Theresa May is under intense pressure to set out a timetable for her departure from Downing Street to seal the support of Brexit hardliners for her twice-rejected deal.The prime minister will address Conservative MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers on Wednesday as the House of Commons prepares to vote on alternatives to her Brexit deal.There are renewed signs that leavers are reluctantly preparing to back her in a third meaningful vote rather than risk seeing Brexit slip away altogether.MPs will hold a series of indicative votes on alternative Brexit options on Wednesday after three ministers resigned to back a motion to seize control of the parliamentary timetable from the government. Leavers fear this could lead to what May has a called a slow Brexit – a lengthy delay to the article 50 process, leading to a closer future relationship with the EU.Options for MPs to consider may include revocation of article 50, a second referendum, leaving with no deal and backing a Norway-style deal that would include single market membership and a customs arrangement.Boris Johnson appeared to pave the way for a climbdown over May’s deal on Tuesday night. Asked at a Telegraph event whether he would vote for it, the leading Brexiter said: “I am not there yet.”He described it as a “terrible deal, something which I bitterly opposed for a long time”. However, he said he needed “to see that the second phase of the negotiations will be different from the first” and highlighted the “appreciable risk” that not voting for the deal could lead to no Brexit.Meanwhile Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the hardline Brexiter European Research Group, has come out in favour of May’s deal and urged his fellow Eurosceptics to do the same or else risk losing Brexit altogether.In an article in the Daily Mail he writes: “I apologise for changing my mind. By doing so I will be accused of infirmity of shameless purpose by some and treachery by others.“I have come to this view because the numbers in parliament make it clear that all the other potential outcomes are worse and an awkward reality needs to be faced.”However, one backbencher said MPs would not be satisfied without a specific date for May’s departure, and speculation was rife that she would set the timetable for that on Wednesday. “She has got to say something,” the source said. “She can’t stand up there and just say the same thing about backing her deal.”The prime minister’s spokesman insisted the government’s focus remained on trying to find a majority for May’s deal. “If we are able to hold and win a vote this week, we will be able to leave the EU in two months, which is what the PM firmly believes is the right thing,” the spokesman said.EU27 leaders agreed on Friday to delay Brexit until 22 May if the prime minister can win support for the withdrawal agreement this week. Otherwise, she will have to return to Brussels before 12 April with an alternative plan.Asked whether May still hoped to win over her party, the spokesman said she and her colleagues “understand the need to work hard on this in order to build support”. Ministers would continue to hold meetings with MPs from different parties, he added.Rees-Mogg and Johnson were among those invited to May’s country retreat on Sunday, where aides asked guests in one-to-one chats whether they would back the deal if May resigned.The Chequers gathering was carefully choreographed, with one source saying: “It didn’t look like a coincidence; aides like this are not meant to think for themselves.”May made no mention of resigning in the three-hour rolling meeting, although the idea was put to her at one point by Rees-Mogg and, according to some accounts, Iain Duncan Smith. She did not respond.Downing Street insiders said it was not the case that May’s departure was canvassed as part of a pre-arranged exercise. “There was no such operation that took place in any sense,” a source said.No 10 also sought to play down the significance of Wednesday’s 1922 Committee meeting, saying it was not surprising for May to want to address her party given she still hoped to win support for a third meaningful vote.However, one Johnson supporter said May would need to publicly pledge to hand over the next stage of the process to a new leader to win over some of the Eurosceptics. Any private promises to leave after Brexit would not be good enough, the supporter said.May was also under pressure from the remain wing of the party to offer MPs a free vote on the alternative options on Wednesday, including softer forms of Brexit.Government sources said she had been warned that several junior ministers were prepared to resign rather than vote against options they believed would be much less damaging than a no-deal Brexit, which May’s spokesman stressed on Tuesday remained the “default option” in law.However, several cabinet ministers, including the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, insisted at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that MPs must be whipped against Brexit deals that would breach the promises made in the Tories’ 2017 election manifesto, which included leaving the customs union.She told MPs: “It is absolutely vital that this house delivers outcomes that are negotiable, feasible and in line with the will of the manifestos and the referendum on which we all stood.”It is unclear whether Wednesday’s indicative votes, led by the former Tory minister Oliver Letwin, will yield any clear answer to the question of what option MPs prefer.Groups of MPs have tabled 16 options for consideration. The Speaker, John Bercow, will decide which of these MPs will vote on.One government source said: “If MPs want to sort this whole thing out in an afternoon, good luck to them”.Meanwhile, May appeared to be making little progress in securing the backing of the Democratic Unionist party’s 10 MPs. Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s parliamentary Brexit spokesman, wrote in a piece for the Telegraph that he would not allow, “the PM or the remainer horde in parliament to bully us into backing a toxic Brexit deal”.He also said a postponement of Brexit for a year would give the UK a chance to “have a say on the things which affect us”.However, it was not clear whether he was writing in an official capacity or as an individual MP. One source said Wilson’s comments were “not strictly DUP policy”. Topics Brexit Theresa May Conservatives Article 50 European Union Foreign policy Europe news

Boris Johnson’s chief of staff cancelled all leave for government advisers until 31 October in a missive on Thursday night, raising further speculation the government is planning for a forced snap election in the aftermath of the UK leaving the EU with no deal.Special advisers were emailed by Johnson’s senior adviser Edward Lister on Thursday night, saying there was “some confusion about taking holiday”. They were told none should be booked until 31 October, with compensation considered “on a case by case basis” for those who had already booked leave, though the email said advisers were free to spend their weekends “as you wish”.“There is serious work to be done between now and October 31st and we should be focused on the job,” the email said. The directive angered many recipients, who say staff are exhausted and are facing an unprecedented workload in September and October.One recipient described the email as “posturing” and said special advisers, known as “spads”, are being used as part of the PR war to convince the public the government is serious about no deal.Johnson himself also wrote to all members of the civil service telling them the government’s main focus was now to prepare for a no-deal Brexit. In the letter, Johnson said he wanted to underline that the UK would be leaving on 31 October “whatever the circumstances” and that the civil service must prepare “urgently and rapidly” as its top priority.“I know many of you have already done a great deal of hard work in mobilising to prepare for a no deal scenario, so that we can leave on 31 October come what may,” the letter said.“Between now and then we must engage and communicate clearly with the British people about what our plans for taking back control mean, what people and businesses need to do, and the support we will provide.”Downing Street refused to deny on Thursday that a snap election would need to take place in the first few days of November if MPs forced a vote of no confidence in Johnson in early September, but said the prime minister would ensure the UK had left the EU on 31 October.It remains unclear if anti-Brexit MPs in parliament would be able to swerve a general election, as senior Labour and Liberal Democrat figures clashed on Friday over their parties’ apparent willingness to place conditions on any unity government or coalition prepared to stop a no-deal Brexit.The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said Labour would attempt to form a government in the 14 days following a confidence vote, to try to avoid a snap election, but ruled out Labour backing for any unity government candidate, such as a Tory veteran like Ken Clarke or Dominic Grieve.Labour has said any MP wishing to stop no deal should give their backing to Jeremy Corbyn’s attempt to form a government. However, on Friday the Lib Dem Chuka Umunna, a former Labour MP, claimed a “substantial minority” of his former colleagues would not support Corbyn being prime minister.“The problem there is with the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn taking up the role of leading an emergency government is he cannot command a majority among his own MPs, never mind others like Conservative rebels who would refuse to give him confidence,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I know, because I have spoken to them. There is a substantial minority of Labour MPs at the very least who simply would not countenance Jeremy Corbyn being the prime minister of this country. So the question is, is there a figure who, as an alternative, could command a majority?”McDonnell tweeted after Umunna’s comments that the Lib Dems appeared willing to risk no deal rather than back Labour.“Umunna [is] making it clear that he’s putting his personal animosity towards Jeremy Corbyn and Labour before the interests of the country,” he tweeted. “The Lib Dems are clearly willing to watch the economy crash before they will put their party interests to one side.”Corbyn wrote to Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, on Thursday accusing the prime minister of plotting an “unprecedented, unconstitutional and anti-democratic abuse of power” if No 10 delayed an election until immediately after 31 October if Johnson lost a no-confidence vote among MPs.In his letter, Corbyn demanded urgent clarification of the purdah rules, which are meant to prevent the government taking major policy decisions during an election campaign.He asked Sedwill to confirm that if the UK is due to leave the EU without a deal during an election campaign, then the government must seek an extension to article 50 and allow an incoming administration to take a decision about Brexit on the basis of the result. Topics Boris Johnson Conservatives Brexit Labour Liberal Democrats Jeremy Corbyn Chuka Umunna news

I think we should be very positive about Brexit, and we should not be terrified of a no-deal Brexit. We should not be terrified of coming out on WTO terms.We will make sure we look after the agricultural interest ... whatever is necessary to protect farmers. We will make sure that just-in-time supply chains are protected, and I think a lot of the negativity about a WTO Brexit has been wildly over-done.People say that there won’t be any clean drinking water, and the planes won’t fly, and there won’t be milk solids and glucose and whey to make Mars bars. Do you really believe that? It is total nonsense. I prophesy very confidently that we will have a successful Brexit, the planes will fly, there will be clean drinking water, and there will be whey for the Mars bars, because where there’s a will, there’s a whey, as I never tire of saying.

Pichai, at a town hall meeting on Thursday, said he's not rushing to launch a search product for China. The meeting was the first such event since media reports detailed Google's efforts to build a censored app for the country. "We are not close to launching a search product in China," Pichai said, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation. "And whether we would do so, or could do so is all very unclear," he said. "But the team has been in an exploration stage for quite a while now and I think they are exploring many options." The discussion was part of a regular meeting that is open to all employees. Reports surfaced earlier this month that Google (GOOGL) was working on a search engine for China that would block sensitive websites and search terms to comply with Chinese government censorship. The New York Times reported Thursday that around 1,400 employees have signed a letter questioning the plan and calling for more transparency. "To make ethical choices, Googlers need to know what we're building. Right now we don't," reads a copy of the letter posted on the website of The Times. Google declined to confirm the authenticity of the letter, or comment on the town hall meeting. China has hundreds of millions of internet users and a thriving online shopping market, making it impossible for US tech companies to ignore. But jumping back into China presents ethical issues for Google, which has long advocated a free and open internet. Related: Google might return to China. Here's why that's so controversial Popular Google services including search, YouTube and Gmail have been banned in China for years. Google stopped offering search in China in 2010 following a political dispute between Beijing and Washington over hacking. Prior to 2010, the company had operated a Chinese language version of its search engine. It complied with China's censorship rules, but alerted users to the fact that some search results were missing. -- Kristie Lu Stout contributed to this article.

Every few weeks, a racist ranter intersects with a horrified smartphone owner and an ill-fated internet star is born. The latest viral racist is a white Columbia student spewing about the superiority of his race to an unwilling audience of students and dining hall staff—more than a few of whom were people of color. It’s a familiar sort of college campus nightmare: The rant began after the student, who has been identified by the Columbia Daily Spectator as sophomore Julian von Abele, grabbed a passing female student and she pulled away; he followed her and her friends into a dining hall, where he jumped up and down screaming things like “We’re white men. We did everything.”The video showcases just the kind of furious entitlement and everyday racism progressives on the internet have been calling out all year: This student is just the college campus version of the people screaming at Spanish speakers in restaurants and grocery stores, or the many, many, many people who have called the police on black people doing things like mowing lawns, being in Starbucks, or doing community service. The most famous of these moments have become important enough touchstones for online progressives that they’re now memes, like BBQ Becky (who called the cops on people having a barbecue in a park), Permit Patty (who threatened to call the police on an 8-year-old selling water bottles), and Cornerstore Caroline (who called the police to accuse a 9-year-old child of sexual assault after he accidentally brushed against her).This is "callout culture": taking something awful and blasting it onto the internet where it can be shared and its wrongdoers shamed. Critics of callout culture contest that it ruins the life of the person being called out, subjecting them to waves of online harassment that may wash into their offline life, solidifying their misguided feelings of persecution. Which is a valid concern, full stop.This is “callout culture”: taking something awful and blasting it onto the internet where it can be shared.But the impact of these videos stretches beyond the ranter being shamed or even the people they’re ranting at. Documenting the everyday horrors of racism was a crucial part of the civil rights movement, and is key to the activism of Black Lives Matter and other groups documenting police brutality and other forms of violence against minorities. These videos demonstrate the pervasiveness of that racism’s nonviolent cousin. By circulating examples of people of color’s lived experiences—for a wider audience than has ever been possible—these videos are remaking the image of the American racist. Turning racist rants into joke fodder isn’t idle frivolity (or a spout of nihilist laughter as the world burns): It’s revealing that racism and racists are not only real and everywhere, but also that they aren’t so scary after all. These videos and memes laugh in the face of bigotry, and invite others to join.Of course, these jokes are at the racist ranters’ expense, and that may be damaging. The internet in general (and the viral video in particular) doesn’t show a life in context; the snippets it chooses are frozen in carbonite forever. That can be a brutal lesson, especially for people like this Columbia student. College students today are living what’s likely to be the most chaotic and ill-considered times of their lives in front of the world, forever. Those other ranters, the concern goes, could also be drunk or mentally unstable or having the worst day of their lives. “We may end up losing an opportunity to rehabilitate somebody because they’ll forever have ‘bigot’ on their forehead,” says Brian Levin, director of CSU San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. “It could also be used to further advance tribalism.”It’s true. These videos certainly aren’t unifying. And activists certainly aren’t looking to add ammunition to the extreme right’s case that liberals are trying to shame white men for having pride in their identity. Nevertheless, while you might expect the alt-right and other white nationalists would to rally around these videos, they don’t, according to Phyllis Gerstenfeld, who studies online hate and criminology at Cal State Stanislaus. These videos show a reality the far-right doesn’t want you to see: “A lot of the other visions we see of racism are these scary, aggressive extremists like skinheads,” Gerstenfeld says. “But that’s not who’s really out there. It takes away the mystique.”

As the investigation continues into another alleged chemical attack in Syria, one group of influential online activists is busy spreading their version of events.Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are attempting to access the previously rebel-held town of Douma, where medical organisations and rescue workers say President Bashar al-Assad's forces dropped bombs filled with toxic chemicals in an attack on 7 April, killing more than 40 people.The Syrian government and its key ally, Russia, say the incident was staged. But the US, UK and France - who support the opposition to Mr Assad - say they are confident that chlorine and possibly a nerve agent were used.Despite the uncertainty about what happened in Douma, a cluster of influential social media activists is certain that it knows what occurred on 7 April. They've seized on a theory being floated by Russian officials and state-owned media outlets that the attacks were "staged" or were a "false flag" operation, carried out by jihadist groups or spies in order to put the blame on the Assad government and provide a justification for Western intervention.The group includes activists and people who call themselves "independent journalists", and several have Twitter followings reaching into the tens or hundreds of thousands. You may also be interested in: Syria 'chemical attack': What we know US and allies launch air strikes on Syria Follow BBC Trending on Facebook The activists call themselves "anti-war", but as they generally back the Syrian government's military operations against rebel forces seeking to overthrow Mr Assad and Russian air strikes carried out in support, it might be more accurate to describe them as "anti-Western intervention" or "pro-Syrian government". According to their narrative, international media organisations across the political spectrum, along with human rights organisations, are somehow covertly aligned with Western governments, Saudi Arabia, the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda and taking part in a secretive plot to take over Syria.The network of activists includes people like Vanessa Beeley. She has more than 30,000 Twitter followers and writes for a news outlet that the website Media Bias/Fact Check calls a "conspiracy and conjecture site" that has "an extreme right bias".In response to a list of questions, she called BBC Trending's story a "blatant attempt" to "silence independent journalism" and repeated unsubstantiated claims about alleged chemical weapons attacks.Beeley gives talks to fringe groups and makes appearances on media outlets including state-owned Russian channel RT.But in the online conversation about Syria there are more influential activists, about whom much less is known. Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo on Twitter) has more than 125,000 followers, among them more than 250 journalists from mainstream media outlets. Her follower count is comparable to BBC journalists who regularly report on Syria, such as BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen (167,000) and BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet (142,000).More from Trending: The people who think mass shootings are staged The people who think 9/11 may have been an 'inside job' Follow BBC Trending on Facebook In addition to pictures of herself, Sarah Abdallah tweets constant pro-Russia and pro-Assad messages, with a dollop of retweeting mostly aimed at attacking Barack Obama, other US Democrats and Saudi Arabia.In her Twitter profile she describes herself as an "Independent Lebanese geopolitical commentator" but she has almost no online presence or published stories or writing away from social media platforms. A personal blog linked to by her account has no posts.Her tweets have been quoted by mainstream news outlets, but a Google News search indicates that she has not written any articles in either English or Arabic. She refused to comment several times when approached by BBC Trending and did not respond to specific requests to comment on this story in particular.The Sarah Abdallah account is, according to a recent study by the online research firm Graphika, one of the most influential social media accounts in the online conversation about Syria, and specifically in pushing misinformation about a 2017 chemical weapons attack and the Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are widely known as the "White Helmets". The White Helmets operate in rebel-held areas. They have been one of the sources that Western media outlets, including the BBC, have quoted about alleged chemical attacks in Syria. With regard to the incident in Douma, the BBC has not been able independently to verify the group's reports.Graphika chief executive John Kelly says his company's analysis showed distinct patterns emerging."When you're looking at these disinformation campaigns, a lot of the same characters show up for every party," he told BBC Trending.Graphika was commissioned to prepare a report on online chatter by The Syria Campaign, a UK-based advocacy group organisation which campaigns for a democratic future for Syria and supports the White Helmets. The White Helmets have been the subject of two Oscar-nominated documentary films and have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.Graphika found 20 million messages about the White Helmets, split between tweets in support and in opposition. Among the opponents, Kelly says, Sarah Abdallah was "by far the most influential", followed by Vanessa Beeley.The firm found that Sarah Abdallah's account was primarily followed by a number of different interest clusters: supporters of pro-Palestinian causes, Russians and Russian allies, white nationalists and those from the extremist alt-right, conservative American Trump supporters, far-right groups in Europe and conspiracy theorists. These groups were instrumental in making the hashtag #SyriaHoax trend after the chemical weapons attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017. That hashtag, pushed by Sarah Abdallah and influential American conservative activists, became a worldwide trend on Twitter. Many of those tweeting it claimed that the chemical weapons attack was faked or a hoax.Beeley said the 2017 attack had "been debunked by a number of highly respected analysts and experts." She alleged that evidence "points to the White Helmets as a propaganda construct" and asked, via email: "Why has the BBC never carried out an investigation into the White Helmets?" Experts from a joint UN-OPCW mission said in October 2017 that they were confident a Syrian Air Force jet dropped munitions containing sarin on Khan Sheikhoun, dismissing statements from Russia that the jet had fired conventional munitions at a rebel chemical weapons depot.The difficulty in reporting on the ground in Syria has opened up an information vacuum which has been partially filled by highly partisan sources, according to Scott Lucas, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham and editor of news and analysis site EA Worldview, "None of it is journalism; none of it is really based on solid independent reporting," Lucas says. "It is absolutely right to question all narratives, including official narratives of what is happening," he says. "The key is that you don't actually start with a narrative, you start with the facts and you establish what may not be true and what may even be disinformation. "The danger we face is, unreliable information is now being taken up by more established - and what we would think of as - more reliable outlets," he says.Syria 'chemical attack': What we knowAnd although the activists' follower accounts continue to grow, there is one indication that their influence online might be on the decline compared with last year. In the hours after the alleged attack in Douma, "Syria" was a top trending term on Twitter, but the messages by pro-Assad activists were drowned out by reports from a range of news outlets.The hashtag #SyriaHoax was used around 17,000 times in a week (compared to more than 280,000 times in April 2017), and mostly failed to make Twitter's lists of top trends.Do you have a story for us? Email BBC Trending.More from Trending: Why are polls and Facebook ads at odds in Ireland?While opinion polls show a comfortable lead for the pro-choice side in an upcoming referendum on abortion in Ireland, one set of figures indicates pro-life paid adverts are gaining more traction on Facebook. But why? READ NOWYou can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

No criminal charges will be brought in the accidental drug overdose death of Prince, federal prosecutors said today. Interested in Prince? Add Prince as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Prince news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Prince Add Interest Prosecutors also announced that Michael T. Schulenberg, the Minnesota doctor who prescribed an opioid painkiller for Prince a week before the musician’s 2016 death, has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle civil charges that he wrote an illegal prescription. Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his Paisley Park estate April 21, 2016.Read: The Latest: Prince's doctor denies illegal prescriptionRelated: Prince Died From Opioid OverdoseSee: Prince's Life in Photos Carver County Attorney Mark Metz told reporters today that Prince thought he was taking Vicodin to manage pain but unknowingly took counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. "Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him," Metz said. Metz said law enforcement was unable to determine who provided the counterfeit Vicodin laced with fentanyl that killed Prince despite "intensive investigation." Schulenberg, who denies any liability, violated the Controlled Substances Act when he had illegally written a prescription for Prince in someone else’s name, federal prosecutors said today in official settlement documents obtained by ABC News. “Dr. Schulenberg prescribed Schedule 2 controlled substances in the name of an individual knowing that the controlled substances were intended to be used by another individual,” U.S. Attorney Greg Brooker said. “As licensed professionals, doctors are held to a high level of accountability in their prescribing practices, especially when it comes to highly addictive painkillers.” Schulenberg agreed to settle the civil charges by paying $30,000 and submitting to monitoring by the Drug Enforcement Administration. “As Minnesota and the nation struggle in the throes of an opioid crisis, the Drug Enforcement Administration will always strive to ensure that those responsible will be held accountable, no matter what their position may be,” DEA Minneapolis-St. Paul Division Assistant Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Solek said. The settlement “is neither an admission of facts nor liability by Dr. Schulenberg,” court records said. Prosecutors also affirmed in a separate letter to Schulenberg’s attorneys that the doctor is not a target of a federal criminal investigation. “Dr. Schulenberg decided to settle with the United States regarding alleged civil claims in order to avoid the expense, delay, and unknown outcome of litigation. He made no admission of facts nor liability and denies any such liability. The United States Attorneys’ Office for the District of Minnesota has confirmed that he is not a target in any criminal inquiry and there have been no allegations made by the government that Dr. Schulenberg had any role in Prince’s death,” Schulenberg’s attorney, Amy Conners, said in a statement to ABC News. “After he learned of Prince’s addiction, he immediately worked to refer Prince to a treatment facility and to transfer care to a chemical dependency specialist.” Also on Thursday, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz held a press conference to inform the media that Prince thought he was taking Vicodin to manage pain but unknowingly took counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. "Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him," Metz said. Metz says Prince never actually had a prescription for Vicodin, he obtained those counterfeit pills and took them thinking they were Vicodin. Despite “intensive” investigation,” Metz said law enforcement was unable to determine who provided the counterfeit Vicodin laced with fentanyl that killed Prince. No one will be criminally charged.

THAME, England (Reuters) - Former British foreign minister Boris Johnson returned from his summer holiday to face both criticism and support over his remarks about burqas, amid deepening divisions in Britain’s ruling Conservative Party on Sunday. Britain's former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson stands outside his home near Thame in Oxfordshire, August 12, 2018. REUTERS/Peter NichollsJohnson, seen as the biggest threat to Prime Minister Theresa May’s struggling leadership, has become a lightning rod for discontent within the party after a newspaper column in which he said Muslim women who wear burqas look like letter boxes or bank robbers. The comments came in a Aug. 5 piece arguing against a ban on the Islamic full-face veil, but have been criticized as Islamophobic. Others saw the remarks as colourful rhetoric that strikes a chord with many Britons. May has scolded Johnson, stirring anger amongst those of his supporters who see him as the focal point for resistance to her proposed “business-friendly” Brexit plan. The party has also launched an investigation into his remarks. Under the headline “Boris sparks cabinet war” the Sunday Times said four unnamed senior ministers were dismayed at May’s handling of the situation. “They have managed to engineer a total disaster,” one minister was quoted as saying. “Trying to silence Boris is stupid, especially when the majority of people agree with him.” Johnson spent Sunday at his residence in the small town of Thame, around 80 km (50 miles) northwest of London, emerging only to bring cups of tea to reporters. Asked whether he regretted his comments, he declined to comment. Johnson resigned from the cabinet last month in protest at May’s Brexit plan, setting himself up as a talisman for the many Conservatives who want a more radical departure from the European Union. Meanwhile, May has struggled to hold her cabinet together on Brexit and faces a testing few months in which she hopes to secure a deal on leaving the EU, face the party’s unhappy grassroots, and win a crucial vote in parliament. Johnson’s burqa remarks were defended by, amongst others, Donald Trump’s former political strategist Steve Bannon, who told the Sunday Times that his overall message had been lost because of a “throwaway line”. Bannon has previously called on Johnson to challenge May’s leadership. But a Conservative member of the upper house of parliament and former government polling adviser, Andrew Cooper, accused Johnson of “moral emptiness” and populism over the remarks. “The rottenness of Boris Johnson goes deeper even than his casual racism & his equally casual courting of fascism. He will advocate literally anything to play to the crowd of the moment,” Cooper said on Twitter. Johnson, who has made clear that he does not intend to apologize over his burqa comments, did not address the row in his latest column which was published late on Sunday evening. Instead he focused on housing policy, saying stamp duty land tax, a tax which is applied to property purchases, was “absurdly high” and was stalling the property market. He also criticized developers for delivering poorly built homes and hoarding land. Reporting by Peter Nicholls in Thame and William James in London; Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stocks held near the unchanged mark on Thursday, as investors looked for more detailed signs of progress in U.S.-China trade talks while disappointing economic data out of Germany knocked the euro. The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 2, 2019. REUTERS/StaffMixed reports about progress on a trade deal left investors cautious about taking on more risk after a five-day run of gains that sent stocks to a six-month high. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday trade talks with China were going well and he would only accept a “great” deal as negotiators hammered out differences ahead of a meeting between Trump and China’s vice premier later in the day. After a run of mixed economic data, Friday’s U.S. payrolls report also loomed large for investors for signs the labor market remained robust. Labor market data on Thursday showed weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest since 1969. “People are believing something is going to come out of it, and net, the U.S. will be better off than they were a year ago, maybe not getting everything they want, but net better off. That is probably built into prices right now,” said Craig Callahan¸ president at ICON Funds in Denver. “Unless it is just an outrageous deal, anything within the normal range of expectations is built in.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 166.5 points, or 0.64%, to 26,384.63, the S&P 500 gained 6.01 points, or 0.21%, to 2,879.41 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.77 points, or 0.05%, to 7,891.78. Germany’s data showed industrial orders fell at their sharpest rate in more than two years in February, driven largely by a slump in foreign demand. It compounded signals that Europe’s largest economy has had a soft start to the year, held the euro near $1.12 and sent German Bund yields back below zero. Shares in Europe also to snap a four-day streak of gains, as the STOXX 600 pulled back from eight-month highs. The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.27% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.01%. The dollar firmed against a basket of major currencies while sterling fell on concerns Britain could be staring at a long Brexit delay. Reuters reported 25 lawmakers in Britain’s opposition Labour Party have urged their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to go the “extra step” if there is a chance of agreeing a Brexit deal in talks with Prime Minister Theresa May. But pro-Brexit lawmakers in Britain’s upper house of parliament tried to stop the approval of a new law that would force May to seek a delay to prevent a disorderly EU exit on April 12 without a deal, underscoring the contentious nature of the process. FILE PHOTO: Men look at stock quotation boards outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Issei KatoThe dollar index rose 0.19%, with the euro down 0.11% to $1.1222. Sterling was last trading at $1.3078, down 0.62% on the day. Brent crude resumed its upward climb, briefly topping $70 per barrel for the first time since November as expectations of tight global oil supply outweighed pressure from rising U.S. inventories and production. U.S. crude settled down 0.58% at $62.10 per barrel and Brent settled at $69.40, up 0.13% on the day. Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Thomas and James DalgleishOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Smartphones have made it easy to share photos with family and friends, but the images are often ephemeral — soon buried in text strings or inboxes. Digital printing services offer evergreen options, from cards to individual prints to curated albums. The best of those services produce images of truly excellent quality. They use fine papers of your choosing, and offer easy-to-use online interfaces that make it simple for you to upload, edit, annotate, and arrange your pictures. They marry the portable, in-the-moment power of smartphone and digital cameras with the permanence and beauty of print.Wirecutter, the New York Times company that reviews products, has a team of photo experts who have tested multiple printing services and enlisted the help of other experts to judge the results. Here’s what they recommend.Customize your cardsOf the photo-card services Wirecutter tested, Simply to Impress came out on top. The company offers a range of tasteful, easy-to-customize designs and high-quality photo reproduction, as well as a quick turnaround time that saw cards delivered to Wirecutter’s New York office within a week — packaged in a gift box with a personalized note. Wirecutter editors especially liked the website’s user interface, which presents clearly defined options and a handful of basic but useful image-editing tools. You can upload images straight from your computer or select from images on your social media accounts or cloud photo services. During checkout, the site gives you an itemized list of all the options you selected and links to each so you can check them and, if necessary, edit them again.Make (and share) a photo albumBack when people paid for prints of every photo they took, it made sense to put all of them into big binders. Now it makes much more sense to create custom photo books of only your best images. A printing service can make as many photo books as you need, for yourself and for gifts.After testing eight photo book services, Wirecutter found that Shutterfly offered the easiest way to create a cleanly designed book, combined with photo quality that was just as pleasing as what we saw from services costing twice as much. Shutterfly’s app has intuitive keyboard shortcuts, which make it easy to design your book.To judge image quality, we brought the Shutterfly book and the others we ordered to Shamus Clisset, a master printer at Laumont Studio who has made fine-art prints for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMA), and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Although Shutterfly’s printing wasn’t perfect, he said it was the best of the services we tested. Commenting on an image of volcanic smoke, he said, “The whole print is very smooth in color, which is hard to do.”Send prints to your favorite peopleSay your cousin falls in love with a picture you took of Grandma sipping a piña colada at the last family reunion, and wants a nice 8-by-10-inch print — but you don’t have a photo printer. Here’s where online print services come in handy. They let you order individual prints and mail them to anybody who wants one.Nations Photo Lab offered the best combination of print quality, fast turnaround time, reliable delivery, and reasonable price in Wirecutter’s tests. The service got high marks on color accuracy and sharpness, and delivered the prints well-protected from damage, tucked into plastic sleeves that were themselves sandwiched between cardboard panels.Nations also made it easier than other services to deal with images of various aspect ratios. Aspect ratio, or the width-to-height ratio of a picture, differs between smartphones (typically 4:3) and the most common digital-camera format (3:2). Nations let us print 4:3 smartphone images in full, without slicing anything off at the top and bottom.The main downside to Nations is that it doesn’t have an app to let you upload images directly from your phone. If you want that option, consider AdoramaPix instead.Save a few penniesOne last tip: All of the services mentioned here routinely offer coupons or discounts. If you’re planning to use one of them, and if you’re not on a tight deadline, sign up for the service’s email list and wait for a deal to come along. Usually it won’t take more than a week. And what’s an extra week when you’re making memories that will last (almost) forever?A version of this article appears on Wirecutter.com.

Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, was assured by two British foreign secretaries that Julian Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face the death penalty, according to letters seen by the Guardian.Letters signed by the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and his predecessor Boris Johnson, dated 7 March 2018 and 10 August 2018 respectively, confirm a person cannot be extradited if they could face the death penalty, according to British legislation.The letters appear to back up Moreno’s claim that he had written undertakings from Britain that Assange’s fundamental rights would be respected in his first interview with English-speaking media since the WikiLeaks founder was ejected from the embassy.Assange is expected to fight extradition to the US over an allegation he conspired with former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer. Sweden is also expected to decide whether to reopen an investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations against him.When there are competing extradition requests in the UK, the home secretary decides which country should take priority.The letters, which are virtually identical, read: “You have expressed concern that, should Julian Assange be extradited from the UK, there would be a risk that he could be subject to the death penalty. I can confirm that under UK law, a person’s extradition cannot be ordered if the person concerned will be subject to the death penalty.”The letters go on to explain that the home secretary first must have received “adequate assurances from that country that the death penalty will not be imposed or carried out” if an extradition request is received from a country where the punishment is possible.“There is further protection under UK law which is if the home secretary accepts an assurance as adequate, the person concerned may also seek leave to appeal to the high court, which will examine the assurance given,” the letters end.Assange, 47, was taken from Ecuador’s London embassy by British police last Thursday after the country withdrew his political asylum, ending a stay of almost seven years.He is charged by the US with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion with Manning. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted, though he may yet face additional charges.Assange may be most vulnerable to a prosecution relating to the 2017 publication by WikiLeaks of a set of hacking tools used by the CIA, according to legal analysts. A former CIA contractor, Joshua Schulte, has been charged with leaking the tools to WikiLeaks.In a third letter dated 3 April 2019, the British embassy in Quito assures the country’s foreign ministry in Spanish that Assange cannot be subjected to “inhuman or degrading punishment”, according the 1998 Human Rights Act under article three of the European convention on human rights, to which the UK adheres.Ecuador’s decision to allow police to arrest Assange inside its embassy last week followed a tense and acrimonious period of deteriorating relations between the Quito government and the house guest whom its foreign minister, José Valencia, described as ungrateful, rude and unhygienic.In a detailed 12-page letter seen by the Guardian, Valencia set out nine reasons to revoke the whistleblower’s asylum. The letter to Moreno is dated 10 April 2019 – a day before Assange was taken from the country’s London embassy.Top of the list was Assange’s “reproachable conduct rather than showing gratitude”, his deteriorating health and the cost of his upkeep. Ecuador had spent more $5.8m on its guest’s security between 2012 and 2018 and nearly $400,000 on his medical costs, food and laundry, Valencia noted. Topics Julian Assange Extradition UK criminal justice Ecuador WikiLeaks Americas Jeremy Hunt news

Every year, natural and cultural landmarks from around the world are singled out for their "outstanding universal value" to humanity.Unesco's World Heritage Committee has been meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan to decide which sites deserve special status and protection.The 43rd session meets until Wednesday 10 July, but here are some additions made to their list so far.This volcanic region covers almost 14% of Iceland's overall territory. The park is packed with vast glaciers and other stunning natural features, including lava fields and unique fauna.Described as an "oasis" in the middle of the Southern Ocean, the scattered islands have also been inscribed as an Unesco World Heritage Site. The Unesco castle where families live rent-free What made the list in 2018? They support some of the highest concentrations of birds and marine mammals in the world, including King Penguins.The fortified Indian city of Jaipur, in north-west Rajasthan, is known as the "pink city". Many of its buildings date back to the city's founding in 1727 and are decorated with elaborate facades. These are 49 ancient tombs, dating back from the 3rd to the 6th Century, in Japan's Osaka prefecture.The mounds come in different shapes and sizes and include a large keyhole-shaped one named after Emperor Nintoku - the largest tomb in Japan.After decades of lobbying, the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon has also made Unesco's list.The site had suffered due to Iraq's country's political instability, but has undergone recent restoration work.With thousands of Buddhist temples dotted across its picturesque landscape, the country's ancient capital is already a draw for tourists.Megalithic jar sites in Xiengkhouang, central Laos, have also been recognised.Archaeologists believe the thousands of mysterious tubular-shaped stone jars date back to the Iron Age, when they were used in funeral practices.All images copyright.

Russia is facing international calls to accept responsibility for the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, which caused the deaths of all 298 people onboard.Australia and the Netherlands on Friday accused Moscow of complicity in the incident, while Britain’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said the Kremlin “must now answer for its actions”.“The Kremlin believes it can act with impunity. The Russian government must now answer for its actions in relation to the downing of MH17,” said Johnson in a statement. A Downing Street spokesman said that during a phone call with Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, Theresa May said the alleged actions “fit into a well-established pattern of Russian aggression”.Despite longstanding suspicion and a mounting body of evidence pointing to Russia’s involvement, this is the first time governments have officially accused Moscow over the incident.“Australia and the Netherlands have now informed the Russian Federation that we hold it responsible under international law for its role in the bringing down of MH17,” said Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, on Friday.She called on Russia to “enter into negotiations to open up a dialogue about its conduct and to seek reparations”.The call is likely to bring about a diplomatic standoff, with Russia continuing to deny complicity and refusing to cooperate with investigators.On Thursday, a team of international investigators said they had hard evidence that the missile system involved in shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane came from a Russian military brigade.The plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in July 2014. More than half of the victims were Dutch, and there were also 44 Malaysians and 28 Australians onboard.Bishop said her country would seek financial compensation from Russia for the families of Australian victims. “They want to see closure but they also deserve justice and we will be seeking reparations for the atrocities caused by this conduct,” she said.Johnson said the MH17 incident was “an egregious example of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent life” and he offered his support for the Dutch and Australian demands.“The UK fully supports Australia and the Netherlands in their request to the Russian Federation to accept state responsibility and to cooperate with them in their efforts to deliver justice for the victims of this tragedy,” he said.The EU and Nato also issued statements calling on Russia to accept responsibility. Witnesses said shortly after the incident that they had seen a Buk missile system travel through separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine on the day of the downing, while a variety of photo and video evidence has pointed to a Buk system that crossed from Russia. On Thursday, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said it had “legal and convincing evidence which will stand up in a courtroom” that the missile system came from Russia’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade, based in the western city of Kursk.Russia has vetoed a UN tribunal to determine guilt for the incident, so the JIT intends to issue indictments for a trial to be held in a Dutch court. On Thursday, the Dutch chief prosecutor, Fred Westerbeke, said the investigation was in its “last phase” but he declined to say when a court case might start. He said the JIT was investigating “several dozen” suspects for complicity in the incident, though he did not say how high up the chain of command they went.Russia has issued a series of blanket denials over its involvement, and officials and state-linked media have floated a series of implausible alternative theories suggesting Ukrainian armed forces were to blame. On Friday, the Russian defence ministry issued a fresh statement suggesting all Buk missiles with the serial numbers indicated by the JIT had been destroyed in Russia in 2011, suggesting the missile must have come from the Ukrainian armed forces. The foreign ministry complained that “these gratuitous accusations are an attempt to discredit our nation in the eyes of the international community”.However, the evidence against Russia continues to mount. On Friday, the online investigations group Bellingcat held a press conference to reveal that it had identified a Russian military commander operating in eastern Ukraine at the time of the crash. Bellingcat said the military commander, known by his call sign Orion, about whom the JIT had called for information, was in fact Oleg Ivannikov, an officer in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service. Bellingcat said Ivannikov, operating under an alias, was responsible for the transfer of Russian weaponry into eastern Ukraine during 2014. The group, which uses mainly open source research, identified the 53rd brigade as the potential source of the Buk system nearly two years ago. Topics Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Russia Netherlands Ukraine Europe Plane crashes news

A toxicology report from Prince’s autopsy, obtained by the Associated Press, shows he had what multiple experts called an “exceedingly high” concentration of fentanyl in his body when he died.Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate on 21 April, 2016. Public data released six weeks after his death showed he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.A confidential toxicology report provides some insight into just how much fentanyl was in his system. Experts who are not connected to the Prince investigation said the numbers leave no doubt that fentanyl killed him.“The amount in his blood is exceedingly high, even for somebody who is a chronic pain patient on fentanyl patches,” said Dr Lewis Nelson, chairman of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey medical school. He called the fentanyl concentrations “a pretty clear smoking gun”.The report says the concentration of fentanyl in Prince’s blood was 67.8 micrograms per litre. Fatalities have been documented in people with blood levels ranging from three to 58 micrograms per litre, the report says.It adds that the level of fentanyl in Prince’s liver was 450 micrograms per kilogram, and notes liver concentrations greater than 69 micrograms per kilogram “seem to represent overdose or fatal toxicity cases”.There was also what experts called a potentially lethal amount of fentanyl in Prince’s stomach. Dr Charles McKay, president of the American College of Medical Toxicology, said the findings suggest Prince took the drug orally, while fentanyl in the blood and liver suggest it had some time to circulate before he died.Experts say there is no “lethal level” at which fentanyl can kill. A person who takes prescription opioids for a long time builds up a tolerance, and a dose that could kill one person might help another.Search warrants released about a year after Prince’s death showed authorities found numerous pills in various containers around his home. A lab report shows many of the pills tested positive for fentanyl. Information released publicly indicates the source of those drugs has not been determined.Last week, the lead prosecutor in the county where Prince died said he was reviewing law enforcement reports and would make a decision ‘in the near future’ on whether to charge anyone.Minnesota officials have announced plans to install a tribute fence inside Paisley Park, Prince’s home and studio, in preparation for fans returning on the second anniversary of his death. The fence will display fan messages and artefacts archived by Paisley Park. Topics Prince Drugs Healthcare industry Health

Sweden's ruling Social Democratic Party is investigating after its official Twitter account suffered a hacking attack overnight.Social media users were alerted to the hack by a stream of unusual activity, including anti-Muslim and anti-immigration rhetoric.One post also claimed PM and party leader, Stefan Lofven, would resign.It is unclear who was responsible for hijacking the account but the police have been informed.Early on Monday morning social media users noticed a string of odd tweets sent from the Social Democratic Party's Twitter account.More than 20 tweets on a range of topics were shared before the party regained control of the account.The tweets were subsequently deleted from the account's timeline."We contacted the police immediately and are working with Twitter," a party spokesperson told the BBC."Attacks on political parties are attacks on free speech and democracy. We do everything we can to prevent these kind of intrusions."The hijacked account made a number of false assertions and touched on far-right issues.It also claimed the Swedish prime minister, party leader Stefan Lofven, would resign, that cannabis had been legalised and that Sweden's official currency had been replaced with Bitcoin.The account shared a screenshot of a direct message it claimed to have sent to Social Security Minister Annika Strandhall.Interspersed with the claims was anti-Muslim and anti-immigration rhetoric."One like equals one dead Muslim," read one tweet sent from the account."Celebrate that we have reached a record number of rape victims with raising taxes and opening up the borders. Socialism for the win," another post read.Another expressed support for the anti-immigration politician, Hanif Bali.It's unclear who hijacked the account or why."I do not want to speculate on what or who is behind the attack," a spokesperson for the party told the BBC.But the hack targeted a centre-left political party and used its platform to make threats against Muslims, criticise immigration and joke about firing a prominent feminist. It's entirely possible it's the product of trolling, but if so this is trolls reflecting far right views.Since 2015, when more than 163,000 people submitted asylum applications at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, the Scandinavian country has become a regular fixture in international far-right discussions.The nationalist Sweden Democrats have become a more pronounced electoral force, capitalising on widespread insecurity about immigration.The party won 18% of the vote in the 2018 election, up from 13% in 2014.

FILE PHOTO: German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier presents the national industry strategy for 2030 during a news conference in Berlin, Germany, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Fabrizio BenschBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany does not want to ban Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies from building its 5G networks, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday, adding that Berlin would tighten security criteria for all vendors instead. Asked on a ZDF television talk show if the government plans to bar Huawei from the upcoming 5G auction due to concerns over the global market leader’s ties to the Chinese government, Altmaier said: “No, we will not want to exclude any company.” But the government will change the law to ensure that all components used in the 5G networks will be secure and that there will be no violations against data protection rules, he added. Altmaier also said that the government would not use its increased veto powers to fend off foreign takeovers in this case because the construction of the 5G network was not an issue of a merger or an acquisition. Germany earlier on Thursday set tougher criteria for vendors supplying telecoms network equipment, stopping short of singling out China’s Huawei Technologies for special treatment and instead saying the same rules should apply to all vendors. The announcement follows months of debate over whether to side with the United States and some allies in barring Huawei from 5G networks due to security and espionage concerns. Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sandra MalerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

No criminal charges will be filed over the death of Prince, the superstar musician who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after taking counterfeit pills he likely thought were a weaker painkiller, a local prosecutor announced on Thursday.Following a two-year investigation into the death of 57-year-old Prince on 21 April 2016, with the inquiry described as “extensive, painstaking and thorough”, Minnesota’s Carver county district attorney Mark Metz said his team had found no evidence to justify a prosecution in the case.“In all likelihood Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him,” Metz said, adding that investigators had been unable to determine who had provided the musician with pills that had been labelled as prescription opioid painkillers. There was no evidence to suggest any of Prince’s close associates were aware he had consumed counterfeit pills either, Metz said.Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson, was found unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate in a Minneapolis suburb early in the morning two years ago, following a massive overdose. He had apparently suffered a series of more minor overdoses not long before the day he died.The announcement on Thursday came just hours after federal prosecutors reached a settlement with a doctor who was accused of illegally prescribing an opioid for Prince and agreed to pay $30,000 over a civil violation. The settlement, dated Monday, does not mention Prince by name or make any references to the investigation into his death. However, previously released search warrants say local Dr Michael Todd Schulenberg told authorities he had prescribed an oxycodone-based prescription opioid to Prince on 14 April that year and put it under the name of Prince’s bodyguard and close friend, Kirk Johnson, “for Prince’s privacy”.The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.The painkillers prescribed by Schulenberg were not responsible for Prince’s death, Metz said. The prosecutor added that the musician and producer had secretly become addicted to painkillers after suffering “significant pain for a number of years, and taking medication for a number of years”.The announcement effectively brings to a close both the local and federal investigations into the incident, with unnamed federal law enforcement sources telling local news the status of the case was now inactive unless new information came to light.“Prince’s death is a tragic example that opioid addiction and overdose deaths do not discriminate, no matter the demographic,” Metz said.Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller between 30 to 50 times stronger than heroin.In 2016, more than 63,600 people in the US died over overdose in the US. This included 42,249 that involved an opioid like fentanyl, marking an average of 115 opioid deaths every day in what has become a national public health crisis in the US. Topics Prince Opioids Minnesota news

Equity markets have bounced back today, but the upward move hasn’t been driven by anything, and that is a little worrying, as it might just be a mixture of short covering and bargain hunting. The severe sell-off that was endured yesterday is still fresh in traders’ minds, and there is a sense that dealers want to get tomorrows Fed announcement out of the way, before formulating their next move. For a change, there was some upbeat housing data from the US. Building permits ticked up to 1.32 million in November, which topped the forecast of 1.25 million. Keep in mind, the October reading was 1.26 million. The housing starts reading was 1.25 million, which was an improvement on the 1.21 million in October. Admittedly, these figure weren’t amazing, but they are a bright spot on a largely bleak housing figures.