NEW YORK, 2018 - U.S. stocks joined a broad decline in global equity markets on Monday as traders turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week and amid continuing concerns about the threat of a global trade war. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas JacksonAt the same time, shares of Facebook Inc (FB.O) shed nearly 7 percent after reports that a political consultancy that worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million of the social network’s users. That decline dragged other technology stocks, which have led the market higher over the last two years. “If they start to decay, then it may leave investors wondering what’s left to become the new leader to resume the bulls’ advance,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell as much as 425 during the session and ended won 335.60 points, or 1.35 percent, at 24,610.91. The S&P 500 .SPX index lost 39.09 points, or 1.42 percent, to 2,712.92 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC index dropped 155.07 points, or 1.8 percent, to 7,334.24. MSCI’s main 47-country world stock index fell 1.1 percent in afternoon trading after European stocks dipped and benchmark U.S. indexes declined. Global equities are on their worst run since November. The drop in European and U.S. indexes came as central banks appeared to be preparing for more rate hikes. A Reuters report that the European Central Bank expects a rate hike by mid-2019 started helping the euro recover from a difficult morning against the dollar. Wall Street is looking toward the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday, with 104 analysts polled by Reuters expecting the central bank will raise rates 25 basis points to a range of 1.50 percent to 1.75 percent. Yields in benchmark 10-year Treasuries held steady, reflecting investor rate hike expectations. After the meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a his first press conference as the central bank’s new chief. Analysts at JPMorgan see a risk the Fed might not only add one more rate rise for this year but for 2019 as well. “The worst case is the ‘18 and ‘19 dots both move up - the Fed is currently guiding to five hikes in ‘18 and ‘19 combined, but under this scenario that would shift to seven hikes,” they warned in a note to clients. “Stocks would probably tolerate one net dot increase over ‘18 and ‘19, but a bump in both years could create problems.” The dollar index .DXY fell 0.4 percent, with the euro EUR= up 0.39 percent to $1.2335 Any nod to four hikes would normally be considered as bullish for the U.S. dollar, yet the currency has shown scant overall correlation to interest rates in recent months. Dealers cite concerns about the U.S. budget and current account deficits, chaos in the White House, better growth in overseas markets, particularly Europe, and the risk of a U.S.-led trade war. FILE PHOTO: The seal for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is on display in Washington, DC, U.S., June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File PhotoFears of a global trade war triggered by Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports cast a cloud over a two-day G20 meeting in Buenos Aires this week. The prospect of higher U.S. interest rates weighed on non-yielding gold XAU=, which touched its lowest in more than two weeks but turned positive in later trade, up 0.3 percent at $1,317.49 per ounce by 1:33 p.m. EST (1733 GMT). Oil prices eased after ending last week with a solid bounce. U.S. crude CLcv1 fell 0.5 percent to settle at $62.06 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 settled at $66.05, down 0.24 percent on the day. Reporting by David Randall; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Enlarge this image As in the rest of the country, growers in heavily agricultural northern Michigan rely overwhelmingly on migrant laborers to work the fields and orchards. Most of the pickers are from Mexico. Growers say it's just about impossible to find Americans to do this work. Melissa Block/NPR hide caption toggle caption Melissa Block/NPR As in the rest of the country, growers in heavily agricultural northern Michigan rely overwhelmingly on migrant laborers to work the fields and orchards. Most of the pickers are from Mexico. Growers say it's just about impossible to find Americans to do this work. Melissa Block/NPR On a recent, perfect morning at Johnson Farms in northern Michigan, workers climb wooden ladders high up into the trees, picking bags strapped across their bodies. The branches are heavy with fruit that glows in the morning sun. Their fingers are a blur, nimbly plucking fruit and filling bushel bags: about 50 pounds per load. It's hard, sweaty work.Apple season was just getting underway on Old Mission Peninsula, a finger of land poking into Lake Michigan, dotted with lush farms. The pickers range in age from 21 to 65, and all of them are Mexican. As in the rest of the U.S., growers in heavily agricultural northern Michigan rely overwhelmingly on migrant laborers to work the fields and orchards.According to the farm owners, the workers either came from Mexico on temporary H2A visas or they have paperwork showing they are in the U.S. legally.Farmers from Georgia to California say they have a problem: not enough workers to harvest their crops.It's estimated anywhere from half to three-quarters of farmworkers are in this country illegally, and some growers say that President Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric has made a chronic worker shortage even worse.Johnson Farms' owner, Dean Johnson, 67, says it's just about impossible to find Americans to do this work. "We've tried. We really have," he says. "Sometimes people come out on a day like today and they'll pick one box, and then they're gone. They just don't want to do it.""It's really sad," adds Johnson's daughter, Heatherlyn Johnson Reamer, 44, who manages the farm. "They'll come, they'll check it out, and usually they're gone within a day or two." Enlarge this image Farm manager Heatherlyn Johnson Reamer is pictured with her father, Dean Johnson, who owns Johnson Farms. Without migrant workers to pick the crops, Reamer says, "There wouldn't be food. It's just as simple as that." Melissa Block/NPR hide caption toggle caption Melissa Block/NPR Farm manager Heatherlyn Johnson Reamer is pictured with her father, Dean Johnson, who owns Johnson Farms. Without migrant workers to pick the crops, Reamer says, "There wouldn't be food. It's just as simple as that." Melissa Block/NPR What's behind the farmworker shortage?For one, a stronger U.S. economy is driving many seasonal workers into better-paying, year-round work, like construction."There's a huge need in the trades," Reamer says, "especially when we have natural disasters like we've seen these last few years with the hurricanes and everything. And we've actually lost workers who said, 'Hey, I got a job. I'm gonna go work for this construction company in Florida.' And they would leave."Another factor: The children of migrants are upwardly mobile and are leaving the fields behind. Many are going to college and finding better work opportunities in professions outside agriculture.Add to that Trump's crackdown on immigration, which many growers complain is crimping their labor supply. "As we all know, there's a pretty good number of workers in this country illegally," Dean Johnson says. "They're scared. Those people don't want to travel anymore. They're in Florida and Texas. They won't come up from Mexico.""There wouldn't be food"Johnson says even though Trump's aggressive stance on immigration hurts him as a grower, he did vote for him last November. "I was in favor of change," he says. "There's other things involved, besides the immigration issues."His daughter, Heatherlyn, disagrees. "I was actually very disappointed that Michigan voted for [Trump]," she says. "We need someone who supports agriculture, someone who supports diversity in this country."The president's talk about building the border wall leaves her cold: "When we heard that, I said, 'You can't say things like that.' There are so many migrant workers in this country. You just wonder, do you really see who your population is?"Without migrant workers to pick the crops, Reamer says, "There wouldn't be food. It's just as simple as that." She mentions Michigan's asparagus crop of 2016, which had to be mowed under because there weren't enough workers to pick it.Looking around her orchard, Reamer says, "The one thing the population doesn't understand, for farmers like us — without the migrant labor, this doesn't happen. You won't have apples in your supermarkets; they just won't get picked. Because, unfortunately, the average Joe in the United States doesn't want to go out and do this job for 10 hours a day." Enlarge this image Migrant worker Daniel Avellaneda unloads a bushel bag of McIntosh apples on Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula. Each bag weighs about 50 pounds per load. Melissa Block/NPR hide caption toggle caption Melissa Block/NPR Migrant worker Daniel Avellaneda unloads a bushel bag of McIntosh apples on Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula. Each bag weighs about 50 pounds per load. Melissa Block/NPR Because of the farm labor shortage, many farms across the country are relying more heavily on workers from Mexico, brought in through the H2A temporary visa program. The workers earn $12.75 an hour, at minimum, plus transportation and housing.Farmers complain that the program is cumbersome. There's a lot of red tape, with multiple federal agencies involved, and it's expensive: It can cost about $2,000 in fees for each worker they bring in. But the growers need the help. Nationwide, the H2A program has grown by 81 percent over the past five years.Workers are afraid and "nobody wants to come" Across Grand Traverse Bay, a migrant worker named Marcelino — who asks that we not use his last name because he fears being deported — is at home in the trailer he shares with his two daughters and his wife, Leticia, who is busy making tortillas for dinner.Marcelino and Leticia are both undocumented; they work side-by-side in the fields. Their daughters are U.S. citizens, born in Michigan.Marcelino tells me he grew up in the Mexican state of Guerrero. "My home is in the rural, rural place," he says, a village of 20 homes, so small it doesn't even have a name.He crossed the border illegally in 1989, when he was just 14, to work in the fields. He has lived in this country ever since.In the winter, the family lives in Florida, where Marcelino and his wife pick oranges.Come March, they head north to Michigan for field work — cherries, grapes and apples. The girls switch schools, back and forth.Marcelino has been making the trip for 28 years now. In the past, he says, migrant families would drive north in a long caravan, seven or eight vehicles, all filled with workers. Now, he says, "Nobody wants to come." They're too afraid, Marcelino says, and he's fearful, too. His friends in Florida tell him he's crazy to make the trip, but he needs the work, and, he says, he doesn't want fear to rule his life.Asked what he would say to people who argue that the U.S. is a nation of laws, and that undocumented workers are taking jobs away from Americans, Marcelino says:"I'd tell them, come work with us, and if you like the work, and if you produce as much as we do, then here is your job."He notes that one of his bosses tells him he would need to hire 10 people to do the work he does.Looking ahead, Marcelino dreams of a better life for his daughters, who have a boost up as American citizens. One wants to be a police officer; the other, a surgeon.He warns his girls: Pay attention in school and study hard, or else you could end up like us, coming home from the fields, all dirty and stinky.He pushes them, he says, because "I want them to be better than us."

Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Malook, who fled Pakistan to the Netherlands, told reporters in The Hague on Monday that the UN and EU made him leave "against his wishes.""I pressed them that I would not leave the country unless I get Asia out of the prison," Malook said during a news conference.The lawyer hadpreviously told CNNthat he was concerned for his life.Bibi, a mother of five from Punjab province, was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to hang after she was accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed during an argument a year earlier with Muslim colleagues.The workers had refused to drink from a bucket of water Bibi had touched because she was not Muslim. At the time, Bibi said the case was a matter of women who didn't like her "taking revenge."Last month, she won her appeal against the conviction and death sentence.The TLP had previously vowed to take to the streets if Bibi were released, and large protests broke out in Islamabad and Lahore soon after the ruling was announced.Under Pakistan's penal code, the offense of blasphemy is punishable by death or life imprisonment. Widely criticized by international human rights groups, the law has been used disproportionately against minority religious groups in the country and to go after journalists critical of the Pakistani religious establishment.Bibi's case has attracted widespread outrage and support from Christians worldwide. Conservative Islamist groups in Pakistan have demanded the death penalty be carried out.

Hide caption A firefighter battles a wildfire on Thursday at Faria State Beach in Ventura, Calif. Previous Next Jae C. Hong/AP Hide caption Flames consume a home as a wildfire burns in Ojai, Calif. Previous Next Noah Berger/AP Hide caption Palm trees sway in a gust of wind as a firefighter carries a water hose while battling a wildfire at Faria State Beach in Ventura, Calif. Previous Next Jae C. Hong/AP Hide caption Firefighters monitor a section of the Thomas Fire along the 101 freeway north of Ventura. Previous Next Mario Tama/Getty Images Hide caption A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop at the Thomas Fire near Fillmore, Calif. Previous Next David McNew/Getty Images Hide caption Jeff Lipscomb comforts his daughter Rachel Lipscomb, 11, as they survey their destroyed Ventura home. Previous Next Marcus Yam/LA Times via Getty Images Hide caption John Bain and Brandon Baker take cover from the embers as they try to help stop a fire from burning a stranger's home in Ventura. Previous Next Marcus Yam/LA Times via Getty Images Hide caption A firefighter carries a water hose as a large painting saved from a wildfire is propped against an SUV in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles. Previous Next Jae Hong/AP Hide caption A photographer takes pictures in the Lake View Terrace area of Los Angeles on Tuesday. Previous Next Chris Carlson/AP Hide caption Motorists on Highway 101 watch flames from the Thomas fire leap above the roadway north of Ventura on Wednesday. Previous Next Noah Berger/AP Hide caption Carolyn Potter throws dirt on her fence along Nye Road in an effort to save her house from the Thomas Fire in Casita Springs on Tuesday. Previous Next Wally Skalij/LA Times via Getty Images Hide caption A mansion that survived a wildfire sits on a hilltop in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles after a dangerous new wildfire erupted in the area and across Southern California. Previous Next Jae Hong/AP Hide caption A wildfire burns along the 101 Freeway on Tuesday, in Ventura, Calif. Previous Next Jae C. Hong/AP 1 of 13 i View slideshow Updated at 10 p.m. ETDriven by fierce Santa Ana winds, four intense fires near Los Angeles grew to engulf more than 115,000 acres Thursday, and officials say residents should continue to expect dangerous fire conditions, as both strong winds and very dry conditions persist."Until the wind stops blowing, there's really not a lot we can do as far as controlling the perimeter," Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said as quoted by the Los Angeles Times. "This is a fight we're going to be fighting probably for a couple of weeks."Lorenzen has more than 2500 firefighters battling the largest blaze, the Thomas Fire, which has exploded to 115,000 acres since it was started earlier this week. Containment of that fire is now at five percent.Another 3,000 firefighters have been working to control the other fires in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties.The Lilac Fire in San Diego county started Thursday morning around 11:15 a.m. PT and grew to 3,000 acres by mid-afternoon. The fire is concentrated in a rural part of northern San Diego county near Camp Pendleton. There is a concerted effort to evacuate not just people, but also horses and livestock, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. National California Wildfires: Tell Us Your Story The San Diego county fire has destroyed 20 structures and threaten 2,000 more.The Creek Fire in the San Fernando Valley has burned more than 15,000 acres and is 20 percent contained. The smaller Rye Fire to the north has scorched 7,000 acres and is 25 percent contained.Until now, there are no known human casualties directly related to the many fires. However, a woman was found dead early Thursday morning after a car crash in an area evacuated for the Thomas Fire in Ventura County. The woman's name has not been released and the incident is still being investigated.On Thursday morning, the intense heat of the Thomas fire was seen generating a pyrocumulus or flammagenitus cloud — the towering mushroom clouds that sometimes result from volcanic eruptions and other extreme activities.Forecasters had predicted wind gusts of up to 80 mph, saying that this week would bring the worst of the seasonal Santa Ana winds. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had issued a dire "purple" warning last night, referring to the only color above red on the wind scale. But that forecast has since been downgraded to a red alert."New and smaller fires erupted this morning. A three-acre vegetation fire was quickly extinguished in Riverside County before it was able to spread to nearby businesses," Alex Cohen reports from member station KPCC. "In the city of Anaheim, another blaze damaged four units at a commercial building."Cohen adds, "Roughly 200 firefighters were sent to the scene of a fire along the coast in Malibu - it was contained in an hour." The Two-Way What's The Leading Cause Of Wildfires In The U.S.? Humans An end to the threat is still a long way away. The National Weather Service office in Los Angeles and Oxnard says it expects critical fire weather conditions to linger into Saturday.As NPR's Kirk Siegler reported on "All Things Considered," the combination of hot winds and fast-moving fires may be part of a "new normal" in Southern California. "The immediate culprit of the five major fires burning in Southern California right now is the Santa Ana winds: the hurricane-force gusts that blow off the Mojave desert, igniting infernos from toppled power lines or carelessly tossed cigarette butts. "It's not unusual to get Santa Anas this late. It's just that by now the rainy season should have started. "In an interview on Skype, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain says nothing can be considered typical anymore.'This year, we experienced our record warmest summer, and in some places record temperatures in the Autumn as well.' "There is also a high pressure ridge stuck out over the Pacific that's blocking storms. "Swain's research is showing that these high pressure systems are growing in frequency as a result of the warming Pacific ... one reason California is getting hotter and drier, with drier brush and longer fire seasons. "'It's starting to appear that the likelihood of seeing these sorts of events is increasing.'" As The Associated Press notes, "The wilder winds could easily make new fires explode too, as one did Wednesday in Los Angeles' exclusive Bel-Air section, where a fire consumed multimillion-dollar houses that give the rich and famous sweeping views of Los Angeles."The fires have produced vivid and shocking images of massive walls of flame. But on Wednesday night, a much smaller scene of peril played out, when a man was seen getting out of his car to rescue a rabbit that was near perilous flames on Highway 1 in La Conchita. In a dramatic sequence captured by RMG News, the rabbit ran away from the man — and toward the flames — before he managed to corral it. He declined to be interviewed afterwards.Thousands of people have been placed under evacuation orders. And making the situation more dangerous for anyone trying to flee affected areas, the fires have forced closures on arterial roads. In addition to the brief shutdown of a stretch of the 101 on Thursday, a portion of the 405 freeway was closed in both directions for a time on Wednesday.Mary Plummer, a reporter with member station KPCC in Pasadena, tells Morning Edition that "these fires are affecting a real range of geographic areas — some very urban, some very rural. So, it's a real logistical problem."Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, which will free up state resources.Smoke and dust from the fires have also raised health concerns."Air quality reached 'hazardous' levels in Santa Barbara Thursday,' KPCC reports, citing the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District. "An air monitoring station in Goleta recorded 'very unhealthy' levels, and in Lompoc, conditions were 'unhealthy.'"San Luis Obispo County says it was also being affected by the smoke, cautioning residents to reduce their exposure to smoke and ash.

By Thursday afternoon, the indictment and its implications were a hot topic for Washington’s lucrative lobbying and communications consulting industry.The charges will prompt even more diligent review of possible compliance obligations by consultants who represent foreign clients, said Thomas J. Spulak, a partner at the King & Spalding law firm who advises on lobbying compliance.“It’s pretty significant,” he said. “It’s not just trying to influence the government; it’s trying to influence the American public.” He added, of Mr. Craig’s case, “If they can establish the facts, then I think it’s a pretty serious violation.”Mr. Craig’s indictment also attracted notice because he is the first person who made his name in Democratic Party politics to be charged in a case linked to the special counsel’s investigation. An Ivy League-educated lawyer, Mr. Craig held prominent positions in the administrations of President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.The charges “undermine the narrative of President Trump and congressional Republicans that the Mueller probe was a Democratic witch hunt meant to bring down Trump and the G.O.P.,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.The indictment said Mr. Craig “did not want to register as an agent for the government of Ukraine” partly because he believed doing so would make it less likely that he and others at his firm at the time, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, would be appointed to federal government posts. Mr. Obama had put rules in place restricting the work that former lobbyists could do in his administration.

BASEL, Switzerland — The Art Basel fair is widely regarded as the event that defines the current state of the art market from a dealer’s point of view.The 290 galleries exhibiting at the 49th edition, which previewed on Tuesday, were hoping the fair would attract the sort of demand for modern and contemporary art that had recently raised $2 billion from a week of auctions in New York.Art fairs create a very different dynamic from auctions. But within the first hour of the opening, the ground-floor booths of the world’s top dealers were, as usual, crowded with wealthy collectors, eagerly browsing — and sometimes buying — freshly available works by established names. Upstairs on the second floor, where dealers presented more new works by established and emerging artists, the footfall was conspicuously lighter.“It’s a very good snapshot of the international art scene today, but it does represent a narrow band of practices,” said Melissa Chiu, the globally minded director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., which attracted 475,000 visitors during her “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” show last year. “It’s representative of what’s salable and what collectors are interested in,” added Ms. Chiu.Increasingly, in today’s polarized and “financialized” art world, those collectors are more interested in safe investment than emerging talent.This explained, in part, why the Abstract Expressionist painter Joan Mitchell, who died in 1992, was the unlikely star of the fair, which last year drew an attendance of 95,000.Last month in New York, auction prices for the artist reached a new high of $16.6 million. In addition, the powerhouse gallery David Zwirner announced that it had taken over representation of her estate.Such developments give confidence to investment-minded art buyers — and sellers. There were at least half a dozen paintings by Ms. Mitchell available in the ground-floor “Galleries” section of the fair. For many, the pick of these was a sumptuous abstract on the booth of the New York and London dealers Lévy Gorvy. Painted in Paris in 1959, and notable for its thick impasto with vivid passages of red, this was on consignment from a private collection at an asking price of $14 million. It sold by the end of the first day.“We had three reserves on this from the beginning,” said Brett Gorvy, co-founder and partner at Lévy Gorvy. “A lot of clients need the confidence of other people’s interest.”Hauser & Wirth said it found a buyer for the 1969 painting “Composition,” from the artist’s “Sunflower” series, again priced at $14 million, and David Zwirner sold a 1958 abstract priced at $7.5 million.Top galleries’ ability to enhance the value of artists’ estates was also underlined at the fair by Hauser & Wirth. The gallery has recently taken over representing the estate of the Polish artist Alina Szapocznikow, a Holocaust survivor who made arresting polyester resin sculptures evoking fragments of the human body that she called “awkward objects.” A lamp whose light took the form of a breast was sold by Hauser & Wirth at the fair for $950,000, some $135,000 more than the current auction high for the artist.Image“Red Rack of Those Ravaged and Unconsenting,” a 2018 multimedia work by Doreen Garner, was sold by the New York gallery JTT in the Statements section of Art Basel.CreditCourtesy of the Artist and JTT, New YorkMs. Szapocznikow has an uncompromising vision, and so too does the Brooklyn-based artist Doreen Garner, who featured in the fair’s “Statements” section devoted to 12 solo presentations of emerging artists. The New York gallery JTT presented a disturbing 2018 mixed media installation of simulated hanging meat by Ms. Garner inspired by the horrific experiments conducted by the 19th-century gynecologist James Marion Sims on unanesthetized women.“Red Rack of those Ravaged and Unconsenting,” priced at $40,000, was bought by a European collector on the second day, according to the gallery.Image“Entertainment Center,” a 2018 mixed media work by Jacolby Satterwhite. It was part of an entire booth of Satterwhite works sold at Art Basel by the Los Angeles gallery Morán Morán.CreditMorán MoránThe Los Angeles gallery Morán Morán, also showing in “Statements,” sold its entire booth of recent works by the New York artist Jacolby Satterwhite. Featuring a mixed-media installation, videos, a virtual-reality piece and wallpaper, this sold to an Israeli collector for just under $100,000, according to the gallery. Another unique installation piece sold for $25,000. Mr. Satterwhite, who uses his mother’s drawings of unrealized inventions as a starting point, was one of the few artists represented at the fair whose practice explored digital media, including virtual reality.But it was, perhaps, a sign of these conservative collecting times that sales in the “Statements” section were generally slow, despite its being hailed in a tweet by the influential Belgian collector Alain Servais as “challenging, experimental & significant,” as well as “relatively cheap.”“Everyone is doing the same thing, with more or less success,” said Sebastien Montabonel, a London-based art consultant who specializes in advising institutions, referring to the proliferation of Mitchells, Condos, Longos and Kapoors on offer downstairs. “They’re showing what the bank manager wants to buy,” he added.But curators, as well as bank managers, are shaping the art market.“We’re looking at the idea of global modernism, at multiple art histories,” said Ms. Chiu of the Hirshhorn, whose museum, in common with many others, is rehabilitating the contribution of overlooked or marginalized artists.Last month, the auction market caught up with the museum world when African-American painters set several new auction highs. Among them was the $2.2 million given for a 1974 portrait by Barkley L. Hendricks, who featured in last year’s influential “Soul of a Nation” show at Tate Modern in London.ImageThe New York dealer Jack Shainman sold the 1975 Barkley L. Hendricks painting “Greg” at Art Basel for $1.75 million.CreditJack ShainmanThat momentum was maintained at Art Basel. Jack Shainman, who represents the Hendricks estate, sold the artist’s imposing full-length portrait “Greg” to an American collector for $1.75 million.The May auctions saw a new benchmark of $200,000 achieved for the African-American abstract painter Stanley Whitney. Here in Switzerland, the London and New York dealership Lisson Gallery was able to sell a large-scale 1999 “Untitled” by Mr. Whitney, priced at $400,000. But dealers were unwilling to quote prices for their sales of works by Kerry James Marshall, whose 1997 tour-de-force “Past Times” made a sensational $21.1 million last month at Sotheby’s.ImageCathy Wilkes’s “Untitled,” a 2017 egg tempera on cotton painting, was sold at Art Basel by the Brussels dealer Xavier Hufkens for about $160,000.CreditXavier HufkensAnd then there is the momentum given to artists by inclusion in prestigious exhibitions. The Glasgow-based artist Cathy Wilkes has been selected to represent Britain in next year’s Venice Biennale, following a well-reviewed show last year at MoMA PS1 in New York. The Brussels dealer Xavier Hufkens was able to sell an ethereal 8-foot-wide landscape painting by the artist for 120,000 pounds plus VAT, or about $160,000. Wilkes’s current auction high is $23,000.It was perhaps inevitable that this year’s Art Basel would have a safer, more conservative feel. The fair and its sister events in Hong Kong and Miami are owned by the Basel-based MCH Group, whose main source of revenue is Baselworld, the world’s largest trade show devoted to watches and jewelry.Exhibitor numbers at the March edition of Baselworld were down 50 percent, making the group more reliant on its art fairs as an income stream. Rather than dismantle Baselworld, MCH moved Art Basel’s “Unlimited” section of large-scale projects into a less lofty upstairs space. Art Basel’s public commission for the plaza in front of the fair, featuring a machine digger moving gravel from one pile to another, thus became an apt metaphor for MCH’s new situation.“The art market is commercial, but that’s O.K.,” said Andre Gordts, a Belgian collector, browsing the booths of younger galleries on the first floor of the fair. “Sometimes you need to look back at the blue-chip to remind yourself what it’s all about. Contemporary art is quite chaotic at the moment,” he added. “But then the world is quite difficult at the moment.”

KEY CHANGE YubiKey (left) and Google Titan beef up your passwords. Photo: F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal By Nov. 21, 2018 4:08 pm ET NO MATTER how much alphanumeric complexity you add to passwords, chances are they’re still not strong enough. Don’t worry, mine are even weaker. Against all advice, I’m only willing to deliver the bare minimum asked of me when it comes to mixing numbers, letters and symbols. I stupidly use the same passwords for multiple sites, I rarely change them (unless forced to), and I hide them in very obvious places. Any grade-school computer nerd could hack me on most platforms were it not for an extra layer of security: my YubiKey 5 (from $45, yubico.com). This encrypted device is a unique two-factor authentication system similar to what you’re already using (right?) to bolster your online security. If you’re not, here are the basics: When logging into a site with two-factor from a new device, entering a password triggers the site to text you a randomly generated code you then type in to complete a login. It seems foolproof at first—no phone, no code. But anything digital is ultimately hackable and online criminals have already found crafty ways to intercept texts. Here’s what’s different about the YubiKey and its competitor the Google Titan ($50, store.google.com): They must be in hand and physically connected to a device before you can access online accounts—either plugged into a USB port or pressed against a phone (which activates the key via Near Field Communication). The keys, which fit on a ring next to ones for your house and car, automatically authenticate the sites you visit. Then each time you click “log in” and type your password, the key creates a one-time cryptographic code that pairs it with a site, completing the process. Without the key your passwords don’t work, for you or, more importantly, anyone trying to hack you. The key is annoying at first since you have to register it on every site—a simple process but tedious when repeated over and over. After that, as long you have the key handy you can cruise the internet on any computer or device normally. So what happens when I inevitably lose my keys? “That’s the rub,” said Matthew Green, associate professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, with a laugh. In theory, you’re safest if a key is mandatory to access a site. “But if it’s lost or stolen then you’re suddenly locked out.” You can stash a spare key in a hollowed-out book or print out emergency backup codes (found in security settings’ menus) that help you access a locked account. Otherwise you might be barred for days until you’re able to verify your identity and reset your password. Beyond that relatively enormous flaw, keys are the safest way to navigate the net. For now. More in Gear & Gadgets How to Share Your Smartphone Battery: An Etiquette Guide July 12, 2019 Should an Instant Camera Let You Edit Before You Print? July 11, 2019 Tired of Those Netflix and Amazon ‘Recommendations’? Outwit the Algorithm July 10, 2019 Fabric Reigns! Why Cloth Car Seats Are Making a Comeback July 9, 2019 Can You Look Cool Wearing a Running Vest? July 3, 2019 Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Appeared in the November 24, 2018, print edition as 'R.I.P. Passwords?.'

Here’s an unsurprising takeaway from Counterpoint’s global smartwatch shipment data for Q1 2019: The Apple Watch still has a commanding market share lead at 35.8%, up a smidgen from 35.5% the year prior.More surprising? Samsung has finally established itself in second place with 11.1% market share, up from 7.2% in Q1 of last year. It now beats out Imoo–a Chinese vendor of kids’ smartwatches with 9.2% share–and remains ahead of Fitbit (5.5%), Amazfit (3.7%), Huawei (2.8%), Fossil (2.5%), and Garmin (1.5%).Outside of Apple’s dominance, the smartwatch market has always been tough for big tech companies, which have struggled to get ahead of cheaper watches from lesser-known or no-name brands. Even now, brands with less market share than Garmin make up a combined 27.9% of smartwatch shipments. Samsung may be turning the corner on the strength of its Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active, with both earning solid reviews, and the latter sporting a competitive $200 price tag. Fitbit may have also gotten a boost from its Versa Lite smartwatch, which arrived at the tail end of Q1 for just $160.In total, Counterpoint says the smartwatch market grew 48% year-over-year, and that the Apple Watch alone saw 49% growth. That squares with recent comments by Apple, which said that Q1 was a record non-holiday quarter for its hit smartwatch.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Washington has asked the government of leftist Nicolas Maduro for access to Venezuelan-American executives of U.S.-based refiner Citgo detained in Caracas this week, a State Department official said on Thursday. File Picture: People fuel their cars at a Citgo gas station in Kearny, New Jersey September 24, 2014. V. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Five of six Citgo [PDVSAC.UL] executives arrested on graft allegations are U.S. citizens, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. All six men are being held in the headquarters of Venezuela’s military counterintelligence department in Caracas, the country’s state prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday. Socialist Maduro has said that the United States, his ideological foe, had requested the men be freed, but he vowed on Wednesday they would be tried as “corrupt, thieving traitors” for allegedly seeking to personally profit from a financial deal that was detrimental to the nation. “The U.S. Embassy in Venezuela has asked that (Venezuelan) authorities grant consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Venezuela. We call on the (Venezuelan government) to do so immediately in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” the State Department official said. Relations between Caracas and Washington have long been tense. They have further soured under President Donald Trump since his administration imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials including Maduro, and economic sanctions that have impeded the OPEC nation’s access to international banks. U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum Corp (Citgo) is a Venezuelan-owned refiner and marketer of oil and petrochemical products and the arrests come amid a wider anti-corruption sweep in Venezuela’s oil industry. Around 50 managers at state oil company PDVSA have been arrested since August. Sources in the energy sector say the arrests owe more to Maduro’s move to sideline rivals and increase his control of money-making companies as the country struggles in a devastating recession. The political opposition says PDVSA is rife with corruption, and a congressional investigation concluded that at least $11 billion went “missing” between 2004 and 2014. “The legacy of socialism: To have destroyed PDVSA and the oil industry and turned it into a den of corruption and nepotism,” opposition lawmaker Jose Guerra said on Twitter. “They need to blame someone and some ‘gringos’ are ideal,” Guerra later told Reuters. The arrests rid Citgo of much of its top brass and have instilled fear throughout Venezuela’s oil industry, snarling up decision making, sources close to PDVSA have told Reuters. The arrests also come at a highly delicate time for Venezuela, which was declared in selective default this month after some late payments. But as Venezuela is making efforts to pay, bondholders of some of the world’s highest yielding debt have so far been tolerant of the delays. Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Susan ThomasOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

((Corrects paragraph 10 of Dec. 10 story to Molly-Ann Leikin from Emmy Leiken. The error first occurred in Update 4)) By Phoenix Tso SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Reuters) - A massive California wildfire that has already destroyed nearly 800 structures scorched another 56,000 acres on Sunday, making it the fifth largest such blaze in recorded state history, as it ran toward picturesque coastal cities.But fire officials said as darkness fell that with the hot, dry Santa Ana winds not as fierce as expected, crews had been successful in building some fire lines between the flames and the towns of Montecito and Carpinteria. “This is a menacing fire, certainly, but we have a lot of people working very diligently to bring it under control,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told an evening press conference. Still, some 5,000 residents remained under evacuation orders in the two communities, near Santa Barbara and about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles. Some 15,000 homes were considered threatened. The Thomas Fire, the worst of six major blazes in Southern California in the last week and already the fifth largest in the state since 1932, has blackened 230,000 acres (570,000 hectares), more than the area of New York City. It has destroyed 790 houses, outbuildings and other structures and left 90,000 homes and businesses without power. The combination of Santa Ana winds and rugged terrain in the mountains that run through Santa Barbara and Ventura counties have hampered firefighting efforts, and officials said the Thomas Fire was only 10 percent contained on Sunday evening, down from 15 percent earlier in the day. But wind gusts recorded at 35-40 miles per hour were less than those predicted by forecasters, giving crews a chance to slow the flames’ progress down slopes above the endangered communities. The fires burning across Southern California have forced the evacuation of more 200,000 people and destroyed some 1,000 structures. Among them are residents of Montecito, one of the state’s wealthiest enclave and home to such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey. Firefighters knock down flames as they advance on homes atop Shepherd Mesa Road in Carpinteria, California, U.S. December 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department/Handout via REUTERSMolly-Ann Leikin, an Emmy-winning songwriter who was ordered to evacuate her Montecito home at 9 a.m. on Sunday, said she fled with only her cell phone, medication, eyeglasses and a few apples. Leikin, 74, said she doesn’t know the condition of her home and belongings but “none of that means anything when it is your safety.” The fires that began last Monday night collectively amounted to one of the worst conflagrations across Southern California in the last decade. They have, however, been far less deadly than the blazes in Northern California’s wine country in October that killed over 40. In the last week, only one death has been reported, a 70-year-old woman who died Wednesday in a car accident as she attempted to flee the flames in Ventura County. Scores of horses have died, including at least 46 at a thoroughbred training facility in San Diego county. Residents and firefighters alike have been alarmed by the speed with which the fires spread, reaching into the heart of cities like Ventura. At the Ventura County Fairgrounds, evacuees slept in makeshift beds while rescued horses were sheltered in stables. Peggy Scissons, 78, arrived at the shelter with her dog last Wednesday, after residents of her mobile home park were forced to leave. She has not yet found out whether her home is standing. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen next or whether I’ll be able to go home,” she said. “It would be one thing if I were 40 or 50, but I’m 78. What the heck do I do?” James Brown, 57, who retired from Washington State’s forestry service and has lived in Ventura for a year, was forced to leave his house along with his wife last week because both have breathing problems. “We knew a fire was coming, but we didn’t know it would be this bad,” said Brown, who is in a wheelchair. Slideshow (9 Images)Some of the other fires, in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, have been largely controlled by the thousands of firefighters on the ground this week. Both the Creek and Rye fires in Los Angeles County were 90 percent contained by Sunday morning, officials said, while the Skirball Fire in Los Angeles’ posh Bel Air neighborhood was 75 percent contained. North of San Diego, the 4,100-acre (1,660 hectare) Lilac Fire was 75 percent contained by Sunday and most evacuation orders had been lifted. Reporting by Phoenix Tso; Additional reporting by Mike Blake in San Diego and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Joseph Ax and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Scott Malone and Mary MillikenOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In the absence of clear-cut regulations, the debate around bitcoin and other crypto-currencies has been heating up in India in recent months.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Narendra Modi government clearly don’t intend to allow their use for payments and settlements. However, crypto-currencies haven’t been explicitly banned either, and no rules pertaining to them have been laid down.Given the ambiguity, a lawyer has taken the matter to the supreme court (SC) of India. On Nov. 13, the SC admitted a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking clarity on the regulators’ and government’s stance on virtual currencies. The PIL states that since these virtual currencies are not tied to any bank or government, and yet allow users to transact anonymously, they can be a grave threat to the nation. Therefore, they need to be regulated or banned. “As the virtual currencies are gaining popularity, they can be used for carrying out any illegal activity and can be used for money laundering. Therefore, I strongly believe they need to be regulated,” Dwaipayan Bhowmick, the petitioner, told Quartz.Apart from the ministries of finance, law & justice, and electronics & IT, the PIL wants the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the RBI, the income tax department, and the enforcement directorate to regulate the use of bitcoins. The case is likely to come up for hearing in January 2018, Bhowmick said.Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time the SC has had to look into the issue. It heard a similar petition in July. However, Bhowmick explained that the court had then asked the RBI to look into the issue, before disposing of the case.Bhowmick’s PIL comes a week after an RBI official clarified that the central bank is not comfortable with the idea of virtual currencies. Separately, though, it has recommended having its own crypto-currency since the existing ones are privately held and, thus, risky. Earlier, a government panel had recommended a ban, fearing that they could be used to launder money, evade tax, and perpetrate frauds, reports said. Despite these signals, more consumers have been jumping into the fray of late, partly drawn to bitcoin as an investment option. Zebpay, an Indian bitcoin exchange, has reportedly been adding about 0.2 million users a month.It’s time the RBI and the government cleared the air around this, even if it takes a little prodding from the courts.

Among the questions that I’d like Democrats to answer:What kind of border security do you believe in? Do you favor the policies Obama put in place to reduce illegal immigration — or a different approach?Do you believe that immigrants who enter this country illegally should be allowed to stay? If not, which categories of undocumented immigrants should be at risk of deportation? (In a 2016 debate, Clinton and Sanders didn’t offer clear answers when Univision’s Jorge Ramos asked similar questions.)What do you believe should happen to future levels of legal immigration? And what should happen to the mix of different categories of immigration? Should family connections play as large a role as they now do? Should workplace skills continue to play a small role?Do you believe, as Sanders suggested in 2015, that more immigration can reduce wages, especially for lower-income workers and recent immigrants themselves?My own view is that the country benefits from significant limits on immigration. As David Frum notes in a recent cover story for The Atlantic, immigration levels were quite low for much of the 20th century — from roughly the 1910s through the 1970s. The slowdown helped many of the immigrants who arrived in the waves before 1910 (including parts of my family). They faced less competition in the labor market. Labor unions were more easily able to grow, because they were organizing an increasingly assimilated workforce. The immigration slowdown played a role in the great income surge of the post-World War II decades. Today, I’d favor a policy with a lot of similarities to the Democrats’ platform of the Obama years, including humane treatment of immigrants already here plus tight border security. I’d change the mix of immigration, to let in fewer low-skills immigrants and more high-skills immigrants. Doing so has the potential to reduce inequality and lift economic growth.I recognize that this platform is probably too conservative for many Democrats. But high levels of immigration, stretching over many decades, is not an American tradition. It’s something new, and it brings both upsides and downsides.For anyone who wants to think through the subject, I recommend Frum’s article. (The politician quotations above come from it.) For critiques of Frum’s piece, see Nancy LeTourneau in Washington Monthly and Noah Smith of Bloomberg Opinion.If nothing else, I’d urge Democrats to look at public opinion on immigration with an open mind. The polling isn’t as favorable as some of the recent conversation on the left has suggested. In a recent Gallup poll, 47 percent of Americans called illegal immigration a critical threat and another 30 percent called it an important threat.I wouldn’t call it either of those. But I do think it’s folly — both substantively and politically — to pretend that more immigration is always better than less. And I think it’s a mistake for Democrats to be so unclear about what their party’s immigration agenda is.If you are not a subscriber to this newsletter, you can subscribe here. You can also join me on Twitter (@DLeonhardt) and Facebook.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

***MS. MacCALLUM: Let me ask Ashley, when this came out what did you say to your husband? Did you question him and have moments where you wondered if he was telling you the truth?MS. KAVANAUGH: No. I know Brett. I’ve know him for 17 years. And this is not at all character; it’s really hard to believe. He’s decent, he’s kind, he’s good. I know his heart. This is not consistent with — with Brett.MS. MacCALLUM: And now over the weekend you’ve gotten new allegations. And obviously these other allegations, they say that they are standing up basically in support of Christine Ford, that they wouldn’t have come forward otherwise, but they don’t want her to be made to look like a liar. And Deborah Ramirez was a freshman at Yale. She says she was at a dorm party and this happened, quote: “Brett was laughing, I can still see his face and his hips coming forward like when you pull up your pants. I’m confident about the pants coming up, and I’m confident about Brett being there.”She was initially uncertain it was you, they write in this piece, but after six days she’s confident enough, she says. Should the American people view her as credible?JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I never did any such thing — never did any such thing. The other people alleged to be there don’t recall any such thing. If such as thing had a happened, it would’ve been the talk of campus. The women I knew in college and the men I knew in college said that it’s unconceivable that I could’ve done such a thing.***JUDGE KAVANAUGH: And yes, there were parties. And the drinking age was 18, and yes, the seniors were legal and had beer there. And yes, people might have had too many beers on occasion and people generally in high school — I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit, but that’s not what we’re talking about.We’re talking about an allegation of sexual assault. I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone. I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends —

DAVID GREENE, HOST: The Trump administration has announced that it is expelling dozens of Russian intelligence agents from this country. It said the expulsions were in response to the poison attack on a former British spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom. A senior administration official said this move was in solidarity with NATO allies. Now, by expelling these agents, the unnamed officials said it would reduce Russia's ability to subvert Western institutions. Let's talk about this with NPR's White House correspondent Tamara Keith, who's been listening to officials describe all of this.Tam, good morning.TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.GREENE: Tell me more about these expulsions. And also, it sounds like the Trump administration is closing the Russian Consulate in Seattle. These are significant moves.KEITH: That's correct. So they've ordered the expulsion of a total of 60 Russian intelligence officers. About a dozen of them are tasked to the Russian mission to the U.N. The others are elsewhere. These folks, they say, are all intelligence officers no matter what their job titles actually say. And they've been given a week to leave the United States along with their families.GREENE: And it sounds like this consulate in Seattle, they're closing because the administration is saying this was strategically located.KEITH: Yeah, so it is close to a U.S. submarine base and also Boeing facilities. But they were - these officials were careful to point out that this was not based on any specific threat, simply that they felt that this was a good consulate to shut down, that it would improve American safety and reduce Russia's ability to both spy on the U.S. and conduct destabilizing activities.GREENE: How does this fit in with what we have heard from President Trump about this poison attack and, you know, and in the relationship with Russia in general?KEITH: Yeah, so the interesting thing is that President Trump last Tuesday had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and, according to the White House, did not bring up this attack on U.K. soil. So that was sort of a surprising thing, given that it was a really big issue and on, you know, the soil of a major U.S. ally. The language today coming from these administration officials - now, not the president himself, but administration officials and also press secretary Sarah Sanders in a statement - is very strong language and leaves no question about the U.S. blaming Russia for this attack on the former Russian spy and his daughter.GREENE: And it sounds like one message the Trump administration wants to send is one of solidarity with NATO countries. That sounds like an important thing they want to stress here.KEITH: Yeah, so on this call with reporters, the U.S. officials repeated this again and again, that this is an action being taken in conjunction with our NATO allies. And, you know, NATO has this all-for-one, one-for-all Article 5 that says an attack on one is an attack on all. And this is considered - they were careful not to say that it is an act of war, but it was an attack using a military-grade chemical weapon, they're saying, on the soil of the United Kingdom. And they're saying that a dozen - at least a dozen allies are responding together, that this is a coordinated response and that we will be seeing similar types of expulsions or other activities by other U.S. allies around the world, especially in Europe, but beyond.GREENE: All right, so this is one story we're going to be following just coming out this morning. Another one I want to ask you about, Tam - last night the adult film actress Stormy Daniels went on "60 Minutes" and spoke about the affair she says she had with Donald Trump in 2006. It was a striking interview. What - has there been a response yet from the White House?KEITH: Not a specific response. We do have a tweet from President Trump this morning just saying, so much fake news; never been so much that's so inaccurate, but the country is doing great. Unclear whether that is a reference to last night's interview or not. And also, the press secretary for the first lady did put out a tweet asking reporters not to use the name of President Trump's minor son. His young son was a baby at the time of the alleged affair.GREENE: And something like that from the White House is not that rare.KEITH: It is not that rare. I mean, it's sort of a standard practice that children are left out of stories about their parents when their parents are the president of the United States.GREENE: OK. Talking to NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith about a lot of news, including the expulsion of dozens of Russian intelligence agents from the United States, the Trump administration taking that action this morning. Tam, thanks a lot. We appreciate it.KEITH: You're welcome.Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Authoritarian leaders exercise a strange and powerful attraction for President Trump. As his trip to Asia reminds us, a man who loves to bully people turns to mush — fawning smiles, effusive rhetoric — in the company of strongmen like Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.Perhaps he sees in them a reflection of the person he would like to be. Whatever the reason, there’s been nothing quite like Mr. Trump’s love affair with one-man rule since Spiro Agnew returned from a world tour in 1971 singing the praises of thuggish dictators like Lee Kuan Yew, Haile Selassie, Jomo Kenyatta, Mobutu Sese Seko and Gen. Francisco Franco.Mr. Trump’s obsessive investment in personal relations may work for a real estate dealmaker. But the degree to which he has chosen to curry favor with some of the world’s most unsavory leaders, while lavishing far less attention on America’s democratic allies, hurts America’s credibility and, in the long run, may have dangerous repercussions.In China, he congratulated Mr. Xi for securing a second term as ruler of an authoritarian regime that Mr. Trump had spent the 2016 campaign criticizing. He again absolved Mr. Putin of interfering in the United States election, despite the finding of American intelligence agencies that Moscow did extensive meddling. As for Mr. Duterte, Mr. Trump effused about their “great” relationship while saying nothing about the thousands of Filipinos who died in a campaign of extrajudicial killings as part of the Philippine president’s antidrug war. En route, he gave a verbal thumbs-up to the Saudi crown prince for arresting hundreds of senior officials and cementing control of the kingdom.It’s not uncommon for American presidents to foster relations with strongmen. Serving the national interest often means working with leaders who are undemocratic, corrupt, adversarial or all three, and for decades there was no alternative to dealing with whoever had the top job in the Kremlin. People still talk about how naïve President George W. Bush was when he looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes in 2001 and declared the Russian president “trustworthy.” President Barack Obama stuck with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the democratically elected president of Turkey, long after Mr. Erdogan evolved into a dictator. The Chinese and Saudi leaders were favorites of President George H. W. Bush. President Richard Nixon assiduously cultivated China’s Mao Zedong, the shah of Iran and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.Still, whatever their strengths and weaknesses, these past presidents worked within a structure of longstanding alliances and, in varying degrees, espoused support for democratic values, including the rule of law and human rights, all the while trying to nudge the autocrats along a similar path. President George H. W. Bush and others encouraged democracy in Russia; President Bill Clinton did likewise in China and Peru; President George W. Bush did in Iraq and Afghanistan.Mr. Trump chafes at sharing power with Congress and the courts and invokes the importance of human rights only against governments he despises, like North Korea, Iran and Cuba. Insecure, delusional and frustrated at his inability to act unilaterally, he sees himself as uniquely tough and the only person in his administration capable of achieving foreign policy goals.So what is his scorecard? Russia and China supported his push for tougher sanctions on North Korea. (They did so as well under Mr. Obama.) But there is no sign that China, whose support is vital, has enforced them in a way that will halt North Korea’s nuclear program. China has not moved to open up its economy, as Mr. Trump has demanded. Russia has cooperated to some extent on Syria but not on Ukraine.At home, Mr. Trump’s determination to arrogate power unto himself has seriously weakened the State Department and the cadre of professional diplomats that is central to successful international problem-solving. It has effectively sidelined people like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It has left to other nations the important tasks of pursuing goals like climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. In major ways, he is dealing America out of the game.

Police in India have made a second arrest after the alleged rape of a teenager by a ruling party politician sparked protests across the country, according to federal investigators.The case, along with the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, has brought Indians on to the streets for mass demonstrations not seen since the rape and murder of a student in Delhi in 2012.The outrage has put pressure on the prime minister, Narendra Modi, whose ruling Bharatiya Janata party is accused of trying to shield a state MP in one case and of defending the accused in the other.India’s central bureau of investigation (CBI) has arrested Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh state, which is ruled by the Hindu nationalist BJP, for allegedly raping the 17-year-old. An aide to the MP was arrested on Saturday.Police brought a case against the politician last week only after the claimant attempted to burn herself alive outside the state leader’s residence. The next day, her father, who had been in police custody, died from injuries he sustained in an alleged beating.“We arrested the second person, a woman named Shashi Singh, in our ongoing investigations of the case on Saturday,” a CBI spokesman said.The girl’s family – who fought unsuccessfully for nearly a year to get the police to register their case – said Singh had taken their daughter to the state legislator on the pretext of a job. Singh then stood guard at the door while Sengar raped the girl, alleged the teenager’s family in the initial complaint to police.Public outrage escalated as details surrounding the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in January in Jammu and Kashmir state made national headlines.The girl was kidnapped, drugged and repeatedly raped over five days – including inside a Hindu temple – before being strangled and beaten with a rock.Jammu and Kashmir is India’s only Muslim-majority state, but the Jammu region in the south is Hindu-dominated. The case has heightened fears of communal tensions in the area.Eight people have been arrested over the killing, including four police officers and a minor. All are Hindus.Two state ministers from Modi’s BJP – Choudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga – resigned after attending a rally by local Hindu groups held in defence of the accused.Scenes last week of lawyers trying to stop police from entering court to file charges against the accused sparked nationwide revulsion. The supreme court on Friday warned lawyers in Jammu against any further attempts to obstruct justice.“They have resigned because of the way the entire thing has been presented across the country. They have been victimised,” Balbir Singh, a spokesman for Choudhary Lal Singh, told AFP.Modi on Friday promised justice for the victims as anger mounted, while India’s women’s minister called for the death penalty for child rapists. Topics India South and Central Asia news

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, visiting Brazil to drum up support for his bid to push for a change of government in his country, said on Thursday he will return to Caracas by Monday despite threats of imprisonment. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido waves as he arrives at the European Union headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil Febbruary 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei MarcelinoGuaido said the leftist “regime” of President Nicolas Maduro was “weak, lacking support in Venezuela and international recognition.” Speaking to reporters after meeting with Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, Guaido called for the enforcement of economic sanctions against the Maduro government to continue “so that everything is not robbed in Venezuela.” Guaido, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, last month invoked constitutional provisions to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent. He has since been recognized by most Western nations as the rightful leader of Venezuela. But he faces possible arrest if he returns to Venezuela for disobeying a Supreme Court order that he should not leave the country pending an investigation. He said on Thursday that he and his family had received threats, including of prison. He did not provide further details. Following a visit this week to Colombia for the launching of a U.S.-led plan to get humanitarian aid into Venezuela, Guaido is visiting Brazil to build diplomatic pressure against Maduro. He is set to leave on Friday for Paraguay and said he would plan his route back into Venezuela over the weekend. Related CoverageU.S., Russia fail in rival bids for U.N. action on VenezuelaSenators propose bill to let thousands of Venezuelans remain in U.S.“We continue to strengthen relations with countries that have recognized our efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela and hold free elections,” Guaido said in a Twitter message, after meeting in Brasilia with diplomats from about 20 European Union member states. He said there was no chance of dialogue with the Maduro government without discussing elections as a pre-condition. Bolsonaro said in a joint statement after meeting with Guaido that the opposition leader was the hope for restoring a “free, democratic and prosperous Venezuela.” Brazil was one of the first to recognize Guaido, after the United States and Colombia. It is hosting one of the Venezuelan opposition’s collection points for aid, and together with the United States has funded some 200 tonnes of food and medicine being stockpiled in the northern city of Boa Vista. Venezuela’s opposition failed to get that aid across the border as planned last weekend after Maduro closed it, sparking protests that killed one person and injured others. Russia and China, which back Maduro, vetoed on Thursday a U.S.-authored resolution at the United Nations Security Council calling for free and fair presidential elections and open access for the aid efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was still working on plans to get the aid delivered to Venezuela, which is suffering from a deep economic crisis marked by widespread shortages of basic necessities. Slideshow (5 Images)“We are hopeful that over the next couple of weeks, we can really begin to make a dent in that problem,” Pompeo told reporters while flying to the Philippines from Vietnam. Maduro denies his oil-rich nation has any need of aid and accuses Guaido of being a coup-mongering puppet for Washington. Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassú, additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Manila,; Editing by Paul Simao and Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Enlarge this image Eva Winberg (left) and her friend Birgitta Lybergård gaze out a bus window during a tour of Malmö hosted by the ruling Swedish Social Democratic Party. Sidsel Overgaard for NPR hide caption toggle caption Sidsel Overgaard for NPR Eva Winberg (left) and her friend Birgitta Lybergård gaze out a bus window during a tour of Malmö hosted by the ruling Swedish Social Democratic Party. Sidsel Overgaard for NPR On Sunday, Swedes will vote in national elections for the first time since a wave of immigration changed the country's tone of debate. Sweden began opening its doors to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers after the last election, in 2014. Since then, well over 300,000 people have applied for asylum, mostly from Syria, as well as from countries including Iraq and Iran.Nationalists point to a rising crime rate and incidents of gang violence as evidence of the need for closed borders. Those on the left point to Sweden's strong economic growth, low unemployment rate and overall relative well-being as a sign that more countries could be following the lead of this self-described humanitarian superpower. The Two-Way Trump Says, 'Look What's Happening In Sweden.' Sweden Asks, 'Wait, What?' What's certain is that Swedes' attitudes vary widely about the country they live in — and this will be reflected in the way they vote. A single day in Malmö, Sweden's third-largest city, seen from three different vantage points, reveals a country — and a people — at a crossroads.An upbeat tourOn a cool, cloudy morning, Eva Winberg and her friend Birgitta Lybergård have decided to pay 25 krona ($2.74) for a bus tour of the city. Winberg's youngest son is getting married to an Iranian woman he met at university, but not till the next day, so she figures she can squeeze in a tour of the city with her friend.The two women climb aboard with about 50 retirement-age Swedes. But none of these people are tourists. They live here. As the bus gets rolling, it's easy to see why they might need an update.Malmö, a city of about 330,000, has been growing at a rate of 5,000 people per year. Roughly a third of the city's residents were born outside of Sweden.Cranes puncture the skyline, and the bus cruises past one new building after another: a sparkly new school, a rainbow-hued shopping center, the site of a future police station — all part of a concerted effort on the part of local leaders to transform Malmö from an industrial hub to a financially diversified and sustainable city of the future.The bus also stops in some of Malmö's more notorious neighborhoods, where national police have been called in to work alongside local officers in the face of increasing gang violence. Parallels Migrants Enter Denmark, Determined To Reach Sweden "I've never been to this place before," Winberg says, lowering her voice. "This is one of the places you avoid to go."The tour guide, though, paints a different, positive story — he points to physical improvements aimed at helping integration and reducing crime. Winberg seems particularly impressed by a housing development where a resident-owned café attached to a brightly lit laundromat encourages social interaction."It's a social thinking," she says. "They have done lots of things like that here!"This is a good-news tour for a reason: The guide is Malmö's deputy mayor Andreas Schönström, and this is one of about 20 bus tours his party — the incumbent Swedish Social Democratic Party — is hosting in the run-up to the election. Parallels As Migrants Flow In, Sweden Begins To Rethink Its Open-Door Policy The Social Democrats are the historical powerhouse behind the country's generous, and popular, welfare state. But they have been losing strength for decades. Most recently, the party has been accused of naivety in its handling of the refugee crisis, and for failing to alleviate the gang violence that has made shootings and even grenade explosions a regular part of the local news.But Schönström says the vast majority of residents aren't touched by the violence."When we look the numbers today, Malmö is growing rapidly. We have huge economic growth, the unemployment is going down," he tells NPR.And Schönström says his party does talk honestly about the problems afflicting the city — "but we will not recognize that the problems are about Muslims." Parallels In A Small Swedish Town, Residents Welcome Migrants "It's not about what kind of religion you have, and whether you eat pork or not," he says. "It's about social problems: unemployment, schools, education, segregation in our living areas... It's about empowering people."A nationalist rallyThat narrative is proving a hard sell against the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats' message. Supporter Tommy Johansson conveys it succinctly: "We have too many foreigners in this town. From the Arabian countries."Johansson is part of a large crowd that has gathered in the center of the city to hear a speech in the afternoon by Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson — "the king," according to Johansson.Like most Sweden Democrats, Johansson draws a direct line between immigration and crime. Enlarge this image Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie à kesson gives a speech in Malmö on Aug. 31. Polls suggest his anti-immigrant party could make a strong showing in Sunday's election. Johan Nilsson/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Johan Nilsson/AFP/Getty Images Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie à kesson gives a speech in Malmö on Aug. 31. Polls suggest his anti-immigrant party could make a strong showing in Sunday's election. Johan Nilsson/AFP/Getty Images "We cannot go outside when it's dark anymore," he says. "We have to take taxis. It's not safe."While the rate of certain violent crimes is up in Malmö, the overall reported crime rate has gone down. Because Sweden does not keep records on the ethnicity of perpetrators, substantiating a link between immigrants and crime is a largely speculative exercise. Goats and Soda In Sweden, Hundreds Of Refugee Children Gave Up On Life But political scientist Mikael Sundström from Lund University says that hardly matters."You don't need solid data to sell the idea, from the Sweden Democrats' point of view, that immigrants are linked to crime," he says. "You just need to make sure that it stays in the public mind that this or that crime was committed by an immigrant."And in that, he says, they have succeeded. Polls suggest the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, could garner 20 percent of the vote this weekend, potentially becoming Sweden's second biggest party.In a plaza in Malmö's Holma neighborhood, Ibrahim Taha and his colleagues from a voting advocacy group have set up a small table with snacks. This quickly attracts the attention of several 12-year-old boys on scooters and bikes, chattering with each other in a mix of Swedish and Arabic.As the boys grab handfuls of chips, Taha starts quizzing them in Swedish."How many years between elections?" he asks."Four!" they yell."Who is the Prime Minister?""STEFAN LÖFVEN!"The competition is heating up."Harder?" he asks. Enlarge this image Two "democracy ambassadors" for a get-out-the-vote organization started by Ibrahim Taha chat with boys in Malmö's Holma neighborhood. "The Sweden Democrats have a view that you can only be black or white," Taha says. "And reality is not like that. You can be a lot of people at the same time. The Sweden Democrats don't understand that this is a contribution to society." Sidsel Overgaard for NPR hide caption toggle caption Sidsel Overgaard for NPR Two "democracy ambassadors" for a get-out-the-vote organization started by Ibrahim Taha chat with boys in Malmö's Holma neighborhood. "The Sweden Democrats have a view that you can only be black or white," Taha says. "And reality is not like that. You can be a lot of people at the same time. The Sweden Democrats don't understand that this is a contribution to society." Sidsel Overgaard for NPR Harder questions it is."What year did women in Sweden get the vote?"With hardly a pause, one of the boys throws down the answer — "1921!" — before zooming off on a victory lap.Half of these boys were born here, half of them somewhere else. This neighborhood, though not one of the most dangerous, is considered a risk area. In two hours on the plaza, not a single ethnic Swede passes by.Taha moved to Sweden from Iraq in 2002, at age 9. He didn't have an ethnically Swedish friend until he was 16. Nine years later, integration is still a real problem, he says. A "two-way racism" permeates Swedish society, he says, "and it's creating really big problems."And yet, he says, at least to some extent, the boys in this neighborhood are all growing up with two identities: Swedish and Palestinian, Iraqi, Syrian or others.And that dual identity, says Taha, is the Sweden of the future. It's also why, he believes, the Sweden Democrats will ultimately lose momentum."They tell you, you need to feel loyalty to only Sweden. And that's a major problem for people like me. And there are a lot of people like me," he says. "The Sweden Democrats have a view that you can only be black or white. And reality is not like that. You can be a lot of people at the same time. The Sweden Democrats don't understand that this is a contribution to society."

China will use all necessary means to defend the interests of the country and its companies against a US trade investigation, the Beijing government has warned.China’s commerce ministry has already expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with the US launch of an inquiry into alleged theft of US intellectual property, calling it “irresponsible”.But on Thursday ministry official Gao Feng doubled down on the warnings, telling reporters at a regular news conference: “We will take all the necessary measures to resolutely defend the interests of China and Chinese firms” in the face of the unilateral U.S. actions. The probe is the Trump administration’s first direct measure against Chinese trade practices, which the White House and US business groups say are bruising American industry.Gao also said that China’s support for overseas investment by Chinese firms will not change, but that oversight of deals will increase and projects related to China’s Belt and Road initiative will be given priority. China’s cabinet has released guidelines to manage overseas investments, with certain sectors encouraged and others restricted or banned outright. Overseas investments in areas such as hotels, cinemas, the entertainment industry, real estate and sports clubs have been limited after a spree that has seen wealthy Chinese take control of two English Premiership football clubs. The rules have banned outright investments in enterprises related to gambling and the sex industry. Mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies in countries linked to the Belt and Road initiative have been growing at a rapid rate, even as the government takes aim at China’s acquisitive conglomerates to restrict capital outflows. “We will further improve the overseas investment reporting management system,” said Gao, adding China would push forward legislation to govern foreign investment. Topics Chinese economy China International trade Asia Pacific Global economy news

The day after Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that “the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.” Trump himself later said the FBI had been in “turmoil” and that Comey was a “showboat” and a “grandstander.”Was the FBI really falling apart at the seams under Comey? Ben Wittes, editor in chief of the Brookings Institute’s Lawfare Blog and a personal friend of Comey’s, sent a Freedom of Information request for emails sent by FBI staff in response to his firing. His aim, he writes, was “to show conclusively that President Trump and his White House staff are lying about career federal law enforcement officers, their actions, and their attitudes.”The emails, released today, strongly contradict the White House’s narrative. Wittes and other Lawfare staff write, “there is literally not a single sentence in any of these communications that reflects criticism of Comey’s leadership of the FBI.”Instead, the emails suggest that his firing shook the organization. In messages confirming Comey’s firing, heads of FBI field offices described the news as a “surprise” or “shock,” as “challenging” or “unsettling” and a “disappointment,” and described the moment as “tumultuous” and of “upheaval and uncertainty.” Some letters showed little emotion, but nearly all those in the FOIA trove show regret at the lack of information about Comey’s dismissal and urge officers to keep doing their jobs.Here are some of the more emotional responses:I just saw CNN reporting that Director Comey has been fired by President Trump. I have no notification from HQ of any such thing. If I receive any information from HQ, I will advise. I’d ask all to stand by for clarification of this reporting. I am only sending this because I want everyone to know I have received no HQ confirmation of the reporting. I hope this is an instance of fake news.— David Gelios, Detroit field office headUnexpected news such as this is hard to understand but I know you all know our Director stood for what is right and what is true!!! It’s our job to continue along and continue to make him proud of the finest law enforcement agency in the world. He truly made us better when we needed it the most.— Renae McDermott, Knoxville field office headThese events are hard to hear and harder to comprehend.— John Bennet, San Francisco office headOn a personal note, I vehemently disagree with any negative assertions about the credibility of this institution or the people herein.— Amy Hess, Louisville field office headYou will not be surprised by the eloquence and grace of Director Comey, or by the genuineness of his message. He will be missed.— David Schlendorf, assistant director for human resources, when forwarding Comey’s goodbye message to FBI staff.Our hearts may be heavy but we must continue to do what we do best, which is to protect and serve the American people.— Kathryn Turman, assistant director for the office for victim assistance. She ended her message, “Hang in there, Thanks, Kathryn.”We all felt the pain associated with the loss of a leader who was fully engaged and took great pride in the FBI organization and our employees. Simply stated, Director Comey will be missed.— Michael DeLeon, Phoenix field office headI will tell you that [Comey] truly felt the warmth from the employees as he walked out of that room. He will never forget that, nor the professionalism of the team who accompanied him back to the airport for his return [to Washington].— Deirdre Fike, assistant head of LA field office. Comey had been at the LA office when news of his firing was announced on TV.Director Comey was a man of integrity and vision, he made a lasting impact on FBI leadership, diversity and our embracing of new technology.— Charles Spencer, Jacksonville field office headRead the FBI letters in full here.