ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - The star witness in the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort faced tough questioning on cross-examination on Tuesday about a “secret life” that included an extramarital affair and stealing funds from his former boss. Rick Gates, who served as a right-hand man to Manafort in his political consulting business for a decade, acknowledged maintaining a flat in London for the affair, inflating expense reports and a long list of other misdeeds. “In essence, I was living beyond my means,” the married father of four said from the witness stand in Alexandria, Virginia. “I’m taking responsibility for it. I made a mistake.” Gates, who is cooperating with U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, testified on Monday that he helped Manafort doctor financial statements, hide foreign income and evade hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. income taxes. Under questioning by defense attorney Kevin Downing on Tuesday, Gates also admitted he wrote a fraudulent letter to prospective investors in a movie project and that “it’s possible” he submitted to Trump’s inaugural committee personal expenses, which may have been improper. Downing sought to portray Gates as an inveterate liar, raising questions about whether he has been truthful with Mueller’s office even after cutting a plea deal in February. Under the deal, he admitted to helping Manafort evade taxes, violate U.S. lobbying laws, and conceal foreign bank accounts. In addition, he pleaded guilty to making false statements to investigators. “After all the lies you told you expect this jury to believe you?” Downing asked Gates, who responded that he did. “I’m here to tell the truth,” Gates shot back. “Mr. Manafort had the same path. I’m here.” Undercutting Gates’ credibility is the foundation of Manafort’s defense. Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts containing tens of millions of dollars earned from work for Russian-backed politicians in Ukraine. The charges largely predate the five months Manafort spent on Trump’s campaign. If convicted on all counts, Manafort could face eight to 10 years in prison based on federal sentencing guidelines, according to sentencing expert Justin Paperny. Gates made numerous damaging admissions during cross-examination. Gates admitted to stealing from Manafort, but he said he did not know how much money he took. Looking at a ledger listing nearly $3 million in transactions, he was unable to say which ones were legitimate and which ones he initiated with false expense reports. Paul Manafort (L), former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington, DC, U.S., December 11, 2017, and Rick Gates, former campaign aide to Trump, in Washington, U.S., December 11, 2017 are pictured in this combination photograph. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File PhotoDowning also pressed Gates about creating “fake and phony” invoices to trigger payments to himself from Manafort’s accounts in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. “Are they payments for your secret life?” Downing asked. “No, they’re not,” Gates said. Prosecutors hope to wrap up their case this week. Manafort’s trial is the first on charges brought by Mueller’s office, who is also investigating whether Trump campaign members coordinated with Russian officials. Gates also worked on the campaign. During questioning by prosecutors on Tuesday morning, Gates said that Manafort had emailed him in late 2016 asking for the incoming Trump administration to consider tapping Federal Savings Bank Chief Executive Steve Calk for Secretary of the Army. Employees from Federal Savings Bank are expected to testify later this week. Prosecutors allege that the bank lent Manafort money based on fraudulent documents, and that Calk was named an adviser to the campaign and sought the Army post as part of a quid pro quo. Calk and Federal did not reply to requests for comment. Gate’s testimony was part of the prosecution’s effort to prove that Manafort was responsible for financial maneuverings that he and other witnesses have testified include filing false tax returns, defrauding banks in borrowing against real estate, and failing to report foreign bank accounts. One part of his testimony led to laughter in the courtroom. “Not happy. I just saw this. WTF,” Manafort wrote to Gates in an email using a common shorthand to show exasperation after learning his projected tax payment for 2014. Gates said that he helped fabricate documents to convert some income to a loan to lower Manafort’s tax bill. Gates also acknowledged creating a fraudulent letter for movie producer and political operative Steven Brown, who pleaded guilty in April to participating in a scheme that defrauded investors of over $9.5 million involving false documents. Walter Mack, Brown’s lawyer, declined comment. Slideshow (2 Images)Gates also testified on Tuesday how he and Manafort hid income earned for political work in Ukraine, explaining their efforts to set up companies in Cyprus so they could easily be paid by Ukranian businessman who held bank accounts there. Prosecutors showed contracts laying out that Manafort would be paid $4 million a year in quarterly installments of $1 million, all channeled through Cyprus. The funds were logged as loans in order to meet later audits in Cyprus that required documentation of transfers between bank accounts. Gates testified they were not loans but compensation to Manafort. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld; Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by Grant McCool and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

You’ve probably never heard of Clarice Phelps. If you were curious, you might enter her name into Google. And, if you had done so anytime between September of last year and February of this year, you would likely have found her Wikipedia entry. The nuclear scientist is thought to be the first African-American woman to help discover a chemical element; she was part of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory team that purified the radioactive sample of berkelium-249 from which the new element, tennessine, was created. But on February 11, 2019, in the middle of Black History Month and on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Phelps’s page was deleted. The optics, as they say, weren’t good.The deletion came after a brief but intense dispute between Wikipedia contributors over whether Phelps met the site’s criteria for notability. Ordinarily, such editorial spats are considered a feature of the crowdsourced encyclopedia, not a bug. If one of the site’s hundreds of thousands of active contributors mistakenly or purposely adds incorrect information, the wisdom of the crowd will ensure that truth prevails.But in the case of Phelps, the crowd made the wrong call, and the site’s rules facilitated that. The entire spectacle revealed just how much work remains to be done to address the systemic biases that disproportionately keep women and people of color out of Wikipedia’s pages.Clarice Phelps is thought to be the first African-American woman to help discover a chemical element. That apparently wasn’t important enough for her to be included in Wikipedia. [Photo: Oak Ridge National Laboratory]Phelps’ entry was created last September by Jess Wade, a postdoctoral researcher in physics at Imperial College London. As a side-project, Wade has been working to combat the under- representation of female scientists on Wikipedia. She tries to write one new biography per day, an endeavor that has brought her considerable media attention. So when a journalist writing a book about superheavy elements learned of Phelps’s contribution to the discovery of tennessine, he sent Wade a private message on Twitter, and she promptly created a Wikipedia entry.Five months later, on February 1, 2019, Phelps’ biography was flagged by an anonymous Wikipedia user, who believed she wasn’t notable enough to deserve her own entry and that not enough had been written about her elsewhere. We don’t know much about that user beyond their IP address — which was associated with a few small tweaks to articles about lasers, TV shows, and baseball players, among other topics. The user doesn’t appear to have been a prolific site contributor.No matter. Anyone can flag a Wikipedia page for any reason. They don’t need to reveal their identity or know anything about the content of the page they flag. The anonymity fuels trollish impulses.Wikipedia contributors have several options when they encounter a flagged article. For instance, they may not do anything. The Wikipedia biography of James Andrew Harris has been flagged since April 2016 — the month of its creation — with the message “This article needs additional citations for verification.” Harris was the first African American man to contribute to the discovery of a new element. His Wikipedia page has six references and a few short sentences describing his contribution to the discovery of rutherfordium and dubnium, elements 104 and 105. Despite being flagged for years, Harris’ biography remains on the site.A second option is to improve the article. Wade knew from the outset that Phelps’ entry would come under scrutiny for being light on details and references. Phelps had been name-checked in brief articles about the tennessine discovery on the ORNL website, but the articles didn’t provide many specifics about her role. And although most people would consider a national lab a trusted source for information, because ORNL is Phelps’s employer, Wikipedia does not count it as an independent source.So when Wade first set out to write the profile, she put out a call on Twitter seeking more references. But she ran up against a common problem of writing about underserved populations on Wikipedia: Due to widespread forces of inequity, underserved populations receive less media attention and fewer accolades than their white, male peers and are therefore less likely to meet Wikipedia’s criteria for notability. This may be one reason that only an estimated 18 percent of biographies on Wikipedia are about women. The percentage of entries on African Americans is hard to determine, but likely subject to the same disparity.Although Wade wasn’t able to flesh out Phelps’s biography as much as she liked, the entry was comparable to the pages of other male scientists. Nearly 80 percent of Wikipedia’s female biographies fall in the categories of “start” or “stub” articles — incomplete snippets of lives the site nonetheless tolerates.So it came as a surprise when, on February 1, Wikipedia moderators bypassed the step of calling to improve Phelps’s page and instead went directly to recommending it for deletion.The decision set off a heated debate. I copied the full discussion into a document; it fills 18 pages and runs more than 16,000 words. “Put up or shut up,” one contributor told multiple users in a bid to preserve the article. “Delete, as subject is not yet notable. … Wikipedia is not here to pursue social justice,” sniffed another contributor who wanted the page to come down. Although substantive points were raised by both sides, the tone of the debate was likely off-putting to all but the most dedicated Wikipedians.Advocates scrambled to save the entry. Phelps’s page accumulated more than a dozen links to references documenting her scholarly contributions and work. But on February 11, little more than a week after it was first flagged, the page was removed.Wikipedia acknowledges that systemic biases have led to the underrepresentation of women, minorities, and other demographic groups on its pages — and that the problem is particularly acute for biographies of living persons. The site’s own statistics suggest that women make up fewer than 15 percent of active contributors. The “average Wikipedian” is a technically inclined, English-speaking male from a majority-Christian developed nation.Although it’s commendable that Wikipedia acknowledges its own biases, the site’s criteria for notability continue to devalue the achievements of people like Clarice Phelps. Fixing the representation problem will require radical changes to Wikipedia’s rules and user base.Wikipedia could start by allowing more flexibility in its citation and sourcing criteria for notable figures from underrepresented groups. At the very least, it could protect those pages from anonymous flags — as it does for other potentially controversial pages — and grant the entries a grace period to address issues raised by a flag before being marked for deletion. It could also remove user anonymity, to help stem the impersonal nastiness seen in page debates and deletion wars — nastiness that likely discourages underrepresented groups from sticking around in the Wikipedia community.Fortunately, readers interested in learning more about Clarice Phelps don’t need to wait for Wikipedia to get its act together. I spoke with Julie Ezold, a program manager who worked with Phelps on the tennessine project; Kit Chapman, the journalist who first brought Phelps to Jess Wade’s attention; and Phelps herself to tease out the details behind the scientist’s achievement.It goes like this: In the fall of 2011, Phelps was part of a small team at ORNL charged with purifying samples of berkelium-249, a radioactive element so hard to obtain that it can only be made in two places in the world. After months of preliminary purifications, ORNL scientists handed Phelps and her coworkers Rose Boll and Shelley Van Cleve a bottle containing 27 milligrams of berkelium-249. Through expert manipulations inside radiation-proof glove boxes, Phelps, Boll, and Van Cleve removed from the sample any specks of impurity that could interfere with the reaction to make tennessine. They lost less than a milligram of material in the process.The ultrapure berkelium-249 was shipped to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia, where it was bombarded with calcium ions to create the new chemical element. That experiment — a repeat of one conducted two years earlier — gave scientists the data they needed to confirm tennessine’s existence.As far as we know, Phelps was the first African American woman to play such a pivotal role in introducing a new chemical element to the world. By recording Phelps achievements in Wikipedia, where they belong, maybe we’ll inspire more young girls to join her.Claire Jarvis is a scientific and technical writer covering the interface of chemistry, biology and medicine. Her writing has appeared in Chemistry World and The Open Notebook. She can be found on Twitter (@StAndrewslynx).This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Wednesday that new rules and product changes aimed at protecting users’ privacy would slow its revenue growth into next year and significantly raise expenses, taking the shine off quarterly revenue results that beat expectations. The outlook was the latest twist in a day of contrasting news for the world’s largest social media company. Facebook earlier agreed to pay $5 billion to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission data privacy probe but then disclosed that the regulator was now investigating it for anti-competitive behavior. The settlement, which lawmakers and privacy experts criticized as a “slap on the wrist” for a company whose revenues last year topped $55 billion, suggested that Facebook had moved past a major regulatory challenge that has dogged it over the last year. But Facebook’s chief financial officer, Dave Wehner, warned that operational changes required by the settlement would be costly. In addition, he said, revenue will be hurt by new limits on usage of consumer data being set by governments around the world and by tech companies on whose systems Facebook relies. He did not elaborate. The guidance demonstrates the lasting effects of Facebook’s failure over the last decade to adequately secure some users’ personal information and inform users how its business partners were accessing the data. Still, Facebook said the second straight quarter of above-expectations revenue showed that its namesake app is producing growth even as users gravitate toward newer, more private features whose popularity has outstripped their usage among advertisers. Second-quarter revenue rose to $16.9 billion from $13.2 billion a year ago, beating analysts’ average estimate of $16.5 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Shares of Facebook, which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, rose 0.87% after hours to $206.44 after whipsawing amid the results and guidance. The shares have recouped most of the losses sparked a year ago on concerns of slowing usage and the costs of improving privacy. For the quarter, Facebook reported 2.7 billion monthly users and 2.1 billion daily users across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, both figures about the same as last quarter. “News regarding FTC and data privacy, along with antitrust investigations and additional headline risks [are] likely to continue to hang over the stock, but it looks like the platform still remains a very popular destination for the users,” Morningstar analyst Ali Mogharabi said in an email to Reuters. Facebook has faced questions for the past three years from regulators and users worldwide over how services designed to share news and events with friends and family have become platforms for spreading misinformation about politics and health. It also suffered data breaches, prompting investigations in several countries. The FTC inquiry settled on Wednesday stemmed from allegations that Facebook allowed information belonging to 87 million users to be inappropriately shared with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebook, which had set aside $3 billion in the first quarter for the settlement, said it took a $2 billion charge in the second quarter to account for the remainder. The deal, which is subject to court approval, also requires Facebook to document for the FTC any privacy-related decisions about new products. It must establish a privacy committee on its board, and executives must regularly attest to the company’s proper handling of user content. Wehner said the settlement would require “significant investment” in hiring and technology. The newly disclosed antitrust probe, which Facebook said it learned of from the FTC last month, shows that other regulatory hurdles remain. Reuters and other news agencies reported in June that the FTC was gearing up to investigate complaints about the massive market power of Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google. But Facebook on Wednesday suggested it may also be in the crosshairs of the Justice Department, acknowledging in a statement the agency’s announcement a day earlier of an antitrust review of large internet companies. The Justice Department did not specify targets, and Facebook declined to elaborate. Facebook has expanded programs and promises in response to political pressure on several issues, including policing objectionable content. FILE PHOTO: Attendees walk past a Facebook logo during Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo Costs jumped 66% compared to a year ago, to nearly $12.3 billion, as Facebook continues to ramp up such initiatives. The FTC payment in part cut second-quarter profit to $2.6 billion, compared with $5.1 billion a year earlier. Excluding the settlement and a $1.1 billion one-time tax expense, earnings would have been $1.99 per share, Facebook said. The expectations for its ad business and cost forecasts could hurt profit margins, particularly in the fourth quarter, Facebook said. Reporting by Paresh Dave in San Francisco and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Carlos Robério and his colleagues were expecting an attack on their minibus co-op in Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil. Over the previous few nights, gang members had already destroyed one of their vehicles, and torched dozens of city buses.But when the assault came, there was little Robério could do but watch the CCTV feed as a group of youths doused one of the co-op’s kiosks and set it on fire.“I was desperate,” said Robério. “That’s our property – it’s how we make a living and support our families,” he said.Authorities in the state of Ceará have been overwhelmed by more than a week of violence, which has been most intense in the capital, Fortaleza, a metropolitan region home to 4 million people.Security forces say three rival drug gangs have come together to carry out more than 160 attacks in retaliation for a proposal to end the practice of separating gang factions inside Brazil’s prisons.Buses, mail trucks and cars have been torched. Police stations, city government buildings and banks have been attacked with petrol bombs and explosives. On Sunday, criminals blew up a telephone exchange, leaving 12 cities without mobile service. Other explosions have damaged a freeway overpass and a bridge.The rash of violence is an early challenge for new president Jair Bolsonaro, who swept to power with his tough-on-crime proposals, which include military takeovers of Brazilian cities and shoot-to-kill security tactics.Police say that three suspects have been killed in shootouts and the outbreak has brought Fortaleza to a standstill: buses and taxis have stopped running, shops have closed for days and many frightened residents refuse to leave their homes.Five hundred national guard troops have been deployed to the region. Camilo Santana, the governor of Ceará state, said on Monday that authorities have made 148 arrests in association with the attacks. At least 20 prisoners suspecting of ordering the violence have been transferred from state to federal prisons.Despite the chaos, the government said it would not pull back on its plan to combat gang activities in prisons.Fortaleza and other cities in Brazil’s north-east have seen homicides soar in recent years, as Brazil’s most notorious gangs, the First Capital Command (known as the PCC in Portuguese) from São Paulo and the Red Command (Comando Vermelho) from Rio de Janeiro began to encroach on the region, which they are disputing with the Fortaleza-based Guardians of the State, and also the Northern Family from Amazonas state.The PCC and the Red Command are locked in a bitter fight to control Brazil’s drugs trade, and Fortaleza is seen as a strategic prize because it is the closest large port to Europe and Africa.“We used to only see this kind of savagery on television in Rio de Janeiro. Things used to be mellow here,” said Robério, who added that the mayhem had made him want to arm himself.“It’s complete chaos here and I feel like I’m in the middle of the ocean without a life raft,” he said.Bolsonaro capitalized on such sentiments during the election, and proposed facilitating gun ownership and rewarding police for extrajudicial killings.“Bolsonaro promoted a war rhetoric throughout his campaign, which won’t solve Brazil’s problem with violence,” said Renato Sérgio de Lima, the president of the Brazilian Forum on Public Security.Brazil’s security forces are already violent and killed 5,000 people in 2017, an average of 14 a day.De Lima said Bolsonaro, and many politicians before him, tend to propose more violence instead of more effective strategies such as investing in better intelligence capabilities for police investigations and reforming the draconian prison system.He cited promise in justice minister Sérgio Moro’s proposal to investigate gangs’ money laundering to suffocate them financially, but said that Bolsonaro’s forceful proposals make violent cities like Fortaleza a “time bomb”.“It’s really the local police and institutions that have to put out the flames of these politicians’ warlike proposals,” he said. Topics Brazil Americas news

President Nicolas Maduro has said Venezuela would launch a cryptocurrency to combat a US-led financial “blockade,” although he provided few clues about how the economically crippled Opec member would pull off the feat. “Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency ... the ‘petro,’ to advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade,” leftist Maduro said during his weekly Sunday televised broadcast. The digital currency will be backed by Venezuelan reserves of gold, oil, gas, and diamonds, he said during the near five-hour show, which included traditional Christmas songs and dancing. “The 21st century has arrived!” Maduro added to cheers, without providing specifics about the currency launch. Opposition leaders scorned the announcement, which they said needed congressional approval, and some cast doubt on whether the digital currency would ever see the light of day in tumultuous Venezuela. Still, the announcement highlights how US sanctions this year are hurting Venezuela’s ability to move money through international banks. Sources say compliance departments are scrutinising transactions linked to Venezuela, which has slowed some bond payments and complicated certain oil exports. Maduro’s move away from the US dollar comes after the recent spectacular rise of bitcoin, which has been fuelled by signs that the digital currency is slowly gaining traction in the mainstream investment world. Cryptocurrencies typically are not backed by any government or central banks. Bitcoin already has a strong following among tech-savvy Venezuelans looking to bypass dysfunctional economic controls to obtain dollars or make internet purchases. Venezuela’s traditional currency, meanwhile, is in free fall. Currency controls and excessive money printing have led to a 57% depreciation of the bolivar against the dollar in the last month alone on the widely used black market. That has dragged down the monthly minimum wage to a mere $4.30. For the millions of Venezuelans plunged into poverty and struggling to eat three meals a day, Maduro’s announcement is unlikely to bring any immediate relief. “It’s Maduro being a clown. This has no credibility,” opposition lawmaker and economist Angel Alvarado told Reuters. “I see no future in this,” added fellow opposition legislator Jose Guerra. Maduro says he is trying to combat a Washington-backed conspiracy to sabotage his government and end socialism in Latin America. On Sunday he said Venezuela was facing a financial “world war.” Topics Nicolás Maduro Venezuela Americas news

HONG KONG—A large cryptocurrency exchange denied accusations from some customers it manipulated prices of bitcoin futures after sudden price swings on its trading platform last week.OKEx, which operates one of the world’s most popular electronic venues for bitcoin trading, said it would cancel trades that occurred in a 90-minute period between 5 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. Hong Kong time Friday.That...

A court in Cyprus has remanded 12 Israeli youths in custody on suspicion of the alleged rape of a 19-year-old British tourist at a holiday resort on the island.The youths, aged between 16 and 18, are alleged to have raped the woman in a hotel room in Ayia Napa, a resort on the south-eastern coast. The woman told police the assault happened on Wednesday morning in her hotel room. Medical examiners said they found bruises and scratches on the woman.The suspects, who were also on holiday in Ayia Napa, have not been charged. They were brought before a district court in the town of Paralimni on Thursday where a magistrate remanded them in custody for eight days pending completion of inquiries.In accordance with Cypriot law on rape cases and because some of the suspects are minors, the proceedings were conducted behind closed doors.The suspects covered their faces with their T-shirts as they were being escorted in and out of the court building. Topics Cyprus Europe Israel news

French riot police fired teargas to disperse masked protesters from the Champs Élysées after the annual Bastille Day military parade ended in Paris on Sunday.A few dozen men — some masked and dressed in black — briefly tried to block roads near the Arc de Triomphe by dragging metal security barriers and setting fire to bins.The skirmishes were over quickly but they marked the worst clashes between riot police and masked demonstrators in central Paris since March. The men involved were not wearing the signature yellow vests of the anti-government gilets jaunes protests of the past eight months.As police rushed into the streets around the Champs Elysées, shoppers and tourists were seen fleeing from the teargas. Riot police cleared the roads and took up position on main streets and calm was restored.Earlier on Sunday morning, before the traditional annual military parade, some 152 people – including yellow vest protesters – were arrested as they tried to stage a separate demonstration.Among those stopped by police and briefly taken into custody were Jérôme Rodrigues and Maxime Nicolle. The two men are key figures from the gilets jaunes protest movement, which began as a revolt against fuel tax in November 2018 and has continued as an anti-government protest. Although there has been a decline in the number of people taking part in the weekly gilets jaunes Saturday marches in French towns, the movement is still active. Rodrigues’s lawyer, Arié Alimi, told AFP his being stopped by police amounted to “arresting political opponents”.Security was tight for the 14 July national day which commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris during the French Revolution.No one with a yellow vest had been allowed past police barriers to watch the parade. A few had slipped into the crowd and instead inflated yellow balloons. Some had booed and jeered the French president Emmanuel Macron as he travelled down the Champs Élysées in an open-topped military vehicle. Topics Gilets jaunes protests France Europe news

“The wrap-up and the facilitation, that’s the most important part of it,” Ms. Blair said. “I think with any diversity activity, it’s important to understand the audience as well as your environment.”Ms. Hartman, who said her son has a learning disability, said that “no context was given” in class.“It’s not that I was offended by the text,” she said. “I was offended that it wasn’t even explained properly to the students, which just furthers bias and tensions.”Ms. Hartman asked her son about the exercise after discovering it amid his schoolwork early last week.“He said, ‘Well, we had to rate who we would take — it was kind of like “Survivor,”’” she recalled. “So he honestly had no idea what the purpose of it was.”Ms. Hartman contacted the school on Aug. 21 and received a voice mail message from the teacher in response, but she said the message only raised more questions. She tried unsuccessfully to reach the principal, she said, before deciding to post a photo of the exercise on Facebook. It caught the attention of other parents and a Cuyahoga Falls councilman, Adam Miller.The councilman also posted the assignment on Facebook, stoking widespread outrage. He wrote that the project was “implanting prejudicial thoughts in these young impressionable minds.”The assignment was not fostering a “culture of caring,” Councilman Miller wrote. “This is building a culture of animosity, antagonism & hostility!”

This story is part of an ongoing series on how China is reshaping our world.What does a meat market in China have to do with Brazilian soybean farms? A whole lot, it turns out.Chinese diners are consuming more meat than ever, pork in particular. All those pigs have to eat, too, and overwhelmingly their main food source is soybeans.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced on Thursday by a U.S. judge to less than four years in prison - far shy of federal sentencing guidelines - for financial crimes uncovered during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis imposed the surprisingly lenient 47-month sentence on Manafort, 69, during a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, in which the veteran Republican political consultant asked for mercy but expressed no remorse for his actions. Manafort was convicted by a jury last August of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. Ellis disregarded federal sentencing guidelines cited by prosecutors that called for 19-1/2 to 24 years in prison. The judge ordered Manafort to pay a fine of $50,000 and restitution of just over $24 million. Manafort, brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair because of a condition called gout, listened during the hearing as Ellis extolled his “otherwise blameless” life in which he “earned the admiration of a number of people” and engaged in “a lot of good things.” “Clearly the guidelines were way out of whack on this,” Ellis said. Manafort was convicted after prosecutors accused him of hiding from the U.S. government millions of dollars he earned as a consultant for Ukraine’s former pro-Russia government. After pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster, prosecutors said, Manafort lied to banks to secure loans and maintain an opulent lifestyle with luxurious homes, designer suits and even a $15,000 ostrich-skin jacket. The judge also said Manafort “is not before the court for any allegations that he, or anyone at his direction, colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.” The sentence was even less than the sentence recommended by Manafort’s lawyers of 4-1/4 to 5-1/4 years in prison. “These are serious crimes, we understand that,” said Thomas Zehnle, one of Manafort’s lawyers. “Tax evasion is by no means jaywalking. But it’s not narcotics trafficking.” Related CoverageManafort's luxurious life nowhere in sight at sentencingTimeline: Big moments in Mueller investigation of Russian meddling in 2016 U.S. electionLegal experts expressed surprise over the sentence. “This is a tremendous defeat for the special counsel’s office,” former federal prosecutor David Weinstein said. Manafort’s sentence was less than half of what people who plead guilty and cooperate with the government typically get in similar cases, according to Mark Allenbaugh, a former attorney with the U.S. Sentencing Commission. “Very shocking,” he said. Ellis, appointed to the bench by Republican former President Ronald Reagan, called the sentence “sufficiently punitive,” and noted that Manafort’s time already served would be subtracted from the 47 months. Manafort has been jailed since June 2018. Manafort’s legal troubles are not over. He faces sentencing next Wednesday in Washington in a separate case for two conspiracy charges involving lobbying and money laundering to which he pleaded guilty last September. Legal experts said the light sentence from Ellis could prompt U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to impose a sentence closer to the maximum of 10 years in the Washington case, and order that the sentence run after the current one is completed rather than concurrently. Jackson was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama. Before the sentencing, Manafort expressed no remorse but talked about how the case had been difficult for him and his family. Manafort, who opted not to testify during his trial, told Ellis that “to say I have been humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement.” He described his life as “professionally and financially in shambles.” The judge told Manafort: “I was surprised I did not hear you express regret for engaging in wrongful conduct.” Manafort, with noticeably grayer hair than just months ago, came into the courtroom in a wheelchair holding a cane, wearing a green prison jumpsuit emblazoned with the words “Alexandria Inmate” on the back. It was a far cry from Manafort’s usual dapper appearance and stylish garb. During a break shortly before the sentence was handed down, Manafort turned around and blew his wife, Kathleen, a kiss. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort appears for sentencing in this court sketch in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Bill HennessyThe case capped a stunning downfall for Manafort, a prominent figure in Republican Party circles for decades who also worked as a consultant to such international figures as former Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Yanukovych. Ellis had faced criticism by some in the legal community for comments he made during the trial that were widely interpreted as biased against the prosecution. Ellis repeatedly interrupted prosecutors, told them to stop using the word “oligarch” to describe people associated with Manafort because it made him seem “despicable,” and objected to pictures of Manafort’s luxury items they planned to show jurors. “It isn’t a crime to have a lot of money and be profligate in your spending,” Ellis told prosecutors during the trial. Prosecutor Greg Andres urged Ellis to impose a steep sentence. “This case must stand as a beacon to others that this conduct cannot be accepted,” Andres told the hearing on Thursday. Jackson ruled on Feb. 13 that Manafort had breached his agreement to cooperate with Mueller’s office by lying to prosecutors about three matters pertinent to the Russia probe including his interactions with a business partner they have said has ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort is the only one of the 34 people and three companies charged by Mueller to have gone to trial. Several others including former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen have pleaded guilty, while longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty. Trump, a Republican who has called Mueller’s investigation a politically motivated “witch hunt,” has not ruled out giving Manafort a presidential pardon, saying in November: “I wouldn’t take it off the table.” “There’s absolutely no evidence that Paul Manafort was involved with any collusion with any government official from Russia,” Kevin Downing, another Manafort lawyer, said outside the courthouse. The Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, quickly accused Downing of making “a deliberate appeal for a pardon” from Trump. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said after the sentencing: “I believe Manafort has been disproportionately harassed and hopefully soon there will be an investigation of the overzealous prosecutorial intimidation so it doesn’t happen again.” Slideshow (6 Images)Mueller is preparing to submit to U.S. Attorney General William Barr a report on his investigation into whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia and whether Trump has unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction and Russia has denied U.S. intelligence findings that it interfered in the 2016 election in an effort to boost Trump. Manafort worked for Trump’s campaign for five pivotal months in 2016 that included the Republican National Convention where Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, three of them as campaign chairman. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Andy Sullivan and Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne, Eric Beech and Makini Brice; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Thursday became the first $1 trillion publicly listed U.S. company, crowning a decade-long rise fueled by its ubiquitous iPhone that transformed it from a niche player in personal computers into a global powerhouse spanning entertainment and communications. The tech company’s stock jumped 2.9 percent to end the day at $207.39, giving it a market capitalization of $1.002 trillion. During the session, Apple’s stock market value reached as much as $1.006 trillion. Apple has rallied about 9 percent since Tuesday, when it reported June-quarter results above expectations and said it bought back $20 billion of its own shares. It was Apple’s best two-day run since April 2014. In a memo to Apple’s more than 120,000 employees on Thursday that was seen by Reuters, Chief Executive Tim Cook said the $1 trillion valuation was “a significant milestone” that gave Apple employees “much to be proud of.” But he said it was “not the most important measure” of the company’s success. “Financial returns are simply the result of Apple’s innovation, putting our products and customers first, and always staying true to our values,” Cook said in the memo. Started in the garage of co-founder Steve Jobs in 1976, Apple has pushed its revenue beyond the economic outputs of Portugal, New Zealand and other countries. Along the way, it has changed how consumers connect with one another and how businesses conduct daily commerce. Apple’s stock market value is greater than the combined capitalization of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N). It now accounts for 4 percent of the S&P 500. The Silicon Valley stalwart’s stock has surged more than 50,000 percent since its 1980 initial public offering, dwarfing the S&P 500’s approximately 2,000 percent increase during the same almost four decades. One of three founders, Jobs was driven out of Apple in the mid-1980s, only to return a decade later and rescue the computer company from near bankruptcy. He launched the iPhone in 2007, dropping “Computer” from Apple’s name and super-charging the cellphone industry, catching Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O), Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and Nokia off guard. That put Apple on a path to overtake Exxon Mobil in 2011 as the largest U.S. company by market value. During that time, Apple evolved from selling Mac personal computers to becoming an architect of the mobile revolution with a cult-like following. Jobs, who died in 2011, was succeeded as chief executive by Tim Cook, who has doubled the company’s profits but struggled to develop a new product to replicate the society-altering success of the iPhone, which has seen sales taper off in recent years. In 2006, the year before the iPhone launch, Apple generated less than $20 billion in sales and net profit just shy of $2 billion. By last year, its sales had grown more than 11-fold to $229 billion - the fourth highest in the S&P 500 .SPX - and net income had mushroomed at twice that rate to $48.4 billion, making it the most profitable publicly listed U.S. company. Jeff Carbone, co-founder of Cornerstone Financial Partners in Charlotte, North Carolina, has included Apple in his clients’ portfolios for about a decade. Recently, some of his older clients have bought Apple shares for their grandchildren. “We still see upside from it, and as new money gets deposited we continue to buy, preferably on the dip,” Carbone said. An electronic screen displays the Apple Inc. logo on the exterior of the Nasdaq Market Site following the close of the day's trading session in New York City, New York, U.S., August 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mike SegarApple’s stock has risen over 30 percent in the past year, fueled by optimism about the iPhone X, launched a decade after the original. Also propelling Apple higher in recent months was Apple’s announcement that it earmarked $100 billion for a new share repurchase program. In its report on Tuesday, Apple sales led by the iPhone X, which sells for about $1,000, pushed quarterly results far beyond Wall Street targets, with subscriptions from App Store, Apple Music and iCloud services bolstering business. “The markets are starting to recognize the value of its platform and services more and more, and that’s what is being reflected in the increase in market capitalization,” said Brad Neuman, director of Market Strategy at Alger, a growth equity asset management firm in New York City. Even with its $1,000,000,000,000 stock market value, many analysts do not view Apple’s shares as expensive. Shares of Apple this week traded at about 15 times expected earnings, compared with Amazon at 82 times earnings and Microsoft at 25 times earnings. Adjusting for four stock splits over the years, Apple debuted on the stock market for the equivalent of 39 cents a share on Dec. 12, 1980, compared with Thursday’s high of $208.38. In 2015, Apple joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, one of capitalism’s most exclusive clubs. Since 1980, IBM Corp (IBM.N), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), General Electric Co (GE.N) and Microsoft have also alternated as the largest publicly listed U.S. company. In 2007, Chinese government-controlled PetroChina (601857.SS) briefly reached a stock market value of about $1.1 trillion following its public listing in Shanghai. It is now worth about $200 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. One of five U.S. companies since the 1980s to take a turn as Wall Street’s largest company by market capitalization, Apple could lose its lead to the likes of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) or Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) if it does not find a major new product or service as global demand for smartphones loses steam. Hot on Apple’s heels is Amazon.com, the second-largest listed U.S. company by market value, at around $880 billion, closely followed by Google-owner Alphabet and by Microsoft. Slideshow (12 Images)(INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Apple hits $1 trillion stock valuation - tmsnrt.rs/2KhcWg9) (GRAPHIC: Apple revenue by segment, product units - tmsnrt.rs/2LNgw6q) Reporting by Noel Randewich; Additional reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The police commander who oversaw pro-democracy demonstrations that roiled Hong Kong in 2014 has been recalled from retirement to help deal with the violent protests convulsing the Chinese-ruled city, two sources with knowledge of the move told Reuters. People watch the dots of laser pointers move across the facade of the Hong Kong Space Museum during a flashmob staged to denounce the authorities' claim that laser pointers were offensive weapons in Hong Kong, China August 7, 2019. Picture taken with a slow shutter. REUTERS/Thomas PeterThe sources, both senior government security officials, said former deputy police commissioner Alan Lau Yip-shing, planned to meet top-level ground commanders on Friday. The move comes ahead of yet another weekend of protests across the former British colony, including a three-day rally at the international airport, that have prompted travel warnings from countries including the United States and Australia. “The protests and confrontations have spilled over into neighborhoods other than those where the police have permitted marches or rallies,” said an advisory posted on the website of the U.S. State Department on Wednesday. What began as protests against a bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party have evolved into a broader backlash against the city’s government, with flash mob-style demonstrations on an almost daily basis. Lau’s recall suggests the government lacks confidence in the capacity of the current police leadership to manage the response, the security officials said. Hong Kong police and the government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The police have been increasingly targeted by protesters, who have hurled abuse at officers on the front lines and attacked them in online forums. Activists accuse the police, who have fired rubber bullets and nearly 2,000 rounds of tear gas to disperse demonstrators, of using excessive force and have called on the government to launch an independent inquiry into their actions. The violence has escalated rapidly in the past few weeks, with many protests degenerating into running battles between demonstrators and police, who have arrested nearly 600 people since June, the youngest aged 13. The Hong Kong government and authorities in Beijing have condemned the violence and said they stand by the police and the city’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam. Lau, who retired in November, has been appointed deputy commissioner for special duties, which would give him responsibility for handling the protests, the sources said. Officers who served with Lau during the pro-democracy protests in 2014 that paralyzed parts of Hong Kong for 79 days but failed to wrest concessions from Beijing said he was respected by senior commanders for his leadership at that time. He is widely seen as a decisive officer, according to senior security officials. The protests pose the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Xi is also grappling with a debilitating trade war with the United States and a slowing economy. China’s Foreign Ministry lodged stern representations with the United States, urging U.S. officials to stop sending wrong signals to the “violent separatists” in Hong Kong. Local media have reported that a U.S. diplomat met democracy activist Joshua Wong in the city. Hong Kong is facing its worst crisis since it returned to China from British rule in 1997, the head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office said. Protesters who plan more action this weekend want Lam to categorically withdraw the extradition bill, and an independent inquiry into the government’s handling of the controversy, among other demands. Lam, who says the bill is dead but has not withdrawn it, visited some districts on Wednesday to speak with residents and inspect a police station recently targeted by protesters. The government would put forward measures to improve people’s livelihoods, she said after the visit. Young people are at the forefront of the protests, worried about China encroaching on Hong Kong’s freedoms and problems such as sky-high living costs and what many see as an unfair housing policy favoring the wealthy. The normally efficient and orderly city has seen its transport network besieged and closed down by demonstrators and big-brand stores and popular shopping malls have been shut. Three masked activists, who did not give their names, held a news conference on Thursday, their second this week and broadcast on domestic television channels, to criticize what they called arbitrary arrests and police use of tear gas. “The continuation of such attempts at spreading fear and suppressing the freedom of press will eventually backfire on the government itself,” one activist told the Citizens’ Press Conference, a platform used by protesters. “The ultimate victim of these tactics will be the police force’s crumbling public image,” the activist said in English. The comments came after plainclothes police arrested a student leader from Baptist University, Keith Fong, on the grounds that laser pointers he bought were offensive weapons. Several thousand black-clad Hong Kong lawyers marched in silence on Wednesday to call on the government to safeguard the independence of the city’s justice department. Related CoverageMore Hong Kong companies say business impacted by mass protestsBubble tea brawl: Taiwan brands face mainland boycott over Hong Kong gestureThey fear prosecutions of arrested protesters are taking on an increasingly political slant. Many of those arrested have been charged with rioting, which carries a 10-year jail term. Ahead of the airport rally, protesters circulated brightly-colored pamphlets online to help tourists understand events. “Dear travelers, please forgive us for the ‘unexpected Hong Kong’. You’re arrived in a broken, torn-apart city, not the one you have once pictured. Yet the city you imagined is exactly what we are fighting for,” the pamphlets said. Reporting by David Lague, Farah Master, Felix Tam, Anne Marie Roantree and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Paul Tait and Darren Schuettler and Catherine EvansOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Communist Party has always been aware of the power of mass protests.Mao Zedong in 1930 famously used the traditional saying: “a single spark can start a prairie fire” to remind fellow Communists the power of strikes and uprisings when they were a fledgling opposition party under the one-party Nationalist rule.Today, Chinese leaders are likely to take a much grimmer view when they see images of millions protesting a controversial law in Hong Kong this month.Rocked by its biggest political crisis in decades, millions have thronged to the streets to protest a proposed law allowing for the extradition of individuals to mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party.Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told reporters last week that it was “highly alarming that Western forces have been stirring up trouble and provoking confrontation in an attempt to undermine Hong Kong’s peace and stability.”Casting protests as conspiracies fomented by “Western hostile forces” is a narrative that is not new for the Chinese government.The 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, eventually crushed by the military, was labelled as a plot backed by Western powers to topple communist rule. The 500,000-strong protest in Hong Kong against a proposed subversion law in 2003 and the 79-day “Umbrella” civil disobedience movement in 2014 were also similarly blamed on “foreign forces” set to undermine China.Amid the recent protests, a Hong Kong representative to the Chinese parliament warned of “foreign forces’ interference” and warned people not to become “pawns” in the US-China trade war.“According to the Communist ideology, ‘We are the people’s representatives’, so the party cannot accept people rising up against it and forcing it to back down,” said Joseph Cheng, retired political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong.The authorities also have a deep-rooted tendency to blame problems on foreign interference instead of their own governance weaknesses, political commentator and veteran journalist Ching Cheong said.“China sees Hong Kong as influenced by years of colonial rule and having no sense of responsibility to introduce laws to protect the national security or to help the country nab fugitives,” said Ching. “And they believe that hostile forces are using ‘colour revolution’ to subvert China through Hong Kong.”Chinese leaders have many times warned against “colour revolution” – movements that lead to regime changes through non-violent resistance – and Chinese President Xi Jinping in January warned officials to be vigilant against political risks that could threaten the Communist Party’s rule.“The Communist Party fears mass protests,” said Willy Lam, a China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who said Xi was particularly frightened of unpredictable events that could disturb the stats quo.After the current crisis, analysts believe the Hong Kong government will likely start a new round of retaliatory measures against its critics while the Chinese government will tighten its grip on the city.“They will definitely seek revenge, otherwise they can’t justify themselves as an effectual regime,” said Lam.Analysts expect that the Hong Kong government will widen the prosecution of people active in the protests. Last week, the police said 32 people had been arrested over the recent demonstrations and five have been charged with rioting, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment.Analysts also expect the government to continue weakening the pro-democracy camp by disqualifying more of its election candidates. Six members of the legislature have already been ousted and candidates seen as pro-independent have been prevented from running for public office.And Beijing will likely try to assume more power over Hong Kong, speed up its integration with China, and intensify ideological education, analysts say.“China will step up its intervention. Like after the 2003 protest, China will watch more closely,” said Cheng.At China’s behest, Hong Kong has already put in place a number of infrastructure projects that aid integration with the mainland, such as a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Southern China’s Greater Bay Area, and a multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail linking the city and mainland cities. And more resources will likely be dedicated to initiatives to fuel patriotism, such as stepping up ideological education among youngsters, analysts say.Having antagonised not only the pro-democracy camp, but also the business community and even pro-government politicians in the recent crisis, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam will lean even more heavily on her Beijing masters for support, Cheng said. “She will get even closer to China,” he said.But in the absence of any real solution to address Hong Kong people’s plights for democracy and more freedoms, these strategies will only deepen Hong Kong’s political crisis and more angry outbursts of discontent are expected on the streets.“The crux of the issue is that there is no democracy and there are no checks and balances so bigger mistakes will occur,” warned Cheng. “Conflicts will keep accumulating and one day these will explode.” Topics Hong Kong Asia Pacific China Carrie Lam analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge fiercely criticized President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Tuesday for lying to FBI agents in a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and delayed sentencing him until Flynn has finished helping prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, that he had arguably betrayed his country. Sullivan also noted that Flynn had operated as an undeclared lobbyist for Turkey even as he worked on Trump’s campaign team and prepared to be his White House national security adviser. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his December 2016 conversations with Sergei Kislyak, then Russia’s ambassador in Washington, about U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow by the administration of Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. The conversations took place between Trump’s November election victory and his inauguration in January 2017. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, leading the investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia ahead of the election, had asked the judge not to sentence Flynn to prison because he had already provided “substantial” cooperation over the course of many interviews. Lying to the FBI carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison. Flynn’s plea agreement stated that he was eligible for a sentence of between zero and six months. Sullivan sternly told Flynn his actions were abhorrent, noting that Flynn had also lied to senior White House officials, who in turn misled the public. The judge said he had read additional facts about Flynn’s behavior that have not been made public. At one point, Sullivan asked prosecutors if Flynn could have been charged with treason, although the judge later said he had not been suggesting such a charge was warranted. “Arguably, you sold your country out,” Sullivan told Flynn. “I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense.” Flynn, dressed in a suit and tie, showed little emotion throughout the hearing, and spoke calmly when he confirmed his guilty plea and answered questions from the judge. Sullivan appeared ready to sentence Flynn to prison but then gave him the option of a delay in his sentencing so he could fully cooperate with any pending investigations and bolster his case for leniency. The judge told Flynn he could not promise that he would not eventually sentence him to serve prison time. Flynn accepted that offer. Sullivan did not set a new date for sentencing but asked Mueller’s team and Flynn’s attorney to give him a status report by March 13. Sullivan later imposed travel restrictions on Flynn, ordering him to surrender his passport and to obtain court permission before traveling outside the Washington area. The curbs are typical for people released on their own recognizance, the judge said. Prosecutors said Flynn already had provided most of the cooperation he could, but it was possible he might be able to help investigators further. Flynn’s attorney said his client is cooperating with federal prosecutors in a case against Bijan Rafiekian, his former business partner who has been charged with unregistered lobbying for Turkey. Rafiekian pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to those charges in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. His trial is scheduled for Feb. 11. Flynn is expected to testify. Prosecutors have said Rafiekian and Flynn lobbied to have Washington extradite a Muslim cleric who lives in the United States and is accused by Turkey’s government of backing a 2016 coup attempt. Flynn has not been charged in that case. Former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn departs after his sentencing was delayed at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., December 18, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua RobertsFlynn was a high-profile adviser to Trump’s campaign team. At the Republican Party’s national convention in 2016, Flynn led Trump’s supporters in cries of “Lock her up!” directed against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. A group of protesters, including some who chanted “Lock him up,” gathered outside the courthouse on Tuesday, along with a large inflatable rat fashioned to look like Trump. Several Flynn supporters also were there, cheering as he entered and exited. One held a sign that read, “Michael Flynn is a hero.” Flynn became national security adviser when Trump took office in January 2017, but lasted only 24 days before being fired. He told FBI investigators on Jan. 24, 2017, that he had not discussed the U.S. sanctions with Kislyak when in fact he had, according to his plea agreement. Trump has said he fired Flynn because he also lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the contacts with Kislyak. Trump has said Flynn did not break the law and has voiced support for him, raising speculation the Republican president might pardon him. “Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn. Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign. There was no Collusion!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning. After the hearing, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters the FBI had “ambushed” Flynn in the way agents questioned him, but said his “activities” at the center of the case “don’t have anything to do with the president” and disputed that Flynn had committed treason. “We wish General Flynn well,” Sanders said. In contrast, Trump has called his former long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to separate charges, a “rat.” Slideshow (8 Images)Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election and whether Trump has unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe has cast a shadow over his presidency. Several former Trump aides have pleaded guilty in Mueller’s probe, but Flynn was the first former Trump White House official to do so. Mueller also has charged a series of Russian individuals and entities. Trump has called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and has denied collusion with Moscow. Russia has denied meddling in the election, contrary to the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that have said Moscow used hacking and propaganda to try to sow discord in the United States and boost Trump’s chances against Clinton. Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Kieran Murray and Will Dunham, Grant McCoolOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Warren’s post last week brought out some of Google’s reliable defenders, like Geoffrey Manne, head of the International Center for Law & Economics, a nonprofit research group that receives money from Google; Wright was previously director of research there, and coauthored some papers with Manne. Manne’s conflicts of interest have previously attracted attention, including New York Times articles in 2015 and 2016 that mentioned funding the center received from Comcast during the net neutrality debate.A rebuttal to Warren, coauthored by Manne, argued that Google might stop investing in improving its products if it is regulated. He said a decline in business dynamism, cited by Warren, could be because entrepreneurs want to sell their startups to big companies, contradicting founders who say they would rather become the next Mark Zuckerberg than sell to him.Manne’s piece was shared approvingly on Twitter by the executive vice president of the Cato Institute and the VP of policy at the Niskanen Center---both of which receive funding from Google---as well as by a senior research fellow at the Koch Institute (a recent Google ally on antitrust) and assorted venture capitalists, and was eventually published by CNBC. Manne did not respond to a request for comment.Google began stepping up its Washington game around 2011, as the FTC investigated whether the company was improperly exploiting its dominance in search. The Wall Street Journal reported that FTC staffers found that Google engaged in anticompetitive behavior that harmed rivals and users, but in 2013 the commission decided not to bring charges against Google, which made some voluntary changes. Around this time, Google began courting conservatives to mitigate concerns over its close ties to the Obama administration.The company has also excelled in less formal efforts to influence conversation, through donations to academics, think tanks, trade organizations, and advocacy groups, on both the left and the right, that steer debate toward policy positions that benefit Google in conferences, congressional hearings, and editorials that often do not disclose a speaker’s financial ties to Google.A person familiar with Google’s strategy for influencing public debate says the company generally doesn’t seek to change experts’ thinking but, rather, to underwrite their time and encourage them to be more vocal on issues important to Google. Google may pre-vet op-eds and ask that certain statements be made stronger or weaker, which seems small but ends up having a big impact, the person said. Google did not respond to a request for comment on reviewing op-eds.“Google is much savvier at this game than Comcast or AT&T in that it doesn’t pay for strict quid pro quos. Its strategy relies on social capture,” one congressional staffer told WIRED. Google finds an organization that seems to share Google’s values and then donates money without a specific ask, the staffer said.But Google’s tactics backfired last year, when its employees revolted against the company’s sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference, attended by white nationalists and members of the anti-LGBT movement, and where speakers included French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen.Google did not sponsor this year’s conference, held in late February and early March. But Google was still there, indirectly. The company funds at least eight think tanks and nonprofits whose officials spoke or who sponsored events at CPAC, including Americans for Tax Reform, the Heritage Foundation, National Review Institute, and the Federalist Society. Google has been funding the American Conservative Union, the organization behind CPAC, since 2012.

Attorneys for the actor and singer Jussie Smollett have said there is no truth to reports that he played a role in orchestrating an alleged assault on him last month by what he described as two men shouting homophobic and racial slurs.In a statement late Saturday the lawyers said: “Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.”The lawyers said Smollett, who stars in the TV drama Empire, would continue to cooperate with police.Earlier on Saturday, Chicago police said their investigation of the attack had “shifted” following the interrogation of two men. The brothers from Nigeria were first considered suspects, but then released on Friday without being charged.Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told CBS Chicago: “We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation. We’ve reached out to the Empire cast member’s attorney to request a follow-up interview.”Smollett’s attorneys said one of the men was the actor’s personal trainer, hired to prepare him physically for a music video.Smollett, who is black and gay, has said he was attacked by two masked men shouting racial and homophobic slurs and a Trump slogan: “This is MAGA country!”On Thursday, in his first detailed interview since the alleged 29 January assault, Smollett was asked by ABC’s Good Morning America why he thinks he was targeted. In his reply, he referred to Donald Trump by his moniker as the 45th president.“I come really, really hard against 45,” he said. “I come really, really hard against his administration and I don’t hold my tongue.”Smollett was played a clip of Trump responding to news of the alleged attack. The president said: “I think that’s horrible. It doesn’t get worse as far as I’m concerned.”The actor said he appreciated Trumps words, but added that he had no doubt that his assailants were motivated by his criticism of the president.With ABC censoring the comment on taste grounds, Smollett said: “I can only go off of their words. Who says, ‘[bleep] Empire, this Maga country,’ [bleep] ties a noose around your neck and pours bleach on to you? And this is just a friendly fight?”Smollett told police the men looped a rope around his neck before running away as he was out getting food at a Subway restaurant early on 29 January. He said they also poured some kind of chemical on him.Police have been unable to find surveillance video of the alleged attack.On Sunday the Democratic presidential contender Cory Booker, who called the alleged attack on Smollett a “modern-day lynching” after the actor reported it, said he was now withholding judgment.After meeting hundreds of voters in Rochester, New Hampshire, the New Jersey senator said he would reserve judgment “until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources”.Turning his focus back to combating hate crimes broadly, Booker called for a unified pushback against “attacks on people because they’re different”. Topics Chicago US crime Race Empire US television news

Aretha Franklin's family have said that they found the closing eulogy at her funeral offensive and distasteful.The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. said black America was losing "its soul" and described children raised without a father as "abortion after birth"."He spoke for 50 minutes and at no time did he properly eulogise her," said Vaughn Franklin, the singer's nephew, speaking on behalf of the family.He added that his aunt did not choose the pastor to speak at her funeral.Instead, the family selected Williams because he had spoken at other family memorials, including the funeral of Franklin's father, the minister and civil rights activist CL Franklin."We feel that Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr. used this platform to push his negative agenda, which as a family, we do not agree with," the family said. Aretha bishop sorry after 'groping' Ariana Grande Stars and fans say goodbye to Aretha The funeral as it happened The pastor's fiery, old-school sermon received a mixed response in the church on Friday. Some of the congregation could be heard whispering: "Talk about Aretha!" but others gave the speech a standing ovation.Many felt his comments about single parent families were offensive, especially as Franklin raised four children by herself.Others were incensed by his assertion that: "Black lives must not matter until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves."Stevie Wonder, who played immediately after Rev. Williams' eulogy, seemed to address those comments, saying: "We need to make love great again because black lives do matter. Because all lives do matter."The pastor has not backed down from anything he said at the funeral, and said he respects the family's opinion. "I understand it," he said. "I regret it. But I'm sorry they feel that way."Responding to criticism of his eulogy at the weekend, he said some of his comments had been misunderstood. Aretha Franklin's funeral in quotes In pictures: Aretha Franklin's funeral "I'm sure much of the negativity is due to the fact that they don't understand what I'm talking about," he said. "Anybody who thinks black America is all right as we are now is crazy. We're not all right. It's a lot of change that needs to occur. This change must come from within us. "It is ludicrous for the church not to be involved. The church is the only viable institution we have in the African-American community. We must step up and turn our race around."Vaughn Franklin said the speech had "caught the entire family off guard," as they had not discussed the content of the eulogy in advance."It has been very, very distasteful," he said. It was unfortunate, he added, because all the other speakers and performers had been respectful.Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. More on Aretha Franklin BBC Music homepage BBC Music News LIVE

A battle for influence between China and the world’s largest democracies is about to come to a head in the middle of the Indian Ocean.The president of the Maldives, who has embraced Beijing and jailed his foes, is seeking re-election on Sunday, with the global stakes high enough that the U.S. has threatened “appropriate measures” and the European Union has prepared sanctions if the vote isn’t free and fair.A...

The FIFA World Cup, the price of bitcoin, and a winking actress were among the favourite topics India searched for on the internet in 2018.On Dec. 12, Google India released the top search trends of the past year, broken down into several lists categorised by type. Terms were ranked according to how strong their spike in searches was this year as compared to last year.The top three searches overall were sports-related. The FIFA World Cup 2018 held in Russia this year headed the list. “Live score” trended the second most, and the Indian Premier League cricket tournament came in third.Quite a few of Google’s toppers in India this year were political subjects. “Karnataka election results,” referring to the state assembly poll held in May, was the fourth most popular trending search overall.Here are the top searches overall:RankSearch Term1FIFA World Cup 20182Live score3IPL 20184Karnataka election results5Baal Veer6Bigg Boss7Robot 2.08Asia Cup 20189Motu Patlu10Asian Games 2018Perhaps the most surprising part was the fact that Priya Prakash Varrier, a minor celebrity, topped the list of trending personalities. The 19-year-old actress from the southern state of Kerala shot to brief, viral fame with a saucy wink in a music video teaser this February, and has barely been seen in national media since. She beat far more famous stars, like Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra and Salman Khan, to the top spot.Absent entirely from Google’s lists, however, was actress Sunny Leone, who has been the top searched personality for several years, including in 2015 and 2017.RankPersonality1Priya Prakash Varrier2Nick Jonas3Sapna Choudhary4Priyanka Chopra5Anand Ahuja6Sara Ali Khan7Salman Khan8Meghan Markle9Anup Jalota10Boney KapoorGoogle has also revealed the top 10 searches in India that began with the words “What is…”At the top of this list was “What is section 377.” Section 377 was a colonial-era law that criminalised homosexuality, which was struck down by India’s supreme court in early September. Quite a few of the other “What is” searches were political as well, including “What is happening in Syria” coming in second place, and “What is me too campaign” coming in fourth. India saw a large #MeToo wave this year, with many high-profile men accused of sexual harassment in the journalism and entertainment fields facing consequences for their actions.RankWhat is….1What is section 3772What is happening in Syria3What is kiki challenge4What is me too campaign5What is ball tampering6What is Nipah virus7What is cardiac arrest8What is lunar eclipse9What is no confidence motion10What is SC ST actOther terms on the list of top 10 news searches were related to the price of bitcoin, the Statue of Unity—now the world’s tallest statue, unveiled in Gujarat in October—and the weddings of three different Bollywood celebrities.Top searches that began with “How to” saw Indians trying to learn how to send stickers to one another on WhatsApp, how to invest in bitcoin, and how to link one’s Aadhaar, a biometrics-based identity number, with one’s mobile number.RankHow to…1How to send stickers on Whatsapp2How to link Aadhaar with mobile number3How to make rangoli4How to port mobile number5How to invest in bitcoin6Ayushman Bharat how to apply7How to remove colour from face8How to check 10th result 20189How to solve Rubik’s cube10How to check name in NRC Assam