Thursday, March 15, 2018

Multimillionaire Robert De Niro slams 'rich,' 'spoiled' Trump at charity event - Fox News

Multimillionaire Robert De Niro slams 'rich,' 'spoiled' Trump at charity event
By Sasha Savitsky | Fox News

Robert De Niro slams Trump: 'He's still an idiot'
On the same night the president was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser, actor Robert De Niro roasted Trump at a benefit dinner for the Fulfillment Fund, slamming his sense of humanity and Trump University.

Robert De Niro is making a habit out of criticizing President Trump.

The actor felt it was appropriate to call out Trump while speaking at a charity event in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

De Niro called Trump "rich" and "spoiled" while speaking at a benefit for the Fulfillment Fund, an organization which helps underprivileged kids receive a higher education.


"A college education is important, but education without humanity is ignorance. Look at our president. He made it through the University of Pennsylvania, so he was exposed to a quality education, but he’s still an idiot," De Niro said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "And he lacks any sense of humanity or compassion."

He continued, "Of course, he did have to overcome the curse of growing up rich and spoiled...and endure the heartbreak of bone spurs. Maybe that had an effect."

De Niro was referencing the reason why Trump received a medical draft deferment in the Vietnam War.

What Robert De Niro said and where. The actor delivers a harsh message to President Donald Trump
"Trump treats education as a con – a way to make a profit at the expense of the suckers. Anyone here planning to get their education at Trump University?" De Niro asked the crowd. "To be silent in the face of such villainy is to be complicit."

This is hardly the first time the 74-year-old has gone after Trump.

The Oscar-winner called Trump a "flat-out blatant racist" in August and more recently referred to Trump as a "f--king idiot", "f--king fool" and "jerkoff-in-chief" in January.

You can find Sasha Savitsky on Twitter @SashaFB.

Vatican ‘censored Benedict’s letter to conceal differences with Pope Francis’ - Times of London

Vatican ‘censored Benedict’s letter to conceal differences with Pope Francis’
Tom Kington, Rome
March 14 2018, 5:00pm,
The Times

Religion
Pope Francis is less of a hardliner than Benedict, right
Pope Francis is less of a hardliner than Benedict, right
OSSAVERTORE ROMANO/REUTERS

The Vatican has been accused of censoring a letter from the former pope, Benedict XVI, to disguise apparent differences of opinion between him and his successor, Pope Francis.

The row comes as a growing number of opponents of Francis’s liberal papacy depict his predecessor, who now lives in retirement in a cottage in the Vatican garden, as a muzzled champion of their brand of conservative faith.

Benedict, 90, shocked the world by standing down in 2013, before taking up a secluded existence at the Vatican with his books and piano.

His successor dropped Benedict’s traditional doctrinal brand of Catholicism to focus on mercy rather than dogma, enraging hardliners who have accused him of heresy over his push to allow Communion for Catholics who divorce and remarry.

In an apparent effort to stop conservatives turning Benedict into a focal point for resistance, Father Dario Edoardo ViganĂ², the Vatican’s chief of communications, published a letter from the former pope which stated that a series of new books on Francis’s theology exposed “the stupid prejudice according to which Pope Francis is just a practical man devoid of specific theological or philosophical formation”. Benedict added: “The little volumes demonstrate, rightly so, that Pope Francis is a man of profound philosophical and theological formation, and they therefore help in seeing the interior continuity between the two pontificates, albeit with all the differences of style and temperament.”


That prompted newspaper headlines in Italy about Francis having Benedict’s support. However, Sandro Magister, the Vatican correspondent for L’Espresso, noticed that the version of the letter publicly released by the Vatican was missing a crucial paragraph that had been read out by Mr ViganĂ² at a press conference. A Vatican source also admitted that lines from the paragraph that were visible in a photo of the letter had been blurred.

In the missing excerpt Benedict said that he had not read the books, adding: “Unfortunately, even if only for physical reasons, I am not able to read the 11 little volumes in the near future, all the more so because I am under other obligations to which I have already agreed.”

Marco Tosatti, an expert on the Vatican, said: “That appears to be in total contradiction to what he had just written.” Mr Tosatti said he believed that Benedict and Francis were “far apart” on doctrinal issues. “Benedict sees that Francis totally contradicts what he and Pope John Paul II stood for.”

Stephen Hawking said 'people who boast about their IQ are losers' - Independent

15/3/2018
Stephen Hawking said 'people who boast about their IQ are losers'
Posted a day ago by Mimi Launder in people 
UPVOTE 

Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds to have ever lived, has died, aged 76.

He was an iconic physicist who worked tirelessly to peer into the deepest mysteries in our universe, so you might have expected him to be somewhere towards the top of the smart-scale.

But Hawking didn't hold back while giving his opinion on people who gloat about their IQ.

In a 2004 interview with the New York Times, Hawking was asked what his IQ was.

He said:

I have no idea.

People who boast about their IQ are losers.

It's interesting to consider Hawking's point of view in the context of former reality TV star and now leader of the free world Donald Trump.

Trump has been in the news for his long-lasting IQ obsession, which cropped up again in October last year after he offhandedly challenged his then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to an IQ test after Tillerson called him a 'moron'.

If only there were some organisation known for measuring IQ.

We could finally settle this matter once and for all.

The dig at Tillerson is just the latest after years of boasting.

@realDonaldTrump
"@gharo34: @realDonaldTrump Not only is your IQ somewhere between Barack Obama and G.W.Bush...but you're entertaining!"Much higher than both

11:23 AM - May 1, 2013


Take the president's claims –- as you have probably already learned to do after almost a year of his presidency – with an ocean's worth of salt.

After all, this is the same man who boasted about his own humbleness in a bizarre interview last year.

He said:

I think I'm much more humble than you would understand.

The very best, most humblest man ever in fact.

It doesn't take a genius not to spot the irony in that statement.

Energized high schoolers rally across US in school walkouts: 'You don't want your brother, sister ... to be the next victims' - ABC News

Energized high schoolers rally across US in school walkouts: 'You don't want your brother, sister ... to be the next victims'
By EMILY SHAPIRO  Mar 14, 2018, 4:56 PM ET

PHOTO: Columbine High School student Leah Zunder holds a sign during a National School Walkout to honor the 17 students and staff members killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in Littleton, Colo., on March 14, 2018.PlayRick Wilking/Reuters
WATCH Students across the country rally in National School Walkouts to end gun violence
Email
Thousands of high school students, many still far from voting age, are streaming out of schools across the country today to protest against gun violence in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 people.

Interested in Gun Control?
Add Gun Control as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Gun Control news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
Gun Control Add Interest
“I’m just mad there’s no action by our government representatives,” Daniel Rogov, a junior in Brooklyn, New York, said today.

“It’s all thoughts and prayers; it’s all talk,” he told ABC News. “After a gun violence tragedy there’s a speech talking about how we need change but there never is change.”

Students from Harvest Collegiate High School stand in Washington Square Park, March 14, 2018, in New York to take part in a national walkout to protest gun violence, one month after the shooting in Parkland, Fla., in which 17 people were killed.more +

Young people participate in the National School Walkout over gun violence at a rally on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018.Michael Reynolds/EPA/REX/Shutterstock
Young people participate in the National School Walkout over gun violence at a rally on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018.more +
East chapel Hill students hug as they take part in a student walkout on March 14, 2018 in Chapel Hill, N.C.Bernard Thomas/The Herald-Sun via AP
East chapel Hill students hug as they take part in a student walkout on March 14, 2018 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The event, which began at 10 a.m. across every time zone, was officially scheduled to last 17 minutes -- one minute for each of the victims gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But many students are rallying for much longer.

To the students at Stoneman Douglas, Daniel's message is, “Keep making your voices heard. While the politicians might stop talking about this, we’re not done.”

 Students from Washington-Lee High School hold up posters with pictures of Parkland school shooting victims during a walk out in Arlington, Va. on March 14, 2018.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Students from Washington-Lee High School hold up posters with pictures of Parkland school shooting victims during a walk out in Arlington, Va. on March 14, 2018.more + Students from Fiorello H. Laguardia High School lie down on West 62nd street in support of the National School Walkout in the Manhattan borough of New York, March 14, 2018.Mike Segar/Reuters
Students from Fiorello H. Laguardia High School lie down on West 62nd street in support of the National School Walkout in the Manhattan borough of New York, March 14, 2018.more +
Students across the U.S. walked out of classes on March 14, 2018, in a nationwide call for action against gun violence following the shooting deaths last month at a Fla. high school.Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Students across the U.S. walked out of classes on March 14, 2018, in a nationwide call for action against gun violence following the shooting deaths last month at a Fla. high school.more +
Over 3,000 walkout events were registered to take part in today's call on Congress to pass tighter gun control laws, according to ENOUGH National School Walkout, the event organizers.

The walkouts are across the nation, from Michigan to Maryland, from Colorado to California, and from the White House to Washington state.

@ABC
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo joins students protesting for stricter gun laws in New York City as part of #NationalWalkoutDay. http://abcn.ws/2FDexzh

1:55 AM - Mar 15, 2018
Abby Cruz
@Abbbbeeeyyy
The youngest kids I’ve seen so far. 11,12, & 13 year old students from Takoma Park Middle school

12:44 AM - Mar 15, 2018

"Remember why we are walking out," Stoneman Douglas survivor Lauren Hogg wrote on Twitter today. "We are walking out for my friends that passed, all children that have been taken because of gun violence. We are walking out for the empty desks in my classes, and the unsaid goodbyes. This epidemic of School shootings must stop."


Lauren Hogg
@lauren_hoggs
Remember why we are walking out. We are walking out for my friends that passed, all children that have been taken because of gun violence. We are walking out for the empty desks in my classes, and the unsaid goodbyes. This epidemic of School shootings must stop. #Enoughwalkout

12:41 AM - Mar 15, 2018
In Washington, D.C., a huge crowd of chanting students gathered in front of the White House. Once the clock struck 10 a.m., the students silently sat down with their backs to the White House.

Even though most teenagers can’t vote, “we just want the White House to hear us,” Abby Silverman of Bethesda, Maryland, told ABC News outside the White House.

Kevin Butler told ABC News he came to the White House to “make sure there are stricter gun laws,” and even though the president wasn’t there during the sit-in, Kevin thinks their voices will be heard.

 Students gather in Washington D.C for the National School Walkout, March 14, 2018.ABC News
Students gather in Washington D.C for the National School Walkout, March 14, 2018.
Young people participate in the National School Walkout over gun violence at a rally on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018.Michael Reynolds/EPA/REX/Shutterstock
Young people participate in the National School Walkout over gun violence at a rally on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018.more +
From the White House, the students marched to a rally at Capitol Hill.

 Thousands of local students march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol during a nationwide student walkout for gun control in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018.Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Thousands of local students march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol during a nationwide student walkout for gun control in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018.more +
19 years after school shooting, Columbine students join in nationwide walkout for gun control
Middle school teacher encourages students to 'walk up' to others, not just walk out
From school shooting to a walkout, how the movement unfolded
At one Evanston, Illinois, school, about 3,000 of the 3,500 students walked out, the school said.

“We should come to school and be protected, not where we have to come to school and fear for our lives,” Evanston student Alexis Harris Dyer told ABC News "We are all gathered together to show that we care, to show that we have voices. We are young people and we are passionate about what we have to say.”

At the massive walkout was a massive call-in, as students flooded lawmaker's offices all at once with calls for gun reform.

“I’m a high school constituent of [Gov.] Bruce Rauner," one teen said on the phone. "I’m calling to request that you take action to reform our nations gun laws.”

“Often our words are ignored," Dyer said, "So I think this is a way where we can actually be taken seriously.”

Student Emma Stein added, “I hope to inspire the next generation of voters and get young people engaged in the political process and to hold their representatives accountable. ... As long as there’s a threat of mass shootings in schools, I think students will remain very dedicated to the issue.”
Students from Harvest Collegiate High School form a circle around the fountain in Washington Square Park, March 14, 2018, in N.Y. to take part in a national walkout to protest gun violence.Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Students from Harvest Collegiate High School form a circle around the fountain in Washington Square Park, March 14, 2018, in N.Y. to take part in a national walkout to protest gun violence.more +
At a rally in Denver, high schooler Jlynn Terroade said, "It's really important for students to exercise their rights and be activists for what they believe in. That's what today was all about."

"Our Second Amendment seems to seem to care about guns more than students," Terroade told ABC News. "We have to empower ourselves."

Another Colorado student, Adriana Strode, added, "You don't want your brother, sister, your daughter to be the next victims of a mass shooting. ... We're here to open people's eyes so they can see this is a big issue."

@amyhollyfield
Students are holding up the names and pictures of those who died in the Parkland, Fla shootings. #walkoutbayarea

4:20 AM - Mar 15, 2018

Women’s March Youth Coordinator Tabitha St. Bernard Jacobs, one of the few adult allies guiding the students in the youth-led movement, told ABC News before the event that while the walkout was sparked by the Florida school shooting, the event is about pressuring Congress to act against gun violence overall.

She said the walkout was a way to shed light on the kind of gun violence that exists not just in schools but every day, like shootings that affect communities of color or devastate cities like Chicago.

How participants spent those 17 minutes of the walkout was up to them, St. Bernard Jacobs said. Some people were doing a lie-in, while others held rallies, she said.

Thousands of miles away from Parkland, Florida, at a Southern California school, students placed 17 empty desks in the quad, each with a flower and a picture for the 17 shooting victims.

At one Michigan high school, the names of all school-shooting victims were read as students walked out in silence, according to the school.

Crestwood Activities
@CrestwoodActivi
Students at Crestwood HS honored the victims of mass shootings in schools today. #enough

2:37 AM - Mar 15, 2018

Leslie Brinkley
@lrbrinkley
Enough is enough. Students walk out at Las Lomas high school Walnut Creek #abc7news

4:03 AM - Mar 15, 2018

Students from around the world were also eager to participate.

Students at the Zurich International School in Switzerland took part, gathering outside in the shape of a peace sign. Students snapped this photo via a drone.
 Students at the Zurich International School in Switzerland took part in the United States National School Walkout, March 14, 2018.Courtesy Zurich International School
Students at the Zurich International School in Switzerland took part in the United States' National School Walkout, March 14, 2018.
"I'm really proud of our two students who organized the event and took the photos," Upper School Principal John Switzer said via email.

Izzy Harris, a student at the American School in London, said students at her school, including herself, walked out "to demonstrate that the U.S. government needs to make changes to their gun laws."

"Although we are not directly affected in the U.K., a number of us are American and have many connections to the U.S.," she told ABC News via video.

PHOTO: Students pose for photographs with a banner outside the front of the American School in London, after taking part in a 17-minute walkout in the school playground, which was attended by approximately 300 students aged 14-18, March 14, 2018.Matt Dunham/AP
Students pose for photographs with a banner outside the front of the American School in London, after taking part in a 17-minute walkout in the school playground, which was attended by approximately 300 students aged 14-18, March 14, 2018.more +
While many school districts were supportive of the protests, some schools had threatened to discipline students participating in walkouts.

At the high school on a South Korean base where U.S. military forces are stationed, officials warned students not to walk out, saying policy prohibits protests on U.S. military installations.

"Seoul American High School will maintain a roster of any students who walks out of class and will provide that list to the Yongsan Garrison Command Team to determine if any further steps are warranted," Principal Donald Toy Williams Jr. wrote in a memo to parents and sponsors posted on the school's Facebook page today. "We would also like to note that any student who leaves campus during the walkout time will be dealt with by the military police who will take their name, information, and then escort them back into school control immediately."

In Plainfield, Illinois, where some students had planned to walk out, doing so came with a guideline.

PHOTO: Students gather on their soccer field during a 17-minute walkout protest at the Stivers School for the Arts, March 14, 2018, in Dayton, Ohio.
SLIDESHOW: PHOTOS: National School Walkout
Students who wanted to participate in the walkout also had to attend an after-school discussion with state legislators to discuss issues that relate to school violence, like the political process, school safety, gun control and what influences politicians, Plainfield School District Superintendent Lane Abrell told ABC News.

A student who walked out but did not attend the discussion with state legislators would get a one-hour detention, Abrell said.

Abrell said the walkout "in my opinion ... doesn't really solve the issue," and the meeting with local legislators is a way for students who genuinely are passionate about the cause to learn how school violence issues can be solved.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said schools could punish students for missing class for walkouts, but the punishment should only be because students missed school and not as a harsher punishment because the students participated in a protest.

Dozens of colleges and universities had said they won't penalize applicants who are peaceful student protesters.

ABC News' Ali Rogin, Connor Burton, Elizabeth Mclaughlin, Katherine Carroll, Frank Elaridi, Rachel Katz, Doug Lantz, Andy Fies, Dennis Powell, Fergal Gallagher, Armando Garcia, Evan McMurry and Samantha Reilly contributed to this report.

Next China Central Bank Chief's Hands May Be Tied – by Xi: BNP - Bloomberg

Next China Central Bank Chief's Hands May Be Tied – by Xi: BNP
Bloomberg News
March 15, 2018, 6:50 PM GMT+11

The People's Bank of China headquarters in Beijing. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Gone are the days of China’s central bank governor as a center of reformist energy.

President Xi Jinping’s efforts to centralize control mean that who the new boss of the People’s Bank of China is won’t matter as much, according to Chi Lo, greater China senior economist at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Hong Kong.

“It’s very clear Beijing’s policy direction is that it wants to centralize all departments, ministries, officials and governors to Beijing’s central direction," Lo said Thursday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “No matter whether or not the person is very liberalized, he or she won’t be able to go outside the framework Beijing has already set.”

China’s central bank lacks the independence of its global peers, and operates under the control of the State Council, China’s cabinet. The Financial Stability and Development Committee, a high-level State Council body created in July to oversee the financial system, still lacks clear leadership and its relationship to the central bank isn’t fully defined.

PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, who said in October he’ll retire "soon," told reporters at a briefing this month that market access reforms should be accelerated and that the world’s second-largest economy “can be bolder in opening up.”

While the central bank got expanded regulatory powers during this year’s National People’s Congress, Xi has amassed even greater economic control in recent months after enshrining his beliefs in the constitution and scrapping term limits. That adds to policy powers he’s already concentrated in the Communist Party’s small leading groups.

— With assistance by Jeff Kearns, and David Ingles

UK response to Russia over spy poisoning not tough enough - Litvinenko widow - Reuters

MARCH 15, 2018 / 6:34 AM / UPDATED 14 HOURS AGO
UK response to Russia over spy poisoning not tough enough - Litvinenko widow
Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s response on Wednesday to the nerve agent attack on a Russian double agent in southern England does not go far enough and senior Kremlin figures should be targeted with sanctions, the widow of a Russian dissident murdered in London said.

Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament Britain would expel 23 Russian diplomats and freeze Russian state assets wherever there was evidence of a threat as part of measures against Moscow which she blames for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.

Russia denies any involvement in the March 4 attack on Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, who are both critically ill in hospital, and has accused Britain of unjustified action.

“I think something more should be done. It’s not enough,” Marina Litvinenko told Reuters in an interview. Her husband Alexander, a former KGB agent, was murdered with the rare radioactive isotope polonium in London in 2006.

“Even though (the reaction) is stronger than it was in (the) case of my husband, it is still not enough.”

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is among those who have linked the Skirpal case to that of Litvinenko, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.


A public inquiry in 2016 concluded Litvinenko’s murder was carried out by two Russians, one of them a former KGB bodyguard who became a member of the Russian parliament, as part of an operation probably ordered by Putin, allegations Moscow rejects.

After that inquiry, Britain expelled four diplomats and May told lawmakers that this time the response needed to be firmer. While Marina Litvinenko said the reaction had been faster and more direct than two years ago, it was not tough enough.

“You don’t need to play with the same rules as Putin, because you’ll never win,” she told Reuters. “But you don’t need to show you’re soft and you are accepting everything that happened in your country even after what happened to my husband.

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko, poses for a portrait during an interview with Reuters in London, Britain, March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
“You need to be more serious and (do) something that maybe Putin doesn’t expect.”

She said Britain should look at wider and bigger personal sanctions beyond those in the U.S. Magnitsky Act which imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials.

“It’s very important to make severe targeted sanctions,” she said, adding that sanctions against the Russian state would be portrayed as an attack on ordinary Russians.

She had to battle with the British authorities to hold the public inquiry into her husband’s death which May - then interior minister - had initially ruled out as Britain sought better relations with Russia.

“They tried to protect this relationship between Russia and (the) UK. But Russia’s president and these people who are in power in Russia did not accept it. It was softness, even weakness,” she said.

She hopes Britain will have learned and May’s personal involvement in her husband’s case will have hardened her resolve.

“I believe she (...) understands (better) who Mr Putin is,” she said.

She said other Russian dissidents living in Britain still did not feel very secure and it was hard not to see the death in London on Monday of another Putin critic, Nikolai Glushkov, 68, as suspicious.

Counter-terrorism police are now investigating his death although they said it was not thought to be linked to the attack on the Skripals.

She said it was hard to accept that Glushkov’s death was only due to natural causes.

Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary and Richard Balmforth

Bottled water: WHO launches plastic health review - BBC News

15/3/2018
Bottled water: WHO launches plastic health review
By David Shukman
Science editor

Research led by journalism organisation Orb Media discovered an average of 10 plastic particles per litre
The World Health Organization is to launch a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water.

It will assess the latest research into the spread and impact of so-called microplastics - particles that are small enough to be ingested.

It comes after journalism organisation Orb Media found plastic particles in many major brands of bottled water.

There is no evidence that microplastics can undermine human health but the WHO wants to assess the state of knowledge.

Plastic particles found in bottled water
Bruce Gordon, coordinator of the WHO’s global work on water and sanitation, told BBC News that the key question was whether a lifetime of eating or drinking particles of plastic could have an effect.

"When we think about the composition of the plastic, whether there might be toxins in it, to what extent they might carry harmful constituents, what actually the particles might do in the body – there's just not the research there to tell us.

"We normally have a 'safe' limit but to have a safe limit, to define that, we need to understand if these things are dangerous, and if they occur in water at concentrations that are dangerous."

'Shame and anger' at plastic pollution
Earth is becoming 'Planet Plastic'
Plastic pollution in seven charts
Mr Gordon said that he did not want to alarm anyone, and also emphasised that a far greater waterborne threat comes in countries where supplies can be contaminated with sewage.

But he said he recognised that people hearing about the presence of microplastics in their drinking water would turn to the WHO for advice.

"The public are obviously going to be concerned about whether this is going to make them sick in the short term and the long term."

The WHO initiative is partly in response to a study that screened more than 250 bottles of water from 11 different brands bought in nine countries - the largest investigation of its kind.

A dye is used that binds to pieces of plastic
The tests were carried out at the State University of New York in Fredonia as part of a project involving original research and reporting by the US-based journalism organisation Orb Media.

Using a dye called Nile Red, which binds to free floating pieces of plastic, the university's Prof Sherri Mason found an average of 10 plastic particles per litre of water, each larger than the size of a human hair.

Smaller particles assumed to be plastic but not positively identified were found as well - an average of 314 per litre.

Image copyrightORB MEDIA
Image caption
After filtration, the larger particles - yellow marks - are easy to see
Of all the bottles tested, 17 were found to have no particles at all while many had counts ranging into the hundreds or even thousands, with big differences within brands and even the same pack of bottles.

We contacted the companies behind the brands and most responded, standing by the quality and safety of their products.

A few questioned why the study’s results were so much higher than their own internal research or pointed out that there are no regulations on microplastics or agreed methods for testing for them.

The study comes on top of earlier investigations that have found microplastics in tap water, beer, sea salt and fish, and Prof Mason told me that researchers need to be able to answer the pressing question of whether microplastics can be harmful.

"What we do know is that some of these particles are big enough that, once ingested, they are probably excreted but along the way they can release chemicals that cause known human health impacts.

"Some of these particles are so incredibly small that they can actually make their way across the gastro-intestinal tract, across the lining and be carried throughout the body, and we don’t know the implications of what that means on our various organs and tissues."

The UK's Food Standards Agency said it was unlikely that the levels of microplastic reported in the bottles of water could cause harm but it added that, "it would assess any emerging information concerning microplastics in food and drink".

For Dr Stephanie Wright of the King’s College Centre for Environment and Health, the priority is to understand how much microplastic we are exposed to, and exactly what happens to it inside us.

Researchers have established that tiny particles of titanium dioxide can pass through the lining of the gut so the same might be possible with plastic, raising the question of where it would then end up.

Dr Wright told me: "The particles could stay within an immune cell in the gut lining, or be passed into our lymphatic system ending up in the lymph nodes, or there is a small potential for them to enter the blood stream and possibly accumulate in the liver.

"These are foreign hard particles which our body will obviously want to get rid of but it can’t because plastic is not degradable so that will cause harm to the local tissue.

"But at the moment we don't know."

I suggested to Michael Walker, a consultant to the Office of the UK Government Chemist and founder board member of the Food Standards Agency, that the jury was out on whether microplastics could cause harm.

He replied: "The scientific literature says that not only is the jury not yet out on this question but the jury has not yet been convened on it."

The full Orb Media report can be found at www.OrbMedia.org

Stephen Hawking's warnings: What he predicted for the future - BBC News

15/3/2018
Stephen Hawking's warnings: What he predicted for the future
By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website

Stephen Hawking on God, artificial intelligence and mankind's future
Stephen Hawking's fame was founded on the research he did on general relativity and black holes. But he often stepped outside his own field of research, using his recognition to highlight what he saw as the great challenges and existential threats for humanity in coming decades. His pronouncements drove headlines in the media, which sometimes proved controversial.

Leaving Earth
Hawking was clearly troubled that we were putting all our eggs in one basket - that basket being Earth. For decades, Hawking had been calling for humans to begin the process of permanently settling other planets. It made news headlines again and again.

Hawking's rationale was that humankind would eventually fall victim to an extinction-level catastrophe - perhaps sooner rather than later. What worried him were so-called low-probability, high impact events - a large asteroid striking our planet is the classic example. But Hawking perceived a host of other potential threats: artificial intelligence, climate change, GM viruses and nuclear war to name a few.

In 2016, he told the BBC: "Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or 10,000 years.

Visionary physicist Stephen Hawking dies
Obituary: Stephen Hawking
A life in pictures
The book that made Hawking a star
He was confident that humans would spread out into the cosmos by that time (given the chance), but added: "We will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period."

Here, Hawking's views dovetailed with those of entrepreneur Elon Musk, another science superstar whose cogitations attract widespread attention. In 2013, Musk told a conference: "Either we spread Earth to other planets, or we risk going extinct. An extinction event is inevitable and we're increasingly doing ourselves in."

Artwork: Hawking said that settling other planets would mitigate the risk of human extinction
In line with his thoughts on the matter, Hawking also attached his name to a project researching technologies for interstellar travel - the Breakthrough Starshot initiative.

Rise of the machines?
Hawking recognised the great opportunities that arose from advances in artificial intelligence, but also warned about the dangers.

In 2014, he told the BBC that "the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race".

Hawking said the primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far had already proved very useful; indeed, the tech he used to communicate incorporated a basic form of AI. But Hawking feared the consequences of advanced forms of machine intelligence that could match or surpass humans.

Some academics thought the comments drew on outdated science fiction tropes. Others, such as Prof Bradley Love, from UCL, agreed there were risks: "Clever AI will create tremendous wealth for society, but will leave many people without jobs," he told The Conversation.

But he added: "If we are going to worry about the future of humanity we should focus on the real challenges, such as climate change and weapons of mass destruction rather than fanciful killer AI robots."

Tipping point
Hawking regarded global warming as one of the biggest threats to life on the planet. The physicist was particularly fearful of a so-called tipping point, where global warming would become irreversible. He also expressed concern about America's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement.

"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees, and raining sulphuric acid," he told BBC News.

Hawking was in plentiful company when warning about the threat from climate change
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also highlights the potential risk of hitting climate tipping points as temperatures increase - though it also emphasises the gaps in our knowledge.

However, Hawking was in plentiful company in regarding global warming as one of the great challenges of centuries to come.

Shhhh, keep it down
There's a whole field of science, known as Seti (The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) dedicated to listening for signals from intelligent beings elsewhere in the Universe. But Hawking cautioned against trying to actively hail any alien civilisations that might be out there.

In 2010, he told the Discovery Channel that aliens might simply raid Earth for resources and then move on.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said.

"We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."

Listen out: Should we broadcast our presence to aliens - or just listen out for them?
At the time, Seth Shostak, from the Seti Institute in California, told the Guardian: "This is an unwarranted fear. If they're interested in resources, they have ways of finding rocky planets that don't depend on whether we broadcast or not. They could have found us a billion years ago."

But others saw the logic in Hawking's comments. Ian Stewart, a mathematician at Warwick University, commented: "Lots of people think that because they would be so wise and knowledgeable, they would be peaceful. I don't think you can assume that."

Controversial headlines
The media attention gave him an unprecedented platform. But some in the scientific community were occasionally less enthusiastic about the resulting headlines than the journalists who wrote them.

Indeed, while out covering events I have more than once been asked why the British media seemed to hang on Hawking's every word.

Prof Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, said: "He had robust common sense, and was ready to express forceful political opinions.

"However, a downside of his iconic status was that that his comments attracted exaggerated attention even on topics where he had no special expertise - for instance philosophy, or the dangers from aliens or from intelligent machines."

But many would also argue that, beyond individual statements or headlines, Hawking had a unique ability to connect with the public.

They would say that the "hype" this sometimes generated was an inevitable by-product of his household name status. Instead, we should focus on a greater good - his ability to bring science to the attention of people who might otherwise never have given it a second thought.

It's testament to his success as a communicator that the mourning for this champion of rational thinking extends far beyond the scientific community.

Russian spy: White House backs UK decision to expel diplomats - BBC News

15/3/2018
Russian spy: White House backs UK decision to expel diplomats

Theresa May announces measures to send a "clear message" to Russia over the use of a nerve agent in Salisbury
The White House says it "stands in solidarity" with "its closest ally" the UK and supports its decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats.

PM Theresa May said the diplomats would be expelled after Moscow refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on a former spy in the UK.

Moscow denies responsibility and says it is working on retaliatory measures.

US President Donald Trump's spokeswoman accused Russia of undermining the security of countries worldwide.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the attack was Russia's "way of saying to people this is what happens to people who stand up to our regime".

He said: "Now is the moment for Putin to jam the lid down and send a message to people: 'You do this, you're going to die.'"

What we know so far
Corbyn aide queries proof of Russian guilt
How is the UK retaliating against Russia?
UK to build new chemical defence centre
BBC North American editor Jon Sopel said the White House statement was notable in the unqualified support it offered Theresa May.

President Trump's way of talking about Russia, using language that had not been heard from the White House before, was also significant, he said.

In the statement, Mr Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders said the US wanted to ensure "this kind of abhorrent attack does not happen again" and called the UK's expulsion of Russian diplomats "a just response".

"This latest action by Russia fits into a pattern of behaviour in which Russia disregards the international rules-based order, undermines the sovereignty and security of countries worldwide, and attempts to subvert and discredit Western democratic institutions and processes," she said.

Former spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital after being found slumped on a bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 4 March.

Image copyrightEPA/ YULIA SKRIPAL/FACEBOOK
Image caption
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are in a "critical but stable" condition, Boris Johnson said
The chemical used in the attack has been identified part of a group of nerve agents developed by Russia known as Novichok, Mrs May said.

The PM said there was "no alternative conclusion" than to believe Russia was "culpable" for the poisonings.

Mr Johnson told the BBC a sample of the nerve agent would be sent to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - the independent international body set up to stop chemical warfare - for analysis.

But he added that Russia's "smug, sarcastic" response indicated their "fundamental guilt".

Moscow wanted to "simultaneously deny it and at the same time to glory in it", he said, adding the nerve agent was chosen "to show that it is Russia".

The spy at centre of poison mystery
What are Novichok nerve agents?
Russia retaliation could hurt UK business
Kuenssberg: No easy choices for UK
Former Nato general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the attack was part of a "wider strategy" by Russia against Europe.

He said it was time to "fight back" with prolonged sanctions and measures to target individuals close to President Putin, adding "anything short of full solidarity with the UK will be considered a victory by the Kremlin".

The White House statement echoed earlier comments made by the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who cited the "special relationship" between the two countries and said the US would "always be there" for the UK.

Also addressing the UN Security Council, Britain's deputy UN ambassador, Jonathan Allen, accused Russia of breaking its obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.


Media captionThe UK, US and Russia all addressed the UN over the use of a nerve agent on UK soil
In response, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, denied Moscow's involvement in the attack and demanded "material proof" from Britain.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would co-operate if it received a formal request for clarification from the UK under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which sets a 10-day time limit for a response.

But Moscow refused to meet the UK's Tuesday evening deadline to explain the use of the nerve agent, prompting Mrs May to announce the diplomats' expulsion and other measures intended to send a "clear message" to Russia.

These include:

Increasing checks on private flights, customs and freight
Freezing Russian state assets where there is evidence they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents
Ministers and the Royal Family boycotting the Fifa World Cup in Russia later this year
Suspending all planned high-level bilateral contacts between the UK and Russia
Plans to consider new laws to increase defences against "hostile state activity"
In a statement to MPs, Mrs May said Russia had provided "no explanation" as to how the nerve agent came to be used in the UK, describing Moscow's response as one of "sarcasm, contempt and defiance".

The Kremlin has previously said any steps taken against Russia by the PM would lead to "retaliatory measures".

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said the UK government was "all too aware" of the likelihood of retaliation from Moscow alongside denials and scorn in the coming days.

Meanwhile, any crackdown on Russia could be painful for UK business, including BP's 20% stake in a Russian oil and gas firm, BBC business editor Simon Jack said.

The BBC's Paul Adams looks at why the UK is expelling 23 Russian diplomats
The expulsion of the diplomats, who have been given one week to leave the country, is the largest since 31 were ordered out in 1985 after double agent Oleg Gordievsky defected.

Russia's foreign ministry said Mrs May's statement was "an unprecedentedly crude provocation" and that the UK government had "seriously aggravated" relations by announcing a "whole set of hostile measures".

The Russian embassy in London also tweeted a picture of a thermometer dropping to -23C and said "we are not afraid of cold weather".

@RussianEmbassy
The temperature of đŸ‡·đŸ‡º đŸ‡¬đŸ‡§ relations drops to ➖2️⃣3️⃣, but we are not afraid of cold weather.

What to Know About Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s Favorite to Replace Economic Adviser Gary Cohn - TIME

Posted: 13 Mar 2018 12:51 PM PDT

Who will replace economic adviser Gary Cohn in the White House? The current name floating as a “favorite” or “front-runner,” according to the New York Times and Reuters respectively, is CNBC commentator and radio host Lawrence Kudlow.
“We don’t agree on everything, but in this case, I think that’s good,” President Donald Trump said of Kudlow, 70, on Tuesday. “I want to have a divergent opinion. We agree on most.”
“I think Larry has a very good chance,” Trump continued.
Last week, Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president, resigned from his White House position as director of the National Economic Council, after losing the battle over Trump’s implementation of steel and aluminum tariffs.

Since the announcement of Cohn’s resignation, several names have been floated for his replacement: Christopher Liddell, a former General Motors and Microsoft executive who works with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the White House Office of American Innovation, has been mentioned. So has White House adviser Peter Navarro, who favored the tariffs but has said he’s not in the running, according to Reuters. (On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote a scathing op-ed on Liddell and his stance on free trade.)
Trump, of course is known for his mercurial tendencies, so it’s tough to know what will stick. But here’s what to know about Kudlow, the reported top candidate for the job.

Kudlow as a media personality.

Kudlow has been a host on several now-off the air CNBC programs, including The Kudlow Report, which ended in 2014. He currently serves as a commentator for CNBC (and often appears on Squawk Box).
Kudlow also has an AM talk radio show on WABC called The Larry Kudlow Show, and he contributes to The National Review.
Prior to media he worked on Wall Street as an economist at the now-defunct Bear Stearns. He left in 1995 due to alcohol and cocaine abuse, for which he went to rehab.

Kudlow’s politics.

Kudlow was initially a Democrat and supported Daniel Patrick Moynihan in a senate race in 1976. However, he served in the Reagan Administration and he is a believer in supply-side economics and deregulation.
In 2016, Kudlow contemplated running as s Republican against Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut, but ultimately declined to run.
During the 2016 election, he served as an informal advisor to Trump’s campaign, and recently he said on CNBC that Trump was “so good on taxes, he’s so good on tax cuts, he’s so good on deregulation, infrastructure — I even like him on immigration.”

Where Kudlow overlaps with Trump’s economic policy.

Kudlow has praised the president’s tax cuts, which were signed into law in December of 2017.
“Trump and the GOP are on the side of the growth angels with the passage of powerful tax-cut legislation to boost business investment, wages, and take-home family pay,” Kudlow wrote in a CNBC op-ed. “The Democrats, meanwhile, are left with stale class-warfare slogans about tax cuts for the rich.”

Where Kudlow and Trump’s economic ideas diverge.

Trade: After Trump announced 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum, Kudlow, along with economist Arthur B. Laffer, and economic analyst Stephen Moore wrote an op-ed criticizing the president’s position, saying “tariff hikes are really tax hikes.”
“Even if tariffs save every one of the 140,000 or so steel jobs in America, it puts at risk 5 million manufacturing and related jobs in industries that use steel,” the three wrote.
But, according to the New York Times, who spoke with Moore, Trump’s exemptions to Mexico and Canada made the tariff plan slightly more acceptable.
“It’s a Trumpian way of negotiating,” Kudlow said of the tariff plan, in a radio interview on Sunday. “You knock them in the teeth and get their attention. And then you kind of work out a deal and I think that’s what he’s done. My hat’s off to him. He had me really worried. Now I’m not.”
Kudlow, according to CNN Money, also believes that the president focuses too much on the stock market, and should pay more attention to the broader economy.