Category Archives: Latest News

Stocks largely level after early dive, morning of sharp swings

Leave a reply

U.S. stock markets lurched from negative to positive territory and back again Tuesday morning as investors attempted to navigate another rocky day in the markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average fluctuated in an unusually wide 934-point range in the first hour of trading, and further swings remained a risk after a morning of volatile trading.

Money managers urged investors to keep calm and noted that the U.S. and global economies remain strong. Earlier Tuesday morning, major companies reported another round of strong profits, with General Motors, BP, Allergan, several health-care companies and others beating analysts’ expectations.

Veteran traders and stock strategists believe the slide in stock prices over the past week is is a natural dip. The market had run up too high, too fast and needed to let off some steam, they say.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard told reporters after a speech in Lexington, Kty that “this is the most predicted selloff of all time because the markets have been up so much and they have had so many days in a row without meaningful down days,’’ Bloomberg News reported.

Bullard played down the risk of inflation, saying that data Friday showing a jump in average hourly earnings did not mean the economy was on the verge of a resurgence of inflation. He said other measures of wages were more restrained, Bloomberg reported.

Yet the markets remained nervous as exchanges in Asia and Europe plunged after Monday’s record single-day 1,175-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, renewing questions about whether the long-running stock rally is heading for a rout that might undercut President Trump’s frequent boasts claiming credit for the markets’ rise.

“I think you’ve seen a normal market correction, although large,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Tuesday at a House Financial Services Committee hearing. He said that computer trading algorithms made the market fall on Monday worse. “It definitely had an impact on market moves,” he said.

Nonetheless, Mnuchin added that “I’m not overly concerned about the market volatility. I think the fundamentals are quite strong.”

Asked whether the administration would take responsibility for downturns as well as increases in the stock market, Mnuchin said, “We’ll still claim credit that it’s up over 30 percent since the election.”

All U.S. stock market indexes opened down more than 1 percent Tuesday before rebounding. At 10:30 a.m., the Dow was down 0.3 percent and the broader SP 500 was down 0.1 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.65 percent. The yields on 10-year Treasury bills stood at 2.779 percent, below recent highs, and corporate bond rates held steady Monday, suggesting that a stampede out of stocks is not imminent.

Though the Dow Jones industrial average briefly crossed into correction territory, down more than 10 percent since its Jan. 26 high, it climbed back afterward. The SP 500 index came close to the 10 percent correction threshold but did not cross into it.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index closed down nearly 4.7 percent Tuesday, recovering from a precipitous 7 percent plunge earlier in the day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 5.1 percent, while markets in Australia, South Korea and China also lost ground.

Minutes after the European markets opened, there were declines across most sectors. By the close of trading, the FTSE 100, which captures Britain’s largest companies, had fallen 2.6 percent, Germany’s DAX had tumbled 2.3 percent and France’s CAC 40 had dropped 2.4 percent.

Amid the selling frenzy, traders were left trying to assess whether this was just a roller-coaster moment in an overall climbing market or possibly a pivot point that could end a historic upward run by markets that created billions of dollars in paper wealth.

Investment adviser Edward Yardeni, author of forthcoming book “Predicting the Markets,” said there have been 60 panics in the bull market that dates back to March 9, 2009. Four of the panics knocked 10 to 20 percent off stock prices before the market recovered.

The latest sell-off is “Panic Attack #60 rather than the beginning of a bear market,” he said. “We can’t rule out a 1987-like event, which amounted to a one-day bear market.”

He added that “this time around, we have Blue Friday followed by Black Monday. While investors have suffered a black-and-blue bruising, we believe that the underlying strength in the global economy combined with the Trump tax cuts will boost earnings significantly this year.”

Fidelity Investments on its Web site cautioned investors that timing the market is difficult and that missing a small number of sharply up days could hurt long-run returns on investment.

Analysts said that the pace of the inevitable rise in interest rates remained a concern, but that the swift plunge in the market midafternoon on Monday appeared to be linked to computer trading rather than fundamental economic problems. Others said that a correction in stock prices was overdue.

Pavel Molchanov, equity analyst at the firm Raymond James, said the stock sell-off resembled the computer-driven ‘’flash crash’’ of 2010 or the sell-off after the Brexit referendum rather than a rerun of the financial crisis a decade ago.

“To state the obvious, on a percentage basis, yesterday’s drop doesn’t even enter the top 250,” he said. “Also, the past week provides a reminder — painful but timely — that volatility has not been repealed. Nothing goes up in a straight line.”

Yet analysts early Tuesday were forecasting a tough day for European investors — maybe the worst since British voters decided to divorce themselves from the European Union in a June 2016 referendum.

[Why the stock market is selling off]

Where some saw a bumpy ride, others welcomed the turbulence, saying that the high-flying global markets needed to cool their jets after soaring for more than a year. 

“I’m not quivering in my boots,” said David Buik, a market commentator for Panmure Gordon Co., a London-based investment bank and institutional stockbroker.

“The writing was on the wall for a pullback,” he said, noting that since Trump’s election in November 2016, the Dow Jones industrial average had soared 42 percent through its high at the end of January.

Trump has often boasted about the stock climb since he took office, but he has grown silent since the markets began their fall.

Vice President Pence shrugged off the downturn as “simply the ebb and flow” of financial markets.

“Today’s sell-off represents what is, very likely, simply the ebb and flow of our stock markets, and we recognize that,” Pence said during a stop in Alaska en route to South Korea to attend the Winter Olympics.

The steep declines in Europe and Asia on Tuesday followed a heart-stopping Monday that saw the Dow at one point plunge 1,600 points. The one-day drop of 1,175 points was one for the history books.

Though a dip had been expected for a while, U.S. losses seemed to spook global markets. “There’s genuine carnage out there,” said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia. “Everyone is just running for the hills because nobody actually knows what’s causing this move.”

The fear was amplified by the fact that markets have been so stable for so long, he said. “We have become so accustomed to subdued volatility, so these moves feel even bigger than they are.”

[Trump, GOP discover peril of taking credit for stock market]

Wall Street has had a great run: The Dow Jones industrial average was up over 26 percent from January 2017 to January 2018. As Trump keeps saying on Twitter, the U.S. economy also looks solid, with unemployment at a 17-year low.

The sell-off started Friday when generally positive U.S. jobs figures showed strong wage growth, deepening concerns about inflation and possible rate hikes by the Federal Reserve — a “good news is bad news” scenario.

“The main reason for the decline on the U.S. stock market is that the recent figures released by the U.S. looked pretty strong,” explained Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at Shanghai-based Industrial Bank.

A payroll increase led to fear of a rate hike and Monday’s market “adjustment,” he said, “but there’s no significant concerns about the fundamentals of the U.S. economy.”

Still, the Dow’s precipitous drop created a climate of uncertainty in global markets.

In China, the Shanghai and Shenzhen bench marks closed down 3.3 and 4.2 percent, respectively, and the Nasdaq-style ChiNext index down 5.3 percent. 

“Market jitters are to be expected following the U.S. plunge on Friday and Monday, but this is only the beginning” said Wu Xianfeng, president of Longteng Asset Management, in Shenzhen.

“The sell-off is just a natural response to the moves in the U.S.,” agreed Richard Jerram, chief economist at the Bank of Singapore. “It is hard to find an Asia-centric explanation of the moves.”

And how long with the sell-off last? “Until the U.S. stabilizes,” he said. 

Rauhala reported from Beijing. Shirley Feng, Yang Liu and Amber Wang in Beijing and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. 

Read more

Dow closes down nearly 1,200 points in volatile trading

Why the stock market is selling off, explained

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

SpaceX’s First Falcon Heavy Rocket to Launch 4th Electric Car to Leave Earth

Leave a reply

CAPE CANAVERAL — SpaceX is poised to make history by launching the world’s fourth electric car into space.

Years in the making, the commercial spaceflight company is preparing to launch its first Falcon Heavy rocket, which as its name implies, is a heavy-lift booster built from a core stage and two of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 recoverable rockets. According to SpaceX, when the Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be “the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.”

Only NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which carried six crews — and three electric cars — to the moon almost 50 years ago, could deliver more payload to orbit. (The space shuttle had more thrust at launch than the Falcon Heavy, but had a lower payload capacity.) [Watch SpaceX Launch Falcon Heavy at 1:30 pm ET] 

Even though the Falcon Heavy is based on the design of the proven (and flight-proven, or reflown) Falcon 9, its configuration is new and so carries new risks. The rocket’s 27 Merlin engines must fire in unison and the two side mounted boosters need to separate from the core — something SpaceX has never done in flight. 

“Going through the sound barrier, you get supersonic shockwaves. You could have some shockwave impingement, or where two shockwaves interact and amplify the effect, that could cause a failure as it goes transonic,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO and chief designer, in a call with reporters on Monday (Feb. 5) “Then around Max-Q, which is maximum dynamic air pressure — that is when the force on the rocket is the greatest — and that’s possibly where it could fail as well.”

“We’re worried about ice potentially falling off the upper stage onto the nose cones of the side boosters,” Musk continued. “That would be like a cannon ball coming through the nose cone. And then the separation system has not been tested in flight. We have tested everything that we could think of for the separation of those side boosters on the ground, but this is the first time it has to operate in flight.”

As such, Falcon Heavy’s success on its maiden mission is not a sure thing and so placing a satellite or some other operational payload on board wasn’t considered a prudent move. Test flights typically carry a mass simulator, taking the place of the payload in the form dead weight, like concrete or steel blocks.

“That seemed extremely boring,” Musk wrote on Twitter in December, just before revealing what would top the rocket.

“We decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel,” he said. “The payload will be an original Tesla Roadster, playing [the song] ‘Space Oddity,’ on a billion-year elliptic Mars orbit.” 

‘Starman in [a] Red Roadster’

More specifically, Musk, who is also the CEO and product architect at Telsa, said it was his personal “midnight cherry” Roadster.

Photographs of the electric car taken prior to it being encapsulated in its protective fairing for launch revealed a few more details.

Strapped into the driver’s seat is a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit of the same black and white style as SpaceX designed for NASA astronauts to soon wear for flights on the company’s Dragon spacecraft to and from the International Space Station. Musk referred to the driver as “Starman” — another nod to the late David Bowie — in a tweet on Monday (Feb. 5).

“If you look closely you’ll see a little Easter egg on the dashboard,” Musk teased, talking to reporters.

The photos appear to show a miniature version of the Roadster, complete with its own tiny Starman, on the dash of the convertible.

Starman in Red Roadster

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Feb 4, 2018 at 9:50pm PST

The (full-size) car is mounted atop the Falcon Heavy’s second stage such that its front is higher than its rear. The second stage will fire its single Merlin engine three times, first to place the it and Tesla into space, then to demonstrate the Heavy’s ability to insert satellites directly into geosynchronous Earth orbit and then finally, if all goes to plan, to thrust the Roadster into deep space.

Between the second and third burns, the Roadster will coast for six hours, passing in and out of the Van Allen belts, a concentrated region of radiation that surrounds Earth.

“We’re going to be testing something on this flight which we’ve never done before, a six hour coast in deep space that’s going to go through the Van Allen belts,” said Musk. “So, it is going to get whacked [by radiation] pretty hard.”

“The fuel [for the second stage] could freeze and the oxygen [for the engine] could vaporize, all of which could inhibit the third burn which is necessary for trans-Mars injection,” he said. [From Shaking to ‘Cannonballing’ Ice: Here’s What the Falcon Heavy Faces on Epic Test Flight]

If the stage survives the “grand tour” of the Van Allen belts and successfully fires its engine for a third time, then the Tesla will leave Earth on a journey to out where Mars circles the sun.

“It will go out to Mars orbit,” said Musk, “about 400 million kilometers from Earth, about 250 to 270 million miles, and be doing 11 kilometers per second [7 miles per second].”

“It is going to be in a precessing elliptical orbit, with one part of the ellipse being in Earth orbit and the other part being in Mars orbit. So essentially, it will be an Earth-Mars cycler and we estimate it will be in that orbit for several million years, maybe in excess of a billion years, and at times it will come extremely close to Mars and there is a tiny, tiny chance it will hit Mars,” he said, adding that the chances of an impact with the Red Planet was “extremely tiny.” 

Credit: collectSPACE.com

Following in their tire marks

Musk’s Tesla Roadster will be the first car that was built to be driven on Earth to be launched into space, but for the first car to leave the planet, you need to look back almost half a century.

The first and last time that a car ventured beyond Earth was aboard NASA’s three last Apollo missions to the moon. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV, or lunar rover) helped expand the ground that the Apollo astronauts could cover while exploring the lunar surface.

Built by Boeing and General Motors, the latter providing the rover’s wheels, motor and suspension, the Apollo astronauts’ car drew its power from two silver-zinc potassium hydroxide non-rechargeable batteries and had a range of 57 miles (92 kilometers).

By comparison, the Tesla Roadster uses a lithium-ion power pack with a range of 244 miles (393 km). But the Roadster won’t be driving on its space voyage.

It will however, be sending back data, and with luck, imagery of its departure from Earth.

“There are three cameras on the Roadster. They really should provide some epic views, if they work and everything goes well,” said Musk.

Watch SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy animation set to David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” at collectSPACE.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth: I swore an oath to the Constitution, not to clap when Trump demands

Leave a reply

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who has emerged in recent weeks as one of President Trump’s most vocal critics, fired back after Trump called Democrats “treasonous” for not applauding him during his State of the Union address.

“We don’t live in a dictatorship or monarchy. I swore an oath — in the military and in the Senate — to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap,” Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote in a tweet, using a nickname she had given Trump, who had said in previous interviews that he was granted medical deferment during the Vietnam War after bone spurs in his feet were diagnosed.

Duckworth, who lost her legs in 2004 while serving in Iraq as an Army helicopter pilot, then shared this quote from Theodore Roosevelt, lifted from an opinion piece the former president wrote during World War I: “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

Duckworth has been highly critical of Trump, particularly on issues involving the military and national security.

In a Senate floor speech last month, Duckworth called Trump a “five-deferment draft dodger” who had no business accusing Democrats — like herself — of not caring for the military.

“Does he even know that there are service members who are in harm’s way right now, watching him, looking for their commander in chief to show leadership, rather than to try to deflect blame?” Duckworth said.

The speech was prompted by a tweet in which Trump accused Democrats of “holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration.” It’s one of many partisan attacks Trump launched to blame Democrats for a congressional budget stalemate that had led to a partial federal government shutdown.

The junior senator also accused Trump of trying to bait North Korea into a war by escalating his rhetoric against Kim Jong Un.

“I have a message for ‘Cadet Bone Spurs,’ ” Duckworth said. “If you cared about our military, you’d stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops, and millions of innocent civilians, in danger.”

During a speech about tax cuts Monday, Trump veered off script and accused Democrats of treason, a crime punishable by death, for not applauding even as he touted positive unemployment numbers during his State of the Union address.

“Even on positive news like that, really positive news like that, they were like death and un-American,” Trump told a crowd in Blue Ash, Ohio. “Somebody said ‘treasonous.’ I mean, yeah, I guess, why not? Shall we call that treason? Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.”

Responding to criticism Tuesday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told NBC News that Trump was speaking “tongue in cheek” and was simply saying that all Americans, regardless of party, should celebrate positive news.

Amy B Wang and John Wagner contributed to this post.

Read more:

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost her legs in Iraq, calls Trump ‘a five-deferment draft dodger’

Trump calls Democratic lawmakers who didn’t applaud him ‘treasonous,’ ‘un-American’

Trump was speaking ‘tongue in cheek’ when he said Democrats were ‘treasonous,’ spokesman says

Larry Nassar sentenced to 40 to 125 years in Eaton County

Leave a reply

10:52 AM ET

CHARLOTTE, Mich. — There were silent hugs and quiet tears in the gallery of an Eaton County courtroom Monday morning as convicted sexual predator Larry Nassar spent what will likely be his final seconds in a public setting with his head down and hands folded in his lap. Minutes earlier, Nassar told a room full of some of the women he manipulated and abused that their words would stay with him in prison for the rest of his life.

Lawyer doubts number of Nassar assaults

Shannon Smith, the defense attorney for Larry Nassar, told WWJ Newsradio on Thursday that she doesn’t believe her client is capable of sexually assaulting all of the women who have accused him of doing so.

Judge Janice Cunningham sentenced Nassar to a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of 125 years for his crimes in Eaton County. Her sentence was the third and final punishment Nassar will receive in criminal court. The former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics team doctor spent the last several weeks in Michigan courtrooms listening to some of the hundreds of women who say he used his notoriety and authority as a famous physician to sexually abuse them over the last 25 years.

“The words expressed by everyone that has spoken including the parents have impacted me to my innermost soul,” Nassar said, reading from a slip of paper that he kept tucked in a breast pocket of his orange prison jumpsuit. “With that being said, I understand and acknowledge that it pales in comparison to the pain, trauma and emotions you all feel.”

Cunningham said that her sentence was meant to protect society from Nassar in the future and also serve as a deterrent to any others who would think to use their positions of power to gain and exploit trust for their own personal pleasure. She told the former doctor that the pain he caused to his victims and their families spanned the world and was “incomprehensible.” She thanked the women and girls who provided impact statements in court and told them that while their emotional and physical pain might continue, their words helped put an end to Nassar’s criminal proceedings and were heard around the world.

“Their stories are not redundant even though many descriptions of the grooming by the defendant are eerily similar,” Cunningham said. “… Each voice and each story does make a difference.”

Nassar pleaded guilty to 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct in November. Seven of those counts came from crimes in Ingham County, where Michigan State and Nassar’s former clinic are located. The other three came in Eaton County, where Nassar lived and frequently treated young gymnasts at the youth club Twistars.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced him to up to 175 years in state prison during a hearing in Ingham County two weeks ago. A federal judge sentenced Nassar to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges in December. The clock on his state prison time begins when his federal sentence expires, and the Ingham and Eaton County sentences run concurrently. Nassar, 54, would not be eligible for parole until the year 2117.

Monday’s hearing was the 10th combined day in court for Nassar on his state charges in the past three weeks. During that time, 204 different individual provided impact statements to Cunningham and Aquilina.

While Nassar’s federal sentence was already likely to keep him behind bars for the remainder of his natural life, prosecutors said providing a forum for the women who say Nassar abused them to confront him and tell their stories in court was an important part of the plea deal they negotiated with the disgraced doctor’s attorneys.

“I truly believe we have seen the worst of humanity in these past few weeks. And we’ve also seen the best. We have seen how one voice can start a movement, how a reckoning can become justice,” assistant attorney general Angela Povilaitis said.

The one voice Povilaitis referenced was that of Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accused Nassar of sexual abuse in a 2016 article in the Indianapolis Star. Denhollander’s story, and her ensuing complaint to police, were the catalyst for Nassar’s downfall. She was the final woman to provide an impact statement on Friday. Denhollander asked the judge: “How much is a little girl worth?” She told Judge Cunningham that Monday would be her opportunity to answer that question by using the full weight of the law against Nassar.

“Tell them they are worth everything. Tell them they are seen. Tell them they are heard. Tell them they matter,” Denhollander said. “May the rest of the world begin to live out that answer as well.”

Many of the speakers in court during the past several weeks used their time to demand accountability from the people and institutions they say could have stopped Nassar sooner. Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee are among the co-defendants in civil lawsuits that more than 200 women have filed regarding Nassar’s abuse.

More than a dozen girls and women say they told an authority figure about Nassar’s inappropriate behavior at some point before his arrest in September 2016. Larissa Boyce, a former youth gymnast, says she told Michigan State coach Kathie Klages in 1997 that Nassar had touched her inappropriately.

Boyce was one of the final women to address the court in a statement made Friday afternoon. She asked anyone who enabled Nassar to prey on young women for as long as he did to come forward and explain how that happened.

“You have a second chance to do the right thing,” Boyce said. “I hope and pray you can be transparent and willing to admit you missed this. Teach our country and the world how you missed this. Own up to your mistakes. I believe there is an opportunity for you to stand up and redeem these mistakes by doing the right thing now.”

The Michigan attorney general’s office is also conducting a broad, sweeping investigation into the handling of sexual assault on Michigan State’s campus to find out if and when others at the university could have done more to stop Nassar. Attorney general Bill Schuette assigned special counsel Bill Forsythe to lead the investigation.

“No department and no individual at Michigan State is off-limits,” Schuette said.

Denhollander and Boyce both said Monday’s proceedings came as a relief after a few long weeks in court and much longer years waiting to see Nassar brought to justice.

“I felt like a weight was lifted off of me,” Boyce said. “Finally I don’t have to face him in court anymore. It’s almost like this chapter is coming to a close in a way.”

Justin Timberlake Halftime Selfie Kid Speaks: ‘I Just Went for It’

Leave a reply

The undisputed champs of Super Bowl LII were the triumphant Philadelphia Eagles. But the hands-down winner of halftime was the teen the internet immediately dubbed “selfie kid,” who somehow managed to steal some of the spotlight away from Justin Timberlake’s high-energy performance by taking an endless series of snaps with the headliner.    

It all seemed like a weird coincidence when JT went up into the stands for “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and one overjoyed young fan looked like he was losing it trying to get a good snap with Justin. He got his wish, plus more, when Timberlake draped his arm around the kid and stopped to pose for a pic.     

The teen turned into an instant meme, and of course someone found him and got his story, but not before the internet gave his 15 seconds of fame.   

A reporter from the St. Paul Pioneer Press found 13 year-old Ryan McKenna in the stands, who said when he saw the pop icon headed his way he immediately stopped filming a video and switched over to his camera app to try and get a snap with the Man of the Woods. “I just thought to myself, ‘I’ll never get this opportunity again in my whole life,” he said. “I just went for it.” 

McKenna’s dad said they realized very quickly that his son was instantly turning into an internet sensation. “My phone started blowing up,” said father John McKenna. “It died, like, instantly after it happened. We had friends from all over reaching out. I couldn’t believe it.” McKenna is a 7th grader at Derby Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, and his family flew in around noon on Sunday for the game and they planned to fly out on Monday morning, after hitting up Good Morning America to talk about his magical encounter.

“It’s been so crazy,” Ryan McKenna said. “I don’t even know what to think. All my friends have been texting me and stuff. It’s insane. My phone is almost dead. I’ve gotten so many notifications. I’ve got like 36 Snapchats, like 21 DMs and like 150 follower requests on Instagram. The Press reported that as reporters swarmed his son, John McKenna couldn’t believe the attention. “We had the great opportunity to come see the Super Bowl,” he said. “Never in a million years did we think this would happen. 

Ryan was just as blown away as the internet began referring to him as this year’s scene-stealing Left Shark. “It was already crazy to be at the Super Bowl in the first place,” he said. “Then all of a sudden I’m up on the Jumbotron and everyone’s talking about me. I can’t believe it.”

Looking a bit tired on Monday morning (Feb. 5), McKenna — wearing his #12 Tom Brady Patriots t-shirt — went on The Today Show to talk about his epic night. “My dad told me he was coming around, so I went behind the people and I jumped in there and he’s kind of stopped where our row was, so I just had jump out there with my phone and try to get a picture.” 

Knowing he had to get a selfie to post for his friends back home, McKenna said he really wanted to get a snap because he’s a huge JT fan and “Can’t Stop the Feeling” is his all-time favorite Justin jam. “I was just so excited that he was right there and playing that song,” he said. Explaining all the fumbling he did, McKenna said he’d been shooting a video, but then his phone shut off, so he had to pull the phone back up to get the picture app open just in time to get his legendary selfie. At press time he said the Instagram story had 60,000 views and he is up to 12,000 followers. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Commercial for Ram Trucks Is Swiftly Criticized

Leave a reply

The ad came after a tumultuous year for the N.F.L., which had a national spotlight placed on football players who sat or kneeled during the national anthem, a controversial gesture meant to draw attention to racial oppression and police brutality against black Americans. President Trump sharply criticized the players, which heightened some of the rhetoric surrounding the protests.

And while many advertisers release their ads before the game, Ram did not, which added to the social media maelstrom.

“I think it was well intentioned, but they’re going to have a lot of explaining to do,” Mr. Calkins said. “They did not release this ahead of time, so they went for the surprise. They got that, but at the same time, they now have a big problem with feedback and people being upset.”

Adding to the disconnect, the sermon in question, delivered exactly 50 years ago, touched on the danger of overspending on items like cars and discussed why people “are so often taken by advertisers.” That was not lost on the ad’s detractors.

The King Center said on Twitter that neither the organization nor the Rev. Bernice King, one of Dr. King’s daughters, is responsible for approving his “words or imagery for use in merchandise, entertainment (movies, music, artwork, etc) or advertisement.” It said that included the Super Bowl commercial.

Ram approached Dr. King’s estate about using his voice in the commercial, said Eric D. Tidwell, the managing director of Intellectual Properties Management, the licenser of the estate.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

“Once the final creative was presented for approval, it was reviewed to ensure it met our standard integrity clearances,” Mr. Tidwell said in a statement. “We found that the overall message of the ad embodied Dr. King’s philosophy that true greatness is achieved by serving others.”

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles U.S., which owns Ram, said in a statement that it was honored to work with the group to celebrate Dr. King’s words about the value of service.

“We worked closely with the representatives of the Martin Luther King Jr. estate to receive the necessary approvals, and estate representatives were a very important part of the creative process every step of the way,” the company said.

Susan Credle, global chief creative officer of the agency FCB, marveled at the speed of the online backlash around the ad and said it showed the risks of wading into social commentary, especially during an event like the Super Bowl.

“You get so crucified, so fast,” she said, adding, “We’re just in a place where we get called out on authenticity and people don’t want to be emotionally manipulated.”

Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer of the agency Goodby Silverstein Partners, was also surprised at how quickly the negative reaction coalesced online.

“The intent was right but maybe the timing was wrong,” she said.

Jason M. Bailey contributed reporting.

Email Sapna Maheshwari at sapna@nytimes.com or follow her on Twitter: @sapna.


Continue reading the main story

NJ weather: Mostly rain expected on Super Bowl Sunday

Leave a reply

It’s going to be a wet, rainy Super Bowl Sunday for New Jersey. 

Forecasters said the storm system from the Great Lakes region will bring a cold, driving rain starting midday Sunday as temperatures remain in the 40s, according to the National Weather Service. 

The rain will continue through the evening though parts of western Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley region will see light snow and more of a wintry mix, forecasters said. 

The rain should clear by 11 p.m. but it’ll begin to feel windy and blustery. Late tonight, temperatures will drop and the wind will increase as a cold front begins moving through the area, according to the National Weather Service. 

For comparison, the temperature in Minneapolis was minus-2 degrees Sunday, with a wind-chill factor of minus-21 degrees, according to weather.com.

The temperature at kickoff is expected to be minus-1, with a wind-chill of minus-20.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

<![CDATA[]]>

China accuses US of ‘Cold War mentality’ over nuclear policy

Leave a reply

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

The US nuclear force is based on land, sea and air-based weapons

China has urged the US to drop its “Cold War mentality” after Washington said it planned to diversify its nuclear armoury with smaller bombs.

“The country that owns the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, should take the initiative to follow the trend instead of going against it,” China’s defence ministry said on Sunday.

The US military believes its nukes are seen as too big to be used and wants to develop low-yield bombs.

Russia has already condemned the plan.

Iran’s foreign minister claimed it brought the world “closer to annihilation”.

What is the new US policy?

The US is concerned about its nuclear arsenal becoming obsolete and no longer an effective deterrent. It names China, Russia, North Korea and Iran as potential threats.

Where are the world’s nuclear weapons?

The Pentagon document released on Friday, known as the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), argues that developing smaller nuclear weapons would challenge that assumption. Low-yield weapons with a strength of under 20 kilotons are less powerful but are still devastating. The policy also proposes:

  • Land-based ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and air-delivered weapons – to be extensively modernised, as begun under ex-President Obama
  • Proposed modification of some submarine-launched nuclear warheads to give a lower-yield or less powerful detonation
  • Return of sea-based nuclear cruise missiles

Countering the “growing threat from revisionist powers”, such as China and Russia, was at the heart of America’s new defence strategy announced last month.

What did China say?

China said on Sunday it “firmly” opposed the Pentagon’s review of US nuclear policy.

The defence ministry in Beijing said Washington had played up the threat of China’s nuclear threat, adding that its own policy was defensive in nature.

“We hope that the United States will abandon its Cold War mentality, earnestly assume its special disarmament responsibilities, correctly understand China’s strategic intentions and objectively view China’s national defence and military build-up,” its statement said.

China has used the Cold War label before to criticise US policy. Late last year it denounced Washington’s updated defence strategy and urged the US to abandon “outdated notions”.

In the NPR document, the US accused China of “expanding its already considerable nuclear forces” but China defended its policy on Sunday saying it would “resolutely stick to peaceful development and pursue a national defence policy that is defensive in nature”.

How did others react?

The Russian foreign ministry accused the US of warmongering, and said it would take “necessary measures” to ensure Russian security.

“From first reading, the confrontational and anti-Russian character of this document leaps out at you,” it said in a statement on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed “deep disappointment” at the plan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif argued the proposals were in violation of the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Egypt, Israel are secretly fighting against ISIS together

Leave a reply

Israeli and Egyptian forces are secret allies in a battle with ISIS, according to a startling new report.

The New York Times said Saturday that unmarked Israeli drones, helicopters and planes conducted more than 100 strikes against the jihadis in Egypt’s northern Sinai over a period of more than two years.

The clandestine missions, the report says, have the blessing of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who realized he desperately needed help.

American officials, the newspaper said, believe the collaboration helped the Egyptian military gain the upper hand in its nearly five-year battle with the militants.

The need for secrecy is so great that the only Egyptians who know about the de facto alliance are a small number of military and intelligence officers.

Some of the aircraft fly circuitous routes to their targets so they don’t appear to come from Israel, the Times said.

Exclusive: North Korea earned $200 million from banned exports, sends arms to Syria, Myanmar

Leave a reply

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – North Korea violated United Nations sanctions to earn nearly $200 million in 2017 from banned commodity exports, according to a confidential report by independent U.N. monitors, which also accused Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Syria and Myanmar.

The report to a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee, seen by Reuters on Friday, said North Korea had shipped coal to ports, including in Russia, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, mainly using false paperwork that showed countries such as Russia and China as the coal origin, instead of North Korea.

The 15-member council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

“The DPRK (North Korea) is already flouting the most recent resolutions by exploiting global oil supply chains, complicit foreign nationals, offshore company registries and the international banking system,” the U.N. monitors wrote in the 213-page report.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. report. Russia and China have repeatedly said they are implementing U.N. sanctions on North Korea.

SYRIA, MYANMAR

The monitors said they had investigated ongoing ballistic missile cooperation between Syria and Myanmar, including more than 40 previously unreported North Korea shipments between 2012 and 2017 to Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which oversees the country’s chemical weapons program.

The investigation has shown “further evidence of arms embargo and other violations, including through the transfer of items with utility in ballistic missile and chemical weapons programs,” the U.N. monitors wrote.

They also inspected cargo from two North Korea shipments intercepted by unidentified countries en route to Syria. Both contained acid-resistant tiles that could cover an area equal to a large scale industrial project, the monitors reported.

One country, which was not identified, told the monitors the seized shipments can “be used to build bricks for the interior wall of a chemical factory.”

Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013. However, diplomats and weapons inspectors suspect Syria may have secretly maintained or developed a new chemical weapons capability.

The Syrian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. report.

The U.N. monitors also said one country, which they did not identify, reported it had evidence that Myanmar received ballistic missile systems from North Korea, along with conventional weapons, including multiple rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles.

Myanmar U.N. Ambassador Hau Do Suan said the Myanmar government “has no ongoing arms relationship, whatsoever, with North Korea” and is abiding by the U.N. Security Council resolutions.

BANNED EXPORTS, IMPORTS

Under a 2016 resolution, the U.N. Security Council capped coal exports and required countries to report any imports of North Korean coal to the council sanctions committee. It then banned all exports of coal by North Korea on Aug. 5.

The U.N. monitors investigated 16 coal shipments between January and Aug. 5 to ports in Russia, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. They said Malaysia reported one shipment to the council committee and the remaining 15 shipments violated sanctions.

After the coal ban was imposed on Aug. 5, the U.N. monitors investigated 23 coal shipments to ports in Russia, China, South Korea and Vietnam. The U.N. monitors said all those shipments “would constitute a violation of the resolution, if confirmed.”

“The DPRK combined deceptive navigation patterns, signals manipulation, transshipments as well as fraudulent documentation to obscure the origin of the coal,” the monitors said.

The U.N. monitors “also investigated cases of ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products in violation (of U.N. sanctions) … and found that the network behind these vessels is primarily based in Taiwan province of China.”

The monitors said one country, which they did not name, told them North Korea had carried out such transfers off its ports of Wonsan and Nampo and in international waters between the Yellow Sea and East China Sea between October and January.

The report said several multinational oil companies, which were not named, were also being investigated for roles in the supply chain of petroleum products transferred to North Korea.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish and Cynthia Osterman