Then the tariffs hit.“So everything collapsed,” he said.Mr. Robbins said he is losing more than $50,000 a month on milk production: It costs him $16.50 to produce 100 pounds of milk, but the price he got in July for three million pounds of milk was $14.78 per 100 pounds. He also expects a significantly lower profit on his soybeans.As countries have levied retaliatory tariffs in response to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, American goods have become more difficult to sell in foreign markets, said Jennifer Ifft, an agricultural economist at Cornell University. Canada and Mexico are the biggest markets for the American dairy industry and both countries have raised tariffs on dairy products. Most soybeans are exported to China, which imposed a 25 percent tariff on the commodity that took effect in July.“In most cases, a good share of growth in these markets has been through exports markets,” Ms. Ifft said.“It’s just a very low margin environment right now, which is sort of normal for agriculture,” she added. “But when there are these repeated shocks, that’s when it gets hard for people.”The Trump administration has tried to cushion the impact on farmers by announcing plans to extend up to $12 billion in aid to those hurt by the tariffs. The Department of Agriculture is expected to provide details of the plan, which would provide payments to support prices of commodities like soybeans, cotton and corn, as early as Friday.But New York farmers are skeptical of the aid package.“It’s offering a Band-Aid to buy some votes,” said Craig Yunker, who owns CY Farms in Elba, N.Y. “I think it’s thrown out there to try to mollify the farm belt ahead of the midterms.”The steep losses have placed such an enormous strain that some farmers believe it has played a role in a rash of suicides on dairy farms in the state.

The federal and local governments have long relied on private companies for defense and law enforcement technologies, from Lockheed Martin jetfighters to Booz Allen Hamilton data analysis. But increasingly, the government is expanding beyond the usual defense contractors to the company that also provides free shipping and online TV.“The . . . thing that was shocking for me was to understand just how the federal authorizations are allowing Amazon to have such a monopoly over the storage of government information,” says Jacinta Gonzalez, field organizer for immigrant advocacy group Mijente. Along with the National Immigration Project and the Immigrant Defense Project, Mijente funded a new report entitled, “Who’s Behind ICE?: The Tech and Data Companies Fueling Deportations.”Its findings are based on documents such as contracts, memoranda, and corporate financial reports–which are publicly available but take a lot of digging to decipher. (We’ve asked Amazon for feedback on the accuracy of the report, but have yet to receive a response.)Related: How tech workers became activists, leading a resistance movement that is shaking up Silicon ValleyWhile Amazon plays the leading role, the report also details the involvement of companies including Peter Thiel’s Palantir, NEC, and Thomson Reuters in storing, transferring, and analyzing data on both undocumented residents and U.S. citizens. The U.S. government is moving its databases from federal facilities to cloud providers, especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), raising concerns about accountability.“There is a transfer of discretion and power from the public sector to the private sector in the form of these contracted technological services,” says Shankar Narayan, director of the Technology and Liberty Project at the ACLU in Washington State, which was not involved in the report. Based in Seattle, Narayan tracks Amazon’s growing role in law enforcement, such as its facial recognition tech of disputed accuracy, called Rekognition.Groups like Mijente draw attention to the extent of data gathering used by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement. “People on the ground have been more and more [saying to us] ‘How do they have information about my taxes?’ How do they have information about where I drive my car?'” says Gonzalez.She’s also seen, and experienced, the gathering of biometric data in public. “When I was working in New Orleans back in 2013 and 2014 . . . ICE was stopping anyone that looks Latino,” claims Gonzalez. “And they were handcuffing them and fingerprinting them using mobile biometric devices.”Gonzalez herself, a Mexico-born U.S. citizen, was transferred to immigration custody after being arrested at a March 2016 civil disobedience protest against then-candidate Donald Trump in Phoenix, where she now works. (She refused to provide information to authorities after her arrest to clarify her legal status.)Last November, Mijente joined other organizations in a lawsuit demanding that ICE provide information on its abandoned plans for a series of immigration raids in several US cities called “Operation Mega.”ICE has a mandate to enforce US immigration law, but it’s faced widespread condemnation for tactics including the separation of families at the US border. Gonzalez charges hypocrisy in how ICE uses its substantial technological tools. “They have technologies to be able to surveil you,” she says. “But somehow they can’t keep track of your children when they’re being separated from you and ripped out of your arms.”Mistrust of how governments use technology and data is exacerbated by a lack of transparency, say activists. “I think we’ve raised that concern, for example, around face surveillance,” says Narayan. “It’s remote, it’s undetectable, it could be ubiquitous, and the government doesn’t even have to really determine who they’re going to follow around in advance.” But there’s reason to fear that this surveillance will extend beyond immigration enforcement and crime-fighting, he says, pointing to a history of political surveillance from civil rights leaders in the 1960s to New York City Muslim communities after 9/11.Getting information is even harder now that the technology and data are in private hands, he claims. “That’s the dynamic that makes these technologies hard to even detect, let alone to put some standards of accountability around,” says Narayan. “You don’t get to crack open that black box, because these entities will use trade secret [protections], will use the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to prevent entities from coming in and testing [their] products.”“We’re really getting past the point of no return in terms of our ability to put safeguards in place to hold these large corporations accountable,” he says.

Instagram used a user’s image which included the text “I will rape you before I kill you, you filthy whore!” to advertise its service on Facebook, the latest example of social media algorithms boosting offensive content.Guardian reporter Olivia Solon recently discovered that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, made an advertisement out of a photo she had posted of a violent threat she received in an email, which said “Olivia, you fucking bitch!!!!!!!” and “I Will Rape You”.Instagram selected the screenshot, which she posted nearly a year ago, to advertise the photo-sharing platform to Solon’s sister this week, with the message, “See Olivia Solon’s photo and posts from friends on Instagram”.The ad has surfaced at a time when Facebook is facing intense scrutiny over the ethical failings of its algorithms and advertising tools. Last week, ProPublica reported that Facebook was allowing advertisers to target users interested in the topic of “Jew hater” and “How to burn Jews” – categories that the social media site had automatically created. Journalists were able to pay $30 to target “promoted posts” to the antisemitic groups.Others quickly discovered that there was a range of bigoted and derogatory terms that Facebook allowed for ad targeting and that Google and Twitter had similar problems.Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg issued a mea culpa on Wednesday and said the company was changing its policies as a result. Facebook disabled the targeting system that created the offensive categories, and Sandberg said the site would only allow targeting options reviewed by humans in the future.It’s unclear why Instagram chose to highlight Solon’s hate mail to friends on Facebook. When she posted the screenshot last year, she wrote: “This is an email I received this afternoon. Sadly this is all too common for women on the internet. I am sure this is just an idiot rather than any kind of credible threat but it’s still pretty vile.”The photo received three likes and more than a dozen sympathetic comments. It’s possible that Instagram’s algorithm considered it an “engaging” post because of the number of responses. But given existing technology that can analyze words embedded in images, it’s unclear if Instagram has any systems in place that would detect the violent and abusive text and flag it as an inappropriate choice for an ad.An Instagram spokesperson apologized and claimed that the image was not used in a “paid promotion”. “We are sorry this happened – it’s not the experience we want someone to have,” the statement said. “This notification post was surfaced as part of an effort to encourage engagement on Instagram. Posts are generally received by a small percentage of a person’s Facebook friends.”The spokesperson said these types of posts were designed to motivate people who aren’t on Instagram or hadn’t been on the site recently to visit the platform by showing them content from their friends. The company did not answer questions about how widely the post was shared, but said it would have surfaced to some of Solon’s Facebook friends. Facebook’s algorithms have long faced backlash for inadvertently causing its users pain and harm. In 2014, the company was forced to apologize over its “Year in Review” clips, which created an automated series of posts that highlighted hurtful memories of deceased loved ones and tragic incidents – posts that presumably had a lot of “engagement”. The company’s “On This Day” nostalgia feature, which resurfaces old posts, has faced similar criticisms.Facebook also admitted this month that an influence operation probably based in Russia bought $100,000 worth of ads to promote divisive political messages. On Wednesday, 20 Democratic senators and representatives urged the Federal Election Commission to “develop new guidance for advertising platforms on how to prevent illicit foreign spending in US elections”.Last week, Facebook was also mocked after it sent a ProPublica reporter behind the “Jew hater” investigation an automated email suggesting that she buy an ad to promote her story that exposed Facebook’s embarrassing ad practices. Topics Instagram Facebook Social networking news

On Nov. 11, thousands of people marched in the streets of Warsaw, Poland, to celebrate the country’s Independence Day. The march attracted racist and neo-fascist groups as well as individuals from all over Europe emboldened by the global rise of the far right. International news was flooded with images of the more menacing attendees: young men bearing signs that proclaimed white supremacy, engulfed in a sea of red flares and smoke.One collection of such images, published on Facebook by a renowned photojournalist in Poland, was taken down by the social media’s content moderators, once again raising questions about censorship and the platform’s confusing policies on hate speech.Chris Niedenthal, a family friend of mine, attended the march to practice his craft, not to participate, and posted his photos on Nov. 12, the day after the march. Facebook took them down. He posted them again the next day. Facebook took them down again on Nov. 14.Niedenthal himself was also blocked from Facebook for 24 hours. “I was, quite naturally, furious when Facebook first deleted my post, and censorship immediately came into mind,” he said. “More important, I felt it was censorship for the wrong reason: A legitimate professional journalist or photojournalist should not be ‘punished’ for doing his duty.”The images’ disappearance spurred multiple news articles and outrage in Poland, where official censorship reigned for decades under Communist rule. Some Facebook users speculated that the platform was helping quash unflattering portrayals of the march.Niedenthal’s images showed a young woman, a child, and an older person among the participants. But some of the most striking were those of young men covering their faces with masks and scarves that bore the insignia of nationalist organizations, soccer hooligan groups, and the Celtic sign, often a symbol of white supremacy. Gazes intense, fists raised.Facebook told Quartz that the photos, because they contained hate speech symbols, were taken down for violating the platform’s “community standards” policy barring content that shows support for hate groups. The captions on the photos were “neutral,” so Facebook’s moderators could not tell if the person posting them supported, opposed, or was indifferent about hate groups, a spokesperson said. Content shared that condemns or merely documents events can remain up. But that which is interpreted to show support for hate groups is banned and will be removed.Other users had flagged the album as undesirable content, and, each time that happened, a Facebook content moderator took down the photos. Facebook said it was likely a decision of two different members of its 7,500-member team, who are located all over the world and not necessarily in Poland, where they may have had more insight into events on the ground.Eventually, after Niedenthal protested, Facebook allowed the photos to remain on the platform. Facebook apologized for the error, in a message, and in a personal phone call.Discerning what is hate speech and what is not remains tricky, Facebook told Quartz. People report content that they don’t agree with, which leaves the moderators to decide what is a legitimate complaint. While some content is clearly inadmissible according to Facebook’s rules, like terrorist propaganda or child pornography (which is increasingly sought out by artificial intelligence), decisions about hate speech can’t be made without looking at the post’s context. The Facebook spokesperson said the company regretted the incident and wants newsworthy material to remain on the platform. Facebook is trying to improve its moderation system; it announced earlier this year that it planned to hire thousands more to review content. The company is also planning to expand its appeals process and to better inform users why their posts are being taken down. It is also working on developing AI technology to flag objectionable posts, although in the case of hate speech, the spokesperson said, human input will remain necessary to understand the situation—which is where, in this case, Facebook moderators failed.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders signaled Monday that the President and the White House stand by his decision to fire Comey."It has been shown in the days that followed that the President was right to fire Director Comey," Sanders said, arguing that Comey gave "false testimony" and leaked "privileged information to journalists.""I think the President's been very clear about his position on that front," Sanders said, adding that Trump is "very pleased with the new" FBI director, Christopher Wray, whom the Senate confirmed last month.In the online segment, Bannon also said he doesn't believe Trump should fire Mueller, adding that he has not heard anything from within the White House that would indicate such a move is under consideration. Trump himselftold reporters last monthhe hasn't given firing Mueller any thought, despite people close to him telling the media that the President was considering it.Bannon: Russia investigation 'a waste of time'Bannon's brash character was on full display in the interview, in which he discussed hisdisdainfor the Catholic Chuch's position on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, called the investigation into Russian election involvement "a farce" andtook aimat the Republican establishment.

(In Sept. 13 item, updates to correct spelling of the last name of Michael Beason from Benson, in 19th paragraph and throughout) By Andrew Innerarity and Ricardo Ortiz HOLLYWOOD, Fla./SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott vowed on Wednesday that the state would aggressively investigate how six people died at a nursing home that lost power when Hurricane Irma rampaged through the region, as millions coped with another day without electricity. The death toll from the storm approached 80 as officials continued to assess the damage after Irma powered through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record and slammed into the Florida Keys archipelago with sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour). Irma killed at least 36 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to officials. Some 4.2 million homes and businesses, or about 9 million people, were without power on Wednesday in Florida and nearby states. Police opened a criminal investigation at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, north of Miami, where three elderly residents were found dead at the facility and three later died at a nearby hospital, officials said. “I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a statement. “This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe.” Related CoverageFlorida deaths in sweltering nursing home show post-disaster perilsFlorida nursing home where deaths occurred was not on priority list: utilityMore than 100 patients at the nursing home were evacuated on Wednesday along with 18 patients from a nearby facility that was cleared due to the criminal investigation, Hollywood officials said. “Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues,” Randy Katz, a spokesman for Memorial Regional Hospital, told reporters. Memorial Regional is located across the street from the nursing home. Police were first called to the facility at about 4:30 a.m. but did not arrive until after 6 a.m., officials said. The center had been without air conditioning, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday. “The building has been sealed off and we are conducting a criminal investigation inside,” Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. “It was very hot on the second floor.” Florida Power & Light said it had provided power to some parts of the Hollywood nursing home but that the facility was not on a county top tier list for emergency power restoration. The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is pictured in Hollywood, Florida, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo AllegriIrma caused about $25 billion in insured losses, including $18 billion in the United States and $7 billion in the Caribbean, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co estimated on Wednesday. The Florida Keys were particularly hard hit, with federal officials saying that 25 percent of homes were destroyed and 65 percent suffered major damage when Irma barreled ashore on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane. Most residents had left by then and police have barred re-entry to most of the Keys to allow more time to restore electricity and medical service and bring water, food and fuel. “I don’t have a house. I don’t have a job. I have nothing,” said Mercedes Lopez, 50, whose family fled north from the Keys town of Marathon on Friday and rode out the storm at an Orlando hotel, only to learn their home was destroyed, along with the gasoline station where Lopez worked. President Donald Trump is due to visit the region on Thursday. Irma wreaked total devastation in parts of the Caribbean, where at least 43 people have died. People who fled their homes in hard-hit islands including St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were all but cut off from the world for days arrived in San Juan late Tuesday. Slideshow (13 Images)Michael Beason, 65, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he lost everything. “My house, my business, both my vehicles, everything is gone,” said Beason, who was stopping in San Juan before continuing to Boston to seek refuge with his wife’s brother. “But we have life. We rode out that horrible storm in a shower that I had reinforced after Hurricane Marilyn,” Beason added. “I told the man (who installed the shower), I told him, ‘If the hurricane takes the rest of my house, I want this shower sticking up out of that slab like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum. And sure enough that’s what’s left.” Irma hit the United States about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, killing about 60 and causing some $180 billion in damage, mostly from flooding. Additional reporting by Zachary Fagenson in Mami, Daniel Trotta in Orlando, Florida, Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Letitia Stein in Detroit, Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Gina Cherelus, Peter Szekeley and Scott DiSavino in New York; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Diane CraftOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

An appeals court on Wednesday rejected a former Stanford University swimmer’s bid for a new trial and upheld his sexual assault and attempted rape convictions.The three-judge panel of the 6th district court of appeal in San Jose ruled Wednesday that there was “substantial evidence” that Brock Turner received a fair trial.The case got national attention after the victim’s powerful statement, which she read in court before Turner was sentenced, was shared widely online.She recounted the assault, her treatment by investigators and the ordeal of facing questions about her sexual activity and drinking habits. It quickly went viral.“Instead of taking time to heal, I was taking time to recall the night in excruciating detail, in order to prepare for the attorney’s questions that would be invasive, aggressive and designed to steer me off course, to contradict myself, my sister, phrased in ways to manipulate my answers,” she wrote. “This was a game of strategy, as if I could be tricked out of my own worth.”The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify sexual abuse victims.Judge Aaron Persky rejected a prosecutor’s demand for a lengthy prison term and instead sentenced Turner to six months in jail. He was released from jail in September 2016 after serving three months.Persky’s sentence sparked nationwide outrage by those who felt it too lenient. Voters recalled Persky in June.The sentence was not part of the appeal and the judges didn’t address it.Turner filed an appeal in December seeking a new trial, arguing that the evidence presented at his trial didn’t support his convictions. During an appeal hearing Turner’s attorney, Eric Multhaup, argued his client was not attempting rape but rather seeking “outercourse” with his victim, a unusual legal claim that experts called shocking and hurtful to survivors of sexual assault. Multhaup didn’t return a phone call Wednesday.The jury convicted Turner of sexually assaulting an intoxicated victim, sexually assaulting an unconscious victim and attempting to rape her. Judge Franklin Elia writing for the unanimous panel said there was “substantial evidence” to support conviction of all three charges. In particular, the judge pointed out that Turner tried to run from two graduate students who confronted him assaulting the then 22-year-old woman. The judge wrote that the victim was slurring her speech when she left a fraternity party with Turner and the graduate students testified the victim appeared unconscious when they showed up, chased Turner and held him down until police arrived. He denied running when questioned by police.“He did not explain or defend himself to them,” Elia wrote. “And he lied to police about running.”Turner could petition the California supreme court to consider his appeal.Michelle Dauber, the Stanford law professor who led the judge’s recall campaign, called on Turner to drop any further appeals.“The appellate court has now rejected that idea and I think everyone, including Brock Turner, would be better served by accepting the jury’s verdict and moving on.” Topics Stanford sexual assault case California Law (US) news

When I went phone shopping a few years ago, the decision on what to buy was simple. I wanted a big screen, the best camera, and no compromises. So I picked up an iPhone 6 Plus.There’s never been such a thing as a perfect smartphone, but the best phones have never been as imperfect as they are in 2017. Deciding which phone to buy now comes down to which routine annoyance you’re most willing to tolerate.Apple made the iPhone X’s display so big that it had to carve out a controversial notch at the top for the camera and Face ID. [Photo: courtesy of Apple]Xs And 8sIf I didn’t want to think too hard about which phone to get, I would just settle for an iPhone 8 Plus. By most accounts it’s a fine phone, packed with features that my iPhone 6 Plus lacks, such as a dual-lens camera, wireless charging support, a much more vibrant display, and support for ARKit-powered augmented reality apps.It’s also almost the same size and shape as the phone I bought three years ago. Since then, other phone makers have crammed larger screens into smaller bodies, leaving the iPhone 8 with a design that looks outdated. Maybe this is just vanity, but if I’m spending upwards of $800 on a new smartphone in 2017, I want it to look like one.Of course, Apple has an answer in the iPhone X, but this brings its own compromises. I’m afraid the notch that houses Apple’s Face ID recognition tech would slowly drive me crazy. I also often use my phone when it’s on a desk or table, so getting my face in front of the camera to unlock the phone could be a hassle.Besides, the iPhone X costs $1,000, which is $200 more than an iPhone 8. And given the supply issues that Apple is reportedly dealing with, it’s unclear whether the iPhone X will even be readily available this year.Google’s Pixel 2 is a nice phone—but with a small screen and big borders by 2017 standards.Android’s InadequaciesNot that I was committed to buying an iPhone anyway. Lately I’ve been intrigued by the idea of a nice Android phone, mainly because of its superior handling of notifications and its deeper ties to Google services. Since I wasn’t in the market for a new phone last year, I thought the stars might align around a second-generation Google Pixel XL this fall.But the Pixel 2 XL, which Google announced a few weeks ago, has a display with some deep flaws. Users and reviewers have been complaining about grainy details and a blue tint at even the slightest off-angles, and I found the latter issue to be rather noticeable while playing with the phone at a Verizon store. Google is also investigating a “burn-in” effect that makes Android’s navigation buttons appear faintly on the screen, even when they’re not supposed to be there.The smaller Pixel 2 doesn’t have these problems, but it lacks the smaller bezels, slightly curved glass, and bigger battery of its extra-large sibling. And after a few years of using the iPhone 6 Plus, it’s hard to go back to smaller screens.In the end, I ordered a Pixel 2 XL, but instead of the usual excitement that comes with replacing an old phone, I’m agonizing over the decision, second-guessing whether to return the phone and try something different.Why Now?There are plenty of little reasons for why this year’s phones are all flawed, from the shortage of OLED panel suppliers to underlying Android issues that hinder the delivery of software upgrades. But the overarching theme is one of growing pains for the premium smartphone business.A few years ago, smartphones seemed to be plateauing, with no major changes from one year to the next. Performance was generally fast enough, cameras were generally good enough, displays had become sharper than the human eye can discern, and getting through the day on a charge was no longer a major concern. Waiting more than two years between phone upgrades was once unthinkable to me, but with the iPhone 6 Plus, it never seemed like much of an issue.In 2017, phone makers are trying to take a bigger leap forward. The iPhone X’s camera notch and the Samsung Galaxy line’s awkward fingerprint sensor placement are both the result of a push to minimize bezels and fit larger screens onto smaller phones. Meanwhile, the Pixel 2 XL’s problems may stem from Google’s inexperience with hardware as the company takes software integration into its own hands.These issues may not last another generation, as phone makers look to correct their biggest missteps next time around. But that’s of little consolation to anyone who needs a new phone in 2017.

A prominent Syrian opposition activist and her journalist daughter have been found dead in Turkey, police say.The bodies of Orouba Barakat, 60, and her 22-year-old daughter Halla were discovered overnight in their apartment in Istanbul's central Uskudar district, after friends raised the alarm.Orouba's sister, Shaza, said they had been stabbed to death.In a post on Facebook, she also alleged the two women had been assassinated "by the hand of tyranny and injustice"."Orouba wrote headlines for the front page, and she pursued criminals and exposed them. Her name and her daughter's name, Halla, are now in the front-page headlines," she added. The world's least likely Girl Guides Why is there a war in Syria? Turkish media reported that Orouba had been investigating allegations of torture in prisons run by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Halla was working as an editor for the pro-opposition website Orient News. Both women were also friends with US aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was kidnapped by so-called Islamic State in Syria in 2013 and died in captivity two years later.In an interview with ABC News last year, they spoke about their work with Mueller aiding Syrian refugees, including mothers and children."Just saying Kayla's name in front of them, they smile," Orouba told the American news site."Orouba and Halla were like a mother and sister to Kayla. They never gave up on saving her," Mueller's parents said in a statement to ABC after the news of their deaths emerged.The US Department of State said it was "deeply saddened" by their deaths, paying tribute to the "courageous" work of Orouba Barakat. "The United States condemns the perpetrators of these murders and we will closely follow the investigation," it added.Tributes have also been paid on social media, including one by fellow journalist and friend of Halla, Razan Saffour.It is not the first time for tragedy to strike the family: a cousin - Deah Barakat - was shot dead alongside his wife and sister in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2015.The killings sparked international outrage, especially on social media where the hashtag #ChapelHillShooting was used hundreds of thousands of times. Their neighbour, Craig Hicks, was charged with their killings. The family believe it was a hate crime targeting Muslims, but this was disputed by the US Attorney for North Carolina after initial investigations. A trial date has not yet been set. Since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago, Turkey has become home to more than three million Syrian refugees, many of them opposition supporters.In 2015, three Syrian activists from Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group that opposes so-called anti-Islamic State (IS), were murdered in Turkey. A Syrian journalist who reported on the fight against IS was shot dead last year.

Photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped for a secondary screening three separate times in one week while crossing the US-Mexico border to cover the migrant caravan in Tijuana this winter – unaware that the journey she had taken countless times before was suddenly more complicated because her name was logged in a secret government database.That database, part of something called Operation Secure Line, listed 59 advocates and journalists tied to the migrant caravan, according to leaked documents obtained by local news station NBC 7.“I am an observer, I am actually kind of shy, I don’t know what I could’ve done to be put on a watchlist,” Drehsler, a freelancer based in San Diego, told the Guardian.Drehsler was grouped in the database as “media/journalist”, alongside others identified as “instigator” and “organizer”. Her image in the database, like those of several others, is marked with a bright green X on her face to indicate an alert has been placed on her passport. NBC 7 reported that the database included a dossier on each person.Civil rights activists and members of Congress have expressed alarm about this database, as well as the arrest of more than 37 other immigration activists by Donald Trump’s administration. They see it as a politically motivated crackdown on media and campaigners as Trump seeks to ramp up the pressure to build a border wall.“I have not seen this kind of systematic targeting of journalists and advocates in this way,” said the ACLU staff attorney Esha Bhandari. “I think it is very troubling, very disturbing.”Bhandari said there was a link between the database and the Trump administration’s arrests of immigrant activists and advocates, which could have a chilling effect on people exercising their right to free speech.“It means that the debate about immigrants’ rights, about the treatment of immigrants, about the treatment of asylum seekers, is going to be suppressed or censored because the people who are speaking out with a voice that’s critical of the government are going to be singled out for harsher treatment or punished,” Bhandari said.The Trump administration has aggressively restricted legal and illegal immigration. And some of those acts have made it easier for the government to justify arrests and deportations of immigrant activists.One of its first moves after Trump took office was to abandon deportation priorities that instructed immigration enforcement agencies to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who had been convicted of serious crimes, were national security threats or had recently arrived. Prosecutorial discretion was advised when it came to undocumented immigrants who had been in the US for decades or had strong family or community ties in the US.The supreme court further emboldened Trump on Tuesday after it ruled that federal authorities can detain immigrants with past criminal convictions for indefinite periods, even after they have served time in detention for their crimes.That decision means the 10.7 million people who live in the US without legal papers were instantly more vulnerable to deportation – including activists such as the prominent New York City activist Ravi Ragbir.Ragbir, the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition, had lived in the US for 23 years when he was arrested during a routine check-in with Ice in January 2018. The government sent him to Florida and planned to then return him to his birth country, Trinidad, but his detention triggered protests and he was eventually released by a judge.Standing on the steps of the Jacob K Javits Federal Building, home to Ice’s New York office, last week, Ragbir said a fear of Ice would not stop him from speaking out.“It’s just very uncertain and very traumatizing to know the government is watching you,” Ravi said. “But I can’t allow that to debilitate me … If they’re going to move me, I might as well fight as hard as I can.”Ragbir was speaking at a rally he helped organize outside the Ice office in New York City to help push for the release of the Gambian immigrant Baba Sillah who, like Ragbir, was suddenly arrested at a routine Ice check-in. Ragbir is able to stay in the US while he pursues a lawsuit that claims his arrest was a violation of the first amendment. He is one of several immigration activists who have turned to lawsuits to fight what they see as retaliatory arrests.A coalition of three activist groups in Washington filed a lawsuit in October 2018 alleging Ice retaliation against their members. In November 2018, the Vermont group Migrant Justice, which fights for farm workers’ rights, filed a lawsuit alleging the government retaliated against its members through a multi-year operation that included the use of a civilian informant.Will Lambek, a Migrant Justice organizer, said Ice and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested and detained at least 20 of its members between 2016 and 2018.Lambek said there had been a demonstrable risk for immigrants’ rights activists in speaking out, but there was a greater risk in not doing so. “With the current regime, there is no such thing as true sanctuary or true safety,” Lambek said.The concerns about retaliation are strong enough to have prompted members of Congress to intervene.In January 2018, New York Democrats wrote to the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, requesting a meeting and more information about the arrests of immigration activists including Ragbir and the Washington activist Maru Mora-Villalpando.The revelations about Operation Secure Line prompted two US senators, Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, to ask US Customs and Border Protection to provide more information on why seven journalists were named in the Operation Secure Line database.“Unless CBP had reason to believe the individuals in question were inciting violence or physical conflict, it is deeply concerning that CBP appears to have targeted American journalists at our borders,” Grassley and Wyden wrote.And the House committee on homeland security wrote a letter this month to the acting director of Ice, Ronald Vitiello, requesting more information about an Ice spreadsheet obtained by the Nation that listed protests planned by groups in New York City, including Ragbir’s New Sanctuary Coalition.“The spreadsheet raises important questions about Ice’s possible misuse of authority and requires oversight to ensure that Americans’ legal and constitutional rights are protected,” the letter said.An Ice representative said the spreadsheet was created to provide “situational awareness” for agents in its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division, which, it said, “fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference”.The agency maintains that it does not unlawfully target immigrants in retaliation for their activism or critical comments.“Any suggestion to the contrary is irresponsible, speculative and inaccurate. Ice focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security,” Ice said in a statement to the Guardian.In response to questions about Operation Secure Line, Andrew Meehan, CBP’s assistant commissioner of public affairs, said the agency identified individuals who may have information related to incidents where CBP agents were attacked in November and January. “CBP does not target journalists for inspection based on their occupation or their reporting,” Meehan said in a statement.CBP also said it initiated an inquiry in February to ensure “all appropriate policies and practices were followed”.Despite the chilling effect such incidents could have, the people affected denied they would let these threats, whether veiled or blunt, derail their work.One of the four plaintiffs named in the Migrant Justice lawsuit, Zully Palacios, said being arrested further provoked her activism.Palacios was detained for 11 days in March 2017. She said it was a terrible experience because the cells were cold and she was held temporarily in solitary confinement, but she was boosted by public support.Palacios said: “It made me realize that I needed to keep speaking out so that nobody else would have to go through what I went through.”Drehsler, who no longer carries her laptop across the border, was emphatic that these screenings, while inconvenient, would not impede her from doing her work as a photojournalist. She said: “I have nothing to hide.” Topics US-Mexico border US immigration US politics news

LAS CRUCES, N.M./TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - The head of an armed group that stops migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally allegedly boasted of training volunteers to kill former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an FBI agent said in court papers. FILE PHOTO: U.S. soldiers walk next to the border fence between Mexico and the United States, as migrants are seen walking behind the fence, after crossing illegally into the U.S. to turn themselves in, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., in this picture taken from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, April 3, 2019. The writing on the wall reads, "Help us Jesus Christ." REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File PhotoLarry Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots, appeared in court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Monday to face charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The FBI said it found guns during a 2017 visit to his home. The UCP has helped the U.S. Border Patrol detain some 5,600 migrants in New Mexico in the last 60 days, the group said. Defense attorney Kelly O’Connell said Hopkins planned to plead not guilty to the firearms charge. He said the charges were unrelated to UCP’s actions at the border. “This is not even dealing with what’s going on right here,” O’Connell said. Wearing a dark green prison jumpsuit and bright orange sneakers, Hopkins appeared at ease in court and did not speak to anyone but his attorney. The UCP has said its two-month presence at the border was intended to support U.S. Border Patrol, which has been overwhelmed by record numbers of Central American families seeking asylum. In court papers, the FBI said witnesses in 2017 accused Hopkins of saying the UCP was training to assassinate Obama; Clinton, who was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016; and George Soros, a financier who supports liberal causes. The accusations were made during an investigation into “militia extremist activity,” the agency said. The American Civil Liberties Union and other critics accuse the UCP of being a “fascist militia” whose members illegally detain and kidnap migrants by impersonating law enforcement. UCP members, many of whom have served with U.S. Special Forces, take turns living in a camping trailer close to the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico and patrolling a five-mile section of border, much of it unfenced. Armed with rifles and wearing camouflage uniforms with the group’s eagle insignia, the group has posted dozens of videos showing the volunteers instructing migrant families to sit and wait until Border Patrol agents arrive. The group has been accused of detaining women and children at gunpoint, a claim it fiercely denies. The videos show armed men casually standing at a distance from migrants and unarmed UCP volunteers sometimes offering them water. The group gained attention after it posted an April 16 video showing as many as 300 migrants, most of them families, sitting at its camp waiting for Border Patrol. New Mexico’s Democratic Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, on Friday ordered an investigation of the UCP. She said “menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum-seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease.” FBI Special Agent David Gabriel said in a criminal complaint that in October 2017 the agency received reports a militia was being run out of Hopkins’ home in Flora Vista, New Mexico. When agents entered the home they collected nine firearms, ranging from pistols to rifles, Horton was illegally in possession of as he had at least one prior felony conviction, according to the complaint. Hopkins, the UCP’s national commander, told the agents that his common-law wife owned the weapons in question, according to court papers. Larry Mitchell Hopkins appears in a police booking photo taken at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S., April 20, 2019. Dona Ana County Detention Center/Handout via REUTERSUCP spokesman Jim Benvie said the group’s aim was to publicize the “border crisis.” Benvie narrates and posts many of the group’s videos. He says the posts prove U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of an “invasion” and “crisis” at the border. “Bringing up people’s past from years ago is getting a little old,” said Benvie, referring to the charge against Hopkins. “We’re not breaking any laws, we’re not pointing guns at people, we’re not putting anybody in jeopardy, including the illegal immigrants.” Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, Editing by Scott Malone, Tom Brown and David GregorioOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

After giving more than five hours of testimony before two House committees on Capitol Hill Monday, frustrated former FBI Director James Comey took shots at some of President Donald Trump's most recent tweets. Interested in James Comey? Add James Comey as an interest to stay up to date on the latest James Comey news, video, and analysis from ABC News. James Comey Add Interest "This is the president of the United States calling a witness who is cooperating with his own Justice Department a 'rat.' Say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up," Comey said, referring to a tweet from the president calling his former personal attorney Michael Cohen a "rat."(MORE: Democrats 'have to win' in 2020: James Comey responds to recent Trump attacks in new interview) Cohen was sentenced to various crimes including campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress after flipping on his former boss and cooperating in multiple investigations. "Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters and the truth matters," Comey said, taking a more political tone Monday afternoon than he did last Friday following his first round of testimony in front of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. "Where are those Republicans today? At some point, someone has to stand up." Comey said questions during the closed-door hearing once again focused on Hillary Clinton's email server and the Christopher Steele dossier. "I find it frustrating to be here answering questions about things that are far less important than the values this country is built upon," he said. When asked if he thought Monday's testimony was useful or merely a political maneuver by House Republicans, Comey said he couldn't say.(MORE: James Comey questioned by House Republicans about Trump-Russia, Clinton email probes) But Rep. Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters Comey was not being forthcoming enough. "I can tell you that consistently the FBI has had legal counsel there to try to discourage the answering of certain questions that might be good for the American people to know and, yet, oftentimes they will suggest that it’s part of an ongoing investigation and discourage the witnesses from testifying," Meadows said. But the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, said that the hearing was a waste of time taxpayer money. "Basically what we’ve been hearing is what we’ve been hearing over and over," Cummings said. A transcript of Comey's testimony should be released Tuesday. House Republicans also plan to question former Attorney General Loretta Lynch this week, according to congressional aides. Comey, who has been highly critical of Trump since his firing last year and spoken repeatedly to other congressional committees and news outlets about his experience, reached an agreement with Republicans to appear behind closed doors, provided they release a transcript of the hearing within 24 hours and allow him to speak publicly about the session after meeting with lawmakers. He had initially mounted a legal challenge to the subpoena.

When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford began her testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning, Erin Schaff was one of the few photographers in the room. Only eight were allowed in the room at a time, making the hearing far less accessible than Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing earlier this month—and making Schaff’s experience, in her words, “more intense than I expected.”One of Schaff’s photos, taken during Dr. Blasey Ford’s swearing-in, captures the silent side of that intensity. In it, the woman’s expression is solemn, her posture straight; she exudes quiet confidence. The image circulated in both online news stories and the Instagram stories of Schaff’s photojournalism colleagues.“I’ve had so many women and women photographers reach out to me today and say how much it means to them to see that there’s women represented today in the press pool,” says Schaff, a freelance photographer who was shooting for the New York Times. One friend of hers used the app Venmo to send her money for a bottle of wine.Thursday morning, Schaff was one of four photographers recognized on Twitter by @womenphotograph, a catalog of women and non-binary photographers around the world.That vocal support comes in the midst of a reckoning sweeping the photojournalism world, where some are demanding more diversity in addition to undoing the industry’s toxic culture.“We all come to our position as storytellers from different backgrounds and our lived experiences,” says Schaff, who is also the vice president of the Women Photojournalists of Washington, a nonprofit organization. “We see things through different lenses; we all think one gesture or one emotion is more important than another. Having a diversity of perspective is important.”Erin Schaff for The New York TimesAnother of Schaff’s images, featured in the Times, shows Dr. Blasey Ford with her team of attorneys as they gather their materials. It evokes a Renaissance painting: a tableau of chaos, frozen in the moment. But even in the center of that activity, she looks composed—and that, what Schaff calls “the strength and poise of this woman who is not a politician, regardless of any politics,” is what the photographer tried to capture.“She stood tall,” Schaff continues, “and I hope that comes across.”More Great WIRED StoriesHow to build a floating bridge in 12 minutesThe new YubiKey will help kill the passwordPHOTOS: Hilariously bored tourists from around the worldThe disastrous science behind disaster preparednessWe gotta get a better battery. But how?Get even more of our inside scoops with our weekly Backchannel newsletter

As cash returns to India’s startup sector, so have the rumours of impending mergers and acquisitions.After a lull for nearly two years, 2017 has been great for Indian internet companies in terms of funding. During January-June 2017, the total funds raised by Indian technology startups were $6.4 billion, way higher than just $2.4 billion in the corresponding period last year.Two of the country’s largest internet ventures, Flipkart and Paytm, have raised upwards of a billion dollars each this year, and are now reportedly out in the market scouting for potential buyout candidates to beef up their businesses. Rumours also abound over Amazon India eyeing acquisitions.In all, there are currently at least nine acquisitions in the making, according to recent news reports.“What companies are trying to do is consolidate the space, as well as get into all adjacent industries, and this trend is driven by the additional funds these companies have raised,” said Harish HV, a partner at professional services firm Grant Thornton India.There is a lot of conjecture currently circulating through the startup ecosystem. For instance, according to several source-based reports, Flipkart, which raised $4 billion over two rounds of funding this year, is looking at a slew of companies that it could buy:On Oct. 15, the Mint newspaper reported that Flipkart was in talks to buy a minority stake in ticketing portal BookMyShow, valuing the latter at between $500 million and $700 million.On Oct. 18, The Economic Times reported that Flipkart had begun ”exploratory discussions” to pick up a stake of between 8% and 10% in Lifestyle Fashion, the listed fashion arm of Kishore Biyani’s Future Group.On Oct. 23, Mint also said the company was in talks with food-delivery startup Swiggy, hyperlocal services firm UrbanClap, and furniture retailer Urban Ladder. Flipkart, the report said, was also eyeing firms in the insurance and wealth management spaces.On Nov. 09, The Economic Times said Flipkart had initiated talks with online furniture marketplace Pepperfry for a strategic investment.Meanwhile, rival Amazon, which in 2016 committed an investment of $3 billion into India, is also on the look out. In June, Bloomberg reported that the India arm of the American e-commerce major was in talks to buy BigBasket to boost its presence in the fast-growing online grocery segment.Alibaba-backed Paytm, too, is eyeing two acquisitions. On Nov. 13, The Times of India reported that the homegrown digital payments major was looking to buy daily deals startups Nearbuy (formerly Groupon India) and Little. The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company had raised $1.4 billion in May from Japanese telecom and internet giant Softbank.And Alibaba Group has itself sought approval of the Competition Commission of India to acquire a stake in BigBasket, according to a Nov. 13 report by the Press Trust of India.Emails to Flipkart, Paytm, Urbanclap, Swiggy, BigBasket, Nearbuy, and Little did not elicit responses. Pepperfry and Amazon India said they do not respond to rumours and speculations. “There is absolutely no truth to this rumour. There is no such deal or talks in the works,” Urban Ladder said about the Mint report.Tongues are also wagging because an acquisition can potentially give Flipkart an edge over Amazon India—it is, after all, the most epic contest in the Indian internet businesses space. Even if in a non-core segment, picking up a sector leader like Swiggy or Urban Ladder could give the e-commerce major a strong foothold in a new vertical.It’s worth remembering that acquisitions are how Flipkart won over Amazon India in the high-margin fashion e-tail segment. Along with its two buyouts—Myntra and Jabong—the company now controls nearly 70% of the segment.“Flipkart is facing a challenge from Amazon so they have a strong reason why they should look at acquisitions,” said Yugal Joshi, practice director at Texas-headquartered consulting firm Everest Group. “They have to add to their competence and market presence and taking the inorganic route could be great for scaling up quickly.”But which of these deals will finally work out? “…we don’t know. But I’m sure rumours have some basis to it. There will be some amount of discussion of some of these,” Harish said. “With deals, of course, out of three to four attempted, only one goes through typically.”Ananya Bhattacharya contributed to this story.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a ballot as he takes part in a voting drill, ahead of May 20 presidential election, in Caracas, Venezuela May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia RawlinsCARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Sunday slammed comments by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the government of President Nicolas Maduro, denouncing “supremacist policies” and aggression by the “regime of Donald Trump.” In a speech on Friday, Pompeo said that “a dictator today in Venezuela cripples his economy and starves his people,” and urged the State Department help to those who flee the crisis-stricken country. “Mr. Pompeo shows false concern for the reality of Venezuela, while hiding the perverse effects of the unilateral coercive measures of his government,” Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to financial sanctions levied against Venezuela by the Trump government. It said Trump’s government “has launched erratic maneuvers, typical of the arrogance and despair of imperialist politics, after having failed once and again in the face of the will of a free and independent people.” Close to 1 million people left Venezuela between 2015 and 2017, according to U.N. figures, to escape the rising incidence of malnutrition and preventable diseases as a result of the collapse of the country’s socialist economic system. Maduro blames the situation on U.S. sanctions and an “economic war” waged by the opposition. He is up for re-election on May 20 in a vote that is being boycotted by the opposition’s main coalition, which calls it a sham. Opposition politician Henri Falcon is breaking the boycott and will stand against Maduro. Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

When did glamour come to India? Some would say it’s always been there: Madhubala’s smile, a maharaja’s Rolls Royce collection, a maharani’s pearls. Fashion too: Sadhna’s haircut, the Nehru jacket. Certainly there was an inherent glamour in our over a hundred-year-old celluloid history and the lifestyles of former royals. But the contemporary version of glamour exceeds the coterie of royalty and film stars, permeating different spheres around us: images, billboards, clothes, make-up, magazines, gadgets, homes, bags, shoes. “As a word, glamour carries talismanic qualities,” wrote historian Stephen Gundle in his book on the history of glamour, “a magical power capable of making ordinary people, dwellings and places seem like magnificent versions of themselves.” Gundle identifies a series of historic images, icons and moments that, when accumulated, contributed to the popularly understood idea of glamour in the West: Jackie Onassis, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana; designer Gianni Versace making a relatively unknown model, Elizabeth Hurley, a sensation overnight by putting her in a dress made of safety pins; finally defining glamour as “a language of allure and seduction in capitalist society.”But how and why did glamour emerge? What were the economic, political and social conditions that allowed it to flourish? How did it snowball into an economy generating magazines, pageants, television programming, a retail revolution, even a deeper shift in values from parsimony and unselfconsciousness to conspicuous consumption and giving unquestionable importance to looking good?[…]In the 1970s and 1980s, when we wanted a dose of glamour, we bought a Filmfare or a Stardust at a railway station, or tuned in for the weekly medley of film songs in “Chitrahaar” if we had a TV. With television’s entry into middle class homes in the 1980s, glamour was closely linked with television advertising played on state-owned channels. Advertising was a small industry operating largely out of Bombay. Commercials were shot there, usually with local models, by a limited number of filmmakers, photographers and Bombay-based advertising agencies. Models for these ads were recruited by “spotting” young women in colleges and public places in Bombay where the agencies, filmmakers and photographers were based, or at the Miss India pageants. These pageants, held by two women’s magazines, Femina and Eve’s Weekly (based out of Bombay), were sparsely contested. Often, contestants had to be pursued, cajoled and personally invited to participate by the editors of the magazines. Fashion shows in India have a scattered and barely-documented history.Fashion shows in India have a scattered and barely-documented history. The earliest we hear of are Sylla and Nergish Spencer, or the “Spencer Sisters” as they were known, who put together dazzling shows for select audiences in the 1950s. Then came the era of “Jeannie and her Girls.” Jeannie Naoroji was known to be the grande dame of fashion shows who, with her troupe of models in the 1960s, presented choreographed fashion shows of different kinds: “ship shows” held in luxury liners docking in Bombay’s port, exhibiting Western designs but with Indian textiles or embroidery; “travelling shows” or tours across the country organized by textile mills to advertise and sell a newly launched textile; “fundraising shows” with dancing and spectacle for a cause; and niche shows for a select clientele, such as the opening of shopping arcades at five-star hotels such as the Oberoi or Taj.Jeannie’s Girls were expected to be Jills-of-all-trades—dancers, performers, graceful gliders (usually barefoot, the era of high heels was still to come) and costume wearers, all recruited by Jeannie and her hawk-eyed assistants. They were college girls from elite South Bombay colleges, secretaries in advertising agencies, young women spotted by the assistants in markets or movie halls, telephone operators or friends’ daughters. This motley crew of amateurs were not always conventionally beautiful, but almost always “Westernized,” and always graceful.Jeannie’s monopoly was broken in the early 1980s by newer choreographers, including some from Delhi, who brought other skills to the presentation of a show: lights, stagecraft and the pizzazz of theatrical production. Vidyun Singh was one of them. She and her business partner Asha Kochhar went on to become pioneers of the choreographed fashion shows as we know them today. In her Delhi office, neatly filed with boxes of paperwork from shows done over the past decade, she reminisced about her big break: ‘There used to be Trade Fair shows at that time in Pragati Maidan, where every November for a month there would be an evening slot for a fashion show. It was the hugest draw. And that time, the shows would be from Bombay, because there was no person in Delhi who was considered to be at par. Jeannie Naoroji and Vimla Patil from Femina, they would be getting contracts and doing the shows. And I have to repeat: they were the hugest draws at the Trade Fair. So when my partner and I did a presentation before the committee and got our first show at the Trade Fair, it was a big deal.’Vidyun and Asha had a theatre and stagecraft background, and pitched for the Trade Fair contract after some experience of producing and choreographing such shows at the college level. “We were just lucky,” she says of the success that came later, and of the vocation that within a decade became their playground. “In hindsight, nobody thought it would be as big as it has become today. We were in the right place at the right time.” Vidyun and Asha’s business flourished through the 1980s, supported largely through state-sponsored shows that promoted handicrafts—sometimes for tourism, sometimes for trade in textiles. “The government support was a lot more at that time. It could be the textile corporation, handloom promotion board, or even a collaboration with a state emporium highlighting a particular fabric. We had textile-driven and not designer-driven fashion shows,” says Vidyun. This wasn’t surprising, considering that a central element of the contemporary fashion show was entirely missing in this era: the fashion designer. This problem was soon solved when the state set up the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) under the Ministry of Textiles in 1986 in Delhi, with a vision of ‘establishing Indian textiles and Indian fashion on the world stage’. From this was to come India’s first batch of official fashion designers.By the end of the 1980s all the elements were coming together to create a fertile ground for the birth of a new era of fashion and glamour.By the end of the 1980s all the elements were coming together to create a fertile ground for the birth of a new era of fashion and glamour. The fashion show had evolved from a song-and-dance affair to a presentation of textiles and garments. A new breed of professionals had risen who were “choreographers” of these shows. Fashion design had been introduced into the system, even institutionalized, and the first batches of fashion designers were getting ready to wiggle their toes in Indian waters. Television had become a central part of people’s lives, reaching remote corners of the country. Advertising, as a result, was doing extremely well; and increasingly, a lexicon of images—a bikini-clad Karen Lunel (the “Liril Girl”) under a waterfall, the Garden Vareli ladies swirling in swathes of chiffon, the Charminar man astride his bike with pillion-riding girlfriend—was entering the mainstream to help us define this new form of glamour. The stage was set.[…]A series of overlapping coincidences after 1990, the year India dismantled its barriers to foreign capital, or got “globalized,” helped bring glamour further into our lives. As satellite media arrived, television became all-pervasive. Import-export restrictions were lifted, and items that had earlier been luxury goods with high levels of taxation began to enter the market at affordable prices. This was accompanied by a boom in advertising, driven by multinational products entering the Indian market, the explosion of TV channels due to satellite media and the entry of many new magazines. Music channels with smart, international-looking VJs brought pop culture and Western fashion into the world of young Indians. In addition, the advertising industry had developed significantly by now, and began to look outside Bombay for new faces.As the NIFT experiment proved successful, new fashion designers became rich and famous. Private fashion design schools came up across the country, giving an impetus to design as a profession. This, in turn, led to renewed interest in the “fashion show” as a forum for the showcasing of clothes designed by the growing breed of designers. Ramp modelling came into prominence in 1989, when international fashion houses from Europe, Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint-Laurent, came to India. With the media build-up around this, and the selection of some Indian models to go to Paris, ramp models came into the spotlight. Meanwhile, India saw spectacular international success at beauty pageants in 1994 when two young women, the 19-year old Sushmita Sen and the 21-year old Aishwarya Rai, won the titles of Miss Universe and Miss World respectively. Social commentator Madhu Kishwar wrote caustically that Indians were celebrating like Americans did when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.Even though the 1994 wins were perceived as being the turning point, it was the preceding years that were actually the game-changers. The 1990s saw a change in the demographics of participants in pageants. No longer just elite South Bombay college girls, they were now a wider, more diverse group. Girls from non English-speaking middle classes took to modelling: one of them, Madhu Sapre, came from a traditional Maharashtrian family. She won the Miss India title, later garnering third position in the Miss Universe contest in 1992. […]With Sapre’s win and the consequent world titles feted globally, these women became the role models for many girls from modest socio-economic backgrounds. It was clear that an elite background was no longer necessary to be successful—the requisites could be acquired with dedication and exposure. […]“The time was ripe,” says Sathya Saran, then editor of the women’s magazine that organized the Miss India pageant. “Indian women were CRAVING glamour.” Sathya was instrumental in transforming Femina, a magazine that had been a housewife’s trusted monthly into a vehicle for glamour. She had two silver bullets. With one, she was going to make Miss Indias the next big thing. With the other, she would shoot holes into the drudgery and domesticity of the middle class Indian woman and do something no-one had done before: make her feel good. “We (the magazine) weren’t very glamorous ourselves when we realized that the Indian woman was craving glamour. We started helping her decide whether Indian products are making it up to the grade with foreign products, letting her pick the right things off the shelf, giving her know-how. Not being critical of her but being informative, being like a consultant.”“The Indian woman was craving glamour.”The magazine upped their beauty pages from two to 15. The “upping” of fashion and beauty pages coincided with the entry of several new cosmetics and lifestyle products in the market in the country, and within months the two were intimately entwined. It was a marriage made in heaven. “Big names were coming in because now the market was ready. The Indian woman was ready.”Which “Indian woman” was she catering to? Sathya says, “The urban Indian woman. The aspirational Indian woman who wants to look better, feel better, be a better partner, worker, colleague, whatever. We are talking to HER. And beauty is part of her arsenal for being better.”But the promotion of Western products doesn’t mean she compromises on Indian values, Sathya stresses. “I’m telling my readers: don’t ‘progress’ at the cost of anything else. You want to be Western, be Western. But it doesn’t mean that when you see an elder person you don’t touch their feet. It means that yes, you are old enough to take a flight and go to another city, and say, I am doing business tonight, tomorrow morning I’ll come back. You are bold enough to ask your husband to take care of your child while you go out tonight. You are bold enough to tell your employer, buddy, I need this cash, if you can’t give it to me I am finding another job. That is being Western, it’s not saying, I don’t care, and putting your parents in an old persons’ home. It’s not saying, I don’t care, I’m using plastic because everyone in the West is using plastic.”With the introduction of this cocktail of binaries into the magazine—the material West and spiritual East—circulation numbers began to rise in thousands. Or “THOUSANDS” as she says. “Circulation was 63,000 when I took over in 1992. In one year it doubled.”If these ambitions for the urban, aspirational Indian women were still modest, her drive to make Miss Indias “World Ambassadors” was less so. Conspiracy theorists may think the boom in Indian beauty queens was driven by a world awakening to the potential of India as a market for their beauty products, but not Sathya. “No no that’s not true, India did not happen because it was opening up as a market,” she says, “India happened because we made it happen from here.” She waves a delicate wrist around her, indicating the office and the building that houses the media giant. “Here inside the walls of this building.”Excerpted with the permission of Zubaan Books from Mannequin: Working Women in India’s Glamour Industry by Manjima Bhattacharjya. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.

"ISIS is not over," Commander Simko Shikaki said, standing on a roof overlooking the frontline in the village of Soussa. "The military pressure from them is ending, but the fundamental war is eradicating the ideology that has been engrained here for years. The ideology is harder to fight."Three SDF soldiers in the southeast Syrian town of Hajin after it was liberated from ISIS.To the right of our location is a coalition special forces base. Americans, Brits and French soldiers are all around this area. In the skies, coalition aircraft provide crushing air support. Commander Shikaki said there were only a few more villages that remain under ISIS control. That territory could be taken in a matter of months. But the insurgency could continue for years, he said, regardless of whether US forces stay or go.Yesterday'ssuicide bombing in Manbijthat killed at least 14 people, including four Americans, may well be a taste of what's to come. We visited the town three days before the attack and walked around the old souq, just a couple hundred yards from the restaurant where the bomber detonated.In a Syrian cemetery, Kurds contemplate war without their US alliesThe town was liberated from ISIS last September, and many residents have since returned. We found a bustling town that beneath the surface is simmering with unspoken tensions, with some Arabs chafing under the control of Kurdish forces. The veneer of security is dependent on the delicate balance of powers with a presence here. Americans. Kurds. The Turks. The regime and Russia. Many fear thatthe American withdrawalwill upend that tenuous balance and create a power vacuum, an opportunity for ISIS to return.On the streets of Ain Issa, another former stronghold of ISIS, Kurdish civilian leader Elham Ahmed had a grim warning of what could happen when US forces leave. "We will go back to square one. They still have sleeper cells- every day there are assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. So with the decision to withdraw, ISIS is saying, we are going to start a new campaign."

Earlier this summer, the startup launched by Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android operating system, unveiled his vision for the modern smartphone. It’s one that focuses heavily on design and modularity.Quartz spent the last few weeks with the Essential phone, to get an understanding of what living with it is like, and whether it’s different enough to make Apple or Samsung acolytes abandon their paths and think different. here’s what we found:It’s really pretty. In a world of indiscernible black rectangles, the Essential phone somehow manages to (slightly) stand out. Aesthetically, it’s sort of like the platonic ideal of a smartphone: There’s a sharp, high-resolution screen that wraps around almost the entirety of the front of the device; polished strips of titanium cover the sides; and has a shiny ceramic back that can easily double as a mirror. Every aspect of the design feels considered, including the fabric-wrapped cables that ship with the phone.It’s adaptable. On the back of the phone are two magnetic dots that can connect to a series of external gadgets that Essential is developing. Right now, the only one that’s rolled out so far is a 360° camera, which costs $50. It’s one of the smallest and easiest-to-use cameras of its ilk on the market; you just snap it onto the back of the phone, and start recording in 360° video.It’s pure Android. Essential is the brainchild of Rubin, the original creator of Android, which was acquired by Google in 2005. There’s no junk or bloatware on this phone, just the stock operating system as Google builds it.Decent battery life. The phone’s battery could last for the better part of a workday with no problem. Even when we left it on, unplugged, from Friday night to Monday morning, the battery life held up impressively, dropping from 95% to 44%.It’s heavy and boxy. Although the design of the phone looks good from a distance, it’s not so great when actually using it. The phone weighs about 0.41 lbs—roughly 0.1 lbs heavier than an iPhone 7—and its corners make the device relatively clunky and uncomfortable to hold in the hand or in a pocket, especially when compared to the more rounded design approach that companies like Apple and Samsung have taken in recent years. Also the ceramic back is a fingerprint magnet that needs to be wiped off after every use to maintain its sheen.The camera is just fine. The 13-megapixel back-facing camera takes sharp and vivid photos, but the phone is missing many of the functions that its competitors have, including a portrait mode, panoramic shots, or time-lapses.Both the newest iPhones and Samsungs have two cameras on the back that allow them to perceive depth to create photos that seem as if they were shot on a professional camera with a shallow depth of field. The Essential also has two cameras, but, curiously, one is just for shooting monochrome photos. Perhaps in a later software release Essential could bring the iPhone’s killer feature of 2016 to its phone. The 8-megapixel front-facing camera, however, takes some pretty decent selfies, and is sharper than the one on the new iPhone 8.The fingerprint scanner isn’t reliable. It didn’t recognize my fingerprint more than half of the times I attempted to use it, and even when it did, it was slower at unlocking my phone than many of the other scanners I’ve used this year.Many apps don’t make use of the full screen. The phone has a brilliant screen that is, much like Apple’s forthcoming iPhone X, hampered by a “notch” at the top. Many apps use the area around the front camera as a status bar area, or letterbox their app around the area, leaving an awkward black area hanging off the screen. (Check out the long black rectangle hanging off the left side of the screenshot below, and then compare it to how the home screen looks above.)It’s expensive for what it is. The phone does not have many of the features its competition touts. There are the shortcomings of the camera that we already mentioned. It also is not as water-resistant as an iPhone or a Galaxy S8, nor does it have an OLED HD display, or wireless charging. And the phone costs $700; if you’re after a no-frills Android, consider the the OnePlus 5, which has similar features to the Essential phone, but only costs $479.If, at any given moment, you know whether it’s quicker to take your Model S P100D on the 101 or 280 to get from your meeting on Sand Hill Road to the Blue Bottle in SOMA, this is the phone for you. If none of those words mean anything to you, get an iPhone or a Samsung.The Essential phone is like so many things in Silicon Valley in 2017. It’s different for the sake of it, and expensive enough that it’s still exclusive. It’s like owning a Tesla or like Apple’s new campus: A beautiful work of art that’s ultimately just an empty status symbol. At $700, the Essential phone doesn’t offer anything that the Samsung Galaxy S8 or an iPhone 8 doesn’t offer for roughly the same price, other than a better screen-to-phone ratio, and overall, it offers less than its competitors.Silicon Valley loves to disrupt things, and the smartphone industry is ripe for disruption—every black rectangle is about as good as every other one, and they’re all slightly better than the ones that were released the year before—but this really feels like a refinement of ideas that have likely been banging around in Rubin and his designers’ heads for a few years, rather than a step-change in the mobile industry.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he was “comfortable” in the White House after almost two years in office, despite political storms over immigration, tariffs and his nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 10, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo“It was a little surreal to say I’m the president of the United States, but I think that’s true with everybody,” Trump told the CBS television news program “60 Minutes.” “Even my friends, they don’t call me Donald, they call me Mr. President. And I say: ‘Will you please loosen up?’ I’ve learned on the job. I have.” “Now I very much feel like POTUS,” Trump added, using the acronym for president of the United States. The interview, in which Trump proved as eager as ever for verbal jousting on a range of issues, showed no sign he had any intention of abandoning his freewheeling, in-your-face persona as president. Trump would not say whether he intended to return to the contentious policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the border, but gave no ground on what he saw as the need for tough policy. “When you allow the parents to stay together, OK, when you allow that, then what happens is people are going to pour into our country,” Trump said. “There have to be consequences ... for coming into our country illegally.” The family separations and the detention of thousands of children, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, prompted widespread condemnation of Trump’s policy. About 2,500 children and parents were separated before Trump abandoned the policy in June. Days later, a federal judge ordered the families reunited, a process that is still incomplete. After a political brawl in the Senate over sexual misconduct allegations against his Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh, Trump said his remarks at a Mississippi rally in which critics said he mocked accuser Christine Blasey Ford were necessary to win the confirmation fight. “Had I not made that speech, we would not have won. I was just saying she didn’t seem to know anything,” Trump said. “And you’re trying to destroy a life of a man who has been extraordinary.” He denied making fun of her, saying instead that he had treated her with respect. “I’m not going to get into it because we won. It doesn’t matter. We won,” Trump said. Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 vote in the U.S. Senate earlier this month. A New York businessman whose upset 2016 victory against Democrat Hillary Clinton sent shock waves across the political world, Trump said he had discovered that the Washington political scene was even tougher than the business world. “Washington, D.C. is a vicious, vicious place: the attacks, the bad-mouthing, the speaking behind your back. But you know, and in my way, I feel very comfortable here,” the president told CBS. “I always used to say the toughest people are Manhattan real estate guys and blah, blah. Now I say they’re babies.” Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, is revealing a brief advisory role with a firm related to a controversial data analysis company that aided the Trump campaign, the Associated Press has learned.The disclosure of Flynn’s link to Cambridge Analytica will come in an amended public financial filing in which the retired US army lieutenant general also discloses income that includes payments from the Trump transition team, according to a person close to Flynn who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, to describe details of the filing made to the White House. The amended disclosure shows that just before the end of the campaign, Flynn entered into a consulting agreement with SCL Group, a Virginia-based company related to Cambridge Analytica, the data mining and analysis firm that worked with Trump’s campaign.The person said Flynn did not perform work or accept payment as part of the agreement with SCL Group. The details of Flynn’s role with SCL were not fully laid out, the person said, noting that Flynn terminated his involvement shortly after Trump won the presidency. Cambridge Analytica was heavily funded by the family of Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager who also backed the campaign and other conservative candidates and causes. Cambridge Analytica also worked for the successful pro-Brexit campaign in 2016 to pull Britain out of the European Union. Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, was a vice-president of Cambridge Analytica before he joined the Trump campaign. Democratic lawmakers and Trump critics have seized on Cambridge Analytica’s role as they have pushed congressional investigators to scrutinize the Trump campaign’s data operation as part of investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Flynn’s previous filing, submitted to the White House and Office of Government Ethics in March, listed at least $1.3m in earnings, including between $50,000 and $100,000 from his consulting company, Flynn Intel Group. The latest filing lists at least $1.8m in income. Flynn’s amended filing comes some six months after he was ousted from the White House for misleading the vice-president about conversations he had with the then-Russian ambassador to the US. It also comes as the special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees are scrutinizing Flynn’s business deals and foreign connections. The person close to Flynn said he was disclosing the information in an amended filing to make sure the “public record is accurate and transparent”. The person noted that Flynn and his legal team had spent months piecing together the information necessary for the filing without the assistance of the White House counsel’s office or the Office of Government Ethics. In the filing, Flynn reports earning about $28,000 from the Trump presidential transition and more than $5,000 as a consultant to an aborted plan to build nuclear power plants across the Middle East. The consulting connection with a group of companies involved in the power plant proposal had been disclosed in Flynn’s previous filing, but it had not indicated that he had received payment. Flynn’s new filing also provided more details about his consulting work for NJK Holding Corporation, a firm headed by the Iranian American multimillionaire Nasser Kazeminy. The filing shows that Flynn was paid more than $140,000 for his roles as adviser and consultant to Minneapolis-based NJK. Flynn also served as vice-chairman at GreenZone Systems, a tech firm funded by NJK and headed by Bijan Kian, who was Flynn’s business partner in Flynn Intel Group, a consulting firm that was active last year but is now defunct. Flynn Intel is now under scrutiny by federal authorities and congressional investigators for its role in research and lobbying work for a Turkish businessman tied to the government of Turkey. In a statement to the AP, NJK said Flynn “played an advisory role to NJK Holding relative to its investment interests in security”. The firm added that in his roles with NJK and GreenZone, Flynn “provided his counsel and guidance on public sector business opportunities for secure communications technology within the US Department of Defense” and with other agencies. NJK said Kian has no current involvement with NJK or GreenZone. Earlier Thursday, Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House committee on oversight and government reform, asked Kian for documents detailing Flynn’s foreign business contacts and travel. Flynn listed Kian as a personal reference in 2016 during his effort to renew his military security clearance. Kian told military investigators that Flynn had several foreign business contacts, but Flynn did not provide any of those contacts to investigators, Cummings said. Topics Michael Flynn Trump administration US politics Cambridge Analytica news