Army Awards Heroism Medal To 3 Junior ROTC Cadets Killed In Florida Shooting

Three Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets killed during last week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida have been awarded the Medal of Heroism by the U.S. Army.

Family members of the cadets, Alaina Petty, Martin Duque and Peter Wang, will receive the medals, which are awarded only to cadets whose achievements “involved the acceptance of danger and extraordinary responsibilities, exemplifying praiseworthy courage and fortitude.” At least one of the cadets was gunned down while protecting fellow students.

Eyewitnesses say Peter, a 15-year-old freshman, spent his last moments holding a door open at the school to help others evacuate. He was wearing his gray Junior ROTC shirt at the time and will be buried in his full uniform ― along with his Medal of Heroism ― on Tuesday.

An online petition urging that Peter be buried with full military honors had more than 62,000 signatures Tuesday afternoon. Also Tuesday, he was posthumously admitted to West Point, the prestigious U.S. military academy he dreamed of attending.

Source: Yahoo News

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Kushner Doesn't Want To Give Up His Security Clearance As John Kelly Cracks Down: Report

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner doesn’t want to give up the interim security clearance that gives him access to highly classified information, even though his current duties likely don’t require him to view top-secret material, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Kushner, also President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has resisted efforts by White House chief of staff John Kelly to overhaul such interim clearances, which are given to some aides as a stopgap measure when their applications are held up as the FBI works through issues with their background checks. Kushner holds one of these interim clearances because of mistakes he made on his forms and the complexity of his financial holdings, the Times reported last week.

Kelly released a memo last Friday saying he would revamp the granting of such clearances after one of the president’s top aides, Rob Porter, was forced to resign after allegations of domestic violence from his two ex-wives were revealed. The women told the FBI interviewers that Porter had physically and emotionally abused them, but he was able to continue working in the White House with a temporary security clearance.

“We should ― and, in the future, must ― do better,” Kelly wrote about the overhaul, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

Kushner’s close relationship to the president has given him access to highly classified information despite his own interim clearance, and he is able to read Trump’s daily presidential brief. But as the Times noted, his official duties, which include managing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and revising the North American Free Trade Agreement, likely don’t require a top-level clearance.

Source: Yahoo News

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Trump claims he 'never met' the woman who says he forcibly kissed her at Trump Tower

President Trump turned his Twitter attention Tuesday to previously disclosed statements by a woman who says he forced himself on her at Trump Tower in 2006.

Rachel Crooks, one of more than a dozen women who publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct weeks before the 2016 presidential election, was profiled in a Washington Post article published on Tuesday.

“A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago,” Trump tweeted. “Never happened! Who would do this in a public space with live security cameras running. Another False Accusation.”

Crooks’s account places the incident outside an office where she was working at the time — on an upper floor, not the ground-floor building lobby.

“Please, by all means, share the footage from the hallway outside the 24th floor residential elevator bank on the morning of January 11, 2006,” Crooks tweeted in reply. “Let’s clear this up for everyone. It’s liars like you in politics that have prompted me to run for office myself.”

Source: Yahoo News

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California school shooting plot foiled, assault rifles found

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A security officer overheard a student threaten to open fire at his Southern California high school, allowing officials to thwart the plot just days after a deadly shooting in Florida, authorities said Wednesday.

The 17-year-old student at El Camino High School near the city of Whittier was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats, and his adult brother was arrested on five weapons charges after two assault rifles, 90 high-capacity magazines and other handguns were found in their home.

A security officer on Friday heard the teen "say that he was going to shoot up the school sometime in the next three weeks," Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said at a news conference.

The school reported the teen, and deputies found an assault rifle at the home registered to his 28-year-old Army veteran brother and another that was not registered, which is a felony in California, McDonnell said.

The sheriff said the brother is facing charges of possession of an assault weapon and other violations and that the teen had an extensive disciplinary history at school.

Source: Yahoo News

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Redemption time for Romney?

I’ve never thought much of Mitt Romney. I described him once in a book as “a vast reservoir of inner nothingness,” which wasn’t very nice.

This is not only because, during his two presidential campaigns, he scrupulously avoided any contact with me, or really with anyone who might have asked him anything that required a complex answer about his own phantom-like agenda.

No, it’s because Romney is a man who seems to lack any fixed point in public life. He’s always approached his ideological convictions the same way he does his allegiances to the various states where he has homes — as strategic assets to be shuffled around whenever it’s convenient, to the point that I doubt even he knows where he truly resides.

And yet, despite all that, I admired Romney’s decision to jump back into the political arena last week, and I’m hoping he can do more than just win Utah’s Senate seat in what will likely be the last chapter of his political odyssey.

Romney is exactly what his party needs at the moment, if he can at last summon the courage to be what the moment demands.

Romney’s small band of loyalists, of course, would argue that he’s never lacked for courage — only emotional fervor and self-righteousness. In their view, Romney is the ultimate corporate analyst, a conservative problem solver who stalks an issue from all sides and then pounces on it with ruthless efficiency.

Source: Yahoo News

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Shooting town hall: Rubio on the defensive on gun control

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was put on the defensive Wednesday by angry students, teachers and parents who are demanding stronger gun-control measures after the shooting rampage that claimed 17 lives at a Florida high school.

One of those confronting the Florida senator at a CNN's "Stand Up" town hall Wednesday night was Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed on Feb. 14 with 16 others. Rubio was the lone Republican at the nationally broadcast gathering after Florida's GOP Gov. Rick Scott and President Donald Trump declined invitations to appear at the event in Sunrise, Florida.

Guttenberg told Rubio that his comments about the shooting "and those of your president this week have been pathetically weak."

People stood up and cheered Guttenberg as he challenged Rubio to tell him the truth, to acknowledge that "guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids."

Guttenberg added, "And tell me you will work with us to do something about guns."

Source: Yahoo News

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Ford ousts top exec over 'inappropriate behavior'

DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. has ousted one of its top executives over allegations of inappropriate behavior.

North America President Raj Nair is leaving the company effective immediately, Ford said in a statement. His replacement has not yet been named.

Ford officials would not specify what behavior led to Nair's departure. Ford investigated after a recent anonymous complaint about Nair was made to the company's 24-hour hotline.

"We made this decision after a thorough review and careful consideration," said Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett in the statement. "Ford is deeply committed to providing and nurturing a safe and respectful culture and we expect our leaders to fully uphold these values."

Nair expressed regret in a statement distributed by Ford.

"There have been instances where I have not exhibited leadership behaviors consistent with the principles that the company and I have always espoused," Nair said.

Nair said he had nothing to add to that statement when reached by phone Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Source: Yahoo News

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There will never be another Billy Graham, because the world that made him possible is gone

As word of Billy Graham’s death spread on Wednesday morning, commentators observed that since he retired in 2005, no evangelical leader has emerged to occupy his unique place in American society.

But even if there were anyone out there with the same talents that enabled Graham to represent all of evangelicalism, we likely would never know it. The cultural context in which Graham became one of the most important religious figures in American history was radically different than the one that exists today.

“The America that emerged from World War II and the Great Depression was exceptionally unified and cohesive, and possessed of an unusual confidence in large institutions,” Yuval Levin wrote in his 2016 book, “The Fractured Republic.”

“But almost immediately after the war, [America] began a long process of unwinding and fragmenting,” Levin wrote.

And so, the fact that American Christianity hasn’t given rise to a leader like Graham over the last two or three decades isn’t just a result of the fracturing of evangelicalism into different factions — the slick prosperity gospel of Joel Osteen, the strident right-wing triumphalism of Graham’s son Franklin and the theologically precise new Calvinists, to name just a few.

It’s also a story about the fragmentation of American life — arguably a reversion to the norm in American history rather than a departure from it.

Source: Yahoo News

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The 'crisis actors' lie spreads in wake of Florida shooting

It happens in the wake of almost any tragedy serious enough to make the national news: Conspiracy theories circulate claiming that it didn’t really happen, or that it was staged to advance a political agenda, or that the witnesses and family members seen sobbing on television are actually actors. In the wake of the mass killing at a Florida high school last week, it happened again — this time, spread by an aide to a state legislator who emailed a Tampa Bay Times reporter to pass along a tip that “[b]oth kids in the picture are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen.”

The “kids” referred to by Benjamin A. Kelly, a district secretary for Republican state Rep. Shawn Harrison, were two survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting who were interviewed on CNN. Kelly was promulgating a notion as cruel as it is implausible: The people on television you see grieving? Actors paid to show up and look sad.

Source: Yahoo News

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The Mayo Clinic and Telemedicine: Video Conferencing Is Reducing ICU Mortalities

Patients at the Mayo Clinic’s network of Intensive Care Units now have an extra pair of expert eyes watching over them as they recover.

The world-renowned research and treatment facility has built a central telemedicine hub to monitor half a dozen ICUs at once, boosting the level of care available to its patients. The innovation is as a big a step forward for telemedicine itself as it is for healthcare in general. The technology of using video conferencing to link patients and doctors in real-time visual conversation is moving beyond experiment to be implemented as a practical healthcare aid.

The link between the Mayo Clinic and telemedicine is especially strong, given the former’s research into the latter. Now the partnership is creating real-world solutions that can be copied and applied in healthcare settings across the country. Telemedicine is no novelty, but here at VC Daily we’re happy to see it actively saving lives.
The Mayo Clinic and Telemedicine

The Mayo Clinic’s new telemedicine hub operates out of a hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. From this central room, a series of interactive video conferencing links provide ICU specialists with face-to-face instant communication with eight other ICUs in hospitals as far flung as Wisconsin and Georgia.

Source: videoconferencingdaily

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How ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ may give patients the wrong ideas about hospital care

It may be obvious to those working in hospitals—and especially in emergency medicine—that a TV medical drama isn’t quite reality. But for patients who are regular viewers of the long-running “Grey’s Anatomy,” the show could have a real-life impact on how satisfied they are with their care.

In a study published in The BMJ’s Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open journal, researchers at Dignity Health’s St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix watched parts of 269 episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy,” skipping over the personal drama and focusing on how it portrayed 290 fictional trauma patients. They then compared those results to more than 4,800 real-life patients in the 2012 National Trauma Databank (NTBD).

Researchers even tried to match the geographical patient population by examining admissions to university-affiliated teaching hospitals with more than 400 beds in the Western U.S.—similar to those served by the show’s fictional Seattle Grace Hospital.

Unsurprisingly, significant differences existed between the TV and real patients. For example, many more of the TV patients died (22 percent versus 7 percent among the NTBD sample). While the study authors admitted it was hard to gauge how long some of the TV patients were in the fictional hospital, half of those patients who survived severe injuries made rapid recoveries and were discharged within a week, compared to 20 percent of the real-life patients.

This split between extremes in terms of outcomes—patients either dying or making quick recoveries—carried over to long-term care. Only 6 percent of surviving patients on “Grey’s Anatomy” were transferred to inpatient care. Among the real-life patients, 22 percent were discharged to a facility other than their home, making their road to recovery a much longer one than their fictional counterparts.

“Although realism is an integral element to the success of a television drama set in a contemporary workplace, be it a hospital or police department, the requirements for dramatic effect demand a focus on the exceptional rather than the mundane,” general surgery resident Rosemarie Serrone, MD, and her coauthors wrote.

Source: healthexec

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Debunking claims about medical marijuana

In 1996, California became the first US state to legalise marijuana use for medical purposes. Medical marijuana is now legal in 29 states. Opponents of medical marijuana argue that such laws increase recreational marijuana use among adolescents, while advocates contend that medical marijuana helps to address the US opioid crisis by reducing overdose deaths.

Two papers published today in the scientific journal Addiction look at the current evidence of the effects of medical marijuana laws and conclude that there is little support for either claim.

The first claim, that legalizing medical marijuana increases recreational use among adolescents, is addressed by a new meta-analysis that pooled the results of eleven separate studies of data from four large-scale US surveys dating back as far as 1991. Results of the meta-analysis indicate that no significant changes (increases or decreases) occurred in adolescent recreational use following enactment of medical marijuana laws. Far fewer studies examined the effects of medical marijuana laws among adults, although existing evidence suggests that adult recreational use may increase after medical marijuana laws are passed

Senior author Professor Deborah Hasin says, "Although we found no significant effect on adolescent marijuana use, we may find that the situation changes as commercialized markets for medical marijuana develop and expand, and as states legalize recreational marijuana use. However, for now, there appears to be no basis for the argument that legalising medical marijuana increases teens' use of the drug."


Source: medicalxpress

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Surgical sponges left inside woman for at least 6 years

Two surgical sponges were left in a woman’s abdomen for at least six years, according to a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The unidentified 42-year-old went to a primary care clinic in Japan, saying she had experienced bloating for three years, according to the report, published Wednesday.

A CT scan of her abdomen showed two masses with strings attached to them. A surgical procedure called a laparotomy confirmed the presence of two gauze sponges that had become attached to the patient’s omentum — a fold of tissue that connects the stomach with other abdominal structures — and colon.

The authors concluded that the sponges were probably left after a cesarean section. The woman had had two cesarean sections — one six years earlier and one nine years earlier — but it is unclear which one resulted in the retained items. She did not have any other abdominal or pelvic surgeries, according Dr. Takeshi Kondo, a general medicine physician at Chiba University Hospital and a lead author of the report.

Source: fox43

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Novel Tumor-Agnostic Agent: 80% RR, but Target Is Rare

The investigational tumor-agnostic drug larotrectinib (LOXO-101, Loxo Oncology) has shown a 75% to 8O% response rate in children and adults with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors that harbor tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) fusions.

The latest data on this drug "suggest larotrectinib is likely to be the most effective treatment option for any patient with an advanced solid tumor harboring a TRK fusion," principal investigator David M. Hyman, MD, chief of early drug development at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, told Medscape Medical News.

"Further follow-up will determine the exact duration of this benefit, although it is already in a very clinically meaningful range," he added.

As previously reported by Medscape Medical News, larotrectinib has shown unprecedented high response rates in all 17 unique tumor types in which it has been tested.

More details have now been published in the February 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a pooled analysis of a phase 1/2 clinical trial program conducted in 55 patients (age range, 4 months to 76 years), the response rate was 75% to 80%, as determined on the basis of independent radiologic review and investigator assessment.

A complete response was seen in seven patients (13%), and a partial response in 34 (64%). Stable disease was seen in seven patients (13%).

Source: medscape

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Brain Size of Human Ancestors Evolved Gradually Over 3 Million Years

Modern humans have brains that are more than three times larger than our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos. Scientists don’t agree on when and how this dramatic increase took place, but new analysis of 94 hominin fossils shows that average brain size increased gradually and consistently over the past three million years.

The research, published this week in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that the trend was caused primarily by evolution of larger brains within populations of individual species, but the introduction of new, larger-brained species and extinction of smaller-brained ones also played a part.

“Brain size is one of the most obvious traits that makes us human. It’s related to cultural complexity, language, tool making and all these other things that make us unique,” said Andrew Du, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago and first author of the study. “The earliest hominins had brain sizes like chimpanzees, and they have increased dramatically since then. So, it’s important to understand how we got here.”

Du began the work as a graduate student at the George Washington University (GW). His advisor, Bernard Wood, GW’s University Professor of Human Origins and senior author of the study, gave his students an open-ended assignment to understand how brain size evolved through time. Du and his fellow students, who are also co-authors on the paper, continued working on this question during his time at George Washington, forming the basis of the new study.

Source: laboratoryequipment

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Alcohol Plays a Much Bigger Role in Causing Dementia Than We Thought

It’s hardly a surprise that too much alcohol is bad for the body, including the brain. But a new study published Tuesday in The Lancet suggests that even doctors are underestimating its impact on our risk of developing dementia.

The researchers looked at a nationwide, anonymous database of more than 30 million adult French hospital patients who were discharged sometime between 2008 to 2013. They excluded those at risk of developing rare forms of dementia, such as those brought on by infectious diseases like HIV or other neurological disorders.

Narrowing in on the over 1 million patients newly diagnosed with dementia during that time, the researchers found that heavy alcohol use was a substantial risk factor for every common type of dementia, particularly early-onset cases caught before the age of 65. More than half of the 57,000 patients diagnosed with early-onset dementia—57 percent—showed signs of alcohol-related brain damage or were diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder at the same time.

All told, they estimated that people with diagnosed alcohol problems were more than three times likely to develop any kind of dementia earlier, and over twice as likely to develop forms of dementia not typically associated with alcohol, such as Alzheimer’s.

Source: gizmodo

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Is opioid addiction about marketing?

Purdue Pharma, maker of the painkiller drug OxyContin, has agreed to stop marketing opioid drugs to doctors.

OxyContin, a timed-release version of oxycodone, was first approved in 1995. The company marketed the drug aggressively, inviting doctors, nurses and pharmacists to all-expense-paid conferences at resorts in California, Florida and Arizona. Sales reps received generous bonuses tied to OxyContin sales, creating incentives for more visits to physicians who treated chronic pain. Sales of the drug rose from $48 million in 1996 to nearly $1.1 billion in 2000 and continued to climb. In 2001, Purdue paid $40 million in sales-incentive bonuses.

But by 2004, OxyContin had become a significant drug of abuse. Users were able to obtain a heroin-like high by crushing the pills to defeat the timed-release feature.

In 2007, Purdue and three of its executives pled guilty to criminal charges stemming from a federal investigation into the company’s claims that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other opioids. They paid $634 million in fines.

The company has faced hundreds of private lawsuits related to misrepresenting the risk of addiction to OxyContin. That’s apparently what led to Purdue’s decision to halt marketing of opioid drugs.

Opioids are prescribed for severe pain, including cancer-related pain, but the market for chronic, non-cancer-related pain accounted for 86 percent of the total opioid market in 1999. The risk of addiction when the drugs are taken for chronic pain is obviously much higher.

But a crackdown on opioid prescriptions, which dropped 18 percent from 2010 to 2015, did not reduce overdose deaths, which increased from 12.3 to 16.3 per 100,000 population.


Source: sbsun

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Tennis champ Serena Williams reveals she ‘almost died’ after giving birth to first baby

   
Tennis champion Serena Williams revealed she “almost died after giving birth” to her first child, daughter Olympia, last fall, according to a column by Williams on CNN.com.

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Williams had a relatively easy birth Sept. 1, 2017, delivering her daughter by C-section, but two hours later, she was in a fight for her life that lasted six days, she wrote.

“It began with a pulmonary embolism, which is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs becomes blocked by a blood clot. Because of my medical history with this problem, I live in fear of this situation. So, when I fell short of breath, I didn't wait a second to alert the nurses,” Williams said.

   

She underwent three surgeries to deal with the health crisis and credited her medical team for her survival.

“When I finally made it home to my family, I had to spend the first six weeks of motherhood in bed,” she wrote on CNN.com.

“I am so grateful I had access to such an incredible medical team of doctors and nurses at a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment. They knew exactly how to handle this complicated turn of events. If it weren't for their professional care, I wouldn't be here today.”

Williams knew about her health condition and was able to alert medical staffers that  something was wrong.

Source: ajc

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Teenage Boy Lays Eggs, Doctors Confused Over Bizarre Condition

In a bizarre case, a 14-year-old boy in Indonesia baffled doctors after he claimed to have laid 20 eggs in the last two years. The boy, identified as Akmal, was hospitalized for his condition several times.

Recently, the boy laid two eggs in front of doctors, raising doubts over his conditions as medical experts’ claim it was "impossible" for eggs to form inside the human body. The news was first reported by a local Indonesian publication.

Akmal's father claims the eggs laid by his son appear to be either all yolk or all white when cracked open. X-ray conducted of the boy's abdomen showed the existence of an object similar in shape and size to a chicken egg in his rectum, according to local report.

"In two years he laid 18 eggs and two today, so in total there have been 20. I cracked the first egg and its content was all yellow, no white," his father said, according to Daily Mail.

Medical experts of the hospital where Akmal was taken claim the teenager may have swallowed eggs as a whole or it may have been pushed up his rectum.

"Our suspicion is that the eggs were deliberately shoved into Akmal's rectum. But we did not see it directly," a spokesman for the hospital reportedly said.

Source: ibtimes

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Arrival of Beaker folk changed Britain for ever, ancient DNA study shows

The largest ever study on ancient DNA has shown that Britain was changed forever by the arrival of the Beaker folk, a wave of migrants about 4,500 years ago who brought with them new customs, new burial practices, and beautiful, distinctive bell-shaped pottery.

The very existence of the Beaker folk – whose ancestry lay in central Europe and further east to the Steppes – and Beaker culture has been questioned in the past. The actual beakers, striking clay drinking vessels with an elegant flared lip, were clearly among the most treasured possessions of the people who were buried with them, and have been excavated from graves across Europe for centuries. However, archaeologists could not agree whether they represented a fashion spread by trade and imitation, or a culture diffused by migration.

Now a massive international project, involving hundreds of scientists and archaeologists and almost all the major laboratories in the field, has provided some of the answers. Using samples of more than 400 prehistoric skeletons from across Europe, researchers have uncovered new information about a period when a wave of migration rolled westward across Europe, almost totally displacing the earlier population in many places – including Britain.

Source: theguardian

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Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets Equally Effective For Losing Weight: Study

When it comes to losing weight, there’s only one thing people want to know: What is the best diet for dropping those extra pounds?

Low carbohydrate plans such as Atkins and Keto are popular, but many of those dieting fear fat, which is traditionally found in both diets. But a study now suggests that both low fat and low carb diets are equally effective in losing weight—as long as you’re consuming the right type of foods.

New data published Tuesday in the research journal JAMA revealed that people who followed a low-fat diet for one year lost almost 12 pounds, on average. Meanwhile, their fat-eating, low-carb counterparts dropped roughly 13 pounds. The researchers determined that food quality was even important than dietary plan.The reason? Successful dieters all consumed less sugar and refined flour and ate more vegetables.

“The bottom line: Diet quality is important for both weight control and long-term well-being,” Nutritionist Christopher Gardner of Stanford and study co-author told The New York Times.

In other words, just because a soda might be low fat, that doesn’t mean it’s a good choice for dieters.

“We made sure to tell everybody, regardless of which diet they were on, to go to the farmer’s market and don’t buy processed convenience food crap. Also, we advised them to diet in a way that didn’t make them feel hungry or deprived—otherwise it’s hard to maintain the diet in the long run,” said in a post on the university’s website.

Source: newsweek

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Minnesota hospitals report increase in preventable errors

Minnesota hospitals saw an increase last year in errors such as fatal or disabling patient falls and surgeries on the wrong body parts, as well as a cluster of medication errors related to the use of epinephrine to treat allergic reactions, cardiac arrests and other conditions, according to a state report released Thursday.

While patients are safer overall as a result of Minnesota’s pioneering public accounting of hospital errors, state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the increase suggests a need for “renewed focus.” The 341 reportable adverse events in the 12-month period ending Oct. 6 was an increase from the 336 events reported by Minnesota hospitals and surgery centers in 2016.

“We don’t find that good enough,” Malcolm said.

The number of reportable errors, dubbed “never events” because they are preventable, has increased for four years. The errors last year contributed to 12 deaths and 103 disabling injuries.

Hospitals reported 36 surgeries or procedures to the wrong body parts, the most since the state started reporting adverse events in 2004. Many involved spinal procedures on the wrong side of the back or at the wrong vertebrae.

Hospitals developed standard “timeout” procedures over the past decade — pauses that doctors use to ensure they have the right patients, procedures and body parts before making incisions — to avoid scenarios such as the removal of the wrong kidney that occurred at Methodist Hospital in 2008.

Source: startribune

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Vegan YouTuber Who Claimed Raw Food Cured Her Cancer Dies From Disease

On her YouTube channel, Mari Lopez claimed that her raw, vegan lifestyle “cured” her of breast cancer. But when the disease spread to her blood, liver and lungs, she decided to try chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

It appears, however, the intervention was too late, as her niece Liz Johnson has revealed that Lopez died of breast cancer in December 2017.

Lopez told viewers of her YouTube channel Liz & Mari, which she hosted with Johnson, that her faith in God and diet consisting entirely of plant-based products rid her body of cancer in four months. She also claimed in one video that she was “healed by God" and "used to live a gay lifestyle," according to the website Babe, where Johnson confirmed her aunt's death. Neither claims have any medical or scientific basis.

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Since launching the arguably niche channel in 2015, the duo amassed 11,761 subscribers and their videos garnered almost 1 million views. In a video entitled Cancer Transformation FAQ, Lopez recounted her experiences of a so-called “90-day juice cleanse” and explained her rejection of science-based medical treatment.

Source: newsweek

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It's OK to use nasal spray flu vaccine again, US panel says

 It's OK for doctors to start using a kid-friendly nasal spray flu vaccine again, a federal panel said Wednesday.

Two years ago, the advisory group pulled its recommendation for FluMist vaccine after research found it wasn't working against swine flu, the kind of flu that was making most people sick then. But the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices voted 12-2 Wednesday to recommend the nasal spray as an option for next winter's flu season.

An official from AstraZeneca, the company that makes FluMist, said the problem with the vaccine has been identified and corrected. But panel members noted there's still not good proof that FluMist works well against the swine flu bug.

"This is not an easy decision. It's always a challenge to make a decision with incomplete data," said one panel member, Dr. Edward Belongia of the Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation.

The panel makes its recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which usually accepts the advice and sends it along as guidance to doctors, hospitals and health insurers.

FluMist is the only spray-in-the-nose vaccine on the market. It was first licensed in 2003 and is approved for healthy people ages 2 to 49. Unlike shots made from a killed virus, it is made from a live but weakened flu virus.

Source: go

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Kratom blamed for salmonella outbreak in 20 states

The popular herb kratom is linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has made 28 people sick in 20 states, federal health officials said Tuesday.

Most of the people who have been made seriously ill in the outbreak remember having recently used some form of kratom, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

It said 11 people were sick enough to have been hospitalized.

“At this time, CDC recommends that people not consume kratom in any form. The investigation indicates that kratom products could be contaminated with Salmonella and could make people sick,” the CDC says on its website.

Kratom has been the focus of a storm of controversy. The Food and Drug Administration has issued increasingly urgent warnings about the herb, saying it acts like an opioid drug and advising people to stay away from it.

Source: nbcnews

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Drinking Alcohol Tied to Long Life in New Study

Drinking could help you live longer—that's the good news for happy-hour enthusiasts from a study presented last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. According to the study, people who live to 90 or older often drink moderately.

Neurologist Claudia Kawas and her team at the University of California, Irvine, have been studying the habits of people who live until their 90s since 2003. There’s a paltry amount of research on the oldest-old group, defined as 85 and older by the Social Security Administration, and Kawas wanted to delve into the lifestyle habits of those who live past 90. She began asking about dietary habits, medical history and daily activities via survey, wondering if such data could help identify trends among these who lived longest. Ultimately she gathered information on the habits of 1,700 people between the ages of 90-99.

Source: newsweek

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Trump calls for a $2.7B space station to orbit the moon

By the time the United States hits the 54-year anniversary of the original moon landing, NASA hopes to have a place ready for astronauts to live and work near the lunar surface.

The project, called the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, would operate similarly to the International Space Station. But instead of orbiting Earth, the lunar platform will orbit the moon.

And if all goes as planned, it would be ready for human habitation by 2023.

The platform would "help us further explore the moon and its resources and translate that experience toward human missions to Mars," Robert Lightfoot, NASA's acting administrator, said in his State of NASA address earlier this month.

The lunar gateway was one of several projects funded in President Donald Trump's $19.9 billion NASA budget proposal for fiscal year 2019, which places a heavy emphasis on human exploration.

The budget plan allocates $10.5 billion to human exploration, while cutting a number of climate change-related missions and the agency's $99.3 million education office.

About $2.7 billion would go toward building the platform through the 2023 fiscal year under Trump's proposal, with $504.2 million set aside in the coming year. Congress still must approve the budget.

Much like the current space station where astronauts have lived for 18 years, the platform would be assembled over time. The power and propulsion element is targeted for launch in 2022. This element would use solar electric propulsion to keep the gateway in the appropriate position in space. It also would provide space-to-Earth, space-to-lunar and spacecraft-to-spacecraft communications, as well as support communication for spacewalks. Lasers would be used to transfer large datasets, meaning it would happen at a much faster rate, according to a Feb. 13 NASA web post.

Source: houstonchronicle

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Vice president wants US businesses trailblazing into space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Vice President Mike Pence and his new space advisory council want U.S. private companies moving faster and farther into the cosmos, with the government easing restrictions on these 21st century pioneers.

The U.S. will get left behind, the National Space Council was warned Wednesday, if it doesn’t make it easier for companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to set up shop in orbit around Earth and aim for the moon, Mars and beyond.

“Somewhere out there in space, is a bright red Roadster going thousands of miles per hour, the fastest car in history. We had better keep up with it,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Jr., a member of the newly revived space council.

Thanks to “impressive events” like SpaceX’s test flight of its new Falcon Heavy rocket earlier this month, which hoisted the Tesla sports car and its mannequin driver, “the United States is the leader in space once again,” Ross said.

Not only did the rocket send Elon Musk’s Roadster roaring toward Mars — Musk runs SpaceX as well as the electric car company — two of its first-stage boosters landed back at Cape Canaveral for further recycling.

“Very impressive, indeed,” Pence, the council’s chairman, told the crowd of more than 300 at Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX’s launch came up repeatedly during the two-hour session held in the building once used to prep pieces of the International Space Station. Besides the lucrative business of launching satellites, many of the nation’s aerospace companies are looking to capitalize with their own orbiting labs and tourist stops, asteroid mining camps, lunar bases and more.


Source: ksat

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SpaceX gears up again for its first Starlink satellite launch after winds force delay

SpaceX is resetting the countdown to put two of its prototype Starlink broadband satellites and a Spanish radar imaging satellite into orbit on Thursday, a day after concerns about upper-level winds forced a postponement.

Wednesday’s scrub, based on data from weather balloons, came only about 10 minutes before SpaceX’s Falcon 9 was due to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

“High-altitude wind shear data shows a probable 2 percent load exceedance,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained in a tweet about the no-go decision. “Small, but better to be paranoid.”

The launch was rescheduled for 6:17 a.m. PT Thursday. Because the opportunity for liftoff is instantaneous, SpaceX has to have everything go right, to the second.

Assuming all systems are go, SpaceX will fire up a webcast of the proceedings about 15 minutes before launch.

Putting Hisdesat’s Paz spacecraft into orbit is the primary objective for this mission. It’s designed to follow the same orbit as Europe’s TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar satellites, providing high-resolution radar coverage for government and commercial applications over the next five and a half years.

But it’s the secondary objectives that are really interesting. Riding along with Paz are the first two prototypes for what’s expected to become a SpaceX constellation of thousands of satellites. The constellation, known as Starlink, is designed to provide low-cost, low-latency broadband internet service from low Earth orbit.

Musk said Starlink would provide connectivity for those “least served” by currently available networks. “If anyone is curious, the name was inspired by ‘The Fault in Our Stars,'” he said in a tweet, referring to a romantic novel written by John Green.

SpaceX’s team in Redmond, Wash., has been playing a lead role in developing the hardware and the satellite communications technology for Starlink.

Source: Yahoo News

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An amateur astronomer testing a new camera happens to catch a supernova as it's being born

Peering at a distant galaxy, an amateur astronomer in Argentina managed to capture a star in the act of going supernova. The chances of this discovery, scientists say, are 1-in-a-million at best.

This lucky find, described in the journal Nature, offers the first images of the sudden brightening caused by a shock in the star's core — a process that had been theorized but never observed.

"This is the first confirmation of the existence of this phase, which is really in agreement with the models," said lead author Melina Bersten, an astrophysicist at the Instituto de Astrofisica de La Plata in Argentina.

The supernova, SN 2016gkg, could shed fresh light on the end stages of a star's life.

SN 2016gkg was spotted in September 2016 by study coauthor Victor Buso, an amateur astronomer based out of Rosario, Argentina. Buso had been testing a new camera on his 16-inch telescope by aiming it at spiral galaxy NGC 613, which lies roughly 80 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor.

After taking a series of short-exposure photographs, Buso took a look at his work — and noticed, at the end of one of the galaxy's spiral arms, a bright point in the later images that hadn't been there in the earlier ones.

It takes experience to be able to notice such a tiny but significant change, said Gaston Folatelli, an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de La Plata and one of the study's authors.

"Victor was really very lucky — cannot deny that — but also he had enough expertise to be able to see the object and to realize that this was possible," said Folatelli, who helped lead the work with Bersten.


source: latimes

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North Korean Cheerleader Caught Clapping U.S. Skaters Told to Cut it Out

A North Korean cheerleader was caught on camera briefly applauding U.S. figure skating pair Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim at the Winter Olympics—before a colleague quickly told her to stop.

The interaction, which lasts only a few seconds, occurred during a figure skating event on February 15. It provided another bizarre insight into the lives of the young North Korean cheerleader contingent—women who are handpicked to support the country and have fascinated worldwide audiences with their near-robotic, perfectly-synchronized performances in support of North Korean athletes.

The cheerleaders showed up en masse to witness the final performance of North Korean figure skating pair Kim Ju Sik and Ryom Tae Ok, who are perhaps the most successful and most well-known North Korean athletes at the Pyeongchang Olympics. As expected, the cheerleaders greeted the pair’s free skating routine with raucous applause and cheers.

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They were followed on to the ice by the U.S. athletes and, as the arena began clapping the new skaters, one unidentified cheerleader joined in the applause, perhaps mindlessly.

However the cheerleader sitting beside her—among rows of deadpan companions—noticed the apparent breach of team rules. The second cheerleader discreetly elbowed the first a few times in an attempt to remind her of where and who she was, apparently whispering a few words as she put her hands back on her lap.

source: newsweek

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Kawhi Leonard’s season could be over. Could he also be done with the Spurs?

Kawhi Leonard’s strange 2017-18 season took yet another odd turn Wednesday, when San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich told reporters he’d be “surprised” if Leonard returns this season due to tendinopathy in his right quad.

“We only have X-number of games left in the season and he’s still not ready to go,” Popovich told reporters in the team’s first post all-star break availability. “If by some chance he is, it’s going to be pretty late in the season and it’s going to be a tough decision. How late do you bring somebody back? That’s why I’m just trying to be honest and logical. I’ll be surprised if he’s back this year.”

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN added to the mystery, tacking on that Leonard has “been long cleared to return — the final decision still remains with him.”

Popovich’s statement creates a possibility that no one has truly considered — that Leonard’s season, after just nine games, is already over. But it also leaves open another one: Leonard may have played his final game as a member of the Spurs.

On its face, this undoubtedly seems absurd. Leonard is one of the best players in the league, and he is signed through next season. But the reason this idea has merit is what was the driving force behind the trades of two other elite players, DeMarcus Cousins and Jimmy Butler, within the last year: The supermax contract.

source: washingtonpost

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Dirk Nowitzki calls workplace misconduct allegations against Mavericks 'heartbreaking'

LOS ANGELES -- In the wake of a Sports Illustrated investigation that detailed a culture of misogyny and predatory behavior in the Dallas Mavericks organization, the team's longtime star, Dirk Nowitzki, responded Wednesday, calling the allegations "truly, truly disgusting."

"It's tough," Nowitzki said after the team practiced at USC in advance of a Friday game against the Lakers. "It's very disappointing. It's heartbreaking. I'm glad it's all coming out. I was disgusted when I read the article, obviously, as everybody was. I was shocked about some of the stuff."

Former Mavericks president and CEO Terdema Ussery has been accused of multiple acts of inappropriate behavior toward female employees during his 18 years with the team, according to the report. Employees say complaints were ignored by the head of human resources as well as superiors. Ussery, who was investigated by the team after similar claims in 1998, denied the allegations in a statement to SI.

The Mavericks issued a statement saying they are investigating, and the NBA says it has been informed. The team also said it fired website reporter Earl Sneed for misleading the team about a domestic violence incident.

source: espn

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Why New Mom Kylie Jenner Says She Doesn't 'Open Snapchat Anymore'

Kylie Jenner‘s Snapchat days appear to have come and gone.

The new mom — she welcomed daughter Stormi Webster on Feb. 1 with boyfriend Travis Scott — has long been the reigning queen of the app and was the first member of her famous family to join Snapchat. And now, she appears to have relinquished the reins.

On Wedneday, Jenner, 20, revealed that she no longer opens the app … but it still holds a special place in her heart,

“Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad,” the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star first tweeted.

“Still love you tho snap … my first love,” the Kylie Lip Kit creator added.

Earlier this month, Jenner admitted that she was torn about the app’s update and new look. “Mm just saw the new Snapchat,” she tweeted. “I don’t know how i feel about it! What do you guys think?”

Throughout the duration of her very private pregnancy, Jenner largely remained out of the spotlight, which included engaging less frequently on social media.

But when Jenner announced the birth of her daughter Stormi to fans, she took to social media to reveal the KarJenner family’s newest addition.

“I’m sorry for keeping you in the dark through all the assumptions,” she wrote. “I understand you’re used to me bringing you along on all my journeys. My pregnancy was one I chose not to do in front of the world.”


source: people

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Airport Brawl Triggered by Rapper Disrespecting Women

Tekashi69 would have avoided a violent beatdown Wednesday at LAX if his crew hadn't mouthed off to some female friends of two other rappers. 

TMZ broke the story, Tekashi -- also known as 6ix9ine -- and his posse literally stopped traffic as the fight spilled out into the street at the busy airport.

One of the guys who attacked 6ix9ine -- Acie High (in the red jersey) -- tells us 6ix9ine has a long history of verbal abuse toward women and Acie is very clear ... he hated the guy for it.

Acie -- who's in a rap group out of Texas called Aqualeo -- says he and his partner, Priceless, were dropping some girls off at LAX when Tekashi's crew started hitting on the chicks. Acie says he and Priceless told the guys to stop, they wouldn't, so things exploded.

Acie says he always thought there would be a time when he would do a little street justice, and seems more than happy 6ix9ine and his crew pushed his buttons at the airport. 

source: tmz

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Harvey Weinstein Cites Quotes From Actresses in His Own Legal Defense

(LOS ANGELES) — Harvey Weinstein wants a judge to dismiss a federal sexual misconduct lawsuit against him and invoked the words and actions of Oscar-winning actresses including Meryl Streep in his defense.

Lawyers for the disgraced film mogul said Tuesday in federal court in New York that the proposed class-action lawsuit filed by six women should be rejected because the alleged assaults took place too long ago and they failed to offer facts to support claims of racketeering.

Weinstein was one of the most powerful men in the movie industry before allegations that began emerging in October dethroned him and unleashed a torrent of sexual misconduct accusations that spread far beyond the entertainment industry.

His lawyers cited comments made by Streep in a statement she released last October saying Weinstein had always been respectful in their working relationship.

In a blistering response Wednesday, she said misusing her statement “as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive.”

“The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility,” Streep continued, “and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them.”

The lawsuit, which could potentially involve hundreds of other women, said Weinstein assaulted young women trying to break into Hollywood when they were alone with him and that his former film companies operated like an organized crime group to conceal widespread sexual harassment and assaults.

Saying that the proposed class of affected women was “fatally overbroad,” lawyers for Weinstein said that the suit would include all women Weinstein ever met, whether they even claimed to be harmed.

source: time

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LG to unveil camera-focused K8, K10 smartphones at MWC

 LG Electronics will show off new versions of its mid-tier K series phones at Mobile World Congress (MWC) next week, the company has announced.

The K8 and K10 will have "attractive" pricing and differentiated camera features, the firm said.
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The 2018 model K10 will have an 8 megapixel front camera with a newly added out-focus feature. LG applied phase detection auto focus technology that boosts focusing speed by 23 percent compared to the previous model.

A new finger touch feature will allow consumers to take a selfie or screen capture by placing their fingertip to the sensor on the home button. Tapping once on the home button will take a selfie and tapping twice will capture the screen.

The K10 will come in black, blue, and gold, and has an aluminum back cover. A derivative model, called K10 Plus, will also be launched. It features 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM, compared to K10's 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM.

The K10 will also have a 5.3-inch display, Android 7.2, microSD slot, a 13 megapixel back camera, and 3000 mAh battery.

The 2018 model K8 will have an improved low light shot feature, a 5-inch display, and a 5 megapixel front camera and 8 megapixel back camera.

LG is also set to unveil a refreshed V30 model at the tradeshow with a boosted camera feature that uses AI software.

Samsung will also unveil its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S9, at MWC. It will come with an improved camera feature, including a super slow motion capture.

source: zdnet

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Galaxy S9 release date, price and specs: Samsung flagship showcased in massive high-res images

THE GALAXY S9 is just a month away from becoming official, with Samsung confirming that its 2018 flagship will see a launch at MWC in February.

It's unlikely the impending unveiling will have many surprises in store, though, as we already know a hell of a lot about the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, courtesy of the online rumour mill.

We've rounded up everything we know about the handset so far below.

Specs
- 5.8in / 6.2in QHD+ Super AMOLED curved display (570ppi / 529ppi)
- Samsung 10nm Exynos 9810 CPU (4x 2.9GHz, 4x 1.9GHz)
- 4GB RAM / 6GB RAM
- 3,000mAh / 3,500mAh batteries
- 64GB storage with microSD expansion up to 400GB
- Cat 18 LTE support (1.2Gbps download speeds)
- Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, front-facing iris scanner
- 12MP Dual Pixel camera with OIS (f/1.5, f/2.4) / Vertical dual rear-facing camera, 8MP front-facing camera
- Bixby AI assistant with dedicated button
- USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Stereo speakers
- Wireless charging support
- IP68 water and dust resistance
- Built-in FM radio
- Updated DeX docking station
- Midnight Black, Titanium Gray, and Coral Blue, Lilac Purple variants

Release date
Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will launch on 25 February at MWC.

According to a leak via Evleaks, pre-orders of the Galaxy S9 will begin just days later on 1 March, and the handset is tipped to start shipping two weeks later on 16 March.

Price
According to early reports, the Galaxy S9 will be £100 more expensive than last year's S8, with pricing set to start at £789. By the same logic, expect the Galaxy S9+ to start from £879 SIM-free. TechRadar since claimed that the S9 will only be £50 pricier than its S8 sibling, at £739 SIM-free.

However, according to phone flogger Clove, which has begun taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, prices will begin at an eye-watering £799 and £999.

Here in Blighty, EE has prematurely confirmed that it'll be offering the Galaxy S9 once it's available. Interested customers can register their interest on the operator's website.

Latest news
22/2/18: Twitter tipster Roland Quandt has shared high-res, official-looking images of the Galaxy S9 (below) that look like they've come straight from Samsung's own marketing materials. While we got a good look at the phone earlier this week courtesy of Samsung's own Unpacked app, these are the clearest images we've seen of the smartphone yet and confirm that the handset will look near-identical to its Galaxy S8 predecessor.


source: theinquirer

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Snapchat’s Redesign Isn’t Going Anywhere

This month, more than a million keyboard-wielding, moderately frustrated change.org users petitioned Snapchat to roll back its big redesign—the one Snap delicately introduced over the course of a few months and said would be “disruptive.” Miraculously, this petition has achieved something, albeit on the smallest of scales.

Petitioners were rewarded with a response from Snap yesterday, but the lukewarm reply isn’t what they asked for. Yes, Snapchat is sticking with the changes. And yes, more changes are on the way to address any issues you may have with all these changes.

The gist of Snap’s response (in full below) is that it “completely understand[s]” your frustration. This is “just the beginning” and don’t worry, because Snap “will always listen.”

Snap’s response points to additional changes that it announced yesterday, including a tabs feature that lets users “sort things like Stories, Group Chats, and Subscriptions, allowing you to further customize your own experience on the app.” Snap is also working with Giphy on animated stickers, and the company says “the new Friends page will adapt to you and get smarter over time.”

When Snap announced the redesign in November, it warned it didn’t “yet know how the behavior of our community will change when they begin to use our updated application.” Snap said it was “willing to take that risk” because the redesign sought to solve a very real problem.

From the start, Snapchat’s novel design came with a learning curve. Figuring out how to use it was like a secret you could share with friends, and it worked, successfully winning over young folks while remaining out of reach for many of the olds who still use Facebook. Then the perk became a problem.


source: gizmodo

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Former Google employee files lawsuit alleging the company fired him over pro-diversity posts

A former Google engineer is suing the company for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, according to court documents filed today. Tim Chevalier, a software developer and former site-reliability engineer at Google, claims that Google fired him when he responded with internal posts and memes to racist and sexist encounters within the company and the general response to the now-infamous James Damore memo. News of Chevalier’s lawsuit was reported earlier today by Gizmodo.

Chevalier said in a statement to The Verge, “It is a cruel irony that Google attempted to justify firing me by claiming that my social networking posts showed bias against my harassers.” Chevalier, who is also disabled and transgender, alleges that his internal posts that defended women of color and marginalized people led directly to his termination in November 2017. He had worked at Google for a little under two years.

Notably, Chevalier’s posts had been quoted in Damore’s lawsuit against Google — in which Damore sued the company for discrimination against conservative white men — as evidence Google permitted liberals to speak out at the company unpunished. Chevalier’s lawsuit alleges that his firing is, in fact, a form of punishment. (Damore recently had a separate labor board complaint shot down by the US National Labor Relations Board, which stated in a guidance memo that Google was in the right to fire him.)

In a statement, Google spokesperson Gina Scigliano says Google was enforcing its policy against the promotion of harmful stereotypes. “An important part of our culture is lively debate. But like any workplace, that doesn’t mean anything goes. All employees acknowledge our code of conduct and other workplace policies, under which promoting harmful stereotypes based on race or gender is prohibited” Scigliano says. “This is a very standard expectation that most employers have of their employees. The overwhelming majority of our employees communicate in a way that is consistent with our policies. But when an employee does not, it is something we must take seriously. We always make our decision without any regard to the employee’s political views.


source: theverge

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Bill Gates flunks Ellen's grocery shopping challenge

Bill Gates is a genius. But he doesn't know much about grocery prices.

The billionaire appeared on the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Wednesday, and played a guessing game in which he attempted to name the prices of various household products and food items.

He didn't do well at all, but seemed to be in on the joke.

 "We're going to test your knowledge of some everyday items that you get at the supermarket," DeGeneres said to Gates. "When was the last time that you have been at a supermarket?"

"A long time ago," said Gates.

Gates had to guess the prices of five everyday items, with a little help from the studio audience, which seemed amused and surprised when he got some prices wrong, by a pretty wide margin.

 "I'll take five!" quipped Gates, but the correct answer was $1.

He was way off on a package of Tide Pods, guessing $4, and the crowed audibly guffawed.

"They want me to go higher," he said, changing his guess to $10.

The correct answer was actually $19.97.

"It's expensive to do laundry," DeGeneres informed him.

He was more confident when confronted with dental floss. "This is my best chance," he said, noting that he's an avid flosser, and his guess was correct. He said $4, and the price was actually $3.78. DeGeneres said any guess within $1 is considered correct.

Related: Bill Gates urges more spending on foreign aid

But he blew it on Totino's pizza rolls and TGI Fridays spinach and artichoke dip. He said $22 for the pizza rolls when it was really $8.98, and $10 for the dip when it was really $3.66. He said that he guessed $10 because the dip was "branded."

source: cnn

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US Treasury yields fall amid central banking news

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at around 2.924 percent at 5:35 a.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 3.202 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Investor anxiety was brought back to the surface Wednesday, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting revealed that members saw an uptick in inflation and increased economic growth as reasons for the central bank to continue its path on raising interest rates gradually.

The central banking news consequently put markets on edge, with U.S. government debt yields rising sharply following the document's release, and Wall Street reversing gains, to finish the session down in the red.

The Fed said it still saw inflation reaching its 2 percent objective and that it didn't look like it was getting out of control. The news surrounding higher interest rates continued to weigh on markets Thursday, but this won't be the only piece of news set to shake up markets.

As debt yields pull back from their earlier gains, investors will be turning their attention to speeches by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and economic data.

On Thursday, Fed Governor Randal Quarles, New York Fed President William Dudley, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan will all be delivering remarks at separate engagements— with investors waiting to see if they provide further comments on the central bank's minutes release.

Overseas, the European Central Bank is due to release the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting, which took place in January.

source: cnbc

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Delta passengers endure nearly 12-hour delay before flight is canceled: report

A Delta airliner loaded with passengers at Kansas City International Airport was delayed nearly 12 hours Tuesday because of a raging ice storm -- then the flight was canceled, according to local reports.

One passenger sat on the plane, bound for Los Angeles, from 6:30 a.m. to approximately 6 p.m., the Kansas City Star reported.

“It was a s--- show,” the woman, Ann Ngo, told the paper, adding that she was able to finally get on an outbound flight the next evening. Ngo said she received a $100 voucher from Delta for her trouble.

Another passenger tweeted that "the gross incompetence associated with flight #2195 defies all logic."

A Delta spokesperson said in a statement that "the significant amount of ice accumulation" on its airplanes "drove prolonged de-icing time." Airlines must be de-iced using a special fluid to fly safely.

But an airport official told the Star that Delta was the only airline that had significant delays due to the weather -- and noted that de-icing planes is the responsibility of airlines, not airport officials.

A passenger suggested on Twitter that the flight was eventually canceled because the flight crew exceeded its maximum working hours during the delay.

The incident occured despite a recently revived deal between American Airlines and Delta permitting the airlines to put passengers on each other's planes when travelers are stranded by disruptions such as winter storms and computer outages.

The Delta flight reportedly made several trips to and from the gate, and the airline allowed passengers to leave the plane periodically.

source: foxnews

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GOP candidate in Phoenix House race calls story on racy texts 'tabloid trash'

PHOENIX — A Christian minister seeking the congressional seat of a disgraced Arizona congressman is labeling reports that he traded suggestive texts with a female staffer, who included a topless photo of herself in one of the exchanges, as “tabloid trash.”

But former state Sen. Steve Montenegro didn’t deny that he received the messages.

Meanwhile, one of the other Republican front-runners in the race to replace former Rep. Trent Franks, former state Sen. Debbie Lesko, is under fire for transferring $50,000 from her old state campaign fund to an independent group backing her congressional election bid.

The revelations are likely to roil the 12-way GOP race in the days leading up to Tuesday’s special primary election to fill the vacant U.S. House seat in the state’s 8th Congressional District, a Republican stronghold in Phoenix’s western suburbs.

Montenegro called the Arizona Republic and KPNX-TV 12 reports “tabloid trash that conservatives around this country have to deal with on a regular basis.”

“I am blessed with an amazing wife and marriage,” he said in a statement. “The media wants to drag us down with just a week to go, but we are not going to dignify this false tabloid trash with any further response.”

Montenegro was Franks’ district director and touts himself as a Christian minister and family man .

The junior-level staffer who sent the messages repeatedly declined to speak with the newspaper.


source: tucson

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L.A. County sheriff’s deputy charged with sexually assaulting 6 female inmates

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting six female inmates in a Lynwood jail facility.

Giancarlo Scotti, 31, faces six felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of sexual activity with a detainee in a detention facility, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

When reached by phone Wednesday, Scotti's defense attorney, Anthony Falangetti, said his client plans to plead not guilty.

"Sheriff's Deputy Giancarlo Scotti never sexually assaulted anybody," Falangetti said.

The alleged assaults reportedly occurred at the Century Regional Detention Facility between March and September last year. Scotti, a 10-year veteran of the department, was arrested in September, hours after two women came forward to a teaching instructor with allegations about an attack. He was released from custody on bail.

At the time, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said the women shared a cell and Scotti was able "to put himself in a place where he was alone" with them. The attacks took place over the course of an hour, he said.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that Scotti ordered the two inmates to perform oral sex on him and that he later took the women to a shower area and had "unlawful" sex with both of them.

Inmates cannot legally consent to sexual intercourse with deputies under state and federal law.

In November, the Sheriff's Department said investigators had interviewed 150 witnesses and presented a case to prosecutors a month earlier that involved three victims. Since then, investigators have identified three additional victims, said Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Last year, two women filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff's Department accusing Scotti of assaulting them. According to the complaint, Scotti was known as a "cool" guard who flirted with inmates.

In August, the lawsuit alleged, a pregnant inmate was changing inside her cell when he approached and ordered her to expose her genitals to him.

Scotti then opened his pants and ordered her to get on her knees, according to the lawsuit. The woman took Scotti's words as an order to perform oral sex and "felt like she had no other choice but to comply with Deputy Scotti's forcible commands," according to the lawsuit.

The second plaintiff in the lawsuit accused Scotti of sexually assaulting her in a shower at the jail the day before his arrest. She saved some of Scotti's semen on a piece of tissue paper, which she provided to investigators, according to the suit.

Both women, who are no longer in custody, also alleged they were mistreated by jail staff after agreeing to speak with investigators about Scotti.


source: latimes

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Congresswoman claims most mass shooters are Democrats

Rep. Claudia Tenney, an upstate New York Republican who is up for re-election in one of the most competitive congressional districts in America, told a radio host in Albany that Democrats are more prone to be mass shooters.
Speaking to host Fred Dicker on WGDJ radio, Tenney was discussing the shooting in Parkland, Florida that left 17 people dead when she made the remark.
"It's interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats," Tenney said. "But the media doesn't talk about that."

Tenney, who is an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment, was responding to a point made by Dicker that the majority of gun victims come from the inner cities, not in mass shootings.

enney said she supports taking a look at the federal background check system and argued that the shooting should not change the dynamics of the debate over gun control in her district which encompasses cities like Utica, Rome and Binghamton.
CNN followed up for clarification from her office and asked specifically what statistics she was referring to, and her campaign later issued a statement.
"I am fed up with the media and liberals attempting to politicize tragedies and demonize law-abiding gun owners and conservative Americans every time there is a horrible tragedy," Tenney said in the statement. "While we know the perpetrators of these atrocities have a wide variety of political views, my comments are in response to a question about the failure to prosecute illegal gun crime. I will continue to stand up for law-abiding citizens who are smeared by anti-gun liberal elitists."
Democrats, who have the Tenney seat high on their list of potential flips, were quick to pounce on her remarks.
"Once again Congresswoman Tenney has demonstrated how completely unfit she is to serve in Congress," Even Lukaske, a spokesperson from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a statement. "Tenney's comments are unhinged, shameful and disgusting, and show why voters will replace her next November."


source: cnn

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Bernie Sanders says his 2016 team saw effects of Russian anti-Clinton campaign

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment detailing the Russian social media campaign to aid Donald Trump, undermine Hillary Clinton and sow distrust in American politics describes behavior that aides to Bernie Sanders witnessed firsthand in the waning weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, the senator said Tuesday.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Sanders described how an aide handling his social media accounts noticed an uptick in “horrific and ugly things” directed at Clinton beginning around September 2016 — long after the Democratic nomination had been decided, and while Sanders himself was traveling the country campaigning on her behalf.

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“In many respects, what Mueller’s report tells us is not new to us,” Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, said. “We knew that they were trying to sow division within the American people. In my case, it was to tell Bernie supporters that Hillary Clinton is a criminal, that Hillary Clinton is crazy, that Hillary Clinton is sick — terrible, terrible ugly stuff — and to have Bernie Sanders supporters either vote for Trump or Jill Stein or not vote at all.”

Sanders, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2016, described the situation in response to a question about his impression of the indictment released Friday by Mueller, the special counsel investing Russian election meddling and possible collusion with aides to President Donald Trump.

The indictment details a raft of activities by a Russian organization known as the Internet Research Agency to inflame political divisions, spread lies about the presidential race and encourage confrontations among Americans, largely on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

On Tuesday, Sanders described one spike in anti-Clinton sentiment that he attributed to the Russian campaign. In September 2016, an aide noticed hundreds of “new names” appearing on pro-Sanders Facebook pages to denigrate Clinton and her candidacy — despite the fact Sanders himself was campaigning on her behalf during that same period.


source: desmoinesregister

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Venezuelan pastor fills presidential void left by opposition

CARACAS, Venezuela — With two months to go before Venezuela’s presidential election, the only challenger to jump in the ring against President Nicolas Maduro is a little-known television evangelist who was once arrested for fuel smuggling and has a range of business ventures.

Despite his questioned past and the steep odds against him, the Rev. Javier Bertucci claims that he uniquely speaks to the vast majority of struggling Venezuelans disillusioned with both the opposition and Maduro’s unpopular government.

“I’m the only one who can guarantee the governability of the country,” Bertucci said in an interview. “I’ve traveled the country for eight years, seen the tears of mothers. ... No other leader can awaken the aching hearts of the Venezuelans.”

But some anti-government activists see his longshot candidacy, which so far doesn’t have the backing of any party, as dividing the opposition and lending undeserved legitimacy to Maduro’s re-election attempt. It also underscores the rising political influence of fast-growing protestant churches in Latin America, where a born-again singer is the front-runner to be Costa Rica’s next president and an evangelical bishop is now mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

On Wednesday, Venezuela’s opposition emerged from days of closed-door meetings to announce it would boycott the snap April 22 election unless the government met its demands for international observers and took other steps to ease fears the vote will be rigged.

While at least one prominent politician is weighing breaking ranks with the opposition, the deadline to register candidates is fast approaching and Maduro’s call Wednesday for early congressional elections to coincide with the presidential vote is likely to further entrench hardliners who say Venezuela has descended into dictatorship.


source: washingtonpost

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The yearly Corruption Perceptions Index just came out. Who got the gold medal?

Curious about the world’s most — and least — corrupt countries? On Wednesday Transparency International (TI), a well-known NGO devoted to global anti-corruption, released its annual scorecard.

TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows the United States now sits in 16th place (of 180 territories), with a score of 75 out of 100. That’s a small improvement on the 2016 index in which the United States was 18th with a score of 74.

Yet barely a day seems to go by without new corruption allegations involving the Trump administration — including conflicts of interest among top officials and obstruction of justice claims against the president himself. How does that square with this latest CPI report?

How the CPI measures corruption

The CPI is probably the best-known measure of global corruption. The 2017 CPI takes into account 10 surveys and assessments from a range of institutions. The data come predominantly from surveys of business people around the globe.

TI amalgamates that data with assessments by a range of independent analysts to generate each country’s score. A score closer to 100 indicates the country is doing a decent job at preventing public sector corruption. A score below 50 suggests the country has a serious problem, while a score that falls below 30 is an indication that corruption is systematic and systemic within that country. Little more than 30 percent of countries score above 50, while around 3 in 10 score below 30. A worrying picture.


source: washingtonpost

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Turkey Mulls Talks to Avoid War As Russia and U.S. Allies Chant 'One Syria'

Turkey has raised the possibility of opening a new dialogue with Syria, as its supporters threatened to join Kurds in resisting a Turkish invasion in the northwestern district of Afrin.

Ankara initially denied Tuesday that a massive convoy of fighters supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad— an ally of both Russia and Iran—entered the Kurd-held enclave and later claimed that Turkish airstrikes turned the incoming forces back. Videos surfaced of pro-Syrian government and Kurdish fighters chanting "one Syria," in celebration of an alliance that Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Wednesday would have "serious consequences" for Assad partisans.

Related: U.S. and Russia Allies Join Forces in Syria, But This Causes New Problems for Leading World Powers

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Kalin also said in a televised address, however, that Turkish intelligence officials "may establish direct or indirect contact when it is required to solve certain problems under extraordinary conditions," Bloomberg News reported. His remarks hinted at the potential for renewed contact between the neighbors, who have been on poor terms since Turkey helped sponsor a 2011 uprising against Assad.

Assad has called Turkey and the U.S. "invaders" because their military presence backed non-state actors in Syria. Turkey, the U.S. and Gulf Arab states backed various insurgent groups opposed to Assad's rule, but this opposition has become severely splintered by ideological infighting and competition with jihadi groups such as the Islamic State militant group and others affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

Turkey remained a supporter of the rebel Free Syrian Army, but the U.S. switched its focus to Kurdish militias that later formed most of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkey has criticized the U.S. over its backing of Kurdish groups such as the People's Protection Units (YPG) because Ankara alleged they were linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a militant group responsible for decades of violence across Turkey.

While the U.S. remained a staunch opponent of Assad's leadership in Syria, Pentagon-backed Kurds have been more concerned with greater autonomy in northern Syria than total regime change. Syrian Kurds have long protested Assad's policies seen as suppressing their cultural identity, but Turkish backing for the Syrian opposition has more seriously alienated them, resulting in frequent clashes between formerly CIA-backed Syrian rebel groups and the Pentagon-backed Kurdish force.


source: newsweek

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U.N. pleads for truce to avert 'massacre' as strikes hit Syria's Ghouta for fifth day

 AMMAN (Reuters) - Warplanes pounded the last rebel enclave near the Syrian capital for a fifth straight day on Thursday, as the United Nations pleaded for a truce to halt one of the fiercest air assaults of the seven-year civil and prevent a “massacre”.

More than 300 people have been killed in the rural eastern Ghouta district on the outskirts of Damascus since Sunday night, and many hundreds have been wounded, according to human rights monitors and aid agencies who say Russian and Syrian planes have struck hospitals and other civilian targets.

In the north, where Turkey launched an offensive in the past month against a Kurdish militia, the Kurds said pro-government fighters were now deploying to the front lines to help repel the Turkish advance. Government forces also entered a part of Aleppo controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, a witness and a monitor group said, although the YPG denied this.

The Kurdish YPG -- allies with the United States in other parts of Syria -- have sought assistance in recent days from the Russian-backed government to resist the Turkish offensive, an example of the unexpected alliances wrought during a multi-sided conflict that has drawn in neighbors and world powers.

International attention is now focused on the humanitarian plight in the eastern Ghouta, where 400,000 people have been under siege for years and where government bombardment escalated sharply on Sunday, causing mass civilian casualties.


source: reuters

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Montenegro police working to identify attacker on US embassy

Police in Montenegro said Thursday they are "working intensely" to identify an assailant who threw an explosive device into the U.S. embassy compound in the capital, Podgorica, before killing himself.

Police said in a statement that the man threw a bomb into the embassy yard and then committed suicide by activating another one around midnight Wednesday.

The blast created a crater but caused no other material damage to the embassy property, the statement said.

Police sealed off the area around the embassy after the explosion.

Officers came to the scene after receiving reports about an explosion and found a lifeless male body in the area of the Moraca river that runs through Podgorica, the statement said.

The U.S. State Department has said embassy officials are working with police to identify the assailant. The embassy in Podgorica said Thursday all staff are safe and accounted for after the incident.

Montenegro borders the Adriatic Sea in southeastern Europe. It joined NATO last year despite strong opposition from its traditional Slavic ally Russia.

Several people, including two Russian secret service operatives, are on trial in Podgorica on charges that they wanted to overthrow Montenegro's government in 2016 because of its pro-Western policies.

The U.S. established diplomatic ties with the tiny Balkan state in 2006 after it split from much larger Serbia.

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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.

source: wpxi

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Billy Graham's nephew isn't mourning his passin

ANDERSON, S.C. — In the Rev. Billy Graham's family, there is a legend that has been passed down for generations.

It goes like this: Years ago, when he and his younger brother Melvin were standing on the family's dairy farm in Charlotte, they saw a plane meant for advertising. In the sky, the plane drew out the letters "G.P."

Billy Graham looked at it and said, "I think that means 'go preach.'"

His brother looked at it and said, "I think it means 'go plow.'"

So Melvin Graham ran the dairy farm.

And Billy Graham spent decades advancing the Gospel of Christ.

More: Details on Billy Graham's passing, funeral service released

More: Billy Graham: Pastor to presidents for more than 50 years

More: Billy Graham, America's pastor, has died

When the Rev. Graham, 99, died Wednesday, his nephew Deryl Graham relayed that family story to the Independent Mail. And he vowed that, as far as he knows, every word of it is true.

Deryl Graham, who lives in Anderson, said the man he calls "Uncle Billy" was the same person in private as he was in the public eye.

"People who saw him on TV or during one of his crusades might think there's no way he could be that good and straightforward in real life," Graham said. "But he was. He was meek, and he was honest, and he was pure. He wouldn't even get into an elevator with a woman alone, because he didn't want to be accused of anything scandalous. He believed he was supposed to do the Lord's work. And he never altered the course."

Deryl Graham's childhood memories are sprinkled with recollections of summers spent with his Uncle Billy and the reverend's son, his cousin the Rev. Franklin Graham.

Billy Graham long had a home in the North Carolina mountains near Montreat, which his nephew described as "so far away from town paths that you have to know where the turns are to get to it."

source: usatoday

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U.S. Women's Hockey Team Wins Gold, Beating Canada In Penalty-Shot Thriller

The U.S. women's hockey team owns Olympic gold for the first time in 20 years, after breaking Canada's remarkable streak of success in a gripping final at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The only previous U.S. win had come in the tournament's first year, in 1998.

When the American women finally received their gold medals, they were placed on their necks by former player Angela Ruggiero — who was on the last U.S. Olympic team to win it all.

This game was far from easy — for the players on either side, and for their fans. Regulation time had ended with a 2-2 tie — and when a 20-minute overtime didn't produce a sudden-death goal, a penalty shootout also ended in a 2-2 tie. That sent it to a sudden-death shootout to decide who would wear gold.

Canada had taken the first shot in the first round of the shootout — and to lead off the second, the U.S. sent Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson skating out.

"The last shootout against Canada, I looked like an idiot," Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said after the game.

But since that past failure, the American said, she's been working on her penalty shots — and it showed on Thursday.

Starting from center ice, Lamoureux-Davidson used some artful stick handling to get the puck around and past Canada's goalie, changing directions several times. It confounded Canada's goalie Shannon Szabados, who had shone in this game.

That left it to U.S. goalkeeper Maddie Rooney, 20, to withstand the pressure and make one last save — against one of the most adept scorers in the game, in Canada's Meghan Agosta, a veteran who began her Olympics career in 2006. When Rooney foiled Agosta's shot, both the game and the U.S. gold drought were over, after three hours of intense and physical play and tension at the Gangneung Hockey Center.


source: npr

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Trump’s claim that he’s been ‘much tougher on Russia than Obama’

 

As evidence has mounted that Russia intervened in the U.S. election to support the Trump campaign, President Trump has been arguing that he has been tougher on Russia than President Barack Obama was. He even suggested that Attorney General Jeff Sessions investigate Obama for an alleged failure to take action.

Never mind that during the campaign — or for months afterward — Trump repeatedly dismissed or belittled reports of Russian interference. In his tweet, Trump demanded a “look at the facts,” so let’s see whether he has a case for toughness. The answer is not necessarily clear. It depends on whether one looks at presidential tone or the administration’s actions.
The Facts

Obama, much like Trump, entered office seeking to improve relations with Russia, even to the point that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented the Russian foreign minister with a button marked with what was meant to be the word “reset” (with the word misspelled in Russian). Vladimir Putin, because of term limits, was forced to step down as president, and Obama thought he had forged a connection with Dmitry Medvedev, who filled the one-term gap before Putin returned to the presidency. The United States and Russia completed a nuclear-weapons agreement, and Obama paved the way for Russia to join the World Trade Organization.

During the 2012 campaign, Obama famously knocked GOP nominee Mitt Romney for calling Russia the “No. 1 geopolitical foe” of the United States. In a zinger that now looks foolish in retrospect, Obama chided Romney during the third presidential debate: “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”

The Obama administration also initially pushed back against congressional efforts to pass the Magnitsky Act, intended to punish Russia for the death of tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009, out of fear that it would derail the reset effort.


source: washingtonpost

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Rubio takes a risk in emotional gun debate, facing critics and warming to new firearm restrictions

 

Fred Guttenberg stood under a spotlight gripping a microphone with both hands and delivered a blunt message to Sen. Marco Rubio.

“I want to like you,” said Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed in a mass shooting at her high school last week. But he couldn’t. Not yet. Not after what he had heard.

“Your comments this week and those of our president have been pathetically weak,” Guttenberg continued, staring Rubio down as the crowd around him rose to applaud.

The Republican senator from Florida stood silent and expressionless as the weight of the moment washed over them both. For an instant, raw emotion was on display live on national television even as no words were spoken. An agonizing week crystallized in 20 long seconds.

“Look at me and tell me guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in this school this week,” Guttenberg told him forcefully, gesturing with his left hand for emphasis. “And, look at me and tell me you accept it, and you will work with us to do something about guns.”

Rubio, who throughout his career has been a scripted and risk-averse politician, had thrust himself into a volatile and deeply personal discussion. Then, he took another unexpected step. He endorsed raising the age requirement for buying a rifle. Later, he said he was “reconsidering” his opposition to placing new limits on high-capacity magazines.


source: washingtonpost

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