italy and Tu Wien in Austria indicate that a surprising number of encrypted sites still leave connections exposed.
Toast with red wine without worry (even over a white carpet) with these Aura Glass Non-Spill Drinking Glasses. They feature an innovative design that aerates your wine (improving its taste) and pivot on a glass ball, helping prevent spillage. Use coupon code MADNESS15 for an extra 15% off the already discount price..
When a massive Caribbean volcano erupted in 1997, the island's residents fled, leaving their beloved animals behind. As pets and livestock were engulfed in ash and penned in by lava, waiting to perish, three brave souls risked death and evaded the law to save every last one. A modern-day Noah's Ark.
Where Boston Dynamics' running, jumping four-legged robots instill a certain terror in us, this suction cup-equipped bot has bobbed its way into our hearts.
Agnès Varda, a leading light of the French New Wave who directed such films as "Cléo From 5 to 7," "Vagabond" and "Faces Places," has died of cancer at the age of 90.
For their French Terry Pullover Hoodie, Flint and Tinder took the original fit, comfort, and durability of the style and cast it in a super-soft midweight fabric that's ideal to wear year-round
Hot off the debut of "Us," Peele's highly-anticipated take on Rod Serling's classic anthology television series makes its premiere with two episodes on April 1. Is it worth subscribing to CBS All Access (or borrowing an account) for? Here's what critics are saying.
For their respective 40th and 45th anniversaries, the Gundam and Hello Kitty franchises are doing something out of the ordinary for their fans. They're, uh, gonna stage a big fight with each other?
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spent three days defending her plan to eliminate Special Olympics funding from next year's budget. That didn't stop her boss, President Donald Trump, from publicly undermining her on Thursday.
A website called defaultfile.name manages to strip that all away by randomly playing videos that were uploaded to YouTube with the camera's default filename — and I can't click away.
Overall, an all-out U.S. attack on the Soviet Union, China and satellite countries in 1962 would have killed 335 million people within the first seventy-two hours.
It is no exaggeration to say that for those who grew up during the Cold War, all-out nuclear war was "the ultimate nightmare." The prospect of an ordinary day interrupted by air-raid sirens, klaxons and the searing heat of a thermonuclear explosion was a very real, albeit remote, possibility. Television shows such as The Day After and Threads realistically portrayed both a nuclear attack and the gradual disintegration of society in the aftermath. In an all-out nuclear attack, most of the industrialized world would have been bombed back to the Stone Age, with hundreds of millions killed outright and perhaps as many as a billion or more dying of radiation, disease and famine in the postwar period.
Aircrew members do preflight checks on a B-1B Lancer bomber as part of an exercise at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, August 13, 2014. US Air Force/Senior Airman Zachary Hada
The service says that this new parachute-related issue is unrelated to the incident that prompted the stand-down in operations last year.
The U.S. Air Force has ground its B-1B Bone bomber fleet for the second time in less than a year over problems with the aircraft's emergency egress system. This is this time has to do with how the drogue parachutes that stabilize the plane's ejection seats if the crew has to punch out.
Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all of the service's bombers, including the B-1Bs, ordered the "safety stand-down" on Mar. 28, 2019, after uncovering the issue in at least one bomber assigned to an unspecified unit. There is no indication as yet as to how many Bones actually have a problem or how long it be before the fleet get flying again.
Tanks from the US Army's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division prior to entering the live-fire lane during the combined arms live-fire exercise at Fort Hood in Exas, February 6, 2019. Maj. Carson Petry/US Army
* An Army tank dedicated to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson brought renewed attention to how US troops name their vehicles. * The naming process isn't as strange or disorderly as some of the names might suggest.
Recently, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson got a tank named after him. The actor/wrestler/producer took joy in being given the honors and posted the image onto his social media.
Because you can't go two days on the internet without some sort of backlash from people with nothing better to do than argue over some mundane thing that has absolutely no bearing on their life... people argued.
Five RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft assigned to the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, rest on the flightline at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. The aircraft evacuated to MacDill due to rising floodwaters at Offutt. (SrA Caleb Nunez/Air Force)
The U.S. Air Force says it needs $4.9 billion in new funding over the next two and a half years to cover the costs of rebuilding two air bases hit by natural disasters.
About one-third of Offutt Air Force Base, in eastern Nebraska, was underwater earlier this month as flooding hit large swaths of the Midwest. And Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle was hit hard by Hurricane Michael in October.
The Air Force is asking for $1.2 billion in supplemental funding for fiscal year 2019 and $3.7 billion for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Congress would need to approve the funding.
"This storm, if we don't get a supplemental, is going to affect the rest of the Air Force and our ability to operate," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation. "We desperately need the supplemental to recover from the natural disaster that hammered Tyndall and Offett."
It takes a lot of ⚓ to hold down an aircraft carrier. These are the anchors of @CVN77_GHWB as they are lowered into dry dock for maintenance at @NNSYNews, Va. pic.twitter.com/hOikhkTLlv
Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) prepares for an underway replenishment-at-sea with USNS Kanawha (T-AO 196) and USS New York (LPD 21) Jan. 9, 2015. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan B. Trejo
* The USS Fort McHenry has been quarantined at sea for months due to a viral outbreak of what is being called a "probable case of the mumps." * Since the story broke earlier this month, two more servicemembers have fallen ill, raising the total number of affected personnel to 27, Fifth Fleet told Business Insider. * "It is not common for us to see outbreaks of vaccine-preventable viral infections," the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery told BI.
A US Navy warship deployed to the Persian Gulf has been stuck at sea for months due to a viral outbreak of what's likely the mumps, and servicemembers are continuing to fall ill as the medical workers try to get the situation under control, Fifth Fleet told Business Insider Thursday.
As of Saturday, 27 sailors and Marines aboard the dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry have been diagnosed with parotitis, which the Navy described in a statement earlier this month as a "viral infection which has symptoms similar to mumps."
Viral parotitis is an infection of the saliva glands on either side of the face that's typically caused by the mumps.
British and US soldiers are transported to a training mission in a US Army Chinook helicopter near Rena, Norway on October 27, 2018. US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Michael O'Brien
A North Korean-flagged tanker, the Morning Glory, is seen docked at the Es Sider export terminal in Ras Lanuf in this March 8, 2014 file photo. Credit: REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Files
Libya's oil revenues fell in February to $1.26 billion, according to its National Oil Company, as repeated oilfield closures continue to weigh on the troubled African nation.
The oil revenues were $330 million less than January levels, while overall oil production had actually increased by 23,000 bpd in February, according to OPEC's March Monthly Oil Market Report. Oil production in Libya fell in January to 883,000 bpd from 949,000 bpd in December 2018, rising to 906,000 bpd in February. Libya's oil production averaged 811,000 bpd in 2017 and 952,000 bpd in 2018. March production is expected to be lifted further.
The Maryland resident amassed the classified material during 23 years at the agency and investigators have struggled to figure out why he did it.
WASHINGTON — A former contractor for the National Security Agency, the federal government's super-secret codebreaker, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that he stole and held onto classified government secrets.
Harold Martin of Glen Burnie, Maryland, entered a guilty plea in a Baltimore federal courtroom. When he was arrested in 2016, investigators said thousands of secret and top-secret documents in printed and digital form were found in his house and car.
After Thursday's hearing, his defense lawyers said Martin's actions "were the product of mental illness, not treason."
SDF forces announced on March 23 they had fully captured the Islamic State group's last bastion in eastern Syria and declared the total elimination of the ISIS territory. AFP
The coalition's Operation Inherent Resolve has reclaimed all ISIS territory.
The US-led coalition battling ISIS in Syria and Iraq admitted on Thursday that at least 1,257 civilians had been killed in air strikes since Operation Inherent Resolve began in 2014.
The international coalition said it had conducted 34,038 strikes between August 2014 and the end of February this year.
"At least 1,257 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes since the beginning of Operation Inherent Resolve," it said.
The coalition also announced that it had received 147 reports of possible civilian casualties and reviewed only one, in February, which it found to be credible.
That report refers to a September 13, 2017 bombing on a munitions factory near Rawa, Iraq. Two civilians were wounded, the coalition said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to prohibit the transfer of F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey until the U.S. government certifies that Ankara will not take delivery of a Russian S-400 air defense system, a statement on the move said.
Turkey is a production partner in the trillion-dollar F-35 fighter jet program but Ankara also wants to purchase a Russian missile defense system, which the United States says would compromise the security of F-35 aircraft, which are made by Lockheed Martin Corp..
The senators - Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Van Hollen and Republicans James Lankford and Thom Tillis - have all expressed alarm over Turkey's planned purchase of Russian S-400 missiles and said the NATO ally cannot have both.
"The prospect of Russia having access to U.S. aircraft and technology in a NATO country, Turkey, is a serious national and global security risk," Shaheen said.
The following essay is adapted from 'Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness' by Kenneth M. Pollack, now available from Oxford University Press.
'Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness' explains how the politics, economics, and culture of the modern Arab world has shaped the military power of the Arab states. Overwhelmingly, the impact has been negative, producing the vast tableaux of misfortune that has been Arab military history since 1945 and right up to the present day. It is why Arab armed forces have so consistently underperformed, losing most of their wars despite any number of favorable material factors. It is also why their victories have been rare and typically modest, if not outright Pyrrhic.
Taiwan's President has urged Australia, the United States and Japan to join with her country in a "values-based partnership" to push back against growing Chinese influence in the Pacific.
Six of Taipei's remaining allies lie in the Pacific, and Beijing has been intent on poaching them as it intensifies efforts to isolate Taiwan, which it sees as a mutinous province.
President Tsai Ing-wen issued her call on the last day of a Pacific trip designed to shore up its relations with three of those nations — Palau, Nauru and Marshall Islands.
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has instructed oil trading houses and refiners around the world to further cut dealings with Venezuela or face sanctions themselves, even if the trades are not prohibited by published U.S. sanctions, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The move comes as Washington's efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido have stalled, and is further evidence of how it is leaning on non-U.S. firms to achieve its foreign policy goals.
The U.S. imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry earlier this year but some companies have continued to supply the country with fuel from India, Russia and Europe.
KIEV (Reuters) - Comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, has maintained a strong lead in Ukraine's presidential election race, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday.
But support for the 41-year-old remains far below the level needed to secure outright victory in the March 31 ballot, and most voters still do not expect him to become president, the KIIS survey showed.
The poll by KIIS research body, the final survey for the election's first round, showed Zelenskiy on 20.9 percent of votes, with incumbent Petro Poroshenko second on 13.7 percent and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko third on 9.7 percent.
Thirty-nine candidates have registered for the election. If no candidate wins 50 percent of the votes cast, the top two will face each other in a run-off on April 21.
* Resolution was approved by 535 MEPs, with 80 votes against and 44 abstentions * It calls on EU members to declassify colonial archives and issue public apologies * Urges countries to adopt reforms to end discrimination against Afro-Europeans
The European parliament has overwhelmingly backed a watershed resolution calling for reparations for crimes committed in Africa during European colonialism.
The bill urges European member states to introduce a series of sweeping reforms aimed at tackling 'structural racism' facing millions of Afro-Europeans.
It calls on the countries to implement nation-wide strategies to deal with discrimination in education, health, housing, policing, the justice system and politics.
The resolution - approved by 535 MEPs, with 80 votes against and 44 abstentions - also calls on European member states to declassify their colonial archives, covering the most disturbing periods of Europe's colonial past, and issue public apologies.
WNU Editor: I am surprised on the minimal coverage of this story by the main stream media. Here is a prediction. The U.S. Congress will be trying to pass a similar resolution on the issue of reparations for African Americans before next year's elections.
Men are detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces after coming out from last Islamic State pocket, near the village of Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, March 1. REUTERS/Rodi Said
It has been difficult to find a credible number for the Islamic State group's total troop strength ever since it emerged, and speculation has ranged widely.
The CIA estimated in September 2014 that ISIS could muster up to 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria.
Either that estimate was really low or the network of fighters grew considerably because the estimated enemy killed-in-action far out-paced ISIS' total strength over the next three years.
During that time frame, the U.S.-led Inherent Resolve coalition killed "60,000 to 70,000″ ISIS followers, Gen. Raymond Thomas, who helms U.S. Special Operations Command, said in July 2017.
But by July 2018, Inherent Resolve said it estimated "ISIS manpower" at once again between 28,600 and 31,600 in Iraq and Syria.
WNU Editor: I have been following this conflict since the beginning, and even I was surprised by the large number of civilians and fighters that streamed out of the eastern Syrian town of Baghouz at the end. As to the question .... was this an intelligence failure? The answer is .... definitely.
* In their latest report UK's technical spies at GCHQ said the Chinese telecom giant had made 'no material progress' to address issues raised a year ago * Instead, 'further significant issues' have arisen which create 'new risks' * Several Western Intelligence agencies have curtailed Huawei's access to infrastructure projects fearing the firm's close links to Beijing's espionage chiefs
Further significant issues in Huawei's technology pose new risks to UK tele-communication networks, a Government report has warned.
The UK's oversight board, which includes officials from GCHQ and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said the Chinese telecom giant had made 'no material progress' to address issues first raised in its last report, a year ago.
The development comes amid concerns about the company's involvement in 5G telecoms infrastructure because of claims the firm could be compelled to assist in Chinese state intelligence work. Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegation.
WNU Editor: The report is critical because Huawei did not fix its equipment security flaws as promised a few years ago. But it also rules out Chinese state interference.
More News On GCHQ Finding Numerous Flaws In Huawei's Equipment
Just weeks before election season starts in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nation completed a successful test-fire of its first anti-satellite launch missile, dubbed "Mission Shakti," on Wednesday (March 27). The event sparked a global conversation about space policy, politics and the militarization of space in the hours that followed, as well as speculation about whether that type of test could create dangerous space debris.
Opposition leader Juan Guaido has received the maximum punishment allowable by law in the Latin American country over a discrepancy in his personal financial disclosures, as well as a spending record that failed to match his level of income, state comptroller Elvis Amoroso explained.
The state comptroller Elvis Amoroso has stated that Guaido is to be barred from holding public office for 15 years. Amoroso specified that the reason behind the ban is inconsistencies in his personal financial disclosures and a spending record that does not match his level of income.
According to the comptroller, Guaido has made more than 91 trips out of the country spending some 520 million bolivars.
A group of Russian military personnel arrived in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on 23 March to participate in consultations with government officials on bilateral defence industry cooperation as the ongoing political crisis in the Latin American country has heated up.
Israel-based Image Satellite International (ISI) has shared alleged satellite images of the deployment of Russia-made S-300 air defence missiles by the Venezuelan military to the Captain Manuel Rios Airbase in the Guarico state, a key airbase south of Caracas, amid simmering tensions in the region.
Deployment said to be for military consultations and not linked to possible operations
Russia has troops on the ground in Venezuela, officials from both countries have confirmed publicly for the first time, saying the deployment was provided for military consultations and was not linked to the "possibility of military operations".
"Military experts are there; they are tasked with the practical implementation of provisions of military-technical cooperation agreements," a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said in a televised briefing.
The remarks came five days after photographs showed nearly 100 Russian servicemen disembarking from two military planes in Caracas, stoking concerns in Washington that Moscow was increasing its support for Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro.
Syrian opposition sources say ammunition depot belonging to Iranian militias directly hit by Israeli air attack.
The Syrian military said Israel on Wednesday launched raids on an industrial zone in the northern city of Aleppo, causing damage only to materials, while opposition sources said the attack hit Iranian ammunitions stores and a military airport used by Tehran's forces.
"The Israeli aggression targeted some positions in Sheikh Najjar industrial zone and a number of enemy missiles were brought down," an army statement said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 27 March that New Delhi had successfully tested its anti-satellite missile, which hit a target at an altitude of 300 kilometres. According to Modi, India has become the fourth country in the world to possess such a weapon after China, Russia, and the United States.
India has shown the launch of an anti-satellite rocket that destroyed a spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, the ANI news agency reported, publishing the corresponding video on Twitter.
WASHINGTON — The still-secret report on Russian interference in the 2016 election submitted by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, last week was more than 300 pages long, according to American officials with knowledge of it, a length that raises new questions about Attorney General William P. Barr's four-page summary.
Mr. Barr wrote to Congress on Sunday offering what he called the "principal conclusions" of the report — including that Mr. Mueller had not found evidence that the Trump campaign took part in a conspiracy to undermine the election. But he had notably declined to publicly disclose its length.
The total of 300-plus pages suggests that Mr. Mueller went well beyond the kind of bare-bones summary required by the Justice Department regulation governing his appointment and detailed his conclusions at length. And it raises questions about what Mr. Barr might have left out of the four dense pages he sent Congress.
WNU Editor: Attorney General William P. Barr's four-page summary is here .... .... READ: Barr's letter to Congress summarizing Mueller findings (The Hill). I have done 2 - 3 - 4 page executive summaries of large reports in the past. It is not that hard. You have to just take the time and outline the key points. As to Attorney General William P. Barr's four-page summary. I am sure that if it was wrong, Robert Mueller and/or his team would be the first to come out and publicly disagree with it, or leak their disagreement to the press. They have not, which tells me that this summary does cover the key points.
U.S. legal residents may have disappeared into the sprawling network of detention camps in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Province, Sam Brownback, U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, said at a press briefingThursday.
Brownback told reporters in Washington D.C. that he had received an unconfirmed report that a California man’s father, a U.S. legal resident, disappeared after visiting Xinjiang several months ago.
“I received [an] e-mail from a gentleman in the United States whose father is still in Xinjiang who hasn’t – he’s not been able to reach him for months, 75-year-old man, doesn’t know whether – where he is and whether he’s still alive.” Brownback said.
CNN quoted State Department sources saying “a few” U.S. residents are being detained.
China is facing international condemnation over its practice of arbitrarily imprisoning what the State Department estimates is between 800,000 to up to 2 million Turkic Muslims, including Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and others in “re-education camps.” U.S. officials have repeatedly denounced the practice, which China has defended as an effective means to de-radicalize the borderland and prevent terrorism. Chinese officials have also tried to pass off the camps as a form of “vocational training.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held private meetings with several Uighurs in Washington D.C. earlier this week, where he made renewed calls for China to close down its “abhorrent” detention centers.
“I join the Secretary’s call that China must end these counterproductive policies, release all arbitrarily detained, and end its repression that is taking place,” Brownback said. “It’s being raised in multiple forums by the United States, and consistently,” he added.
“If you like a man with power, I’m your guy,” Howard X read aloud as he looked up from the Tinder profile open on the screen of his iPhone.
The Kim Jung Un impersonator, who made international headlines last month when he was deported from Vietnam, laughed as he showed off the fake dating profile he created for his North Korean alter ego. Unfortunately for him, Kim’s profile receives a lot more right swipes than his personal one. “What can I say, women like assholes,” he said.
Although he looks nearly identical to North Korea’s Supreme Leader, the affable Hong Kong-born Howard is constantly cracking jokes when he is out of character, making it hard to imagine him as a ruthless despot.
Howard first dressed up like Kim as an April Fool’s Day joke, he told TIME from a hair salon in Hong Kong’s bustling Tsim Sha Tsui district, where we watched him transform into a replica. When a picture he posted on Facebook landed him an Israeli television commercial for a burger chain, he realized his looks might present a career opportunity.
The gig occasionally lands him in hot water, but more often than not, his imitations evoke laughter. “All the police and immigration officials wanted selfies,” he said, referring to his deportation from Hanoi before U.S. President Donald Trump and the real Kim’s second summit in late February.
Aside from playing Kim, the multi-talented Howard is a drummer, he runs a samba school and he was once nominated for Best Producer at the Golden Melody Awards, sometimes called the Grammys of the Chinese-speaking world.
In an unmistakable Australian accent, he tells TIME that he is also trying to form a satirical band with other authoritarian leader lookalikes, which he wants to call The Tyrants. “I need a Mohammed bin Salman,” he says, before pausing to ask his hairdresser, “can you make it flatter there, just a little bit,” while scrutinizing his new haircut in the mirror.
Howard X makes it clear that he imitates the Supreme Leader to satirize him, not to glorify him. “When you have the face of a dictator, it sends a powerful message,” he says, and that can be used to bring attention to injustice. During the 2014 Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong he visited students protesting for democratic elections in the city with a sign that read, “No North Korea style elections in Hong Kong.” He hoped to draw some media attention to the student’s cause. “Humor is a very powerful weapon,” he says.
“The real Kim Jung Un would have killed you and your family if you messed up,” he stops to tell his hairdresser, grinning, once he’s satisfied with his new hairdo.
Here’s what Howard X had to say about his recent deportation and life as a dictator’s double.
Why did you decide to go to Hanoi?
My intention was to make fun of the whole thing. It’s quite ridiculous what’s happening, that the United States of America is meeting this horrible dictator. I decided to make fun of the whole situation. The North Koreans did not think it was funny.
What would you say if you ever met the real Kim Jung Un?
Please change that horrible haircut. Number two, get a stylist. And three, lose some weight, because I can’t catch up. For the sake of both of our lives Kim, please lose the weight.
What is the funniest thing that happened to you while pretending to be Kim?
I got into the Grammys and met Katy Perry in person because they thought I was the actor that played him in The Interview. I was impersonating the impersonator.
Do you think the real Kim knows about you?
I’m sure the real Kim Jung Un knows about me because I’ve been annoying him for the last five years or so. I’d be pretty disappointed if he didn’t know about me.
What does your mom think about your job?
I think my mom has taken out a life insurance policy on me, just in case I get murdered.
What’s the stickiest situation you have gotten into as an impersonator?
The most infamous and most dangerous stunt…was visiting the North Korean cheerleaders at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018. It was Valentine’s Day and I thought ‘Wow I need to go meet them, maybe I’ll get lucky.’
The North Korean agents did not see a funny side to my impersonation. I was physically assaulted. They kicked my leg. I suspect they were North Koreans just from the way they were dressed, I’ve never seen any South Korean man dressed so unfashionably.
Would you ever try to visit North Korea?
I would never go to North Korea because I wouldn’t come back. Well, alive, that is.
Can you tell us more about what happened in Hanoi?
They didn’t want more than one Kim in Hanoi so I had to go.
What I’ve heard is that the reason why the Donald Trump impersonator got to stay and I had to go was because it was North Korea who made the request for the Vietnamese government to do something about me. Donald Trump, as bad as he is, he still has a sense of humor, but dictators don’t.
What do you think of the real Kim Jung Un?
He comes off to me like a real gangster-like figure. He killed his uncle in such spectacular fashion. I think he was killed by an anti-aircraft missile, so that was pretty extreme. And the fact that he killed his half-brother in Malaysia shows that he’s very ruthless and he’ll do anything to stay in power.
And obviously, he doesn’t have a sense of humor.
What are your hobbies?
Apart from music? Food and women. I love Argentinean meat and Japanese food.
What are your plans for 2019?
In 2019, I’m looking to complete the group of lookalikes. I’m having trouble finding a Jair Bolsonaro. I’m also having trouble finding a lookalike of Xi Jinping. If you look like these people, please give me a call.
Any plans to retire your Kim Jung Un impersonating?
He’s a dictator, he’s president for life, so I have a very long career unlike other impersonators who do Trump or other countries. But who knows, Trump might be the last President.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
— With reporting and video produced by Aria Hangyu Chen / Hong Kong
Acclaimed Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was arrested at Manila’s airport Friday for allegedly violating a ban on foreign media ownership, the latest legal backlash to sting the longtime critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, Agence France-Presse reports.
This is Ressa’s second arrest in as many months, and yet another example of what free press advocates see as criminal retribution for her persistent coverage of Duterte’s government and bloody drug war.
“I’m being treated like a criminal when my only crime is to be an independent journalist,” she told reporters at the airport.
Ressa, CEO and Executive Editor of news site Rappler and a TIME Person of the Year in 2018, was taken into custody over a law which prevents foreign ownership of local media. Six other Rappler staff were also arrested and posted bail for their alleged violation of the so-called Anti-Dummy Law, according to ABS CBN News.
“Seriously?!?! Imagine the tax pesos wasted. #HOLDTHELINE,” Ressa tweeted from what appeared to be the back of a police car Friday morning.
Rappler’s website says that Ressa plans to post bail immediately. Arraignment for the case has been scheduled for April 10.
Ressa was previously arrested and spent a night in jail in February on charges of “cyber libel” in relation to a 2012 story about a businessman’s alleged links to the illegal drug trade and human trafficking. She was later freed on bail. Government prosecutors have also slapped Rappler with tax and securities fraud charges, according to AFP.
“It is clear that the government is manipulating the law to muzzle and intimidate one of its most credible media critics. This egregious harassment must stop,” Shawn Crispin, senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.
Echoing the rhetoric of President Donald Trump, Duterte has smeared Rappler as a “fake news outlet” and has banned it from covering presidential events. Rights groups have warned that the criminal cases against Ressa mark an escalation of Duterte’s brutal cracked down on journalists, activists and anyone critical of him or of his violent war on drugs, which has left thousands dead.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korea says its president will travel to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump for a summit on North Korean nuclear diplomacy.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office said Friday that Moon will visit the United States on April 10-11 and meet with Trump.
It says the two leaders will discuss how to achieve North Korea’s complete denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
U.S.-led diplomacy on ridding North Korea of its nuclear program remain stalled since Trump’s second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam last month ended without any deal.
North Korea later threatened to quit the nuclear diplomacy, citing a lack of U.S. steps to match disarmament measures it took last year.
(CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand) — A man who survived New Zealand’s mosque attacks told a crowd of about 20,000 people on Friday that he forgives the terrorist who killed his wife and 49 others.
Farid Ahmed was speaking at a national remembrance service held in Christchurch to commemorate those who died in the attacks two weeks ago.
“I don’t want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano,” Ahmed said. “A volcano has anger, fury, rage. It doesn’t have peace. It has hatred. It burns itself within, and also it burns the surroundings. I don’t want to have a heart like this.”
Ahmed said that while he didn’t agree with the gunman’s actions, his Muslim faith taught him that even the terrorist was his brother.
The name of Ahmed’s wife, Husna Ahmed, was among the 50 read out by members of the Muslim community during a solemn part of the service.
It was the third major memorial held in Christchurch since the March 15 slaughter of worshippers who were inside the two mosques for Friday prayers. Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder in the attacks.
The latest memorial service was a more formal occasion, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other foreign dignitaries attending.
Morrison later told reporters the service “was a thing of absolute beauty.”
New Zealand’s police force put on a show of force, closing down nearby streets and patrolling the park with semi-automatic weapons. But the atmosphere was relaxed during the 90-minute commemoration held on a sunny morning in Hagley Park.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who wore an indigenous Maori cloak, said the world had been stuck in a vicious cycle of extremism which must end. She said her country had learned the stories of those impacted by the attacks.
“They were stories of bravery. They were stories of those who were born here, grew up here, or who had made New Zealand their home. Who had sought refuge, or sought a better life for themselves or their families,” she said. “These stories, they now form part of our collective memories. They will remain with us forever. They are us.”
The featured musical guest was British singer Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens, who converted to Islam in 1977.
“We learn about things through their opposites,” the singer said. “And it’s through opposites like this, the evilness of that act and what drove it, we find its opposite, which is the love and kindness and unity that has sprung up right here in New Zealand.”
A particularly poignant moment came when a girl named Salma, the daughter of slain worshipper Ashraf El-Moursy Ragheb, briefly got up on stage to remember her dad.
(GENEVA) — An independent U.N. human rights expert has denounced Saudi Arabia’s closed-door trials of suspects in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and called on the kingdom to name the defendants.
Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions mandated by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, also put an onus on the five permanent U.N. Security Council countries.
Callamard said in a statement Thursday that the Saudi government invited representatives from the five countries to attend some court hearings.
She said China, France, Britain, Russia and the United States “risk being participants in a potential miscarriage of justice” and could be “complicit” if the trials turn out to involve violations of human rights law.
Callamard is leading a human rights probe into the Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.
She said the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s remains and information about those initially arrested over the killing should be made public.
The U.N. human rights office said 11 people are on trial, five of whom face the death penalty, and “it appears” 21 people were initially detained by Saudi authorities.
Callamard has been seeking authorization to travel to Saudi Arabia as part of her investigation.
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has approved seven applications for U.S. companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia, the Energy Department said Thursday.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Energy Department has approved 37 nuclear applications since January 2017, including nine in the Middle East. Besides the seven to Saudi Arabia, two were approved for Jordan. Perry said in his testimony that six applications were approved to Saudi Arabia, but a spokeswoman later said he misspoke. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked Perry whether the applications were approved after Oct. 2, when Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, lived in Virginia.Perry said he did not know the specific date.”We sign a lot of papers,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty good memory, but to remember every date that I sign a piece of paper might be above my ability to recall.”Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the U.S. technology is transferred without proper safeguards.
Congress is increasingly uneasy with the close relationship between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia. President Donald Trump has made the kingdom a centerpiece of his foreign policy in the Middle East as he tries to further isolate Iran, a regional rival to the Saudi regime. In the process, Trump has brushed off criticism over the killing of Khashoggi and the Saudis’ role in the war in Yemen.
The nuclear approvals, known as Part 810 authorizations, allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal to build a nuclear plant. They do not allow transfer of nuclear material, equipment or components. The authorizations were first reported by The Daily Beast before Perry confirmed them in public testimony.
Perry disputed media accounts describing the authorizations as secret, saying, “These U.S. companies that are going to be doing this work want to keep that proprietary information from being out in the public domain.”
But Democrats said nuclear authorizations are normally made public. They accused the Trump administration of trying to conceal its negotiations with Saudi Arabia.
“It appears to me that this is an end run around the law in an effort to achieve a policy,” Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Pompeo said U.S. officials were “working to ensure that the nuclear power that (the Saudis) get is something we understand and doesn’t present that risk” of allowing them to make nuclear weapons.
Sherman called the U.S. response to Khashoggi’s murder inadequate and said officials must do everything in their power to prevent Saudi Arabia from getting a nuclear weapon.
“If you cannot trust a regime with a bone saw, you should not trust them with nuclear weapons,” Sherman said, referring to reports from the Turkish government that Saudi agents used a bone saw to dismember Khashoggi after he was killed last year.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Armed Services Committee, told Perry it was “a bad idea to even consider passing on nuclear technology to the Saudi government,” given the possible role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Khashoggi’s murder.
“The last thing we should be doing is giving the Saudi government the tools to produce nuclear weapons,” said Warren, a Democratic candidate for president.
The announcement of the nuclear approvals came as Republican and Democratic senators requested that the Government Accountability Office review the Trump administration’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia.
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., asked the GAO to investigate reports that some negotiations have been conducted without oversight required under the federal Atomic Energy Act. The senators, who both serve on the Foreign Relations Committee, said it was unusual that the Energy Department apparently was leading the negotiations, rather than the State Department.
The senators said they were “troubled by the administration’s lack of consultations with Congress” and concerned that specific proposals presented by Energy officials may not have been fully vetted with other agencies.
The Trump administration had previously opened talks with Riyadh on what’s known as a “123 agreement.” The name comes from the section of the law that establishes the parameters for major nuclear cooperation between the United States and other countries. Without one, U.S. nuclear energy companies such as Westinghouse would lose out on business opportunities with the Saudis.
The Democratic-led House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into claims by several whistleblowers who said they witnessed “abnormal acts” in the White House regarding a proposal to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia.
(MEXICO CITY) — Mexico is bracing for the possible arrival of the “mother of all caravans,” even as doubts arise over whether the group of Central American migrants will be all that big.
Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero has said a caravan of migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala could be forming.
“We have information that a new caravan is forming in Honduras, that they’re calling ‘the mother of all caravans,’ and they are thinking it could have more than 20,000 people,” Sanchez Cordero said Wednesday.
But a WhatsApp group calling for people to gather Saturday in El Salvador to set off for Guatemala only has about 206 members.
Activist Irineo Mujica, who has accompanied several caravans in Mexico, said reports about “the mother of all caravans” were false, claiming “this is information that (U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen) Nielsen is using to create fear.”
His group, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said in a statement there was no evidence the new caravan would be that large, noting “there has never been a caravan of the size that Sanchez Cordero mentioned.” Indeed, past caravans hit very serious logistical hurdles at 7,000-strong.
She and others suspect the administration of President Donald Trump may be trying to fan fears of a big caravan to turn the U.S. national agenda back to the immigration issue.
Honduran activist Bartolo Fuentes, who accompanied a large caravan last year, dismissed the new reports as “part of the U.S. government’s plans, something made up to justify their actions.”
Later Thursday, Honduras’ deputy foreign minister, Nelly Jerez, denied that a “mother of all caravans” was forming in her country.
“There is no indication of such a caravan,” Jerez said. “This type of information promotes that people leave the country.”
A caravan of about 2,500 Central Americans and Cubans is currently making its way through Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas. The largest of last year’s caravans in Mexico contained about 7,000 people at its peak, though some estimates ran as high as 10,000 at some points.
Mexico appears to be both tiring of the caravans and eager not to anger the United States. It has stopped granting migrants humanitarian visas at the border, and towns along the well-traveled route to Mexico City sometimes no longer allow caravans to spend the night.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that Mexico is doing its part to fight immigrant smuggling.
“We are going to do everything we can to help. We don’t in any way want a confrontation with the U.S. government,” he said. “It is legitimate that they are displeased and they voice these concerns.”
Sanchez Cordero has pledged to form a police line of “containment” around Mexico’s narrow Tehuantepec Isthmus to stop migrants from continuing north to the U.S. border.
The containment belt would consist of federal police and immigration agents, but such highway blockades and checkpoints have not stopped large and determined groups of migrants in the past.
(PARIS) — The dolphins’ bodies were horribly mutilated, the fins cut off.
But what shocked French marine researchers wasn’t just the brutality of the deaths of these highly intelligent mammals, but the numbers involved — a record 1,100 have landed on France’s Atlantic coast beaches since January.
The mass deaths, widely blamed on industrial fishing, have alarmed animal welfare groups and prompted France’s ecology minister to launch a national plan to protect them.
“There’s never been a number this high,” said Willy Daubin, a member of La Rochelle University’s National Center for Scientific Research. “Already in three months, we have beaten last year’s record, which was up from 2017 and even that was the highest in 40 years.”
Though Daubin said 90 percent of the fatalities resulted from the dolphins being accidentally captured in industrial fishing nets, the reason behind the spike this year is a mystery.
“What fishing machinery or equipment is behind all these deaths?” he asked.
Autopsies carried out on the dolphins this year by La Rochelle University’s National Center for Scientific Research show extreme levels of mutilation.
Activists say it’s common for fishermen to cut body parts off the suffocated dolphins after they are pulled up on the nets, to save the nets.
French Ecology Minister Francois de Rugy rushed last week to La Rochelle in an attempt to lower the number of dolphins dying as a result of humans. He’s under pressure, partly due to French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-ecology stance and oft-quoted slogan to “Make the Planet Great Again.”
Rugy has come up with some plans, including bolstering research into existing acoustic repellent devices in place in 26 two-vessel trawlers off the Bay of Biscay, an industrial fishing hub in the Atlantic Ocean. When activated, the devices send unpleasant signals to nearby dolphins that cause them to swim away.
But animal rights group Sea Shepherd said his measures do not go far enough, and has already decried the acoustic repellents as “useless.”
It claims many of the trawlers they watch in the region don’t activate the repellent devices, fearing they will scare off valuable fish as well, and only turn them on if they are being checked fishing monitors.
It also said increasing the number of repellent devices is not a long-term solution, since that makes the oceans an uninhabitable drum of noise pollution for all mammals and fish.
“The government needs to take responsibility and act — especially Macron, who said he wanted to protect ecology,” Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France, told The Associated Press.
She cited scientists who predict that the current rates of fishing will likely drive the dolphin population to extinction.
“The spotlight has been put on the trawlers that fish for sea bass …, which is a scandal. But they were not the only ones responsible,” she said.
She suggested that aggressive hake fishing, which was given the green light three years ago after a long ban, was a major factor. The spike in dolphin deaths also began three years ago.
Her group says the ecological crisis stems from unprecedented demand for low-cost fish.
“Right now, the sea bass that is being caught by the trawlers that kill dolphins you can find on the French market for 8 euros per kilogram ($4 per pound),” she said.
Global seafood consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, according to European Commission, a rate that rights groups have branded unsustainable.
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A CACOPHONY of applause and cheers erupted from the crowd when US President Donald Trump furiously lashed out at his Democratic foes at a Make America Great again rally on Thursday.
THE CONSERVATIVE leader of the French Senate Gérard Larcher has warned President Emmanuel Macron's authoritarian tendencies were partly to blame for the string of high profile resignations that have weakened his presidency in recent months.
JUSTIN Trudeau is facing calls for a second investigation into the leak of confidential information about a controversial choice for chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
A STRONG earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 has struck off Russia's Kuril Islands, southeast of the Kamchatka peninsula, on the volatile Ring of Fire.
Miami [US]: Tennis maestro Roger Federer displayed his trademark game on the court as he won 6-0, 6-4 against the sixth seed Kevin Anderson in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Thursday (local time). Federer was seen playing with an attacking mindset, bringing his 'A' game to the tennis court, displaying cheeky net skills and crafty slices from side to side. This proved too much for Anderson, who was not able to replicate his 2018 Wimbledon comeback.
The Swiss only landed 38 per cent of his first serves, but he was able to defend his second serve without any problems. The Swiss tennis star easily won the first set in 26 minutes. Anderson seemed to have recovered from the 26-minute opening set and the 0-6, 0-2 deficit, breaking Federer to get back on serve at 3-3 in the second set.
But the pressure piled up once again on Anderson at 4-4, and after a marathon 14-minute game, Federer showed his craftiness once again and he was able to take the second set 6-4. As a result of this win, the 37-year-old has moved into his seventh Miami Open semi-final and 65th final four at a Masters 1000 event. Federer will face the 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov in the semi-finals of the Miami Open.
United Nations: In a veiled reference to Pakistan, India said countries that are "apologists for terrorists" will continue to provide "alibis" justifying their actions and inaction, as it called on the Security Council to ensure crucial sanctions measures against the UN proscribed terrorists and entities are strictly enforced.
The Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution calling upon Member States to step up efforts to combat and criminalise the financing of terrorists and their activities. India welcomed the adoption of the resolution, describing it a "milestone" in global efforts to set up a normative framework to criminalise terrorist financing.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, participating in the Security Council open debate on 'Preventing and Combating the Financing of Terrorism', said New Delhi specifically welcomes the recognition in the resolution of the essential role of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in setting global standards, especially in the context of preventing and combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
Akbaruddin, however, asserted that the Council "can and needs" to do a better job of overseeing the implementation of its resolutions relating to terrorist financing and of the various sanctions measures under the 1267 Al- Qaida and 1988 sanctions regimes.
India warned that "non-compliance of crucial sanctions measures in case of the UN proscribed terrorists and entities renders all of us, Member States, at a high risk of facing challenges from these terrorist organisations who are well funded and armed despite international measures." "As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in its eating, the utility of any council resolution will, therefore, be in its implementation," he said.
"Also, the unfortunate reality is that States who are apologists for terrorists will continue to provide alibis to justify their actions and inaction too, as was done by a serial offender earlier today," he said, a veiled reference to Pakistan. Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, in her statement during that debate, said that it is important that the FATF and the 1267 sanctions regimes are "not used as political tools by some to advance their geo-political objectives."
She also made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir in her statement. Akbaruddin asserted that the international community needs to be determined to "continue evolving our tool box and go by our rule book, rather than be distracted and stray from our determination.
Our tool box consisting of effective implementation of UN sanctions measures could assist in curtailing these activities in some measure." Describing terrorism as a scourge that is tearing at the fabric of societies across the globe, Akbaruddin said it is a menace that is not quarantined to any region.
"People now live in fear of terrorist threats in countries across the world. Combating Terrorism is viewed by many States and their people as one of the most fundamental security policy priorities that require global responsiveness," he said, calling the adoption of the resolution an answer to "a felt need.
The global community is impatient for action. The UN collectively needs to do more and do it much more effectively. For its part, India will be a willing partner in this endeavour," he said at the open debate convened by France under its Presidency of the Security Council for the month of March.
Akbaruddin further highlighted that many Council resolutions, including the various sanctions measures under the 1267 and 1988 sanctions regimes, where asset freeze is a core part of states' obligations call for regular reporting under these measures.
While welcoming the resolution's focus on ensuring full compliance with the measures imposed by the Security Council, Akbaruddin voiced concern that no effective action is taken on instances of reported non-compliance with the sanctions measures.
He pointed out that the report of the 1267 sanctions Monitoring team dated January 15, 2019 notes that Member States have reported to the Monitoring Team, on an ad hoc basis and a comprehensive review of frozen assets has not been undertaken.
He expressed hope that there will action on this front by member states. "We welcome the Council and its various bodies taking note and rectifying instances of non-implementation to enhance awareness and effective implementation of the various council resolutions on Counter Terrorism.
We believe that this work could be strengthened with more cooperation between the FATF and the various UN entities." "Bodies such as the FATF have listed risks posed by Da'esh, Al- Qaida, ?Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation?, ?Lashkar-e-Taiba?, ?Jaish-e-Mohammed?, Haqqani Network, and persons affiliated with the Taliban," he added.
By other terms of the resolution, all States shall – in a manner consistent with their obligations under international law – ensure that their laws and regulations make it possible to prosecute and penalise, as serious criminal offences, the provision or collection of funds, resources and services intended to be used for the benefit of terrorist organisations or individual terrorists.
The resolution also calls upon Member States to conduct financial investigations into terrorism-related cases and to more effectively investigate and prosecute cases of terrorist financing, applying criminal sanctions as appropriate.
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