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Republican thinking on impeachment: It's the defense team's to lose - CNN

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 11:59 PM PST

Three days of presentations by the House managers, and most Republicans say they are unmoved by the testimony, dismissing the arguments as repetitive and even boring, signaling that they may be ready to move on soon after the President's defense team lays out its case. While a small group of moderate senators might be in play, even members up for reelection in 2020 in swing states Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina, have done little to signal they are wavering in their loyalty to Trump.
"Everyone handles foreign policy differently," Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said Friday. "I think there is a lot that goes on in administrations that we are not aware of, but is it an impeachable, unlawful offense? That has not been clearly demonstrated."
After wall-to-wall coverage of a House impeachment inquiry in the House, weeks of public hearings with career diplomats accusing the President of a quid pro quo and damning transcripts putting the President's personal lawyer at the center of the scandal, Senate Republicans are growing confident that this is now the defense team's trial to lose.
"The House manager's presentation has not been particularly effective. I try to be careful not to speak for other senators so I will just say in general, the chatter I hear is 'is that really the best they can do?'" said Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri.
Republicans are heading into the next phase of the trial hoping -- albeit aware of Trump's tendency to be a wild card -- that the President's defense team follows the mantra of do no harm. Yes, they say, Trump's team will need to poke holes in the Democrats' case. Yes, they the team will need to explain why nearly $400 million in military aid was withheld. But, what Republicans hope the team avoids is a drawn-out attack on the Bidens or any tangents that alienate moderate Republican senators whose votes on witnesses are on the line.
What Donald Trump is doing during impeachment
"I would keep it high minded on the law. I would be aggressive about that the (Democrats') facts don't support (their case), they have cherry-picked witnesses. If I could find spots where the witnesses said one thing, but they meant another, I would do that. I wouldn't spend 24 hours. I wouldn't get personal with the Bidens," said Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina. "The problem I've got is I know Joe and he's not a corrupt man. He is a good man, but I don't know what Hunter Biden did in the Ukraine."
Jay Sekulow, a leader on the President's defense team, told reporters Friday night that "sometimes less is more."
"I will say this. If our team decides we need to take the full time, we'll take it. If we don't, we don't."
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming offered his blunt advice: "They need to not take us until two in the morning."
All eyes have been on moderate Republicans -- four in particular -- and whether Democrats' arguments would be enough to sway them to vote for witnesses including former national security adviser John Bolton or acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, but in recent days even those members' are signaling they may not ultimately vote for witnesses.
"I think the House managers have had a more than fair opportunity to present their case. That is what they have asked for and that is what we have given them," said Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander. "I think the House managers have done a good job of making their arguments, but that doesn't mean I will agree with them."
Pompeo reschedules trip to Ukraine as impeachment trial wages on
Behind the scenes, Republican leadership has pressed the case that a vote for witnesses could turn a 10-day impeachment trial into a unending political free-for-all in which the ultimate outcome -- the President's acquittal -- is still almost all but guaranteed. Asking for witnesses, leaders have said, would almost certainly force the case into court over questions of executive privilege and delay the Senate's ability to move on.
"The House made a decision that they didn't want to slow things down by having to go through the courts," moderate Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told CNN. "And yet now they're basically saying you guys gotta go through the courts. We didn't, but we need you to."
While the most-watched senators -- including Murkowski, Alexander, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine -- have all said they will wait to make up their minds on witnesses until after they hear the presentations from both sides, fellow Republicans argue the President's lawyers job in the days ahead should be to simply not do anything to alienate the senators on the line.
"They need to put on a defense. Our members are looking for a counter narrative," said Sen. John Thune, the majority whip. "I think it is important they get out and take issues head on."

CNN's Alex Rogers contributed to this report.

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Davos ends with disagreement on climate and Greta Thunberg on the march - CNN

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 11:59 PM PST

After a week of discussions at the World Economic Forum that were dominated by how to tackle the biggest problem the planet faces, the last big event of the conference produced a tense exchange between US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank.
Mnuchin, who earlier this week questioned the credentials of climate activist Greta Thunberg, told panelists that long-term planning is futile when it comes to analyzing and containing climate change.
Prince Charles: We need a new economic model or the planet will burn
Lagarde disagreed. It was crucial to assess the risk that climate change poses to financial markets and the economy, she said, so it can be "anticipated, measured" and "hopefully mitigated."
Mnuchin rushed to respond. "Christine, I think you can have a lot of people look at this and model it," he said. "I just don't want to kid ourselves. I think there's no way we can possibly model what these risks are over the next 30 years with a level of certainty."
The exchange highlighted the continuing divide between the United States and Europe over the climate crisis despite powerful calls for radical action from Prince Charles, among others.
Sustainability was the topic of scores of panels, meetings and cocktail conversations in Davos, where attendees and the media discussed the implications of recent announcements such as Microsoft's (MSFT) plan to go "carbon negative" by 2030 and Blackrock's (BLK) commitment to put the issue at the heart of its investment strategy.
The summit broke up with most delegates agreeing there's a big problem but little consensus on what should happen next. It was perhaps the inevitable conclusion to an event that featured both Thunberg and US President Donald Trump, who bashed climate activists during a keynote address as "perennial prophets of doom."
Top US bankers don't want to lead the climate fight
Thunberg, who was billed as a conference headliner, slammed Davos attendees on Friday for talking too much while taking no action. She had spent the week calling for an immediate end to subsidies for fossil fuels and complete divestment from the energy sources.
"Of course those demands have been completely ignored, but we expected nothing less," she said at a press conference with four other youth activists. "As long as the situation is not being treated as a crisis, then world and business leaders can of course continue to ignore the situation."
Fellow activist Louis Neubauer said the group planned to track the promises made by speakers and hold them to account.
"Here at the WEF we see and hear a lot of nice words and a lot of big speeches, and we expect throughout the next days and weeks and months every single one of those to be turned into action," Neubauer said.
Some commitments from the conference could come to light in coming days. World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab kicked off the week with a letter asking that companies in attendance commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The conference has not yet disclosed how many firms signed on.
Following their press conference, Thunberg and her fellow activists marched in protest down one of the alpine town's main streets. It was just one sign of the pressure building on business and government leaders to produce tangible results.
"It is key that we do something now," said German finance minister Olaf Scholz, who also participated in the panel with Mnuchin and Lagarde. "Waiting for the others is a possibly very dangerous strategy."

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Liverpool strike late again to win at Wolves - SuperSport

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 10:59 PM PST

Seawolves squander a 2-goal lead and give up a last-minute goal in a critical loss to Lake Superior State - Anchorage Daily News

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:37 PM PST

Lake Superior State scored the game-winning goal with 63 seconds remaining Friday to rally past the UAA hockey team and deprive the Seawolves of some costly points in the race for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff spot.

The 3-2 loss in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was a painful one for the Seawolves, who squandered a 2-0 lead to leave points on the table.

The WCHA's top eight teams at the end of the regular season make the playoffs, and right now UAA is in eighth place in the 10-team league with 18 points. Lake Superior State is one spot ahead of the Seawolves with 22 points and Ferris State is one spot behind them with 14. Last-place Alabama Huntsville has 8 points.

There's nine games left in the regular season — including Saturday's rematch — and a win in regulation or the first overtime is worth three points. A win in the second OT period or a shootout is worth two points, with one point going to the loser.

UAA (4-15-4 overall, 4-12-3 WCHA) took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Rylee St. Onge and Trey deGraaf, who scored while the Seawolves were short-handed. Zach Court assisted on both goals, and deGraaf earned an assist on the St. Onge goal.

The Lakers (8-19-2 overall, 6-11-2) made it a one-goal lead with a second-period power-play goal and tied it with a third-period power-play goal. They won it on Pete Viellette's even-strength goal with time running out.

Kris Carlson made 25 saves for the Seawolves, who were outshot 28-16.

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Branding Trump a Danger, Democrats Cap the Case for His Removal - The New York Times

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:59 PM PST

WASHINGTON — House Democrats concluded their arguments against President Trump on Friday by portraying his pressure campaign on Ukraine as part of a dangerous pattern of Russian appeasement that demanded his removal from office.

Ending their three-day presentation in the Senate, the impeachment managers summoned the ghosts of the Cold War and the realities of geopolitical tensions with Russia to argue that Mr. Trump's abuse of power had slowly shredded delicate foreign alliances to suit his own interests.

"This is Trump first, not America first, not American ideals first," said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead House manager. "And the result has been, and will continue to be, grave harm to our nation if this chamber does not stand up and say this is wrong."

Hours later, as his allotted time ticked down, Mr. Schiff also appealed to the consciences of Republican senators weighing whether to hear from witnesses and seek more documents that Mr. Trump suppressed.

"I ask you — I implore you," Mr. Schiff said. "Give America a fair trial. She's worth it."

But Republican senators appeared unmoved — not just on the question of whether to acquit Mr. Trump, which they were expected to do, but also on the crucial question concerning witnesses and documents.

"We have heard plenty," said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Senate Republican.

Mr. Schiff's fiery final oration appeared to alienate the very Republicans he was trying to win over. When he referred to an anonymously sourced news report that Republican senators had been warned that their heads would be "on a pike" if they voted against Mr. Trump, several of them vigorously shook their heads and broke their sworn silence: "not true."

"I hope it's not true," Mr. Schiff said in response.

He and the six other managers prosecuting the president spent much of Friday tying up the facts of the second charge, obstruction of Congress, and arguing that Mr. Trump's attempts to shut down a congressional inquiry into his actions toward Ukraine was unprecedented and undermined the very ability of the government to correct itself.

"He is a dictator," said Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York. "This must not stand."

As day turned to evening on the fourth full day of the trial, many senators unaccustomed to long hours in the Capitol appeared to have simply been numbed by the House managers, and were anticipating the president's defense, set to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Senate was presented with three days of often an vivid narrative and painstaking legal arguments that Mr. Trump sought foreign interference in the 2020 election on his own behalf, by using vital military aid and a White House meeting as leverage to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

Yet the pool of moderate Republican senators that had expressed openness to joining Democrats in insisting on witnesses or new documents appeared to be dwindling. Comments by Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska suggested that they may have cooled to the idea, although Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah gave no indication that they had shifted.

Still, Ms. Collins was among those shaking her head when Mr. Schiff referred to the purported threat against Republican defectors.

But Ms. Murkowski said: "'Head on a pike,' that's where he lost me. I thought he did fine until he overreached."

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Without an agreement to take new testimony or subpoena documents relevant to the case, Mr. Trump may be headed toward a historically speedy acquittal in as little as a week from now, before the Iowa caucuses or his planned State of the Union address. That would make the third impeachment trial of a president in American history the shortest.

Throughout Friday, inside and outside the chamber, the House managers and Democratic senators hinted strongly at the political stakes if Republicans failed to press for a more thorough airing of the charges against the president.

"We've made the argument forcefully, the American people have made the argument forcefully that they want the truth," said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. "Will four Republican senators — just four — rise to the occasion, do their duty to the Constitution, to their country to seek the truth?"

They appeared to get an unexpected lift early in the day when a 2018 recording surfaced of Mr. Trump appearing to order the firing of Marie L. Yovanovitch, then the United States ambassador to Ukraine. The recording was first reported by ABC News and later handed over to the House by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer.

The recording appeared to confirm earlier claims by Mr. Parnas that he had told Mr. Trump about rumors that Ms. Yovanovitch was not loyal to him. The House's impeachment inquiry concluded that the ambassador was ultimately removed in 2019 as part of Mr. Trump's attempt to strong-arm Ukraine to announce investigations of his political adversaries.

"Get rid of her," Mr. Trump can be heard to say, according to ABC. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care."

Mr. Trump's defense team plans to open its arguments on Saturday, though senators were expected to meet for only an abbreviated, two- to three-hour session before adjourning the trial until Monday afternoon.

Mr. Trump was not pleased about the schedule, writing Friday morning on Twitter that his team had been "forced" to start on a Saturday, a time "called Death Valley in T.V." He also turned around Democrats' accusation, declaring that "the Impeachment Hoax is interfering with the 2020 Election," not him.

Jay Sekulow, one of Mr. Trump's lawyers, said his team would treat the weekend session like a "trailer," providing an overview of their case for acquittal while holding back until Monday the president's more television-friendly lawyers, the former independent counsel Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz.

Democrats used almost every one of the 24 hours afforded to them by senators to make their case, determined to persuade American voters watching at home who will cast ballots in just 10 months, if not senators.

On Wednesday, Mr. Schiff and each of the managers took turns introducing the facts of the case in narrative form, unfolding the tale of Mr. Trump's alleged misconduct chapter by chapter. Beginning with the abrupt removal of Ms. Yovanovitch, they said that Mr. Trump empowered first Mr. Giuliani and then American officials to push Ukraine to announce investigations of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats, before himself asking that country's leader to "do us a favor."

When the Ukrainians resisted, they added, he withheld a coveted White House meeting and almost $400 million in military aid the fledgling democracy badly needed to fend off a menacing Russia. And when Congress found out, he undertook an across-the-board campaign to block officials from testifying or producing records that would reveal the scheme.

On Thursday, Mr. Nadler lectured extensively on the constitutional and historical standards for impeachment, setting the stage for the managers to methodically argue that Mr. Trump's actions toward Ukraine constituted an impeachable abuse of power that warrants his removal from office.

Mr. Schiff completed that case on Friday, directly engaging the national security implications of Mr. Trump's actions as he argued that the president was a serial offender in seeking foreign help for his own political benefit, allowing himself to be used as a tool of Moscow's agenda in the process. As a candidate, Mr. Trump welcomed Russia's interference in the 2016 election to help him win the White House, Mr. Schiff noted, and then as president, he repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusions of American intelligence agencies about that interference. Later, Mr. Trump said outright that he would welcome foreign campaign assistance again.

The California Democrat played a video of the news conference in Helsinki, Finland, where Mr. Trump stood next to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and accepted his denial that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election.

"That's one hell of a Russian intelligence coup," Mr. Schiff said. "They got the president of the United States to provide cover for their own interference with our election."

At another point, Mr. Schiff showed a clip of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who was an outspoken champion of Ukraine and Russia hawk, promoting the benefits of bipartisan American support for Kyiv to contain Russia and its anti-democratic agenda.

The move appeared to be a subtle effort to appeal to Republican senators, many of whom respected Mr. McCain and share his strongly anti-Russia stance, to place those values above their loyalty to the president.

As the managers moved on to the obstruction of Congress charge, they contended that Mr. Trump's blockade of evidence was far more pernicious than the kind of partisan squabbles that are typical between Congress and the White House.

Even Presidents Bill Clinton and Richard M. Nixon, they said, had produced documents to the investigations that would threaten them with impeachment. Mr. Trump's administration had not handed over a single page, declaring for the first time an across the board objection to House subpoenas.

Trying to head off Mr. Trump's defense team, which argues that the president was lawfully protecting the interests of the executive branch from a politically motivated House, the managers pointed out that he never actually invoked executive privilege, the legal mechanism afforded to presidents.

"Only one person in the world has the power to issue an order to the entire executive branch," said Representatives Val B. Demings, Democrat of Florida. "And President Trump used that power not to faithfully execute the law, but to order agencies and employees of the executive branch to conceal evidence of his misconduct."

Reporting was contributed by Maggie Haberman, Carl Hulse, Catie Edmondson, Michael D. Shear and Emily Cochrane.

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Actress Rosie Perez Says She Was Told of Weinstein Rape - Snopes.com

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:16 PM PST

NEW YORK (AP) — "Do the Right Thing" actress Rosie Perez testified that fellow screen star Annabella Sciorra told her in the mid-1990s that Harvey Weinstein had raped her but that she couldn't go to the police because "he'd destroy me."

Taking the stand at the former Hollywood mogul's rape trial, Perez said her friend Sciorra had told at some point in 1993, her voice shaking on the phone, that something had happened to her: "I think it was rape."

Perez said she asked if Sciorra knew who had attacked her, but Sciorra wouldn't say at the time. But months later, on another phone call from London, she said Weinstein was harassing her and she was scared, Perez said.

"I said, 'He's the one that raped you,'" and they both began crying, Perez testified.

"Please go to the police," Perez said she told her friend. She said Sciorra responded: "I can't — he'd destroy me."

Sciorra told jurors that the movie producer pushed his way into her New York apartment, pinned her on a bed and forced himself on her in 1993 or 1994. She said Perez was one of a few people she told about the encounter before coming forward publicly in 2017.

Weinstein denies ever having nonconsensual sex. His lawyers said Perez shouldn't be allowed to testify, but Judge James Burke decided to allow it.

Defense lawyer Damon Cheronis pressed Perez on why she didn't go to police, or to Sciorra's home, when the actress first told her about the alleged assault.

"Because I was being respectful," Perez said.

Weinstein, the studio boss whose downfall energized the #MeToo movement, is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in his New York apartment in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in a New York hotel room in 2013. Sciorra is among four additional accusers who are expected to testify against him as part of an effort by prosecutors to show that Weinstein made a habit of preying on women.

The 67-year-old producer of such Oscar-winning movies as "Chicago" and "The King's Speech" could get life in prison if convicted.

Sciorra, 59, is best known for her work on "The Sopranos." Perez, 55, was in 1989's "Do the Right Thing" and 1993's "Fearless," which brought her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Sciorra told the jury that she spiraled into cutting herself and drinking heavily after the alleged rape. On Friday, friend and fashion model Kara Young testified that a fidgety Sciorra "seemed a mess," with long cuts on her legs, when the two watched the Academy Awards together in 1994.

Weinstein's lawyers seized on Sciorra's actions after the alleged assault, asking such questions as why Sciorra made the 1997 Weinstein-produced film "Cop Land" if he had raped her a few years earlier. Sciorra said she wasn't aware of Weinstein's involvement until she had agreed to appear in the movie.

The defense has also questioned why Weinstein's accusers stayed in friendly contact for years with a man they say had assaulted them. Prosecutors sought to give jurors some answers Friday from a forensic psychiatrist who testified about the same topic at the Pennsylvania trial that led to Bill Cosby's 2018 conviction on charges of sexually assaulting a woman.

Dr. Barbara Ziv told Weinstein's jury of seven men and five women that most sex-assault victims continue to have contact with their attackers, who often threaten retaliation if the victims tell anyone what happened.

Victims are "hoping that this is just an aberration," she said, and they tell themselves: "'I can put it in a box and forget about it. I don't want it to get worse. … I can handle this physical trauma, but God forbid this ruins the rest of my life.'"

Victims can end up blaming themselves "without knowing that their behavior is entirely expected," said Ziv, who has described herself as an expert on "sexual assault victim behavior" who has evaluated more than 1,000 such people.

She did not, however, evaluate any of Weinstein's accusers, and his lawyers seized on that point.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they come forward publicly, as Sciorra and others have done.

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USA's seismometer picked up Friday's shaking in West Mobile - FOX10 News

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:58 PM PST

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Trump impeachment trial: Dems wrap case for Trump's removal; White House defense team on deck - CNBC

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:29 PM PST

House Managers Adam Schiff (C) and Jerry Nadler (C R) speak to reporters on the fourth day of the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on January 24, 2019.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Democratic House impeachment managers laid out their arguments Friday that President Donald Trump obstructed Congress — the final prong of their case for Trump's conviction and removal from office.

The seven House managers spent the bulk of their three days of opening statements focused on the first of two articles of impeachment against Trump, charging him with abusing his power through his efforts to have Ukraine launch probes into his political rivals.

But with about a quarter of their 24 cumulative hours remaining, the managers, led by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., pivoted to the obstruction charge, detailing Trump's categorical refusal to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry.

As the Democrats wrapped up their arguments, Trump's team of lawyers looked ahead to Saturday, when they will get the same amount of time to state their defense. It's unclear if Trump's team plans to use the entirety of that available time.

The Democrat-led House voted to impeach Trump on the two articles on Dec. 18. It's considered highly unlikely that two thirds of the majority-Republican Senate will vote to remove a Republican president from office.

Here are today's highlights from the Senate impeachment trial:

Obstruction charge takes center stage

The House managers devoted the final hours of their opening statements to Trump's obstruction charge.

The White House had flatly refused to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry. In an October letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., White House counsel Pat Cipollone claimed that the proceedings amount to "baseless, unconstitutional efforts to overturn the democratic process."

House committee members ultimately heard testimony from numerous current and former administration officials in public hearings and in closed-door sessions, but many potential witnesses were pressured not to comply with the Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has pushed hard for the Senate to issue subpoenas for documents and witnesses before the trial proceedings began in earnest. But the 11 amendments to the trial rules that he proposed were all shot down in party line votes.

Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, hammered home the extent of the Trump administration's non-compliance in her remarks on the Senate floor on Friday.

"Let's recap: No documents. Zero. Goose egg. Nada. In response to over 70 requests — 70 requests — and five subpoenas. No attempt to negotiate. No general attempt to accommodate. Categorical and indiscriminate and unprecedented stonewalling," Garcia said.

"Never in my time as a lawyer or as a judge have I seen this kind of total disrespect and defiance of a lawfully issued subpoena — and all on President Trump's orders," she said. "And it could continue because this obstruction of Congress is real and is beyond comparison."

Schiff to GOP: Trump would do it to you, too

The opening statements from the House managers often felt appeals to the American people as much as they were a plea to the Senate.

But at times, the Democrats explicitly addressed the GOP-majority chamber.

On Friday, Schiff sent a stark warning to Trump's allies on Capitol Hill: This president could investigate you, too, if he thought it would benefit him.

"The next time, it just may be you. It just may be you," Schiff said.

"Do you think for a moment that any of you, no matter what your relationship to this president, no matter how close you are to this president, do you think for a moment that if he felt it was in his interest, he wouldn't ask you to be investigated?" Schiff asked rhetorically.

"Do you think for a moment that he wouldn't? And if somewhere deep, down below you realize that he would, you cannot leave a man like that in office when he has violated the Constitution."

Schiff has played to the senators' sensibilities before. On Thursday, Schiff appealed the lawmakers' distrust of Russia as he built the case that Trump's demand for Ukraine to announce a probe into 2016 election interference was based on a false Kremlin backed conspiracy, and designed simply to damage Democrats.

"This theory was brought to you by the Kremlin," Schiff said then. "So we're not talking about generic interference … what Donald Trump wanted investigated or announced was this completely bogus, Kremlin-pushed conspiracy theory."

"Well, you gotta give Donald Trump credit for this. He has made a religious man out of Vladimir Putin," Schiff said, generating a ripple of laughter from senators.

Leaked tape of Trump raises questions about new evidence

A newly surfaced recording Friday appeared to contain audio of Trump demanding that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch be fired, ABC News reported.

"Get rid of her!" Trump reportedly said of Yovanovitch, during a small dinner in April 2018 that was attended by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who were deeply involved in the covert campaign to remove the ambassador from her post.

"Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it," Trump can reportedly be heard saying on the tape. CNBC has not heard the tape.

Trump did not deny that he spoke those words, and later said he was likely addressing Giuliani.

But the tape underscores one of the biggest still-unresolved issues in Trump's impeachment trial -- Whether or not senators will be permitted to ask the two respective legal teams questions about new evidence that has come to light since December, when the House impeachment probe formally ended.

Under the Senate rules, the only evidence admitted into the trial was the trove of documents produced during the House investigation, which includes records, testimony transcripts and correspondence.

Once the president's lawyers are finished presenting their arguments in his defense, senators will have 16 hours, likely spread over two days, to submit questions to the legal teams. The questions will be read aloud by Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial.

But if those questions contain references to evidence that's not part of the House trove, how will Roberts react? Will he ask the questions? Will he ask for a vote?

This was unresolved as of Friday, and could greatly impact a key phase of the president's trial.

Trump's defense to begin with "coming attractions"

The president's defense team will begin their opening arguments on Saturday at 10 a.m., and go for a three hour block of time after which the Senate will adjourn for the weekend. Many senators are expected to return home, and the five Democrats running for president are expected to hit the campaign trail.

Trump's legal team will use their three hours to present what attorney Jay Sekulow described Friday as a preview of their defense, but an "affirmative case." But he said they plan to wait until Monday to launch a full defense.

"I guess I would call it a trailer, kind of a coming attractions would be the best way to say it," Sekulow told reporters in the Capitol. "Obviously we have three hours to put it out, so we'll take whatever time is appropriate during those three hours."

Sekulow later noted, "we were prepared to go as long as they wanted us to go tomorrow.

The compressed format left the president's lawyers in an awkward position, forced to begin their opening arguments at a time when few Americans are watching television.

But Sekulow made it clear that the president's defense team plans to argue that the investigations Trump asked Ukraine's president to launch as "a favor" were not motivated by 2020 election politics, but instead by legitimate concerns.

One of these requested probes concerned a discredited conspiracy theory that Sekulow repeated on Friday. It's not entirely clear how far Trump's lawyers intend to push the conspiracy theory, which claims that Ukraine, and not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on behalf of Trump's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

American intelligence officials have described the theory as Kremlin-backed propaganda. And given that Russia is deeply unpopular with senators of both parties, this argument could pose a risk for Trump's lawyers.

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Midfielder makes admission about £70m reported Liverpool target - HITC - Football, Gaming, Movies, TV, Music

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:29 PM PST

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool are reportedly interested in Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Adama Traore.

Jordan Henderson of Liverpool celebrates in front of the fans after the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool FC at Molineux on January 23, 2020 in...

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson has spoken highly of Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Adama Traore, as quoted on Goal.com.

Henderson has raved about Traore's qualities, and believes that the former Aston Villa winger is difficult to play against.

The 29-year-old England international midfielder made the comments after the Reds' win against Wolves in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

According to WhoScored, against Liverpool, Traore took two shots of which one was on target, played two key passes, had a pass accuracy of 81.3%, won one header, took 42 touches, attempted six dribbles, and put in 10 crosses.

Goal.com quotes Henderson as saying about Traore: "[Traore] is very tough, strong, powerful, quick. He's difficult to play against."

Adama Traore of Wolverhampton Wanderers during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool FC at Molineux on January 23, 2020 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.

Good signing for Liverpool?

According to 90min.com, Liverpool are interested in signing Traore, with Wolves valuing the former Barcelona youngster at £70 million.

It is very unlikely that the Wanderers will sell the 23-year-old in the January transfer window, but the Reds should make a move for him in the summer of 2020.

Traore has developed and progressed over the years, and he now creates chances, scores goals, is a consistent threat to defenders over the course of the 90 minutes, and puts in some very good crosses.

Adama Traore of Wolverhampton Wanderers during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool FC at Molineux on January 23, 2020 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.

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Epke’s fifth goal, seventh point completes Guilford comeback over West Haven/SHA - New Haven Register

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:37 PM PST

BRIDGEPORT — Guilford trailed early and greatly Friday at Webster Bank Arena, but the Indians' girls hockey team had a few key things going for it. One, the Indians had rebounded from a similar deficit to win last weekend. And two, they had Maddie Epke.

Epke's fifth goal and seventh point, a power-play goal through a screen 1:55 into overtime, gave Guilford a 7-6 win over West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy at the Connecticut Ice Girls High School Hockey Showcase.

Guilford trailed 5-1 in the second period, 5-2 after two and 6-3 with 7:30 to go. Epke scored her third goal 56 seconds later and her fourth goal 42 seconds after that, and Daniella Vickerman tied the game on the rebound of an Epke shot with 2:21 left.

"In the second and third period, we really kicked on the gears," Epke said. "We focused more on shooting on the net, because we were missing the net a lot. We focused on skating 100 percent effort every time we got out there."

Epke, a field hockey and lacrosse standout as well, also drew the penalty in overtime, getting tripped on a breakaway.

  • Guilford's Maddie Edke scores against West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy during the Connecticut Ice tournament at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Friday. Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media / Connecticut Post

    Guilford's Maddie Edke scores against West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy during the Connecticut Ice tournament at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Friday.

    Guilford's Maddie Edke scores against West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy during the Connecticut Ice tournament at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Friday.

    Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Guilford's Maddie Edke scores against West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy during the Connecticut Ice tournament at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Friday.

Guilford's Maddie Edke scores against West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy during the Connecticut Ice tournament at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Friday.

Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

On paper, little favored Guilford (5-3), especially once West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy (9-2) jumped ahead 2-1 after one. The Westie Sharks were coming off taking defending state champion New Canaan to overtime on Monday night, a 6-5 New Canaan win.

If Guilford had anything, it was a tournament in Massachusetts last weekend in which the Indians trailed 4-0 in the semifinals before coming back to win in overtime.

"It's a lot to be able to be able to say that we can come back from everything," Guilford sophomore defenseman Olivia Gill said. "We have a history of maybe not doing so well, so we'd like to get better every single year. It means a lot to be able to overcome that and believe in ourselves."

Gill admitted, though, there were some sad faces around the dressing room after the first period. And West Haven/SHA scored the first three goals of the second period, capped by Taylor Nowak's first of two. Guilford still found a way.

"There's nothing you can take away from this (Guilford) team," Westie Sharks coach Erin Blake said. "Maddie Epke's a fantastic player. She just won that game.

"We talk about playing together as a team. Our goalie today (Hailey Alfano), she's also a newer goalie, she played great. ... This is one of her better games. We've got to go strong, start to finish. We can't come in and take it slow. There's nothing you can take away from that team. They wanted it more."

PLAYER OF THE GAME

You want to construct an argument for someone other than Maddie Epke? Good luck. Something happened every time she was on the ice.

TWEAKING, NOT TALKING

What was the message from the Guilford coaching staff before the third? "We talked about nothing," coach Rick Binkowski said. "Our message to these girls is it's you. We can't go out there and play for you. You've got to trust yourselves, trust your teammates and get it done."

They did swap freshman Kimberly Evans back to defense and move junior Christina Garofalo up to forward in the third period. Garofalo helped create some offense.

SEE YOU AGAIN

The teams meet again Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Bennett Rink in West Haven. It's the Westie Sharks' regular-season finale as the schedule stands.

QUOTABLE

"I'm really proud of them. We take our hats off to West Haven/Sacred Heart; that's a fantastic hockey team, a great program, great coaching. ... They've got a lot of talent. That's a big win for us. They're one of the top teams in the state." —Guilford coach Rick Binkowski

mfornabaio

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@fornabaioctp

GUILFORD 7,

WEST HAVEN/SACRED HEART ACADEMY 6 (OT)

WEST HAVEN/SHA2 3 1 0—6

GUILFORD1 1 4 1—7

Records: West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy 9-2; Guilford 5-3. Goals: WHSHA—Taylor Nowak 2, Mackenzie Gardner, Emilee DeGrand, Jenna Hunt, Megan Dupre; G—Maddie Epke 5, Audrey Rowan, Daniella Vickerman. Assists: WHSHA—Mia Celentano 2, Gardner, Jianna Cohrs, Hunt, Megan Froelich; G—Epke 2, Vickerman 2, Mary Evans, Olivia Gill, Christina Garofalo. Goalies: WHSHA—Hailey Alfano (26 saves); G—Julia McDonald (26). Shots: WHSHA—32; G—33.

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A lot has changed since China's SARS outbreak 17 years ago. But some things haven't - CNN

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:29 PM PST

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the origin of the outbreak, Li -- then a 15-year-old high school student -- was cramming for exams.
Classes were running, but students were told they couldn't go home between their afternoon and evening classes, so parents clustered outside the school gate to pass boxes of food to their children.
Li, not his real name, said his school smelled of vinegar, due to a belief that vinegar fumes would help prevent the spread of disease.
CNN agreed to Li's request not to publish his name -- he's now an academic and fears any perceived criticism of the government could damage his career.
For Li, SARS didn't feel like something he was going to catch himself.
Medical staff wearing protective gear go about their duties in the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Hong Kong after seven hospital workers reported flu-like symptoms on August 27, 2003.
Back then, there were no high-speed trains linking Wuhan with other cities, and the southern province of Guangdong, where the outbreak started, felt very far away. Some people wore masks, others didn't.
Almost two decades later, Asia is on the brink of another pandemic, say experts. For many, it feels eerily similar to the SARS outbreak that infected over 8,000 people and killed 774 around the world between November 2002 and July 2003. SARS is also a type of coronavirus, which causes flu-like symptoms, and can mutate as it spreads from person to person.
In the past month, at least 41 people have died and more than a thousand people have been diagnosed as infected by the Wuhan coronavirus, a cousin of SARS. Cases have been reported in a number of countries, including the United States, France, and Singapore.
Transport is on lockdown in Wuhan -- a city of 11 million and the epicenter of the virus -- and in 10 nearby cities. This is all happening at the worst possible time of year: Lunar New Year, the most significant holiday in the Chinese calendar, when three billion trips were expected to be made.
Even before Wuhan closed train stations and airports, Li -- who is now 31 and working in Macao -- decided, for the first time in his adult life, not to go home for Lunar New Year, which is also known in the mainland as Spring Festival. He worries for his family's health, but says there's little he personally can do.
"I would hope the government learned a lesson from what happened 17 years ago," said Li. "It seems like they are taking the issue seriously, but I am not sure if it is a little bit too late."
Six weeks into the outbreak, there are signs that China is handling this outbreak differently. But there's still concern over China's response -- and just how transparent Beijing is being.

What went wrong during SARS

In the first few months of the 2003 SARS outbreak, China kept the disease under wraps.
SARS was first publicly reported in February 2003, but by that time the country was already months into an outbreak. Five people had died and another 300 had fallen ill from the disease in Guangdong province.
In April 2003, a prominent doctor in Beijing went on the record to accuse the government of a cover-up. Later that month, China sacked its health minister and the mayor of Beijing over their mishandling of the outbreak.
And it wasn't until April -- around five months after the outbreak started -- that American and Canadian scientists announced they had sequenced the genome thought to be the cause of the SARS virus.
Screening measures for the new coronavirus at Hong Kong International Airport on January 23, 2020.
The lack of transparency from China, combined with a lack of knowledge about what the virus was and a lack of preparedness among countries in the region in dealing with pandemics, all contributed to SARS's deadly impact.
In semi-autonomous Hong Kong, over 280 people died from SARS -- the highest proportion of death per capita of any territory in the world.
"The outbreak was very, very difficult to control. At that time, we had no idea what caused the pandemic," said Ivan Hung, a specialist in infectious disease at Hong Kong University. "We were not able to get on top of things and able to make early diagnosis and isolation as a result. There was a lot of cross infection that happened in the hospital."
A visual guide to the Wuhan coronavirus
SARS also exposed how ill-prepared China and other territories were at responding to pandemics. In a paper published soon after the epidemic was contained, Hong Kong's former Director of Health Lee Shiu-hung pointed to a number of issues facing the city, including a lack of protective clothing for medical staff, ill-prepared hospital authorities, and basic failings in the healthcare system, like overcrowded wards and poor ventilation.
As Hung puts it, last time around, public health authorities were "playing catch up."
Grace -- a 37-year-old Hong Konger -- was interning at a hotel at the time, and remembers the fear. At her hotel, everyone wore a mask, and people cleaned their hands and phones before starting work.
"Everyone was worried because nobody knew how serious it was. Everybody had to wear masks wherever they go. Business was not good as well," said Grace, who asked CNN not to use her last name out of concern for the impact of her current job. "People preferred to stay at home if they didn't have to go to work or school."

A different China

In the six weeks since the first case of Wuhan coronavirus was detected, it's already clear that today's China isn't the same as the China of 2003.
China informed the World Health Organization about the new virus on December 31, 2019, less than three weeks after the first case was detected on December 12. The virus behind the outbreak was identified on January 7 -- as swift as any other developed country would have been able to identify it, said Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who worked to contain SARS back in 2003.
The prompt identification of the new strain allowed other countries to develop tests for the virus early on that should help contain the outbreak, said Peter Daszak, the president of non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, which researches emerging infectious diseases.
Experts have also praised China for being transparent about the outbreak -- something the country was criticized for last time. Many are also impressed with China's unprecedented decision this week to stop transport to and from Wuhan during the country's biggest holiday. "SARS was a huge embarrassment to China, and that's been driving a lot of the openness and transparency around this outbreak," Daszak said.
There are other things, too, that should make this outbreak easier to contain than SARS 17 years ago.
China and other Asian countries have stepped up their ability to respond to pandemics. Chinese residents are also more aware of how to protect themselves from the spread of disease, Lipkin said. Face masks are now mandatory in Wuhan, but before that, online sales surged, China Daily reported.
Wuhan coronavirus virus spreads as China scraps New Year celebrations
That's also true in Hong Kong. For almost eight months, face masks have been closely associated with the ongoing pro-democracy protest movement. But over the past few weeks, more and more people have been wearing surgical masks in public -- for health reasons. For many, SARS taught them how to respond to the risk of disease.
Surgical masks are now ubiquitous on the subway, and Hong Kong is facing a serious shortage of face masks, according to Horace Lau, the vice president of Hong Kong's General Chamber of Pharmacy.
Grace said she started wearing a mask weeks ago.
"Since SARS took place in 2003, people in Hong Kong are more conscious about health and how to protect themselves," she said.

What hasn't changed

But while China has undoubtedly been more communicative about the Wuhan coronavirus, there's still lingering distrust.
In 2003, then 15-year-old Li didn't think to question the authorities. Now, as an academic living outside mainland China's censorship, Li believes the Chinese government doesn't trust its people to handle the full truth.
"(It's this) sort of idea of 'we have to control the scale of the panic instead of the scale of disease," he said. "I can only hope that ... they can act better and they can respond quickly instead of keeping people in the dark."
On Wednesday, a senior US State Department official said the US was concerned about the Chinese government's transparency.
"I do believe that the concern you see both inside China and internationally is a reflection of what we've seen in the past," the official said. "That reluctance to respond in a rapid manner doesn't give the global community a secure feeling for this being managed inside China."
However, on Friday President Donald Trump said on Twitter that China "had been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus" and thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!" Trump tweeted.
Last weekend, Imperial College London found that an estimated 1,723 people were likely to have been infected by the virus by January 12, significantly more than the 45 confirmed cases around the time the study was released. On Monday, Chinese authorities reported that the number of cases had tripled over the weekend to 218.
Those figures worried some people, but Daszak points out that there are always going to be more people infected than we know about -- not everyone's symptoms are serious enough for them to seek medical attention. Lipkin agrees, saying that authorities are likely being cautious about reporting numbers as it is winter -- a season when people often get flu and pneumonia anyway.
Wuhan is the latest crisis to face China's Xi, and it's exposing major flaws in his model of control
Online, numerous people claim to have been turned away from Wuhan's hospitals. Although CNN has not been able to verify individual claims, Wuhan's health authority acknowledged in a statement that local hospitals were overwhelmed. Officials said the situation would improve as more medical facilities were set aside for the detection and treatment of the virus. According to state media reports, Wuhan plans to build a new hospital in six days.
There's also more to be done to address a major issue: live animal markets.
The coronavirus that caused SARS was traced to the civet cat, a wild animal considered a delicacy in parts of south China. After the outbreak in 2003, China banned the slaughter and consumption of civet cats.
This time around, it's believed the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak started in the now-shuttered Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where a number of wild animals were for sale, including raccoon dogs and snakes. Experts believe that the coronavirus was carried by animals -- possibly snakes -- and then spread to humans.
Residents wear masks to buy vegetables at a market in Wuhan on January 23, 2020.
Although China bans the trafficking of some wild animals, it is still widely seen as the world's largest market for illicit wildlife products. Experts say markets that sell wild animals need to be banned.
"It places the whole world at risk. And I don't think we can allow these to continue. The risk is just too great," Lipkin said.
Daszak added that countries need to take more preventative measures to stop pandemics.
"We should treat pandemics a bit like smoking or heart disease," he said. "We spend billions of dollars once they emerge to control an outbreak, but we should also start spending money before they emerge to stop them spilling over to people."

Is this SARS all over again?

There's reason to think that the current coronavirus outbreak won't have the same impact as SARS did in 2003.
For now, the virus doesn't seem as deadly. As of Thursday, Daszak estimated that it had a 3.5% mortality rate -- the WHO estimates that SARS had a fatality ratio of 14% to 15%.
This time around, we know what the disease is, and there are potential vaccines that can be trialed, Daszak said. Health authorities are also better prepared, says Hung, who doesn't think that this outbreak will be as bad as SARS.
But authorities also face new difficulties. This outbreak coincides with the Lunar New Year, and in the past 17 years, China has seen a dramatic increase in international and domestic travel.
Travelers wearing face masks wait at the departure hall at West Kowloon Station on January 23, 2020 in Hong Kong.
China's expansive trade network means the virus could spread to places like Africa, where testing might not be so intensive, Daszak said. Even in more developed countries, identifying people who were potentially infected still largely depends on them self-reporting their symptoms -- something some people just won't do.
At the moment, the disease hasn't become a super-spreader like SARS. If a disease is a super-spreader, it means that one person infects many people. There has been one report of a single patient infecting 14 health care workers, but no other similar cases have been reported.
But if the virus evolves to become a super-spreader, Daszak said that would "basically be a repeat of SARS."
"It's beginning to look more and more like SARS every day," Daszak said, adding that the decision to shut down Wuhan suggested the authorities know something about the way the disease spreads that isn't good news.
Whether this epidemic turns into SARS or not depends on how the disease evolves -- and how well public health authorities manage to contain it, he said.
"Right now, we are on the cusp of what could be a repeat of the SARS pandemic."

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Coronavirus: What is it and should we be worried? - BBC Newsnight - BBC Newsnight

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:29 PM PST

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Rosie Perez backs up fellow actress Annabella Sciorra's testimony in Harvey Weinstein trial - NBC News

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:16 PM PST

"Do the Right Thing" actress Rosie Perez testified in a crowded New York courtroom Friday that her friend and fellow performer Annabella Sciorra confided in her in the 1990s that she had been raped by producer Harvey Weinstein.

Perez, who took the stand over the objections of Weinstein's lawyers, told jurors she called Sciorra sometime in 1993 to set up plans to hang out. Sciorra, according to Perez, broke down crying on the phone.

"She said something bad happened and she said, 'I think I was raped,' and her voice started shaking," Perez testified, adding: "She started crying."

Perez, 55, told the court that she asked if Sciorra knew who had violently assaulted her in her Manhattan apartment, but Sciorra did not say. But in a phone conversation several months later, Sciorra told Perez that she had been raped by Weinstein, an influential figure in Hollywood.

"Please go to the police," Perez said she told Sciorra.

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"I can't," Sciorra replied, according to Perez. "He'd destroy me."

In wrenching testimony Thursday, Sciorra said that sometime in 1993 or 1994, Weinstein pushed his way into her Manhattan apartment, restrained her on a bed and forced himself on her. She told jurors that she tried to fight back, punching and kicking him, but "he took my hands and put them over my head."

Sciorra, best known for her performances in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" and HBO's "The Sopranos," said Perez was one of the few people she told about the alleged assault before she went public with her claims in an interview with the journalist Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker in 2017.

Weinstein, who has pleaded not guilty in the New York trial, denies any allegations of nonconsensual sex. The ex-producer's lawyers, who have insisted their client's sexual encounters were consensual, argued that Perez should be blocked from testifying. But the judge, James Burke, overruled them.

Weinstein, 67, faces charges he raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on another woman in 2006. He also faces a sex crime case in Los Angeles, where he is charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents on two consecutive days in 2013.

In all, more than 80 women have accused the Oscar-winning producer behind "Pulp Fiction" of sexual harassment and assault going back decades.

Sciorra, whose allegations were ruled too old to support criminal charges, is among a group of accusers who are expected to testify during the trial as part of the prosecution's strategy to demonstrate that Weinstein was a serial sexual abuser who harassed and assaulted many women.

If he is convicted in the case, he could be sentenced to life behind bars.

In questions during cross-examination Thursday, Weinstein defense attorney Donna Rotunno attempted to poke holes in Sciorra's testimony, pointing out her inability to remember when the alleged rape took place or whom she had been out to dinner with earlier that night.

Weinstein's lawyers also asked why Sciorra appeared in "Cop Land," a 1997 crime thriller distributed by his defunct company Miramax, if he had raped her earlier in the decade. Sciorra testified that she was not aware of Weinstein's involvement in the project until she was on board.

Adam Reiss

Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.

Image: Daniel ArkinDaniel Arkin

Daniel Arkin is a reporter for NBC News.

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You just can't beat late goal for real drama - Bangkok Post

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:07 PM PST

One undeniable factor that contributes to making football an attractive sport to watch is its unpredictability -- and nothing can be more unpredictable than a late goal deep in added time that can turn a match on its head.

Such goals inevitably spark extreme emotions of joy and despair amongst players, managers and fans alike.

We had two examples of this in the Premier League on Tuesday night.

At Villa Park, a 95th-minute winner gave Aston Villa a precious three points in a tense battle against fellow relegation candidates Watford.

It was Ezri Konsa's shot that sealed it, but because of a deflection the goal was credited to Tyrone Ings. The fans weren't bothered who had scored -- they were just thankful they had been rescued in literally the last minute.

There was even more drama at Goodison Park where Everton had totally outplayed Newcastle United for the entire match.

In added time, the Toffees were seemingly cruising to a comfortable 2-0 victory, which in fact could have been a lot more. But the game isn't over until the plump lady sings, or in this case, a little-known French defender.

In the 93rd-minute, following a corner, Newcastle substitute Floriane Lejeune scored with an acrobatic overhead kick.

It was a great goal, but not received with huge enthusiasm as it was regarded as merely a consolation.

But in the next minute as the very last seconds ticked away, Newcastle attacked once more and after a frantic goalmouth scramble they grabbed the equaliser, again through Lejeune.

Goodison Park fell silent, while pundits pondered the implausibility of a substitute centre-back scoring two goals at the very end of added time.

The television commentator observed that the finish to the match was "quite remarkable", while Magpies captain Jamaal Lascelles put it another way: "It was one of the weirdest games I have ever played in."

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti looked absolutely stunned that his team should throw away two points in such a manner.

There was little he could say apart from "I lost the final of the Champions League after being 3-0 up, so it can happen sometimes."

Even Newcastle gaffer, Steve Bruce, who has seen it all over the years, was almost lost for words. After shaking hands with the Italian after the final whistle, Bruce admitted: "I didn't apologise, I just shrugged my shoulders."

Scoring very late goals is becoming a welcome habit for the Magpies.

Only the week before at Stamford Bridge, Newcastle broke Chelsea hearts with a 93rd-minute winner from Isaac Hayden. "We never give up," Bruce said.

On Tuesday night, there was another dramatic late goal at Stamford Bridge, although Arsenal's 87th-minute equaliser arguably doesn't quite qualify as a "last-gasp" effort.

However, it was late enough to annoy Frank Lampard who summed up his season with "there should be 10 points more on the board."

Of course, it's not just the Premier League where you witness very late goals.

Two weeks ago in the Championship at the Madejski stadium, Reading and Nottingham Forest were involved in a bizarre finish after grinding their way to what looked like a goalless bore draw.

Many spectators had already left the stadium when in the 96th minute Forest netted what appeared to be a dramatic winner.

But Reading went straight down the other end and scored through an own goal for a 97th-minute equaliser.

Such was the excitement, home fans and players celebrated as if they had won the title rather than grabbing a fortunate home point.

Incidentally, the two sides drew 1-1 again this week in the reverse fixture at the City Ground, both goals coming after 80 minutes.

Although Tuesday's dramatic goals favoured teams in the lower realms of the Premier League, over the course of a season it is no coincidence that the late winners tend to come from teams at the top.

It reflects the pressure they can maintain all the way to the final whistle.

During the first two decades of the Premier League era it always seemed to be Manchester United scoring the late winners.

Managers and fans of opposing teams were convinced that referees, under pressure from Sir Alex Ferguson, gave United too much added time when they were at Old Trafford looking for a decisive goal.

Out of this came the celebrated expression "Fergie Time".

This season, runaway leaders Liverpool have also been scoring a few late winners, so now we are hearing tongue-in-cheek references to "Kloppage Time"

During the Premier League era, without doubt the most important late goal came from Sergio Aguero.

His strike in the 94th minute at the Etihad to beat QPR on the final day of the 2011-12 season clinched the title for Manchester City, edging out United on goal difference.

It could not have been more dramatic. QPR were 2-1 up with five minutes to play.

From a corner, City's Edin Dzeko headed a 92nd-minute equaliser, but City needed a winner. Two minutes later came Aguero's magic.

On the same afternoon, at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, United boss Ferguson, who only minutes before thought his team had retained the title, appeared to be in total disbelief when the news came in from the Etihad.

Rubbing salt into the wound, the ecstatic City fans chanted "We won in Fergie Time.''

In the remainder of the current season, as the promotion and relegation issues come down to the wire, some of those "last-gasp" goals inevitably will be even more crucial than ever.

They will also bring with them those familiar contrasting images of euphoria and misery, highlighting how much passion still remains in the game.

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Viral TikTok Challenge - 47abc - WMDT

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:03 PM PST

Firefighters across the country are warning parents about an extremely dangerous challenge gaining popularity on the social media app, TikTok and the latest trend is sparking more than just concerns.

The new challenge involving a phone charger, a penny and an outlet is going viral.

To TikTok users this is all in good fun, but officials say this is just an accident waiting to happen.

"A lot of times these kids they do this and they go to bed and then wake up in the middle of the night to their house being on fire," says Rob Frampton, Assistant Fire Chief for Salisbury Fire Department.

Here's how the challenge works people put a plug partially in the wall and then drop a coin on top of it causing visible damage, but sometimes more danger can linger behind the wall.

"If it's inside of the wall it could take a while for it to develop, everybody may think that everything is fine and the joke was ha ha funny and little do they know an hour later that fire has smoldered into the wall," says Frampton.

Trends like the outlet challenge can cause life-altering injuries and sometimes even death.

"It creates an electrical short which can cause electrocution, it could have effects on the individuals heart which could send them into cardiac arrest and could potentially kill them," says Frampton.

Officials say the best way to prevent this from happening in your home is to keep an eye on the things your kids watch on social media and locals 47 ABC spoke with agree.

"My kids watch it but some of the stuff I think parents need to be more mindful of and interact with their kids so they know what's going on," says Salisbury resident,

Natasha Whaley.

Another Salisbury resident, Trenace Josiah says, "First of all that's really crazy that people would even do something like that to put themselves at risk, you never know what could happen when you get shocked."

While an accident like this hasn't been reported locally, teenagers in several other states have faced criminal charges after causing property damage, even causing fires.

Officials say there are a few things you can do to avoid things like scorched outlets.

For example, fully inserting plugs into sockets and installing tamper-resistant electrical outlets.

They also encourage parents to have conversations about fire and electrical safety with their kids.

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Vine's creators are taking on TikTok with a new viral video app Byte - Business Insider - Business Insider

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:03 PM PST

Foto: Screenshot/Byte The creators of Vine just launched a new app, Byte.

Dom Hofmann, a co-creator of Vine, has returned to take on TikTok with a new viral video app called Byte, which went live on Friday evening. Byte is now available for download on iOS and Android devices.

„Dear friends, today we're bringing back 6-second looping videos and a new community for people who love them. it's called byte and it's both familiar and new. we hope it'll resonate with people who feel something's been missing," the company said in a tweet.

Byte's format will apparently closely mimic the six-second video uploads made popular by Vine, which Twitter acquired in 2012 before eventually shutting it down in 2017. The legacy of Vine lasts even today: The app made huge stars out of then-unknowns like brothers Logan and Jake Paul.

Byte also plans to roll out a pilot version of a partner program that will pay creators.

„Byte celebrates creativity and community, and compensating creators is one important way we can support both. stay tuned for more info," the tweet said.

Byte, which has been beta testing mode for the last year, enters the viral video app market at a time when TikTok is growing rapidly. Whether this second attempt at the Vine format will lure users and creators away from the incredibly successful TikTok – which is, itself, creating a new class of superstar – remains to be seen.

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Unconvincing Kepa faces fight to save his Chelsea career - Goal.com

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:37 PM PST

Kepa Arrizabalaga is under scrutiny as his poor statistics become public knowledge but Chelsea have long been aware of their No. 1's shortcomings.

Of the 116 goalkeepers to have played at least five games in any of Europe's 'Big Five' leagues this season, the £71 million signing from Athletic Club ranks 109th in terms of save percentage, while he also has the fewest 'expected goals' [xG] prevented in the Premier League.

Kepa was criticised in some quarters for conceding twice from the two shots he faced in Tuesday's 2-2 draw with 10-man Arsenal but it would be harsh to blame him for either goal.

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Nonetheless, his kicking was wayward throughout and repeatedly put his own team under pressure during another unconvincing display.

Consequently, Chelsea intend to look at other goalkeeping options during the summer if Kepa can't arrest his worrying dip in form.

Frank Lampard stopped short of admitting that Kepa's position is under threat but he did concede he wasn't entirely happy with the Spain international's distribution against Arsenal.

"I know there's a focus on him at the minute. That's top-line football," the Blues manager said.

"Yes, with his feet, a couple of times today he took too long and he nearly gave it away. That can sometimes change the momentum of a game. He knows that himself and he has to look at that. And we have to look at that too..."

Lampard elaborated on the theme on Friday. "I am not looking at strengthening that position now but Kepa knows that there have been some mistakes and is honest about that," he said.

'Now' was very much the operative word in that sentence. Chelsea certainly didn't envisage having to even contemplate looking for a new No. 1 when they made Kepa the most expensive goalkeeper in the world in the summer of 2018.

The 25-year-old was considered one of the top shot-stoppers in La Liga when he was signed to replace Thibaut Courtois.

Kepa Arrizabalaga 2019-20

However, it is worth remembering that the Blues only made their move after numerous failed attempts to sign Alisson from Roma, with the Brazil international preferring to join Liverpool instead.

It was known within the football community that Kepa's good distribution wasn't matched by his reflexes and agility in between the posts. However, it was thought that he could and indeed would improve with the ball at his feet.

It is deeply concerning for Chelsea, then, that he doesn't appear to be getting any better. If anything, he has gone backwards under Lampard after a reasonably good first season at Stamford Bridge under Maurizio Sarri.

Indeed, his percentage of shots saved has dropped from a middling 67.8 last term to a lousy 55.56. He is also producing more inaccurate passes for his new manager, with his 85.4% pass completion rate in the Premier League dropping to just 78.38%.

Mistakes against Arsenal and Man City went unpunished but he sealed his side's fate in the 3-1 loss at Everton when he gave the ball away to gift the home side the killer third goal in the closing stages.

The data shows that Kepa has conceded 6.62 more goals in the league than Opta stats would have predicted and these metrics are something that Lampard takes seriously.

Indeed, Lampard is on record admitting that he is disappointed with the fact that Chelsea are not performing poorly in terms of expected goals at the other end of the pitch.

"I don't like too many stats on expected goals because it is not all that clear at times, but we are bottom of the league in terms of our numbers at home," he pointed out, "and we're probably second only to Liverpool."

Lampard has been quick to defend Kepa, pointing to big saves in the recent draw at Brighton in a bid to boost his goalkeeper's confidence.

However, even aside from the statistical evidence, Kepa has noticeably struggled with long-range shots and close-range headers, with Chelsea conceding worryingly similar goals against Newcastle, Ajax, Arsenal and Wolves this season.

There have been reports that Lampard would like to bring in former Republic of Ireland international Shay Given, who was in his backroom team at Derby County, but the manager has denied that he is looking to get rid of his current goalkeeping coach, Henrique Hilario.

Perhaps the best thing for Kepa right now would just be some time out of the limelight, which makes the timing of this weekend's FA Cup clash with Hull City particularly opportune, with Willy Caballero set to start anyway.

Of course, Caballero will be sensing an opportunity himself, having rarely featured this season apart from in the domestic cup competitions.

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This is his chance to shine while some supporters are calling for him to start in the Premier League.

The situation is clearly a delicate one and Lampard will need to manage it carefully, particularly as he will not want to dent Kepa's confidence.

However, while Chelsea stood by Kepa after his moment of madness in the Carabao Cup final last season, Lampard might be less forgiving than Sarri given the goalkeeper's performances are so obviously in decline.

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French health officials confirm three cases of Wuhan coronavirus, the first in Europe - CNN

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:29 PM PST

One patient is a 48-year-old man in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, Health Minister Agnès Buzyn told reporters.
Buzyn said the man traveled to China and visited Wuhan before returning to France on January 22. A day later, he sought medical examination and has remained in isolation since then.
"He's in isolation and he's doing well," Buzyn said.
A visual guide to the Wuhan coronavirus
Two other patients have been admitted to a hospital in Paris, the ministry said in a statement.
"It might be because we set up the tests in a very short time making us capable to identify them," the minister told reporters. "What matters is to contain the fire as fast as possible, that's why we need to know the patient's history, find the people that patient was in contact with, to meet them, speak to them and give them the instructions to first of all stay at home and avoid any contact."
The virus, which was first discovered in the city of Wuhan in December, has spread to every province in China, except the remote autonomous regions of Qinghai and Tibet, with the number of infections rising to more than 1,000 worldwide.
As of Friday, the virus had claimed the lives of at least 41 people in mainland China.
The virus has started to spread around the world. Two cases have been identified in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The patients, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 30s, traveled to Wuhan and recently returned to the US.
Cases of the virus have been confirmed in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Vietnam.

CNN's Nicole Chavez wrote from Atlanta, Saskya Vandoorne and Fanny Bobille reported from Paris.

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Zola Review: A Fascinating Film Adaptation of a Viral Twitter Thread - Vanity Fair

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 04:33 PM PST

A few years ago, I got drinks with someone I'd befriended on Twitter. We met at a dark bar, and engaged in some small talk. About a half-hour in, he frowned and said, "You're not what I thought you'd be. Where's the weird, funny guy from Twitter?" It was pretty mortifying, but it did make me think—and has made me think in the years since—a lot about how I present myself online versus who I am out in the real world. How much artifice goes into my Twitter existence, how many anecdotes sent out in search of likes and retweets really represent the truth of things?

Those thoughts returned to me here at the Sundance Film Festival as I watched Janicza Bravo's new film Zola, which is perhaps the first feature film to be based on a viral Twitter thread. The author of the tweets is Aziah "Zola" King, who, in 2015, detailed a fraught trip she took to Florida with a fellow exotic dancer, Stephanie (whom she'd just met at Hooters, where Zola worked), Stephanie's boyfriend, and a man who would turn out to be Stephanie's pimp. It's quite a tale, full of outsized characters and shocking violence to cut through all the bawdy humor.

But, again, it was just Twitter, right? The real story can't have been that quick and zippy and chaotic. King herself has said that she embellished some for effect, already an admission that the stories we tell online aren't always direct reflections of the truth. And now there is a whole feature film based on that thread, which takes more licenses and further complicates the Internet's relationship with reality.

I had expected Zola to be a frenzy, a kinetic riot of sight and sound that rollicks along at the same clip that King's original thread does. There are moments when Bravo's film does zoom with that short-burst verve, little furies of gorgeously filmed action that are all the more shocking for the dispassionate way Bravo stages them. But a lot of the film is muted, making so much of the sordid things that Zola encounters seem almost prosaic. I wonder if Bravo—who co-wrote the film with playwright Jeremy O. Harris—is making a point there, showing how, in the immediate, these events didn't have the discrete, mini-story snap of a tweet. They were just moments in unbroken real-time, preceded by others, and proceeding more. Only after the fact could they be framed as quick narrative pops. Real life isn't quite so condensable into 140 characters, because it's always ongoing.

Another thing that Zola's surprising quiet does is give real human shape to the dramatis personae. Bravo is not a leerer, she does not seem interested in making outright fools of anyone. Things are played for laughs, of course, but the film always finds little flashes of personhood behind the antics. The movie is about sex work, the kind that's entered willingly and the kind that is less so. To that end, there is a villain in the film, Stephanie's domineering and menacing pimp. But even he, played with a crackling purr by Colman Domingo, is not a stick figure of badness. There's a fullness there too, a credit to the way Zola treasures detail way more than broad gestures.

Bravo is aided in her disarmingly humanist mission by her cast. Domingo is a standout. As is the ever invaluable Riley Keough as Stephanie, a slippery-sly operator who is, yes, under her pimp's thumb, but does have her own insistent agency. Keough has Stephanie speak in a Bhad Bhabie "cash me outside" patois that is certainly a risky choice, but it works for a character who seems lost between worlds and selves, blithely unaware of how all her affect might read to Zola and so many other black women. Stephanie makes Zola a mark, dragging her along on this wild ride under false pretenses, but the movie doesn't entirely condemn her for that. It seeks to understand her as much as it does the rest of this scuzzy—but wholly, tangibly American—milieu.

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Local Tech Companies Weigh in on the Future of Mobile Technology - Built In Chicago

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 04:28 PM PST

In 2015, Facebook created React Native, an open-source mobile app framework meant to be used on Android, iOS, Web and Microsoft's UWP. In 2017, Google released Flutter, its version of a user interface software development framework designed for similar purpose. While Flutter takes the cake when it comes to technical architecture, according to a 2018 Nevercode article, React Native has had stronger community support behind it from the start.

Despite each framework's respective strengths, Brian Busche, Arity's mobile SDK engineering manager, said he's looking at Flutter's expansion as a key piece of infrastructure in the puzzle that is this coming year's mobile landscape. 

"Some say it will eclipse React Native as a 'hybrid' mobile development toolkit in 2020," said Busche.  

Below, he and Elizabeth Lindemulder, VP of product at Arrive, told us what mobile trends, both front-facing and behind-the-scenes, they're tracking this year. Lindemulder is more interested in the effects of the user shift from web to mobile activity apparent over the last decade –– a trend she keeps in mind as her team further iterates on the company's existing offerings.

A concern on both of their agendas? User caution over compromised personal data. 

 

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Brian Busche, engineering manager of mobile SDK at Arity, doesn't see the conversation surrounding acceptable mobile data tracking practices dissipating anytime soon. Instead, he recommends that users familiarize themselves with mobile components like anonymous identifier codes, or their phone's Ad-ID. Companies must also do their part, he said, by following the most recent legal guidelines.
 

What are the top three mobile tech trends you're watching?

We saw tremendous growth in Google Flutter last year. Some say it will eclipse React Native as a "hybrid" mobile development toolkit in 2020. Arity is looking to provide a software development kit that is compatible with non-native mobile apps. It will be tricky for third-party SDK developers to support all of the alternatives to non-traditional mobile development. I see the potential for added market fragmentation as more hybrid solutions arise. Success in this area means anticipating which hybrid framework to support now, and more importantly, six to 12 months from now. 

Machine learning, which was once reserved for powerful back-end servers, is now becoming more viable for mobile. Processing complex models "on the edge" will extend AI's reach deeper into the mobile app world in 2020. App publishers must consider the trade-off between compute cost and real-time data insights.  

A third trend impacting the industry is the interconnectivity between mobile apps and other connected devices. We see apps connecting to smart homes, wearables and vehicle dashboard software like Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and proprietary original equipment manufacturer technology. This extends the capabilities of the mobile app, as it can relay data from a web of external sensors in addition to its own MEMS data. The implication for mobile developers would be greatly enriched data, set for more accurate insights into a user's environment and behavior.

I see the potential for added market fragmentation as more hybrid solutions arise.'' 

What under-the-radar mobile tech trends are you watching that the industry isn't talking about?

Apps are collecting data even when closed, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Arity technology enables mobile apps to detect the possibility that users have been in a collision event. This feature lives in family tracking apps, which can notify your circle that you have been in a collision and, if needed, can dispatch emergency services to your GPS location. Google has a similar solution, which is available exclusively for the Pixel 4. In every app that uses the Arity Driving Engine, users provide explicit permission to track location even when the app is closed.

Other third-party SDKs enable mobile apps to periodically send anonymous GPS data to companies for notifications like traffic alerts. Mobile users should not always assume that data, despite being anonymized, is used to their benefit. Legislation continues to evolve in the interest of protecting consumers' personally identifiable information. 

In 2019, we saw GDPR and CCPA define new rules about how data can be used.  Mobile app developers in 2020 will need to be aware of these, and any additional government mandates, in order to legally use location data like GPS coordinates. 

 

How are these trends affecting the future of your company specifically?

Arity has benefitted from these trends by staying ahead of the changes from a regulatory and ethics perspective while continuing to leveraging new technical capabilities. Because we so highly value user privacy and protection, we emphasize transparency and compliance. 

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Elizabeth Lindemulder, VP of Product at Arrive, doesn't need numbers to tell her that people are using their phones more than ever before. But data straight from the company's product development efforts does confirm that reality. As we move through a world connected via text, talk and video, Lindemulder anticipates the continued rise of mobile pay options (including Arrive) as well as increased visibility surrounding apps that are potentially compromising.  
 

What are the top three mobile tech trends you're watching that are significantly impacting the industry?

We're watching the rise of the "pays," meaning Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and PayPal. At the end of 2019, nearly 50 percent of our consumer app revenue came through one of these payment methods.

We're also looking at users' continual shift from web to mobile. In 2017, we doubled down on our iOS and Android product development efforts. We continue to see the results of that focus through growth in each platform. This growth has been key for us, as the lifetime value of our mobile customers far and away exceeds those booking via web.

Lastly, users are being more discriminative about the apps they allow on their phone –– whether they be battery hogs, data sucks or apps that compromise their privacy.

We're excited about people using their phones not only for payments but also as an extension of their identity.''

What under-the-radar mobile tech trends are you watching that the industry isn't talking about?

I wouldn't say this is necessarily under the radar, but we're excited about people using their phones not only for payments but also as an extension of their identity. More folks are using their phones to gain access to their homes or offices, unlock a Divvy bike, etc. Our mobile phones continue making life easier by removing everyday friction.  

 

How are these trends affecting the future of your company specifically?

We're offering an experience for consumers to get access to parking facilities using their phones.

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'I Think I Was Raped': Rosie Perez Testifies in Support of 'Sopranos' Actress' Weinstein Claims - The Daily Beast

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 04:16 PM PST

Actress Rosie Perez recalled for jurors on Friday how her friend, Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, revealed to her that she'd been sexually assaulted in her apartment by producer Harvey Weinstein.

Perez, the 55-year-old Emmy-nominated actress, testified in Manhattan Supreme Court that she called Sciorra one "chilly" night in 1993 "to hang out, to go to a night club, to have fun."

But Sciorra, now 59, answered in a "very strange whisper of a voice," and explained that something bad had happened to her, she said.

"She was talking in this very strange whisper of a voice as if she was hiding from someone," Perez said.

When questioned further, Sciorra started to cry as she told her friend that she'd woken up on the floor with her "nighty" up, Perez recalled. 

"I think I was raped," Sciorra allegedly whispered to her longtime pal.

Perez said that Sciorra refused to name her attacker or call the authorities, simply repeating "I can't" before hanging up the phone.

"I kept trying to call her back all night long because I was so upset. And she wouldn't pick up the phone," Perez testified.

It wasn't until 1994, after Sciorra had a disturbing run-in with the toppled titan in a London hotel, that the actress revealed the identity of her assailant, Perez said.

"She told me that it was, in fact, Harvey Weinstein who raped her," Perez said. 

"She swore me never to tell anybody," she added. "I told her to go to the police, and she said, 'I can't. He will destroy me. He will destroy my career.'"

The Do The Right Thing actress' testimony supports rape allegations made by Sciorra, who testified for six hours on Thursday at Weinstein's sex-crimes trial. Sciorra told jurors that in the winter of 1993 Weinstein showed up at her door and forced himself inside her 17th-floor apartment. 

"He put my hands over my head to hold me back and he got on top of me and he raped me," Sciorra said. "It was just so disgusting that my body started to shake."

Sciorra is among six accusers scheduled to testify against Weinstein, who faces five charges, including predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape, for allegedly performing an unwanted sex act on his former production assistant in 2006 and raping another woman in 2013. 

More than 80 women, including many well-known actresses, have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. The 67-year-old producer has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual assault. 

Sciorra testified on Thursday that despite telling the Oscar winner she "did not want to have sex and was not romantically interested in him," Weinstein pushed her onto the bed and raped her. 

"I was punching him, I was kicking him, I was just trying to get him off," the actress said. "But at some point, I stopped fighting, I didn't have much fight left."

After the rape, Weinstein ejaculated on her leg and nightgown, a gift from her mother's cousin,  and performed oral sex on her, she testified. She admitted to jurors Thursday that she never reported the incident to police and tried to forget it for the sake of her career and life—but told Perez about it later.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Damian Cherone questioned Perez about why she didn't push Sciorra harder to report the assault in 1993. The lawyer also questioned Perez's credibility, stating the actress has previously fudged the timeline about her knowledge of Sciorra's rape. 

"I was in a panic," Perez said, while Weinstein chewed gum and looked directly at her from across the courtroom. "When you have a girlfriend who tells you something like that, you don't know what to do. She was my very good friend. I was in shock. I was in a panic. I remember I kept calling her, crying, but she wouldn't pick up."

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Newton-raised actress Hari Nef joins Aly Raisman in Aerie’s self-love campaign - The Boston Globe

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 04:16 PM PST

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All of the 2020 Role Models — which also include actresses Lana Condor ("To All the Boys I've Loved Before") and Beanie Feldstein ("Booksmart") — chose a quick statement to explain what they hope to convey through their work on the campaign; Nef "encourages others to question and oppose the status quo — with empathy!"

From left: Beanie Feldstein, Lana Condor, Hari Nef, and Aly Raisman are four of the 2020 #AerieREAL Role Models.
From left: Beanie Feldstein, Lana Condor, Hari Nef, and Aly Raisman are four of the 2020 #AerieREAL Role Models.Andrew Buda for Aerie

The "Transparent" actress — who said she swaps stories with Raisman about growing up in Boston suburbs — told the Globe she wishes something like the #AerieREAL campaign had existed when she was a Boston-area teenager.

"When I was in high school at Newton South High School, I used to walk around with printouts of those skinny runway models in my folder because I wanted to look like them," said Nef, 27. "And somehow I kind of evolved into a version of one of them, but it was by sheer force of will. And I was never that tall, and I was never that thin. But I was welcomed in this industry that, at just the moment that I was ready, coincidentally and thank God, they were willing and ready to welcome something different. And I feel lucky to have been that thing, but I still feel like there's a long way to go in this industry of looking, I think, just beyond the surface, beyond the kind of boxes one ticks, whether that box aligns with the historic norm or opposing the status quo — that's become a box unto itself."

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Nef said she feels "great" about Aerie's lack of retouching, but that wasn't always the case. Previously as a model, she was grateful for fashion industry retouchers.

"They would give me new faces, new bodies, and I would thank them for it, because I felt like they were doing me a favor," she said. "And at the time, that was how I was thinking about myself. I don't feel that way anymore. And I'm excited to be a part of this imagery that's going to be widely circulated that — I've got my hair in, and I've got my makeup on, and I know I look good, but not a single thing on my body has been touched by a blur tool, or, nothing's been nipped, nothing's been tucked. It's just me."

Nef has a bunch of work on her 2020 docket, including a "fun, little, weird, delicious television project dropping at some point this year as part of an anthology," as well as some screenwriting projects she's "been working [on] rather sneakily and under the radar for the past couple of years." She said she'll also be rolling out more events and collaborations with Aerie in the coming months.

Rounding out the 2020 class of Role Models are sustainability activist Manuela Barón, scientist and entrepreneur Keiana Cavé, DJ and wellness advocate Tiff McFierce, Tony Award-winning performer Ali Stroker, Smile On Me founder Dre Thomas, and previous Role Models Raisman, YouTuber and motivational speaker Molly Burke, Paralympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Brenna Huckaby, podcast host Jenna Kutcher, and body-positive model and activist Iskra Lawrence.

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Alison Goldman can be reached at @alisongoldman and alisonmgoldman.com.

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唐田えりかＴＢＳドラマ出演自粛 東出と不倫報道（日刊スポーツ） - Yahoo!ニュース

Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:19 AM PST

唐田えりかＴＢＳドラマ出演自粛 東出と不倫報道（日刊スポーツ） - Yahoo!ニュース

女優唐田えりか（22）は24日、所属事務所の公式HPで、出演中のTBS系連続ドラマ「病室で念仏を唱えないでください」（金曜午後10時）の出演自粛を発表した。

【写真】制服姿の唐田えりか

伊藤英明演じる主人公と接する機会の多い、病棟クラーク・小山内みゆき役でレギュラー出演中だが、この日は出演せず、実質的に降板となる。エンドロールからも名前が消えた。この日から、唐田の公式インスタグラムも閲覧できなくなっていた。

TBS広報部は「所属事務所から出演自粛の申し出を受け、受け入れさせていただきました」と答えた。前日23日までは今のところ放送変更はないとしていたが、この日急きょ、出演自粛が決まった。

所属事務所のHPでは「今回お騒がせしてしまった報道を受け、反省をし、検討した結果、出演自粛に至りました。関係各所の皆さまに、多大なるご迷惑をおかけしたことを深くおわび申し上げます」としている。

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