If one thing is clear from the Avengers: Endgame press tour so far, it's that Joe and Anthony Russo absolutely do not, under any circumstances, want to talk right now about how their story ends.
How someone else's story ends, though, is another story.
I spoke with the directors at the height of the Game of Thrones hype, exactly one week ahead of the final season premiere.
Like many of us, the Russos were more than happy to speculate — but also like many of us, neither seemed particularly confident about their guesses.
Joe told me that, even as a storyteller himself, it was "tough" for him to figure out how Game of Thrones might go. Read more...
There's something about 2020 hopeful Beto O'Rourke that's just a little too wholesome. Somewhere underneath his sunny exterior, there has to be a tiny demon spirit, just waiting to be released.
Comedian Alex Ptak understands this character type well. He recently released a parody video on Twitter, featuring a character he calls "Demon Beto."
When you come across a rare opportunity, you don't just not take advantage of it.
If you see a celebrity at a bar, you be that annoying fan and ask for a picture. If there's a parasailing deal at the beach, you take it. If a MacBook is on sale for $400 off, you snag it.
The MacBook Pro is one of the most dependable, work-ready laptops on the market. They're also nearly two grand. Opting for this 12-inch MacBook gets you the same i5 processor and the same 512 GB SSD for $800 less and a fraction of the weight. Read more...
Remember that 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie, Smart House? If not, just know that it’s a classic, and that it actually portrayed a pretty accurate picture of the tech we would have today — especially in regard to AI assistance. If you watched Smart House and dreamed that you’d one day have one of your own, look no further than Google Home.
You can get a Google Home for $30 off at Walmart — equipped with numerous smart functions and Google Assistant compatibility, this device will have you saying “Alexa who?”
The Google Home is a powerful personal helper that can answer questions and perform a large gamut of tasks — and you don’t need anything other than your voice to use it. Play your latest Spotify playlist, manage your calendar, get information about the weather, make phone calls, and much more just by uttering “Hey Google.” Read more...
This video of a person stepping on a cardboard green Toad, Toad bending upward in apparent ecstasy over and over again, grunting out happy little noises as the foot presses against what can only be described as his groin region, is unsettling, to say the least.
This green Toad is the mascot of Nintendo's Line account — Line being a popular messaging and social media app in Japan — and he seems to have found joy in this new cardboard form. Read more...
ARMY rejoice, the dawn of the latest BTS single is finally, triumphantly here!
Friday morning, BTS hit the ground running with a double release — the long-awaited music video for "Boy With Luv," and their latest album Map Of The Soul: Persona dropped all at once.
The name of their title track of the album is a play on "Boy In Luv," which is one of their hits from 2014. While that single was a kind of a macho take on being young and in love, "Boy With Luv" plays off their previous album series theme of loving yourself first.
And boy is it full of joy. The music video heavily references the classic film Singing In The Rain, and is full of vibrant, pastel colors. Read more...
Mopping your floors with chemicals kills bacteria, but you’re left with an unpleasant smell and a potentially toxic floor surface (which is not good if there are small children in your home). Did you know that steam can kill bacteria and sanitize surfaces without using any harsh chemicals? Steam cleaners provide a safe alternative for floor cleaning.
There is a huge, seemingly unsolvable problem with ending Game of Thrones.
Quite possibly, it's why George R. R. Martin has spent the last eight years failing to finish the final two books in his Song of Ice and Fire series. And it's also why, out of all the fan theories that have guessed at the conclusion, only one would truly hit the "bittersweet" note we've been promised.
Our desperation to see how Season 8 ends goes far beyond just needing to know what happens to our favorite characters. It also encompasses more than finally solving the mystery of the White Walkers. Read more...
We think it's fair to say that we haven't completely mastered virtual reality gaming just yet. There's still a few things that need tweaking, especially when it comes to VR gaming for all the family.
This is where Nintendo has come to the rescue, with a brand new VR experience that the whole family can enjoy. The Nintendo Labo VR Kit introduces shareable VR gaming experiences that kids and families can build themselves.
The complete kit includes the Nintendo Switch software and materials to build six Toy-Con projects — VR Goggles, Blaster, Camera, Bird, Wind Pedal, and Elephant – as well as a screen holder and safety cap. Read more...
Just in case you didn't already know, Amazon Prime Channels is a TV streaming service that allows Prime members to add channel subscriptions for a low monthly subscription fee. These channels are available individually without the need for a bundle and without a contract. So you can pick and choose which channels work best for you and your family.
Amazon Prime members can now add channels like ITV Hub+, Discovery, Eurosport, Hayu, MUBI, BFI Player, MGM, Hopster, and Shudder across all devices with the Prime Video app, including connected TVs, streaming media players, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets. Just another advantage of being a Prime member. Read more...
There's nothing better than a great deal. You could make the argument for your wedding day, or the birth of your first child, but we're not having it. There's nothing that comes close to a deal.
The only way to improve on a great deal is to throw in something for free on top of a discount. In that case, there really is nothing that can come close.
That's the current situation over at Norton Security. You can now save a massive £59.99 on Norton Security's Deluxe package, and get Norton Secure VPN for free as well. This introductory bundle offer is for the first year of a subscription, and costs just £29.99. Read more...
On Thursday night's episode of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah reflected on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's "Arrested Embarrassment," discussing everything from his beard and cat, to what this means for the future of press freedom.
Assange allegedly helped former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning hack into the U.S. Defense Department in 2010. He also spent years helping to reveal government secrets and documents, such as the Hillary Clinton's hacked DNC emails before the 2016 election. On Thursday, UK police finally arrested him at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has spent the last seven years. Read more...
A Friday can instantly improve your mood. Everything in your life can be falling apart, but if it's a Friday, you'll get through.
Bagging some big savings in a sale is another tried and tested means of giving yourself a little mood boost. Doing this on a Friday is doubly effective, and that's exactly what we're recommending.
We have tracked down the best deals on TVs, laptops, software, and computing accessories from the Amazon Spring Sale for you. We have also highlighted a select list of the very best deals on everything else, including Amazon devices, coffee machines, and more.
These are the best deals from across the internet for April 12. Read more...
If you're trying to spark a conversation with a fellow Game of Thrones fan, open with... the Red Wedding? It may sound strange, but it works.
Ahead of the show's final season, which premieres on April 14, the dating app Zoosk analyzed a whopping 375,454 of its users' messages to find out how referencing Game of Thrones affected interactions. They've provided Mashable with the GOT-related icebreakers that got the most replies.
It turns out mentioning the Red Wedding, the series' devastating third season massacre, resulted in users getting 376 percent more replies than average. That was by far the most effective conversation starter, followed by mentions of fan favorite Tyrion Lannister, who garnered 165 percent more replies than the average. Read more...
Joe and Anthony Russo may be among the very few people who weren't surprised by the ending of Avengers: Infinity War — since, you know, they directed the damn thing.
But they were caught off guard by the way all of us reacted to their film.
"We were shocked that people responded as dramatically as they did," Joe told Mashable at a recent press day in Los Angeles. "We knew that it was going to be a risible ending. We just didn't know that it was going to cause so much emotional trauma for people."
Which may be hard to believe — what did they think was going to happen after they dusted Spider-Man, Black Panther, Groot, Bucky, etc. in one fell swoop? Read more...
Sometimes, you make a decision, and years later you look back upon that moment and think: Wait, why the hell did I do that?
Now, Facebook appears to be experiencing something of the sort. According to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong (via The Verge), the company is testing the possibility of bringing Facebook messages back into Facebook's main mobile app.
In the test version Wong has spotted, the Messenger button appears in the top right, and instead of taking you to Messenger, the app, it opens a section called "Chats" inside the Facebook app. The built-in messaging app offers only basic functionality, while for some advanced features — like adding reactions to messages, making calls or sending photos — you still need to go through the Messenger app. Read more...
On Thursday, Tesla announced some changes in its vehicle lineup. The company's press release on the matter innocuously kicks off by mentioning how these changes will "simplify vehicle choices" and "make Autopilot more affordable."
But the most interesting bit is buried a bit lower in the text: The Standard Range variant of the Model 3, the $35,000 version that Elon Musk promised four years ago, is no longer available on Tesla's website.
The vehicle lineup change Tesla is referring to is the fact that all Tesla cars now come with Autopilot bundled as a standard feature. It's a little cheaper than it was before, but it's also something you can't opt out of (except in the case of base-price Model 3). Previously, for example, the Model 3 Standard Plus cost $37,500, and Autopilot was available as an option for $3,000. Now, the Model 3 Standard Plus can only be had with Autopilot bundled, for the price of $39,500, saving you $1,000. Read more...
Listen, it's hard launching a new political party. There's a lot of stuff to remember and a to-do list the length of your arm.
But, if there's one thing that should be pretty high up on that list, it's claiming the .com domain.
Oops-a-daisy, looks like Nigel Farage forgot to complete this rather crucial step on his to-do list when he launched his new Brexit Party — a new Eurosceptic, pro-Leave political party.
Unfortunately for ex-UKIP leader Farage, a pro-Remain group has claimed the domain thebrexitparty.com, and it's using the site to send a message that deviates from the new party's manifesto. Read more...
"The man is a clown. He goes charging around the speaking platform, like that at every rally [...] He's a clown, so what? [...] So people want a giggle or two. Even more, they want to thumb their noses at a political establishment that doesn't seem able to solve anything."
It would be easy to mistake that as an old quote about Donald Trump. Maybe a comment from a political analyst in the early stages of his campaign. Maybe a line from an interview with a member of the public discussing the ever-increasing popularity of his 2015 rallies.
It's not, though.
Despite the similarities, that's actually a line spoken by a character in the 1979 Stephen King novel The Dead Zone. Read more...
Bummed out that you missed the MAR10 Day sale? Lucky for you, Walmart is offering the Nintendo Switch plus a free game again for $329.99, and to top it off, this deal also comes with a Mario pin and a USB-C hub. Normally retails for $390, so you're saving $60 off, and with Easter break around the corner, this deal is a great way to keep your friends and family entertained.
What are the best deals today? Amazon is offering the ECOVACS DEEBOT 901 robotic vacuum cleaner for $264.99 (listed at $499.98) or you could get yourself an Apple Watch series 3 for $229.00 (listed at $309). Read more...
Even after the curtain falls on the final season of Game of Thrones, fans will continue to argue over which episodes were the best — and "definitive" rankings will continue to appear online ad infinitum.
Few of those lists, however, accurately define "best episode." Most hour-long chunks of Game of Thrones contain one unforgettable moment. But best episodes are not the same as best scenes, best character pairings or even best battles. The truly great episodes are at the top of their game — in writing, acting, lighting, music, and CGI quality, from the clockwork map to the fade to black.
For example, a popular choice for lists is Season 6, Episode 5, "The Door." That's because we all recall the heartbreaking last 10 minutes, which revealed the full meaning of Hodor's name. But rewatch the whole episode, and you'll see the vast majority of it consists of subpar Arya and Daenerys scenes. Read more...
It's hard to imagine what filming Star Wars is like. But, one obviously pictures functioning lightsabers and highly realistic Space scenes in the background.
Yeah, not so much, according to Kylo Ren actor Adam Driver.
He described to Seth Meyers what it's like to film Star Wars in front of a green screen.
"You're standing in front of a screen and they're like 'trust us, your lightsaber is working' or 'there's Space behind you, it looks really cool,'" he said. "You don't feel like you're commanding anybody other than sticks and pingpong balls."
"Like, I have this in my basement," he added. Read more...
The following is a spoiler-free review of Netflix's The Perfect Date.
Of all the boys I've loved before, Brooks Rattigan isn't one of them.
At first, Netflix's The Perfect Date seems like a delightful companion to the rom-com hit To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Noah Centineo — aka internet boyfriend and TATBILB heartthrob Peter Kavinsky — stars as Brooks Rattigan, an ambitious teenager willing to do anything to go to his dream school, Yale.
To raise money for tuition, Brooks launches an app that can help pair him up with girls in need of the perfect date. Customers fill out the app's criteria and create a made-to-order boyfriend out of the young entrepreneur. Brooks dons costumes, tries out accents, and otherwise makes the most of this pseudo-27 Dresses format. Read more...
If you thought that Kiernan Shipka's first big break was on Mad Men, you thought wrong, my friend.
She actually started off her TV career on Jimmy Kimmel Live, acting in comedy segments. Kimmel played some vintage footage of Shipka throwing a pretend tantrum of epic proportions in front of Kimmel's uncle Frank.
In the clip, Kimmel tries to fool Frank — who's playing an ice cream man — by sending the same children over and over again to the truck. Well, Shipka certainly ensured she wouldn't be forgotten. Read more...
Have you heard? Game of Thrones returns Sunday for the final six episodes (lol).
We've got your recaps of events to remember,explainers, and more. But we also want to help you out DURING the episode, so below, we present our Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere bingo card.
Will Arya glare at someone? Will we see a dragon? Will Jaime shock us all and kill Cersei in the first hour? (Hey, we're swinging for the fences here.)
If Friends was set in the present day, and Chandler, Joey, Rachel, and Monica were playing the who-knows-who-best trivia game, the girls would have easily named Chandler's job, which is, at its very core, a Data Scientist.
Given that companies today are collecting more data than they can handle, data scientists like Chandler are highly sought after. Truth is, it's not as complicated as it seems.
The Excel Data Analyst Certification School offers a trove of e-learning courses that won't bore you to death. Instead of delivering lessons comprised of deadpan voiceovers and videos from the '80s like most online bootcamps do, each class features real, hands-on projects that will have you mastering Excel in no time. You'll gain access to interactive courses that will teach you things like data manipulation, developing business intel reports, and data visualization, and you'll be challenged with assessments after each module to validate your learning. You'll even receive support from a personal mentor so if you get totally lost, you'll have an actual human at your disposal. Read more...
Big 4K TVs steal the show in a room, which is great when you’re watching something. But when turned off, they can be kind of an eyesore. That is unless the TV blends in.
Samsung’s “The Frame” is a 4K smart TV that looks like a digital picture frame, so while you’re not binge-watching shows on Netflix you can set the TV to display photos and works of art. Instead of screaming "I'm a TV!" it'll just look like you just have a fancy, high-tech piece of art in your home — because you do.
The Frame comes in both 55-inch and 65-inch models and the PCMag Shop has them for historically low prices — $1,099.99 and $1,699.99 respectively. Read more...
A subscription box exists for almost any niche interest or hobby. We’ve rounded up some of the best fitness and snack subscriptions, but now we’re spotlighting self care and wellness.
This monthly subscription box brings a surprise selection of books to your door from several genres ranging from cookbooks to thrillers. When subscribing to the box you're able to select books based on age range from two to four years up to pre-teen or by genre. Typically, plans start as low as $8.33 per month, but when you enter code TREATYOURSELF, you can bring that down to $6.67 a month. Read more...
If you can't get enough of Chopped or you're still re-watching past seasons of Top Chef, then might we suggest treating yourself to a new purchase? Think of it as a reward for getting through the winter — and all that binge-watching.
Spring is a time for cleaning up our acts, after all, and no better place to do so than in the kitchen.
These knife blades are forged, welded, and hammered by hand until they're hundreds of layers strong. This results in their unparalleled sharpness and toughness, as well as their distinctive patterns reminiscent of flowing water. Read more...
Democrats and some in the media expressed shock and outrage when Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
Barr "must retract his statement immediately or produce specific evidence to back it up," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the attorney general."
Barr has gone "off the rails," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
WNU Editor: We know that FISA warrants were issued during the campaign to conduct surveillance of Trump officials. If that is not spying/surveillance, I do not know what is. President Obama's former Attorney General is rebuking the current Attorney General by saying that what happened is called "investigating" and not "spying" .... Eric Holder rebukes William Barr: It's called 'investigating' not 'spying' (Washington Examiner). My advice to the former Attorney General is to not get mixed up in this scandal. If you're engaged in illegal surveillance of a political candidate on behalf of the opposing political party during an election campaign, you are breaking so many laws that I do not even know where to begin. On a side note. We still do not know why these warrants issued, and I think that is why Attorney General William Barr wants to pursue this.
NEW: AG Barr tells Congress "I think spying did occur, yes. I think spying did occur" on the Trump campaign. He adds "The question was whether it was adequately predicated. And I'm not suggesting it wasn't predicated. I need to explore that" pic.twitter.com/oh1ATTpM4a
* Gregory Craig, who was White House counsel under President Barack Obama, is indicted on charges of lying and hiding information related to his foreign lobbying work for Ukraine. * Craig, a 74-year-old lawyer based in Washington, faces up to five years in prison for each of the two counts. * The charges reportedly stem from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election led by special counsel Robert Mueller, which came to a formal end last month.
Gregory Craig, who was White House counsel under President Barack Obama, was indicted Thursday on charges of lying and hiding information related to his work for Ukraine.
Craig, a 74-year-old lawyer based in Washington, D.C., was charged by the Justice Department's Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, unit. Craig faces up to five years in prison for each of the two counts.
The charges stem from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election led by special counsel Robert Mueller, which came to a formal end last month.
WNU Editor: If the US Justice Department starts enforcing the FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act), half of K Street in Washington DC will wind up in jail. Which may not be a bad thing.
More News On Former Obama White House Lawyer Greg Craig Being Charged With Lying To Prosecutors
White House officials have tried to pressure U.S. immigration authorities to release detainees onto the streets of "sanctuary cities" to retaliate against President Trump's political adversaries, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and email messages reviewed by The Washington Post.
Trump administration officials have proposed transporting detained immigrants to sanctuary cities at least twice in the past six months — once in November, as a migrant caravan approached the U.S. southern border, and again in February, amid a standoff with Democrats over funding for Trump's border wall.
WNU Editor: I am skeptical of this report. There has been no mass release of detainees onto the streets of "sanctuary cities", and the sources that the Washington Post are using are anonymous. But even if it is true, so what. These people have to go somewhere, so why not to the towns and cities that are declaring themselves as sanctuary cities, and are willing to welcome these migrants. I live in Canada and in this country refugees/migrants/etc. are transported all the time to communities throughout the country, especially to those who want them. Or is this another case where progressives are pushing for a cause, but they do not want to have it happen in their backyard, even to the point of labelling illegal migrants as punishment .... Report: White House wanted to release immigrants into sanctuary cities to punish Democrats (USA Today).
The compact weapons could give subs substantially greater magazine depth, a hard-kill anti-torpedo countermeasure, and more.
Tucked away in its most recent budget proposal, the U.S. Navy says that it is interested in giving its submarines the ability to launch small torpedoes. These weapons could offer added offensive firepower, as well as an all-new anti-torpedo defense interceptor capability. The mini-torpedos use a common body and future variants might also arm unmanned ships or submarines, as well as flying drones, act as naval mines, and more.
The Navy's budget request for the 2020 Fiscal Year, which came out in February 2019, asks for more than $60 million to support the continued development of the AN/BYG-1 Submarine Payload Control System. Virtually all of the service's existing submarines use variants of this software-driven combat control architecture to launch weapons and other payloads, via combinations of torpedo tubes, vertical launch systems, or countermeasures launchers, depending on the particular design. The Navy's future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and Block IV and V Virginia-class attack boats, as well as Australia's future Attack-class, will also use versions of this system.
Austria said Wednesday it was considering a law to make it mandatory for big internet platforms to register their users and deprive those behind hate posts of anonymity.
"Unfortunately there have been an increasing number of clear violations, denigrations and humiliations online in the past under the cover of anonymity.
That's why we need a framework for more responsibility online," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter.
The new law would take effect in 2020 and would make it mandatory for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to register their users, said Gernot Bluemel, minister in charge of EU affairs, art, culture and media.
WNU Editor: I predict that within 5 years all western countries will be having some form of registration system that internet users must be signed into. Bottom line. As I have said repeatedly in the past few years, the golden age of the internet where you were free to do what you want is rapidly coming to an end.
People attend a rally to protest against tightening state control over internet in Moscow, Russia, March 10, 2019. The banner reads: "Such network prepared by authorities." Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters
The lower chamber of Russia's parliament has passed in the second of three votes a controversial bill that critics say is part of efforts by President Vladimir Putin to expand government control over the Internet.
Lawmakers in the State Duma on April 11 voted 320 to 15 to pass the proposed legislation that critics fear could herald a new era of widespread censorship.
The second reading is when amendments are finalized. The bill must pass a third reading and the upper house before being signed into law by Putin.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton has warned nations seen as obstacles to U.S. plans for Latin America that they must leave Venezuela and stop defending the socialist government opposed by the Trump administration.
Venezuela's economic crisis boiled over into a geopolitical flashpoint in January that has polarized world powers, as the U.S. and its allies proclaimed their support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó's political challenge to President Nicolás Maduro. Responding to Tuesday's Newsweek article discussing the recent arrival of Russian, Chinese and Iranian planes intended to support Maduro and his government, Bolton told radio host Hugh Hewitt that "President Trump is determined not to see Venezuela fall under the sway of foreign powers."
Senior leaders from Japan's Ministry of Defense, US Forces Japan, Pacific Air Forces, and Lockheed Martin welcome the first operational F-35A Lightning II at Misawa Air Base, February 24, 2018. US Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton
U.S. Joins Search Operation for Missing JASDF F-35 Lost in 10,000 Feet of Water.
Sections from the left and right rudders of a Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) F-35A Lightning II, serialled 79-8705, the first of 13 Japanese F-35s assembled at the Nagoya FACO (Final Assembly and Check-Out), that disappeared in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 were located by Japanese authorities at approximately 21:45 local on Tuesday, only hours after the aircraft was reported missing.
The aircraft disappeared from a flight of four F-35As at 19:27pm (10:27 GMT) 135km (84 miles) east of Misawa, in north-eastern Japan. The search continues for the aircraft's pilot, whose identity has not been released but is being described as "a major in his 40's".
Military and Intelligence News Briefs and World News Briefs will be posted at 17:00 EST and 18:00 EST.
I am completing my taxes now, so blogging will be light from now until then.
Update 17:34 EST: Finished filing my taxes (in Canada it has to be done before April 30). It took more time than I thought, and this taxpayer needs a break right now. Military and Intelligence News Briefs and World News Briefs will return tomorrow (sorry .... not later today as promised), and regular posting will return later tonight.
The first independent poll taken since the first round of Ukraine's presidential election suggests that political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskiy enjoys a commanding lead ahead of next week's runoff against incumbent Petro Poroshenko.
The Sociological Group "Rating" said its polling early this month pointed to 51 percent popular support for sitcom star Zelenskiy, who exploded onto the political scene late last year, versus 21 percent for Poroshenko.
The race was even more lopsided for Zelenskiy among respondents who intend to vote in the second round of the election on April 21 -- 61 percent to 24 percent.
* Wikileaks founder dragged out of Ecuadorian Embassy in handcuffs by a large group of police officers today * Ecuador said its decision came after 'repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols' * His lawyer said arrest was 'not just for breach of bail conditions but also in relation to US extradition request' * He has not left embassy since 2012, when he was offered refuge from allegations of sexual assault in Sweden * Assange has always feared extradition to the US, where he is wanted for leak of highly-classified documents * Was revealed in 2018 Assange had been secretly indicted by the US Justice Department on unknown charges * The 47-year-old currently in custody and set to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court 'as soon as possible'
Julian Assange has been arrested by British police today after being hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London following an extradition request by the US.
The Wikileaks founder, sporting a scruffy beard and unkempt hair, was dragged out of the building head-first in handcuffs by a group of seven men as his stunned supporters watched on as he screamed out 'the UK must resist'.
Shortly after, British authorities confirmed that the whistleblower was being held on behalf of the US authorities, as well as for breaching bail conditions following allegations of rape in Sweden.
It comes after Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno dramatically withdrew Assange's asylum status following his 'discourteous and aggressive behaviour' in continuing to work with WikiLeaks while housed at the embassy.
* Omar al-Bashir, who has ruled Sudan since a coup in 1989, resigned Thursday * Military placed him under house arrest and then raided offices of his party * Soldiers also took control of state TV and teased an 'important statement' * Comes after months of protests which has seen at least 22 activists killed
Sudan's ruler Omar al-Bashir has stepped down after 30 years in power following a military coup in the capital Khartoum.
Talks are now underway to form a transitional military council to run the country, government sources said.
Al-Bashir is said to be under house arrest and surrounded by a 'heavy guard'.
It came after soldiers seized control of TV networks and said an 'important statement' would be made soon, telling people to 'wait for it'.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders gave Britain six more months to leave the bloc, more than Prime Minister Theresa May says she needs but less than many in the bloc wanted, thanks to fierce resistance from France.
The summit deal in Brussels in the early hours of Thursday meant Britain will not crash out on Friday without a treaty to smooth its passage. But it offers little clarity on when, how or even if Brexit will happen, as May struggles to build support in parliament for withdrawal terms agreed with the EU last year.
A man gestures during a protest against the appointment of interim president Abdelkader Bensalah demanding radical changes to the political system, in Algiers, Algeria April 10, 2019. (Reuters Photo)
Algeria will hold a presidential election on Thursday, July 4, a statement from the presidency said Wednesday.
Abdelkader Bensalah was appointed on Tuesday to replace former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was pressured by massive protests to step down after two decades in office. Protests have continued, however, with people on the streets demanding that he, the government and all those linked to Bouteflika's reign should also leave.
The interim leader appeared to be working to get ahead of the curve by quickly setting an election date for what is supposed to be a fully transparent democratic process.
The world's largest ever election has started in India, with voters in 20 states casting their ballots in the first phase of a marathon six-week poll.
The contest in the vast country of 1.3 billion people is dominated by local issues but also viewed as a referendum on the prime minister, Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist who rode a wave of popularity five years ago to become the first leader of a majority government in decades.
* Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called a federal election for Saturday, May 18 * He visited Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove to have Parliament dissolved * Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is odds-on favourite to be Australia's next PM * Labor wants Australia to source 50 per cent of energy from renewables by 2030 * Government is also campaigning against Labor's plan to scrap negative gearing * Coalition has been plagued with disunity and has lost 50 straight Newspolls * Betting agency Sportsbet is predicting the biggest Labor victory in 76 years * Peter Dutton, Christian Porter, David Coleman, Ken Wyatt tipped to lose seats
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the federal election will be held on May 18.
He met with Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove on Thursday morning to formally dissolve Parliament.
The Liberal-National coalition is seeking a third, three-year term, but opinion polls have consistently put Labor ahead on a two-party-preferred basis.
Mr Morrison is the third Prime Minister - after Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull - to lead a divided government since the Coalition came to power in 2013, and only took the helm in late August.
(NEW DELHI) — The Dalai Lama said he felt “normal, almost normal” as he left the New Delhi hospital where he had been treated for a chest infection.
The 83-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader looked pale but strong and spoke cheerfully to The Associated Press as he walked out of the building after being discharged Friday morning. He had been hospitalized on Tuesday after coming to the capital to consult with doctors.
He is likely to return this week to the north Indian hill town of Dharmsala that has been his headquarters since he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama usually spends several months a year traveling the world to teach Buddhism and highlight the Tibetans’ struggle for greater freedom in China. But he has cut down on travel in the past year in order to take care of his health.
China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile and hasn’t held any dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010. Beijing accuses him of seeking to separate Tibet from China.
The Dalai Lama denies being a separatist and says he merely advocates for substantial autonomy and protection of the region’s native Buddhist culture.
At an event with educators in Delhi earlier this month, the Dalai Lama said he is not seeking independence for Tibet, but rather a “reunion” with China under mutually acceptable terms.
In Tibetan Buddhist belief, the soul of its most senior lama is reincarnated into the body of a child, but China says its leaders have the right to choose a successor.
The Dalai Lama also predicted that the political impasse with China could change if he lived for at least another decade. But he said that if he died next year, “the Chinese government will seriously show reincarnation must (happen) in China.”
A senior Ecuadorian official says a Swedish software developer living in Quito and who is allegedly close to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested as authorities attempt to dismantle a blackmail ring that in recent days had threatened to retaliate against President Lenin Moreno.
The official said Ola Bini was arrested Thursday at Quito’s airport as he was preparing to board a flight for Japan.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity and didn’t provide any additional details about Bini.
On a blog, a Swedish man by the same name describes himself as a software developer working in Quito for the Center for Digital Autonomy, a group based in Ecuador and Spain focused on privacy, security and cryptography issues. It makes no mention of any affiliation with Wikileaks.
On Twitter earlier Thursday, Bini called claims by the Interior Minister that Russian hackers and someone close to Wikileaks were working inside Ecuador “very worrisome” news. “This seems like a witch hunt to me,” Bini wrote.
The arrest came after British police dragged Assange out of Ecuador’s embassy when his seven-year asylum was revoked.
(MANILA, Philippines) — Archaeologists who discovered fossil bones and teeth of a previously unknown human species that thrived more than 50,000 years ago in the northern Philippines said Thursday they plan more diggings and called for better protection of the popular limestone cave complex where the remains were unearthed.
Filipino archaeologist Armand Salvador Mijares said the discovery of the remains in Callao Cave in Cagayan province made the Philippines an important research ground on human evolution. The new species is called Homo luzonensis after the main northern island of Luzon, where the remains were dug up starting in 2007.
Beaming with pride, Mijares displayed the six fragments of bones from the feet, hands and thigh and seven teeth of three individuals from that bygone era in a news conference at the state-run University of the Philippines. Tests showed two of the fossil fragments had minimum ages of 50,000 years and 67,000 years, according to a study published by the scientific journal Nature.
“This puts the Philippines, our scientific community in the spotlight,” Mijares said. “Before, we’re just peripheral in this debate of human evolution.”
Mijares, who led a small team of foreign and local archaeologists behind the rare discovery, said he plans to resume the diggings next year and hopes to find larger fossil bones, artifacts and possibly stone tools used by people in those times. Aside from Callao Cave, human fossils have recently been found in another site in Bulacan province just north of the capital, Manila, Mijares said without elaborating.
Another veteran Filipino archaeologist, Eusebio Dizon, said the human remains from Callao were the oldest to be found in the Philippines, predating those discovered in Tabon Cave on the western island of Palawan by thousands of years.
While the archaeological find could attract more scientists, Dizon worried that it could also draw vandals and treasure hunters who could threaten the seven-chamber cave complex, which is a popular tourism destination. An open-air chapel with pews and an altar in the cave complex has become a popular venue for weddings and filmmakers.
“Penablanca has been a treasure hunting haven of many people,” Dizon said, referring to the Cagayan provincial town where the Callao caves are located. “Maybe it will reignite their kind of activity so that’s why it needs protection now more than ever.”
The main exodus of modern man’s own species from Africa that all of today’s non-African people are descended from took place around 60,000 years ago.
Analysis of the bones from the Callao caves led the study authors to conclude they belonged to a previously unknown member of our “Homo” branch of the human family tree. One of the toe bones and the overall pattern of tooth shapes and sizes differ from what’s been seen before in the Homo family, the researchers said.
The fossil bones and teeth found about 3 meters (9.8 feet) below the ground in the cave show they belonged to small-bodied people. Bones of deer and related animals were found in the area, some with cut marks, suggesting they were butchered although there were no stone tools or sharp implements found in the immediate area where the human fossils were dug up, Mijares said.
Although the find contributes a new insight into modern man’s ancient beginnings, Dizon said it also raised new questions and deepened the mystery behind the evolution of man.
Two Reuters journalists who are currently serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar are to be awarded a prize for press freedom by the U.N.’s cultural organization.
The 2019 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize, which honors the defense and promotion of press freedom, is being awarded to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo as a tribute to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression, according to a press release from UNESCO. The two journalists had been working on stories about a military crackdown and alleged human rights violations in Rakhine state in Myanmar when they were arrested. They were also named as TIME’s Person of the Year, along with three other journalists and a news organization, last December.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were first detained by authorities on Dec. 12, 2017, on the grounds of possessing classified state documents by the Myanmar government. The arrest has been largely condemned as a set-up by police in retaliation for their investigation of the massacre of Rohingya people in Rakhine State at the hands of Myanmar military forces. The two men had been invited to dinner in the former capital of Yangon by police forces, where they were presented documents and immediately detained. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were detained for 265 days before they were sentenced to seven years in prison for violation of the Official Secrets Act, an archaic law dating back to the colonial era.
Their investigation was published by Reuters while they were awaiting trial in February 2018, and included graphic photography and detailed accounts providing evidence that state security forces were implicated in carrying out extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya at the village of Inn Din. The Myanmar government has been accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide of Rohingya Muslims by the U.N. and various human rights organizations since 2016.
Particular scrutiny has been placed on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner who since been condemned for her inaction regarding the Rohingya crisis and for the withering of press freedom that has occurred under her leadership.
The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997 and is awarded to a laureate who is “nominated by an international jury of experts,” UNESCO spokesperson George Papagiannis tells TIME. It is awarded to an individual or organization who has “made a notable contribution to the defense and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially if risks have been involved,” he adds.
In the press release, president of the jury Wojciech Tochman explained the decision to honor Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, stating the choice “pays a tribute to their courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression,” and that the men “symbolize their country’s emergence after decades of isolation.”
The award will be presented on UNESCO’s celebration of World Press Freedom Day in Addis Ababa on May 2. According to Papagiannis, the organization hopes to present the award to family members of the imprisoned journalists in their absence.
(YEHUD, Israel) — An Israeli spacecraft crashed into the moon just moments before touchdown, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history Thursday as the first privately funded lunar landing.
The spacecraft lost communication with ground control during its final descent. Moments later, the mission was declared a failure.
“We definitely crashed on the surface of the moon,” said Opher Doron of Israel Aerospace Industries.
He said the spacecraft’s engine turned off shortly before landing, and scientists were still trying to figure out the cause. The spacecraft, called Beresheet, was in pieces scattered at the landing site, he said.
Doron nonetheless called the mission an “amazing success,” for reaching the moon and coming so close to landing successfully.
“It is by far the smallest, cheapest spacecraft ever to get to the moon,” he said. Beresheet was about the size of a washing machine.
The mishap occurred in front of a packed audience that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was broadcast live on national television.
“We will try again,” Netanyahu said. “We reached the moon, but we want to land more comfortably, and that is for the next time.”
It had been hoped that the small robotic spacecraft, built by the nonprofit SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, would match a feat that has been achieved only by U.S., Russia and China.
The failure was a disappointing ending to a lunar voyage of 6.5 million kilometers (4 million miles), almost unprecedented in length and designed to conserve fuel and reduce price. The spacecraft hitched a ride on a SpaceX rocket launched from Florida in February.
For the past two months, Beresheet, which means “Genesis” or “In the Beginning,” traveled around the Earth several times before entering lunar orbit.
Around 20 minutes before the scheduled landing, engine firings slowed Beresheet’s descent. Engineers watched in silence as the craft, its movements streamed live on dozens of screens, glided toward a free-fall.
But then the screens showed the engine misfiring, and the velocity surging as it headed toward the lunar surface. Radio signals from the spacecraft, abruptly cut off.
Standing before darkened computer screens, controllers declared the mission a failure. The craft crashed near the historic Apollo landing sites.
President Reuven Rivlin hosted dozens of youngsters at his official residence, one of several celebrations scheduled across the country. The children, some wearing white and blue spacesuits, appeared confused as the crash unfolded.
“We are full of admiration for the wonderful people who brought the spacecraft to the moon,” Rivlin said. “True, not as we had hoped, but we will succeed in the end.”
Beresheet carried a small laser retroreflector from NASA intended to measure magnetic fields and provide insight on the moon’s iron core. It also had a time capsule that included a Bible, Israeli cultural symbols and a picture of famed Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the crash of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
The head of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, said he regretted the mission didn’t succeed, but “I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore and I look forward to celebrating their future achievements.”
Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin expressed his regrets “for what almost was” and tweeted: “Never lose hope–Your hard work, team work, and innovation is inspiring to all!”
The Google Lunar X Prize Competition, which offered $20 million for the first privately funded venture to make it to the moon, is what first drove SpaceIL to get Beresheet off the ground.
Beresheet made the final cut, but after several deadline extensions, the competition ended last year without a winner.
SpaceIL pressed on with its dream, convinced the mission would help inspire Israel’s next generation to study science and engineering. The $100 million mission was financed largely by Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and a handful of other investors.
“The second I heard their dream, I wanted to support it,” said Kahn. “I knew it would give us in Israel a sense of pride.”
The XPrize Foundation congratulated the SpaceIL team despite the failed landing.
“We’re extraordinarily proud they made it this far,” said Peter Diamandis, XPrize founder.
Spacecraft crash more on other planets than they do on the moon, but the moon has had seen failed missions previously, said American University professor Howard McCurdy, who has written several books about space.
In the 1960s, before the Apollo lunar landings, NASA sent seven unmanned Surveyor flights to the moon and two failed, he said.
“What makes it hard is the conditions — the geological and atmospheric conditions are different on the moon and the planets than they are on Earth,” McCurdy said. “It makes it really hard to test” the spacecraft’s landing back on Earth.
Phil Larson of the University of Colorado, who was a space adviser in the Obama White House, said the Israeli effort underlines that “space is still extremely hard, and landing human made objects on other worlds is an utmost challenge.”
But, he added, “While it failed to land successfully, overall it was a path-breaking and innovative project.”
Wikileaks is at the center of major questions in Robert Mueller’s investigation, including whether anyone involved in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign assisted the organization in releasing hacked materials. But the charge in the one-count indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange unsealed on Thursday shortly after his arrest doesn’t speak to those questions or broader First Amendment issues.
In an indictment dated March 6, 2018, the United States charges Assange with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The indictment alleges “that in March 2010, Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network, a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications.”
Conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, is the “meat and potatoes” in the world of computer crime, says Paul Rosenzweig, who teaches at the George Washington University School of Law and was deputy assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Almost everybody that you see who’s charged with a computer fraud of some sort gets a charge that’s somewhere like this.”
This fits with the typical prosecutorial strategy of charging someone with a smaller, more easily provable crime in what could be a larger criminal context. “The conspiracy component of it can be pretty easy to prove, that there had to be some degree of coordination of efforts and action,” says Thomas Holt, a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University who is an expert in computer hacking. “So conspiracy is a way to… treat it as low-hanging fruit where you can at least demonstrate through email and other communications that they were working in some degree in concert to produce an outcome.”
Limiting the indictment against Assange to this one, narrower charge and not charging him with espionage leaves aside any First Amendment questions that could have been raised about Wikileaks publishing classified material. “There has been a lot of speculation that the U.S. would indict Assange merely for distributing classified material,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote on Twitter. “You have heard a lot of concern about that, and it is justified. Many legitimate press publications in the U.S. distribute classified material at times.”
3/ There has been a lot of speculation that the U.S. would indict Assange merely for distributing classified material. You have heard a lot of concern about that, and it is justified. Many legitimate press publications in the U.S. distribute classified material at times.
But this indictment does not charge Assange with a crime related merely to the publication of the material. Rosenzweig offers this analogy: If a journalist has sources offering classified documents, the journalist can publish those documents and this indictment against Assange has no bearing on that. But if a source tells a journalist there are documents behind a locked door, and the journalist offers to help pick the lock, that’s when it becomes a crime. “You as a journalist have become engaged in a criminal enterprise in a way that’s different from normal journalist behavior,” Rosenzweig says of that scenario.
This is where relevance to Mueller’s Russia investigation comes in. In 2016, hackers that the U.S. government believes to have been directed by the Russian government hacked the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. Batches of the hacked emails were released by Wikileaks. Mueller indicted Russian intelligence officers for crimes related to this operation, but he did not charge Assange.
There are two key relevant questions in Mueller’s investigation. The first is how the hacked material made its way from Russia’s Internet Research Agency to Wikileaks, and whether Trump advisor Roger Stone or anyone else associated with the campaign was in that chain of custody. The second, related question is whether Stone or anyone else in the campaign assisted in targeting the hacking or selecting and timing the release of hacked material. (Stone has been charged with lying to Congress and obstructing an investigation into his communications with Assange. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen also testified that he was present for a July 2016 phone call during which Stone informed Trump that Assange was planning to publish hacked Democratic emails.)
As in Rosenzweig’s analogy, if Stone or another member of the campaign simply knew about the information in advance, that likely wouldn’t be a crime. But if they conspired in the hack, that could be.
Attorney General William Barr has said Mueller’s investigation did not establish that anyone on the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the election.
For now, this single-count indictment against Assange for activity from nine years ago doesn’t seem to have direct bearing on lingering questions from the Mueller investigation. And Mueller hasn’t recommended any more charges to come directly from his office. But Assange and Wikileaks loom over multiple aspects of Mueller’s investigation, and more details may surface in the coming days when Barr releases a redacted version of the report.
-With additional reporting by John Walcott/Washington
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump says the U.S. wants to see sanctions against North Korea continue for now.
In an Oval Office meeting with the leader of South Korea on Thursday, Trump said he thinks that sanctions being used to pressure Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons program are at a level that’s “fair.”
It is South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s first meeting with Trump since Trump’s unsuccessful summit with Kim in Vietnam in February.
Moon has been acting as a go-between to resolve the nuclear standoff. Moon has worked aggressively to foster better relations between the North and South and doesn’t want to see nuclear talks derailed.
Trump says the U.S. wants sanctions to “remain in place.”
Before his country voted to leave the European Union on that fateful day of June 23, 2016, Ralf Little had little interest in what happened in Westminster, the political heart of the U.K. Now, the British actor and footballer says, his eyes have been opened.
“Imagine waking up on a transatlantic flight to discover that the plane is not being flown, as you thought, by a quiet, competent pilot. In fact, while you were asleep it was taken over by a gang of giggling, clammy-handed ten-year-olds, hopped up on Haribo.”
The Brexit vote was a wake-up call for many Britons. For some, it was a victory, and a sign that the political elite could no longer ignore certain parts of the population. For others, it was a shock and a realization that perhaps they did not know their fellow countrymen as well as they thought.
But the referendum was only the beginning. It has now been nearly three years since former Prime Minister David Cameron gambled, lost and resigned, and Brexit mania shows no sign of loosening its grip on the national conversation. Indeed, the process is actually getting longer. For months, the deadline for Brexit was March 29, exactly two years after Britain triggered the mechanism to formally quit the E.U. That date was then changed to Apr. 12, then — late on Wednesday night — to Oct. 31.
In the months and years since the vote, Britain has discovered the split down its middle cuts deeper than it first appeared. While the question on the referendum ballot paper was straightforward – “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?” – it paved the way for dozens of other existential queries. What is Britain’s place in the world? What should it be? Have we talked about its imperial past enough, or too much? Is immigration a problem, or a lack of integration, or both or neither? Is there too much of a gap between cities and towns? Can it be mended? If so, who should make the first step? Were Leave voters more xenophobic than Remain voters were elitist? And where does Ireland fit into all this?
These questions have been debated in newspaper columns, on television shows, and in pubs, coffee shops, at Christmas dinners and everywhere else. Parents have fallen out with their children, siblings screamed at each other, relationships have been tested and friendships broken down. “I have taken quite a hard line position on how we should go about Brexit and wound up some of my closest friends and family,” says political commentator and author Isabel Oakeshott. “I am constantly being mocked, jeered and barracked on live TV and radio. It’s very exposing, and nobody’s idea of fun.”
Even though they lost, the so-called “Remainers” are at least clear on what they would like to see next; the U.K. to stay in the E.U. after all, either through Parliament overturning the vote or through a second referendum.
The “Brexiteers,” on the other hand, have had to reconcile the different visions voters had for casting their ballot to leave. There were Singapore-style Brexiteers, yearning for their country to go out into the world and become an open, buccaneering nation; those who wanted the country to shut its borders and turn in on itself; those hoping that recouped contributions to the E.U. could fund more schools and hospitals and turn Britain towards a protectionist left; and so on
Those differences in vision were largely swept under the carpet during the Brexit campaign, both because a lot of pro-Brexit figures assumed their side would lose, and—more cynically—because offering all things to all people was a convenient way to operate (and, it turned out, win).
Since then the U.K. Parliament has been trying to answer the question of how Britain leaves the E.U. And even the most passive observer of British politics will know that process is not going well. Having voted down Theresa May’s Brexit deal, every other possible exit option, the country leaving with no deal, a second referendum and no Brexit at all, parliamentarians are at an impasse. And it’s not clear an extra six months will be enough time to figure a way out.
For lawmakers in what was once a bastion of democracy, Brexit has become a hellish, inescapable labyrinth. Every day brings more votes on increasingly arcane Brexit-related legislation, then the endless and pointless debates on that legislation and what happens next. Whatever lawmakers do means receiving a mountain of abuse from constituents and Twitter trolls. No-one in parliament can ever be really sure of what factions exist, what they want and what they will do next. Everyone is frustrated, tired and angry. As one MP tells TIME: “I am a husk of a human.”
That matters. It is unclear who the chicken and the egg are between the Westminster bubble and the rest of the country, but it is undeniable that each time one gets even tenser, the other does as well. Jeremy Vine, a broadcaster on BBC Radio 2, explains it well. “Essentially, Parliament has had a nervous breakdown and that is communicating itself all the way through the country, top to bottom. Brexit may be a great idea — but that’s not the point anymore. The referendum result went into Parliament like a sock goes into a washing machine, and after a loud noise and lots of banging, there is just no trace of the sock any more. A lot of my listeners use the same exasperated phrase: “Why haven’t we left yet?””
They should take a deep breath and consider getting into yoga. Some E.U. leaders are already hinting that Oct. 31 doesn’t need to be a final deadline if things aren’t resolved by then. This nightmare could last long after Halloween.
Retired Pope Benedict XVI has published an analysis on the Catholic Church’s clergy sex abuse scandal, blaming it on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and church laws that protected priests.
The essay immediately raised eyebrows, seeming to interfere with or even contradict Pope Francis’ own efforts to confront one of the most critical issues facing the church.
One church historian called Benedict’s essay “catastrophically irresponsible,” because it conflicted with Francis’ own efforts to lead the church out of the sex abuse crisis.
Benedict in 2013 had said he planned to retire to a lifetime of penance and prayer and would leave Francis to guide the church.
U.S. church analysts said the essay, published in the German monthly Klerusblatt, was both flawed in content and problematic on universal church level, exacerbating existing divisions in the church that have emerged between supporters of Francis and Catholics nostalgic for Benedict’s doctrine-minded papacy.
In his introduction, Benedict said both the Vatican secretary of state and Francis had given him permission to publish it. The Vatican press office confirmed it was written by Benedict.
In the essay, Benedict traced the start of the clergy abuse crisis to the sexual revolution of the 1960s, citing the appearance of sex in films in his native Bavaria. He also blamed the crisis on failures of moral theology in that era, as well as church laws that gave undue protection to accused priests.
Benedict wrote that during the 1980s and 1990s, “the right to a defense (for priests) was so broad as to make a conviction nearly impossible.”
As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict reformed those laws in 2001 to make it easier to remove priests who abused children. Benedict took a hard line against clerical sex abuse as the Vatican’s conservative doctrine chief, and later as pope, defrocking hundreds of priests accused of raping and molesting children.
“Why did pedophilia reach such proportions? Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God,” he wrote.
Francis has blamed the scandal on a clerical culture in the church that raises priests above the laity.
Villanova University theologian Massimo Faggioli said the essay was thin in its analysis by effectively attributing the scandal to the sexual revolution. He said it omitted key cases, such as the Legion of Christ founder’s pedophilia, which began well before then.
“If a pope emeritus decides to stay silent, it’s one thing and can be defended. But speaking and telling a tiny part and a very personal version of the story, it’s hard to defend,” he said on twitter.
“Everything we know in the global history of the Catholic abuse crisis makes Benedict XVI’s take published yesterday very thin or worse: a caricature of what happened during in the Catholic Church during the post-Vatican II period – with all its ingenuities and some tragic mistakes,” he tweeted.
Church historian Christopher Bellitto questioned if Benedict, who turns 92 next week, was being manipulated by others. He said the essay undermined Francis’ own efforts to steer the church out of the crisis.
Bellitto said the essay omitted the critical conclusions that arose from the pope’s February sex abuse summit in Rome, including that “abusers were priests along the ideological spectrum, that the abuse predated the 1960s, that it is a global and not simply Western problem, that homosexuality is not the issue in pedophilia.”
“It is catastrophically irresponsible, because it creates a counter-narrative to how Francis is trying to move ahead based on the 2019 summit,” he said. “The essay essentially ignores what we learned there.”
David Gibson at Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture agreed with that assessment.
“For a retired pope to try to undo the critical work of a sitting pope and on such a crucial issue seems … bad,” he said.
(CAIRO) — Sudan’s military overthrew President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday amid increasingly bloody protests over his repressive 30-year rule and the deteriorating economy. But pro-democracy demonstrators were left angry and disappointed when the defense minister announced the armed forces will govern for the next two years.
Al-Bashir’s fall came just over a week after protests in Algeria forced the resignation of that North African country’s long-ruling, military-backed president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Together, the developments represent a second generation of street protests eight years after the Arab Spring uprisings that ousted a number of long-entrenched leaders around the Middle East.
But like those popular movements of 2011, the new ones face a similar dynamic — a struggle over the aftermath of an autocrat’s removal.
Protest organizers in Sudan quickly denounced the army’s takeover and vowed to continue rallies until a civilian transitional government is formed, raising the possibility of a clash with the military. Tens of thousands of demonstrators were massed at a sit-in they have held for nearly a week outside the military’s headquarters in central Khartoum, the capital.
After the televised announcement of al-Bashir’s arrest by Defense Minister Awad Mohammed Ibn Ouf — who is himself under U.S. sanctions for links to atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur conflict — many protesters chanted angrily, “The first one fell, the second will, too.” Some shouted, “They removed a thief and brought in a thief!”
Ibn Ouf said a military council that will be formed by the army, intelligence agencies and security apparatus will rule for two years, after which “free and fair elections” will take place.
He also announced that the military had suspended the constitution, dissolved the government, declared a state of emergency for three months, closed the country’s borders and airspace and imposed a curfew for one month.
Al-Bashir, whose whereabouts were not immediately known, came to power in a coup of his own in 1989, backed by the military and Islamist hard-liners. He kept an iron grip on power and brutally suppressed any opposition, while monopolizing the economy through allied businessmen.
Over his three decades in control, he was forced to allow the secession of South Sudan after years of war, a huge blow to the north’s economy. He became notorious for a deadly crackdown on insurgents in the Darfur region that made him an international pariah, wanted on genocide charges. The U.S. targeted his government repeatedly with sanctions and airstrikes for his support of Islamic militant groups.
Throughout, he was a swaggering figure known to dance with his cane in front of cheering crowds.
The street protests that erupted in December were met with crackdowns by the government that left dozens of people dead and eventually turned the military leadership against al-Bashir. Several times in the past week, Army troops trying to protect the rallies exchanged fire with security forces.
The protests were initially fueled by anger over the deteriorating economy but quickly turned to demands for the president’s ouster, and gained momentum last week after Bouteflika’s resignation in Algeria.
Word of al-Bashir’s removal emerged in the morning, when state TV announced that the military was about to make an “important statement,” and two high-ranking officials told The Associated Press that al-Bashir had been ousted. That prompted thousands of protesters to march toward the center of Khartoum, cheering, singing and dancing in celebration.
The announcement finally came hours later, from ibn Ouf, a key power figure in al-Bashir’s regime.
“I, the defense minister, the head of the Supreme Security Committee, announce the uprooting of this regime and the seizing of its head, after detaining him in a safe place,” he said.
He denounced al-Bashir’s government for “bad administration, systemic corruption, absence of justice,” adding: The poor became poorer and the rich became richer. Hope in equality has been lost.” He also said al-Bashir’s crackdown against protesters risked splitting the security establishment and “could cause grave casualties.”
Mariam al-Mahdi, a leading member of the opposition Umma, called the military’s takeover “a dangerous move.”
“Our demands are clear: We don’t want to replace a coup with a coup,” al-Mahdi said.
The protest movement has been a mix of young activists, students, professional unions and traditional opposition parties.
Security forces came down hard from the start, using tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and batons. Al-Bashir banned unauthorized public gatherings and granted sweeping powers to the police after imposing a state of emergency last month.
After Bouteflika’s fall, the Khartoum protesters launched the sit-in, and the crackdown grew bloodier, with at least 22 people killed since Saturday.
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THERESA MAY has urged MPs to do their "national duty" by uniting behind her EU departure deal while shrugging off fresh Tory calls for her resignation.
IVANKA TRUMP and her husband Jared Kushner are really in control of the White House, according to right-wing commentator and former Donald Trump supporter Ann Coulter.
FIREBRAND Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed "concerns" for the arrest of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, who was dragged kicking and screaming by the Metropolitan Police from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday.
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Explainer | Active or passive investing - which is better? Though in developed markets passive management is popular, in emerging markets (including India) there are many fans of active management.
Net Sales are expected to decrease by 5.8 percent Y-o-Y (down 0.5 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 260 crore, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.
Net Sales are expected to increase by 25.4 percent Y-o-Y (down 2.2 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 736.1 crore, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.
Lupin#39;s testosterone gel, 1.62 percent (20.25 mg/1.25 g pump actuation), is the generic equivalent of AbbVie Inc#39;s AndroGel, 1.62 percent, Lupin said in a BSE filing.
LIVE updates of the first phase of voting in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections in four states
Net Sales are expected to increase by 8.5 percent Y-o-Y (down 9 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 127,395 crore, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.
The Congress has won the Lok Sabha constituency in the Saurashtra region only once in the last 28 years - in 2004 - but the opposition party is banking on its performance in the assembly polls to snatch the seat from the BJP.
Today, USD-INR pair is expected to quote in the range of 69.05 and 69.80, says Motilal Oswal.
Though in developed markets passive management is popular, in emerging markets (including India) there are many fans of active management.
