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What is mesothelioma?

2017-02-16T10:45:00.001+05:00

What is mesothelioma?

Most Americans are probably not quite sure what mesothelioma is. Many though, can probably associate the word mesothelioma with an attorney or possible litigation. As I flip through the channels on my television set, I too, notice that mesothelioma is frequently mentioned by law firms. However, the focus of this article is to educate the public on what mesothelioma is.

Your Mesothelioma Case

Your Mesothelioma case is important to you. You have been robbed of years of your life because of someone’s negligence. The question is what are you going to do about it? Mesothelioma is a serious disease. Mesothelioma is caused from exposure to asbestos materials. Often times, Mesothelioma takes decades for this disease to come to the surface. When it is noticed, Mesothelioma is often in its last stages, beyond medical treatment. What does this mean to you, the injured? What does it mean for your family as well? Mesothelioma is also reason to look into litigation.

Jawad Ameer ©2017, copyright @ jawad ameer Accuen

Words fail us

2017-02-16T10:39:00.000+05:00

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airline tickets

2017-02-14T15:23:00.000+05:00

In this modern world, air travel is essential for job, tourism and business. Due to the advancement of technology, traveling by air is inexpensive in the present scenario. Traveling in a low-cost air travel is a positive development for the mankind. In this essay, I will discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of low fare air travels.

On the one hand, discounted air travels encourages more people to travel for tourism, which provides economical development of the tourist place; people would spend hotels and restaurants of the visited places which boom the income of the local people; it will promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding. Moreover, middle class people can save money for other expenditure like food and shopping while traveling in economical air travels. In addition, low-priced air travels saves time for the people who travel by bus or train. Early morning travelers have an added advantage as there are more of these cheap airline tickets at that time.

On the other hand, although the low cost air travels provide low priced tickets, but the hidden cost like taxes, insurance cost and other added expenses make huge amount to travel. Indeed, consumption of more fuel leads to air pollution due to excess emission of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide. Certainly, due to improper planning, reschedule or cancel the low cost air travel which leads to a huge loss of the amount. Furthermore, low fare air travel mostly in a bad schedule like either in the early morning or in the midnight which leads to a hectic travel for the low cost travelers. Inexpensive air travel restricts to carry on luggage only to check in or have to pay huge fees for extra baggage.

In a nutshell, by analyzing both the views, I believe that low cost air travel's advantages outweigh disadvantages. Though the low fare air travel produces environmental damage and tight schedule, but its benefits are essential for this technical world. If the low cost air travel and government control emission of pollutants, reduce hidden costs and day time schedule helps the travelers to enjoy a hassle free journey.

Here's Exactly What I Ate To Lose 11 Pounds In One Month

2017-02-14T10:07:00.002+05:00

Here's Exactly What I Ate To Lose 11 Pounds In One Month

Delish

Lindsey Ramsey11 hrs ago

1 / 6 PAGES

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© Provided by DelishI shake my head after spending 20 minutes in a staring contest with a bag of Starbursts when it hits me-it's going to be a LONG 30 days. When I first had the idea of trying Whole30, I was coming off an intense holiday season. So many dips, cocktails, 25 days of cookies-I was in serious need of a detox come January. I had read about Whole30, and was intrigued. After an afternoon of browsing recipes online I decided I could do this! So after my birthday on Jan. 4 (and my party on Jan. 8), it was time to take the plunge.

First, let me quickly spell out the rules of Whole30 for the uninitiated. Whole30 is designed to help you identify foods that have an adverse effect on your body. In order to identify these foods, you must first eliminate them for 30 days to get your body to its "purest" state. This means (according to the official Whole30 website):

--No added sugar of any kind (real or artificial) = no honey, syrup, agave, Splenda, Equal, etc.
--No alcohol in any form, not even for cooking
--No grains = no wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains, and even quinoa
--No legumes = no beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts.
--No soy of any kind = no soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, and edamame
--No dairy = cow, goat or sheep's milk products, which includes cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt, and sour cream (Clarified butter or ghee is the exception.)

You are also not allowed to re-create junk foods with approved ingredients. This is known as Sex With Your Pants On-it might feel good, but it's not the real thing. You also are not allowed to weigh yourself throughout the entire 30 days. The program is not about weight, apparently.

One more caveat before we get to the meat (hehe) of what my diet was like for 30 days. My job is literally food. It's everywhere and all I'm thinking and reading about all day. In fact, here's an incomplete list of foods that were cooked in the Delish kitchen during my time on Whole30, which I saw my coworkers devouring but could not eat:

--Butterbeer Poke Cake
--Edible Cookie Dough
--Sloppy Joe Biscuit Dip
--Reese's Apple Nachos
--Chicken Parm Soup
--Samoa Ice Cream
--Brownie Batter Pancakes
--Football Cheese Ball
--Funfetti Shortbread Bites
--Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars
--Boston Cream Pound Cake
--Pizza Mac & Cheese
--Jalapeno Popper Dip
--Pigskin In A Blanket
--Chicken Alfredo Dip
--Buff-a-cue Chicken Tenders
--Slutty Skillet Brownie
--Giant BEC
--Flamin Mac & Cheetos

So yeah, I'd say this was more difficult for me than most people. But as Whole30 literature says, "this diet isn't hard. Beating cancer is hard." And man, that's a tough point to argue.

Don't Prescribe Drugs for Back Pain, Doctors Told

2017-02-14T10:04:00.001+05:00

Hugh Jackman's plea to fans after removal of skin c

Patients with lower back pain should try heat wraps and exercise first, and prescription drugs should be used only as a last resort, a leading doctors' group said Monday.

New guidelines from the American College of Physicians detail just what works and what doesn't for lower back pain, which affects a quarter of Americans at any given time.

"Given that most patients with acute or subacute low back pain improve over time regardless of treatment, clinicians and patients should select nonpharmacologic treatment with superficial heat massage, acupuncture, or spinal manipulation," the American College of Physicians says in its new guidance.

It may be a big change for many doctors, who often turn to pills first for patients who are in pain.

"For patients with chronic low back pain, [the] American College of Physicians (ACP) recommends non-drug therapy first," the organization says in the new guidelines, published in the Annals of Internal medicine.

Heat wraps, massage and exercise can all help, the group said.

"Exercise, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, acupuncture, mindfulness-based stress reduction, tai chi, yoga, motor control exercise, progressive relaxation, electromyography biofeedback, low level laser therapy, operant therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and spinal manipulation are shown to improve symptoms with little risk of harm," it adds.

"ACP emphasizes that physical therapies should be administered by providers with appropriate training."

"Physicians should consider opioids as a last option for treatment and only in patients who have failed other therapies."

If none of those helps, then over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen can be tried, the group says. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has been shown in several studies to do little to help back pain, it added.

Only if nothing else works and the patient is still in debilitating pain should a doctor try prescription drugs, the ACP says.

"Physicians should consider opioids as a last option for treatment and only in patients who have failed other therapies, as they are associated with substantial harms, including the risk of addiction or accidental overdose," said Dr. Nitin Damle, president of the ACP.

"Physicians should avoid prescribing unnecessary tests and costly and potentially harmful drugs, especially narcotics, for these patients."

Monica Afesi of New York says yoga worked for her.

"I have had back pain for about 20 years, and it started off pretty mild," Afesi told NBC News.

"In their last six or seven years, it bothered me to the point where I had to go to chiropractors and get help that way," she said. "I have trouble bending over to feed my cats. I have trouble picking up my keys if I drop them at the door."

To her surprise, yoga helped. "If I'm feeling an onset of pain, I know I can come into class, take a class and every time I come into class and finish. I feel taller. I feel stronger. My spine feels longer."

That doesn't surprise Alison West, director of Yoga Union Back Care and Scoliosis Center in New York.

"The number one cause of lower back pain is poor posture and poor sitting," West told NBC News.

"If it works, you'll know relatively soon for low back pain."

The evidence backing yoga to help back pain is not strong. But there are many different types of yoga, and West said the instructor is important.

"We often hear people being told they should just do yoga to help their back, and that can be problematic, because we have had students come to us saying the yoga practice did increase their problem," she said.

"That is not necessarily the fault of the yoga. It was just the wrong practice at that time for the problem the student might have had."

Yoga should never hurt, West said.

"Pain should never be there, and in fact, our motto is 'no pain, no pain,'" she said. "No student should be forced into a pose."

West said patients should make sure yoga instructors are qualified and know about their back pain before they start.

Alternative therapies in general are worth trying, said Houman Danesh, director of Integrative Pain Management at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Evidence also backs the use of acupuncture.

"Overall, it's a very safe thing to at least try. And if it works, you'll know relatively soon for low back pain."

There is not enough evidence to show whether antidepressants, benzodiazepines (drugs that include Valium), anti-seizure medications or opioids even help lower back pain, the ACP said.

And there's some evidence showing that ultrasound and TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) do little or nothing to help, the ACP said.

Analysis | Republicans railed against Clinton’s ‘extremely careless’ behavior. Now they’ve got a Trump problem.

2017-02-14T09:59:00.005+05:00

Analysis | Republicans railed against Clinton’s ‘extremely careless’ behavior. Now they’ve got a Trump problem.

Republicans got religion on information security during the 2016 campaign. But will they apply the same scrutiny to President Trump as they did to Candidate Hillary Clinton and her email server?

As The Post's Philip Bump notes, there are now several examples of Trump playing fast-and-loose with potentially sensitive information — the latest being the "open-air situation room" he conducted with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, which David Fahrenthold details here. Trump has also left a key to classified information out in a secured bag as people without the proper security clearance were in the Oval Office. And then there's the viewing of documents at Mar-a-Lago using cellphone flashlights, which Bump notes can be used like "portable television satellite trucks" when they are compromised.

It's not clear whether any of it actually provided sensitive or classified information to people who shouldn't have seen or heard it, but there does seem to be a pretty casual attitude toward this stuff and at least a case to be made that this behavior is negligent. And that's pretty much exactly what Republicans warned against with Hillary Clinton.

At the time, Republicans highlighted FBI Director James B. Comey's statement that Clinton's handling of sensitive information was "extremely careless." Though Comey recommended against criminal charges, he said individuals who did what she did would often be "subject to security or administrative sanctions."

Republicans pounced, with some arguing that Clinton shouldn't be provided the intelligence briefings usually given to presidential nominees.

Leading that charge was House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who wrote in The Washington Post in July:

The consequences for the safety of our nation are grave. Clinton’s actions may have allowed our enemies to access intelligence vital to our national security. The FBI found that hostile actors could very well have gained access to classified information sent and received by Clinton, her staff and their contacts.

Individuals who are "extremely careless" with classified information should be denied further access to such info. pic.twitter.com/0C76Ae95LD

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 7, 2016

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said "it's impossible to see how Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. can believe Clinton or any of her implicated staffers should ever again be provided access to classified information."

The most outspoken critics of Clinton included Trump's now-CIA director, Mike Pompeo, who was then a congressman from Kansas. "We can't run the risk of more intelligence that puts Americans at risk of being exposed," Pompeo said on his Facebook page. (The post and a tweet to that effect have been deleted by Pompeo, though it's not clear when.)

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) also focused on Clinton's "reckless" behavior. "It is already outrageous that our secretary of state was ‘extremely careless’ with classified information during her service and recklessly put our national security at risk," he said. "It is equally shameful and dangerous that this individual is now seeking to occupy the world's most powerful office, the American presidency."

No two situations are completely analogous. We know, for instance, that classified information did cross Clinton's server. It's not so clear that classified information was discussed out in the open at Mar-a-Lago or that classified documents were illuminated by those cellphone flashlights.

Republicans would also point out that Clinton took great pains to set up her email server in a certain way. Ryan said at the time that "her actions do not seem careless at all. In fact, Clinton’s actions seem quite careful — careful to place her own interests before our national security." There is no such evidence of deliberateness when it comes to what Trump's doing.

And then there's the matter of Trump being the president. You can't really call for a president to be deprived of his intelligence briefings. Ryan said in his op-ed that Clinton should be deprived of the briefings "absent the voting public’s explicit permission in November." Trump was given that "explicit permission" Nov. 8.

But there is still no evidence that Clinton's email server ever resulted in classified documents falling into the wrong hands. It was always an argument based upon negligence and the possibility of what might have happened.

Which seems to be at least somewhat applicable to what we've seen in recent days with Trump.

Why Didn't Junk Food Cause Obesity In Old Days?

2017-02-13T14:59:00.003+05:00

Why Didn't Junk Food Cause Obesity In Old Days?

This question originally appeared on Quora. Answer by Gwen Sawchuk.

I grew up in a semi-rural area, the child of homesteaders. We had food. Food was never good or bad, it was on the table, and you ate until you were full.

We ate very well, but worked for that food.

My mother had a huge chicken coop, so lots of eggs and chicken.

We planted and harvested about 2 acres of fruits and vegetables of all kinds that could grow in our area. My father had a greenhouse about the size of a single car garage, so we were able to extend a growing season.

Summer weekends were spent in the bush, picking all sorts of wild berries. We made our own jams, jellies, cordials, chutneys, different kinds of pickles, canned fruits and berries.

We processed veggies for use during the winter. This involved sterilizing jars, picking and cleaning foods, slicing, dicing, blanching food, boiling sealing jars, bagging and freezing.

My father bought the rest of the food we couldn't grow or source naturally.

Sundays, we always had a huge roast, all kinds of roasted root veggies, and devil's food cake with 7-minute frosting. Most often, dessicated coconut was also put in the frosting.

During the week, a normal meal was soup, meat and 2 veg, salad, some kind of pickle, and dessert. Dessert was usually fruit, either fresh or home canned in heavy syrup, and ice cream.

When I was young, our home had a wood stove - so fire wood had to be chopped. We didn't have running water, so water had to be carried by bucket. We had a coal furnace, so coal had to be shoveled in, several times a day, outside of the summer months.

Because we didn't have running water, we used an outhouse, which was in the far corner of the property. Even going to the toilet, you walked half a block each way.

When I started kindergarten, the school was almost 2 km away from my home (just over a mile). The only time you were allowed to stay at school for lunch is if the temperature was colder than a high of 0F (-18c). So most days, I walked about 8km, just to go to school and back (x2).

The girls all played jump rope at recess. Do children still do that?

We very rarely ate outside our home, except as guests at other people's homes. When we would go on camping vacations, our first meal out, and last meal coming home would be KFC - the real stuff they used to make with the cream gravy. So if that is the fast food we had, we had it twice a year.

We used to get a bottle of soda when we went to Grandma's house. That was about every second week. But we used sugar like crazy. Tea and coffee always had at least 2 tsp of sugar in it. Canned fruit was all in heavy syrup. When the large bottles of cola began to be sold, they were terrifically expensive. The 2 quart bottle was over $4. Considering the first apartment I ever rented a couple of years later was $125/month - you can see what a luxury item Coca Cola was.

Basically, I would say we ate very well. There were plenty of treats, but we were always walking, running and working in the yard. Even the simple things took a lot of work. There was no turning on the tap, that water had to be hauled into the house.

So what I would say is this. Previously, there was little junk food. My mother even made home made marshmallow. Food was processed at home or in restaurants (eg. no pre-formed patties) There was no plastic sort of food, such as Cool Whip (introduced in 1966)

People didn't eat away from home very much. People had to work much harder for food. People worked and walked much more in their lives.

The food of the past is very different than the food of today.

Trump backs "One China" policy in call with China's Xi

2017-02-10T11:10:00.002+05:00

Trump backs "One China" policy in call with China's Xi

BEIJING/WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to honor the longstanding "One China" policy during a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, taking steps to improve ties after angering Beijing by talking to the leader of Taiwan.

Trump further unnerved Beijing over the self-ruled island in December saying the United States did not necessarily have to stick to the policy, under which Washington acknowledges China's position that Taiwan is part of "One China."

The two leaders had not spoken by telephone since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

A White House statement said Trump and Xi had a lengthy phone conversation on Thursday night Washington time. It came hours before Trump is to play host to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House and later, at his Palm Beach, Florida, retreat.

"President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our 'One China' policy," the statement said.

The statement marked a return to a more traditional U.S. policy after Trump had told the Wall Street Journal last month that the "One China" policy was up for negotiation.

The two sides also signaled that with the "One China" issue resolved, they could have more normal relations.

"Representatives of the United States and China will engage in discussions and negotiations on various issues of mutual interest," the statement said.

In a separate statement read out on Chinese state television, Xi said China appreciated Trump's upholding of the "One China" policy.

"I believe that the United States and China are cooperative partners, and through joint efforts we can push bilateral relations to a historic new high," the statement cited Xi as saying.

The White House described the call as "extremely cordial" with both leaders expressing best wishes to their peoples.

"They also extended invitations to meet in their respective countries. President Trump and President Xi look forward to further talks with very successful outcomes," the statement said.

(Editing by Lincoln Feast)

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Trump’s Baffling Tweet on Gorsuch

2017-02-10T11:05:00.001+05:00

Trump’s Baffling Tweet on Gorsuch

President Donald Trump falsely claimed a Democratic senator “misrepresents” a conversation that the senator had with Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch. In fact, Gorsuch’s spokesman confirmed the senator’s account.

Gorsuch, a federal appeals court judge, has begun meeting with senators who will vote on his nomination.

On Feb. 8, Gorsuch met with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, who later told reporters that he asked the judge about Trump’s Twitter attacks on a federal judge who issued a temporary restraining order blocking the president’s immigration order. In a series of tweets, Trump attacked Judge James Robart as a “so-called judge” and warned that Robart’s ruling “put our country in such peril.”

“If something happens blame him and court system,” Trump tweeted about Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

At a closed meeting with Blumenthal, Gorsuch told the senator that he found Trump’s remarks about Robart and the court “disheartening” and “demoralizing,” as reported by Bloomberg News and others.

Trump accused Blumenthal of lying in a tweet on the morning after the senator’s meeting with Gorsuch.

Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

The only problem: Gorsuch’s office confirmed Blumenthal’s account, as reported by Bloomberg News, the Washington Post and others.

Bloomberg News, Feb. 8: Ron Bonjean, a spokesman aiding Gorsuch in the confirmation process, confirmed Blumenthal’s account of their conversation in an e-mail and said Gorsuch “used the words disheartening and demoralizing.”

Readers Zone

New tracking method adapted to all budgets.

2016-08-04T10:39:00.003+05:00

Lost your car and can’t remember where you parked? It happens to the best of us: wandering aimlessly through parking lots, clicking the panic button on your key chain to get your headlights to illuminate.

You don’t need a pricey radio transponder to keep tabs on your car. Uplinking your wheels to the great eye in the sky without breaking the bank is easier than you think.

Standalone GPS and radio triangulation units can cost hundreds. And that’s not counting the installation, activation fees, and monthly fees associated with whatever service you do choose. For most of us, it’s overkill. The good news is that some of life’s biggest problems seem to be disappearing because of new technology. If you frequently forget where you parked your car, there is a tiny gadget and app that could be what you’re looking for.

What is it about?

It’s about Trackr, A small and discreet device the size of a coin that is revolutionizing the market.

But… How does it work?

Very easy! It will take less than five minutes to put it to work. You simply pair it with your smartphone and download the free application which will allow you to locate it anytime.

Once this is done, you simply have to put it on your key chain, in your wallet or in any object you want to locate. In this case you just have to hide it in your car.

Now you just open the application on your smartphone and you can easily see the position of your TrackR on the map. If you lose your car or any other item, simply select “find device” and you’ll get the coordinates of the new location.

With Trackr you’ll be able to locate your car at any time

In the following video you’ll be able to see it in action:

How much is it going to cost me?

You are probably thinking that this device will be very expensive…nope. This is the best part, you can acquire one for so little, the price is about $29. Not bad considering it gives peace of mind.

How to buy it?

That’s easy, you can buy it from the website.

UPDATE

Now you can buy 2 units and get 1 free. Offer ends on Thursday 04^th August 2016

Other functions

Do you often forget your wallet? Forget where you left your keys? Or want to prevent your pet from escaping? With Trackr you can also track your personal belongings. Simply attach it to anything you consider important or easy to lose, link it to your Smartphone (with the Trackr application) and you will find what you lost, it’s that easy!

Detailed instructions on how to use Trackr

Get Trackr from this website, you’ll get it delivered to your home in about 1 week.

Step 1: Get Trackr from this website, you’ll get it delivered to your home in about 1 week.
Step 2: Link Trackr Bravo with your Smartphone (iPhone or Android) and hide it in your car.
Step 3: Download the app and always have in hand the location of your valuables.
PRO TIP: TrackR is a great gift idea because THERE IS NO MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION!

They have an amazing summertime sale going on right now and if you buy 4 TrackR’s they will send you 4 additional Trackr’s for FREE!

So pick up 4 TrackR’s and get 4 for FREE so you and your family can keep track of everything: Suitcases, pets, keys, bikes, toys, and even electronics like your iPad, laptop or kindle!

Made in China, for China

2016-08-04T10:38:00.000+05:00

By: Credit Suisse

Published: June 6, 2016

China has long been the world’s factory, but the country’s entrepreneurs are increasingly focused on catering to the needs and wants of the Chinese people themselves. Hear Michelle Leung, founder and CEO of Xingtai Capital Management, discuss how the country’s growing middle class will shape consumption and entrepreneurship over the next decade.

Fox News Poll: Clinton leads Trump by 10 points, both seen as flawed

2016-08-04T10:29:00.000+05:00

Sixty-one percent of voters think Hillary Clinton is dishonest, yet she’s opened up a big lead over Donald Trump in the latest Fox News Poll.

Here’s why: majorities think Clinton is nevertheless qualified to be president, and has the temperament and knowledge to serve effectively. It’s the opposite for Trump: over half feel he is not qualified, and lacks the temperament or knowledge to lead the country. And his 62 percent dishonesty rating tops hers.

After the conventions, the Clinton-Kaine ticket leads the Trump-Pence ticket by 10 points (49-39 percent) in the race for the White House. Clinton’s advantage is outside the poll’s margin of error. A month ago, Clinton was up by six points (44-38 percent, June 26-28).

This is the first time the Fox News Poll included running mates. Trump announced his vice presidential pick of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence July 15. Clinton told supporters she’d picked Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine July 22.

Since last month, Clinton’s position is improved with most groups, as she gained ground among men, women, whites, Democrats, young voters, and seniors.

The Democrat is winning among the so-called “Obama coalition,” the key voting blocs that secured his re-election. Clinton is favored among women by 23 points (57-34 percent), blacks by 83 (87-4 percent), Hispanics by 48 (68-20 percent), and voters under 30 by 18 (49-31 percent).

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS

Those numbers rival Barack Obama’s performance among those groups against Mitt Romney in 2012, when he won among women by 11 points (55-44 percent), blacks by 87 (93-6 percent), Hispanics by 44 (71-27 percent), and voters under 30 by 23 (60-37 percent).

© FoxNews.com Mike Emanuel reports from ColoradoTrump is the choice among whites by 10 points (49-39 percent), men by 5 (45-40 percent), white evangelical Christians by 50 (69-19 percent), and whites without a college degree by 16 (52-36 percent).

Right now he’s underperforming his 2012 counterpart. Romney won whites by 20 points (59-39 percent), men by 7 (52-45 percent), white evangelicals by 57 (78-21 percent), and whites without a degree by 26 (62-36 percent).

Trump bests Clinton among veterans by 53-39 percent.

Twelve percent of Republicans back Clinton. That’s more than double the number of Democrats supporting Trump (five percent). And while Clinton garners more support among Democrats (87 percent) than Trump does among Republicans (78 percent), she trails among independents. They go for the Republican by 41-33 percent. In 2012, independents went for Romney by 50-45 percent.

More Clinton supporters say their vote is for her rather than against Trump (49-47 percent). Among Trump supporters, a majority says their vote is better described as being against Clinton (52 percent), while less than half are voting because they like him (44 percent).

When Libertarians Gary Johnson and Bill Weld are included in the hypothetical vote, they receive 12 percent, while Clinton takes 44 percent to Trump’s 35 percent. They siphon off support about equally from both the Democratic and GOP tickets.

Qualified to be president? Sixty-five percent say Clinton is vs. 43 percent Trump. Fifty-eight percent feel he isn’t qualified, including 45 percent who say “not at all.”

On temperament, 64 percent say Clinton has it. Just 37 percent say Trump does. And 72 percent think Clinton has the knowledge to serve effectively, while 40 percent say the same for Trump.

The poll finds a couple things that could bode well for the incumbent party, most notably a positive rating for the president. A 52-percent majority approves of the job Barack Obama’s doing as president. Forty-five percent disapprove. Those are his best marks since May 2011, soon after U.S. forces killed Usama bin Laden, when 55 percent approved and 41 percent disapproved.

In addition, more voters feel they are getting ahead financially (35 percent) than have felt that way in nearly a decade.

There are also findings that could help Trump. Most voters say they are either just able to pay bills (49 percent) or are falling behind (14 percent). In addition, 55 percent remains dissatisfied with the direction of the country. Those unhappy voters prefer Trump by 62-23 percent, which makes sense considering 84 percent of Republicans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country.

Poll-pourri

After emails published online showed the Democratic National Committee favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the nomination process, 37 percent of Democrats think their party’s primary process was rigged in favor of Clinton. That jumps to 56 percent among all voters, and 61 percent among those who preferred Sanders over Clinton as the party’s nominee.

Some 37 percent of Sanders supporters think he would have won if the primaries had been fair.

Republicans are still divided over their party’s nominee: 50 percent are happy with Trump, while 49 percent would rather have someone else.

Finally, 77 percent of voters are familiar with the exchange between Trump and the parents of a Muslim-American soldier who died while serving in Iraq. Some 69 percent of them describe Trump’s criticism of the Khan family as “out of bounds.” Among Republicans, 40 percent think his response was “in bounds,” while 41 percent say “out of bounds,” and 19 percent are unsure.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,022 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from July 31-August 2, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.

Energizer Bernie: How does Sanders keep going, and going, and going?

2016-05-30T17:16:00.000+05:00

It was well past lunch on a highway in California near the start of Memorial Day weekend, and the reporters on the Bernie Sanders press van were basically begging their handler for some downtime. Maybe after the next event we could swing by the hotel, they asked the press aide. And to each other they wondered, Doesn’t this 74-year-old ever get tired?

But there is rarely time for a break in the Sanders campaign, as staffers and reporters follow a candidate who doesn’t ever seem to slow down. His opponents might consider the relentless pace a metaphor — why doesn’t he just stop running already? But the Vermont senator is currently barnstorming California, a delegate-rich state he sees as his last hope to slow Hillary Clinton’s path to the nomination.On this holiday weekend when Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, had scheduledjust one public event and Hillary Clinton, the most likely Democratic nominee, had nothing public on her schedule, Sanders held one rally after another, interspersed with TV appearances. Ventura, Pomona, and Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday; Long Beach, Inglewood, the Young Turks and Bill Maher on Friday; Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Bakersfield on Saturday; Visalia and Fresno on Sunday; a few stops in Oakland on Monday.

As he points out at each event, this is the kind of primary campaign this state has never seen. Usually the race is decided by the time California votes. But Sanders is hoping that a big win here, while not enough to overcome Clinton’s lead in pledged delegates, will somehow convince unbound superdelegates to throw their support his way. “We are doing something that to the best of my knowledge has never been done in California political history, holding rallies just like this up and down this state,” he says again and again. “By the end of this, I am confident we will have personally met and spoken to over 200,000 Californians. We will win here, and we will go to the Democratic National Convention with the momentum to make our case.”

So as his staff catnapped in the motorcade and the press hoped for at least a coffee stop, the man himself — call him the Energizer Bernie — was completely “on” at one event after the next, giving his one-hour stump speech at what seemed like full volume over and over again.

“He runs the 25-year-old staffers into the ground,” says one former aide who recently left the campaign, which has shedded team members as Clinton has closed in on the nomination.

Another ex-staffer expressed similar surprise at Sanders’ grueling pace.

“Most candidates half his age would strain under the weight of that schedule. There was one day where he hit five or six states in a single day. I really don’t understand how he does it,” the staffer said.

So how DOES he do it?

His wife, Jane, described her husband as “just one of those people who is built to keep going.” He has been sick fewer than half a dozen times in their 28-year marriage, she said, and she credits his endurance to the fact that he was a competitive runner in high school.

It’s certainly not his diet — he tends toward meat at meals, corn is his go-to vegetable, and his aides know to keep salty snacks, like pretzels, on hand in the limo. It’s probably not genetics — both his parents died young. It’s not because he is cosseted and spoiled on the trail. The former aide says “it pisses him off if we try to pamper him” and noted his preference for “simple” stops on the road.

“He’s a Hampton Inn guy, and he’s a diner guy. He’s, like, a Denny’s guy.”

It’s also not because he is religious about sleep — he is a night owl who often stays up too late — or exercises strenuously. There’s no gym time slotted on his schedule, though he often detours the motorcade to a field, or even an empty parking lot, so he can go for a brisk walk between events, with the Secret Service keeping people at bay. Staffers call these constitutionals “the Sanders Stroll.”

“He cannot stand that he doesn’t get fresh air and have a chance to walk,” his wife says. “It was 10 degrees in Wisconsin, and we went for an hour walk.”

Back home he rides his bike every day, she says, and when the Secret Service protection started one requirement was that the agents have bicycles.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, May 28, 2016, in Santa Maria, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Jawad Ameer ©2016, copyright @ jawad ameer

Hillary Clinton: ‘I will be the nominee’

2016-05-20T10:23:00.000+05:00

Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that the outcome of the Democratic presidential nomination is certain and that she will prevail.

“I will be the nominee for my party,” she said during an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I won’t be.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has pledged he will continue to challenge Clinton for the nomination, though the math requires him to secure increasingly improbable landslides in the remaining contests to overtake the former secretary of state among pledged delegates. He then hopes to convince superdelegates to switch their allegiance, another difficult task.

Despite these daunting odds, Sanders insists he will soldier on through the June 7 primary races, which include big, Clinton-friendly states such as California and New Jersey. On Tuesday, after Sanders won the primary in Oregon, he vowed to fight on until “the last ballot is cast.”

“I am absolutely committed to doing my part — more than my part — but Sen. Sanders has to do his part,” she said.

Clinton recalled her own unsuccessful 2008 primary race against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

At the time, Clinton — who was then closer to Obama in delegates than Sanders now is to her — forged on into the late primaries despite also facing improbable odds. But she noted to Cuomo that she later worked to rally her supporters behind Obama’s candidacy.

“That’s why the lesson of 2008, which was a hard-fought primary as you remember, is so pertinent here,” she said. “Because I did my part. But so did Sen. Obama. He made it clear he welcomed people who had supported me. He made it very clear.”

She continued: “We went to Unity, N.H., together, appeared together, spoke together and made it absolutely obvious that I was supporting him. He was grateful for that support. I was reaching out to my supporters.”

Later in the day Thursday, the Sanders campaign fired off a statement disputing Clinton’s assessment of the primary.

“In the past three weeks voters in Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon respectfully disagreed with Secretary Clinton. We expect voters in the remaining eight contests also will disagree,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said.

“And with almost every national and state poll showing Sen. Sanders doing much, much better than Secretary Clinton against Donald Trump,” he added. “it is clear that millions of Americans have growing doubts about the Clinton campaign.”

Watch part of Clinton’s interview below.

Hillary Clinton on Democratic unity: I will do my part but "Sen. Sanders has to do his part"
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 19, 2016

Manchester United: Cause of 'bomb' scare at Old Trafford dubbed 'fiasco'

2016-05-18T14:20:00.001+05:00

(CNN)After the relief that everybody was safely evacuated from Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium ahead of a key soccer game following the discovery of a suspicious item, questions are now being asked as to how an "incredibly lifelike explosive device" was at the ground in the first place.

The item was actually a training device left in the stadium by a private company and Greater Manchester's Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd didn't hold back in his criticism of what he described as a "fiasco."

"It is outrageous this situation arose and a full inquiry is required to urgently find out how this happened, why it happened and who will be held accountable," said Lloyd in a statement.

Lloyd was particularly unhappy at the "waste of time of huge numbers of police officers and the army's bomb squad."

He added: "Whilst this in no way demeans the professionalism of the police and stewards responsible for getting the fans out, or the supporters' calmness and cooperation during the evacuation, it is unacceptable that it happened in the first place."

The discovery of the device prompted the evacuation of United's game against AFC Bournemouth, which was then canceled.

"Following today's controlled explosion, we have since found out that the item was a training device which had accidentally been left by a private company following a training exercise involving explosive search dogs," Assistant Chief Constable John O'Hare of the Greater Manchester Police said in a statement Sunday.

Sniffer dogs

United was due to to face off against Bournemouth in the final game of the English Premier League season on Sunday. The game could have qualified United for next season's Champions League -- European soccer's biggest competition -- if they had won and their local rivals Manchester City lost at Swansea.

Shortly before the 3 p.m. kickoff, Manchester United staff alerted police to a suspicious item found in the toilets within the North West Quadrant, between the Sir Alex Ferguson stand and the Stretford End. Initially, a partial evacuation of the stadium was put in place while sniffer dogs searched the stands of the 75,000-capacity stadium.

A sniffer dog patrols the Old Trafford stands.

After the initial sweep a decision was made between police and Manchester United officials to abandon the game and a full controlled evacuation of the stadium was carried out.

"We don't make these decisions lightly and we have done this today to ensure the safety of all those attending," O'Hare of Greater Manchester Police said.

Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion of the device and determined it was not "viable."

"Everyone remained calm, followed instructions, and worked with officers and stewards to ensure that a safe evacuation was quickly completed," O'Hare said. "Those present today were a credit to the football family and their actions should be recognized."

Woman endures five years of slavery, chains, starvation

2016-05-18T14:16:00.003+05:00

Mexico City (CNN)She's 23 years old, but her petite frame makes her look like a teenager. Her bright eyes and friendly smile can easily hide the horrors she has lived, unimaginable physical and mental abuse that almost took her life.

She calls herself Zunduri, although that's not her real name. It's a name she adopted after regaining her freedom, a term that means "beautiful girl" in Japanese.

Zunduri says it all started when she ran away with her boyfriend at age 17. The relationship quickly fizzled and she found herself homeless in Mexico City. Instead of returning home, she found food and shelter with a lady who owned a dry cleaning shop in the Mexican capital's south side.

It was a family business. The mother owned the cleaners and was helped by the father. Two daughters occasionally helped. There was also a sister of the owner's with two children.

At the beginning, Zunduri says, the dry cleaner's owner treated her so nicely she started calling her "mom."

Zunduri says, in addition to being physically abused, she was also brainwashed. The message was always the same: "You're worthless." She's shown after her escape.

But little by little, the amount of work she was asked to do increased. First, it was doing domestic chores around the house, but not the cleaners. Then it increased to ironing clothes a few hours a day, which eventually turned into 16-hour shifts. Occasionally she would iron clothes for as long as 20 hours a day, she said.

As the workload increased, the amount of food she was allowed to eat decreased. She says one time she went five days without eating anything and was so hungry she would chew on the plastic bags she used for laundered shirts. She survived on the little water she could take out of the iron, she said. By then she was already sleeping on the floor.

Vermont college once led by Bernie Sanders’ wife collapses

2016-05-18T14:12:00.001+05:00

Burlington College is the latest casualty in a growing list of private liberal arts colleges that have collapsed under financial struggles and lagging student enrollment. The school announced its closure in a statement Monday, blaming the move, in part, on the “crushing weight” of debt it incurred after a 2010 real estate purchase arranged by then-president Jane Sanders, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Jane Sanders served as president from 2004 to 2011 and left her post after a dispute with the college’s board over her decision to buy 30-plus acres of lakefront property from the Archdiocese of Burlington to expand the campus and attract new students. The move was unsuccessful.

At the end of Jane’s run, the school reported 19.4% of pupils were in default on their student loans three years after graduating, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. That rate fell to 7% in 2012, the year after Sanders departed (and the latest year for which data is available). According to a February report by Politico, only one-third of Burlington College graduates earned more than someone with a high school diploma. The cost of attendance (tuition and room and board) runs nearly $38,000 per year.

In July 2014, the school was in such dire financial straits it was put on probation by its accrediting agency with a two-year window of time to get its act together. With that window closing soon and news in April that the college’s lender, People’s United Bank, was pulling its line of credit, college leaders decided to throw in the towel. “These hurdles are insurmountable at this time,” the college said in a statement. The school will officially close on May 27. The 245 students currently enrolled will have to transfer to other schools.

Burlington’s closure is not unique in the world of private liberal arts colleges, a sector of higher education that has particularly suffered in the years since the 2008 financial crisis. According to data released Monday by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), revenue at private colleges has slowed to 1.8%, down from 2.2% during the 2013-2014 school year. More than one-third of institutions reported declining enrollments.

Unlike public institutions, which are heavily subsidized by federal and state funding, and elite private schools, with billion-dollar endowment funds, small private schools depend almost exclusively on tuition and room and board fees for revenue.

In March 2015, the board of the 114-year-old Sweet Briar College in Virginia abruptly shut the school down, quickly followed by news that private Christian school Tennessee Temple University would merge with another private Christian school. (Sweet Briar College was eventually rescued by a crew of alumni who raised $12.5 million.)

One of the more popular ways these schools have tried to attract new students is by offering seemingly huge tuition discounts — that is, offering more grant-based aid up front, in order to reduce the sticker price families pay for tuition. The average discount for the 2015-1216 academic year was 48.6% for incoming freshman, according to NACUBO.

These discounts, however, aren’t the incredible bargain they appear to be, as Yahoo Finance illustrated in an in-depth report on the practice last fall. For example, Rosemont College, in Rosemont, Pa., said recently it would cut the sticker price for tuition and room and board by 34% for the incoming class of 2016. But looking at the change in the net price — how much families pay out of pocket after factoring in grant-based aid — the discount was a much more modest 7%.

Bernie Sanders’ spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.

For half her life, doctors told her to lose weight. But something else was going on.

2016-05-17T14:15:00.002+05:00

To Deborah E. Savage, a trip to the doctor was frequently an exercise in humiliation.

For more than 15 years, Savage’s doctors doled out the same advice: You need to stop gaining weight. When Savage replied that she had tried watching her diet and exercising, only to pack on more pounds, it was clear they simply didn’t believe her. Her family was equally skeptical.

“I would eat like my sister, and I would gain weight but she wouldn’t,” recalled Savage, a civil engineer who lives in Montgomery County and turns 31 next month.

[Doctors were startled to find the cause of this 24-year-old’s excruciating pain]

Savage’s inexorable weight gain, which began in middle school and resulted in obesity, was not her only problem: For years, she also struggled with eruptions of painful acne and facial hair. “These things made me feel ugly,” she said.

Last year, after Savage had trouble getting pregnant, an inability she suspected was linked to her irregular periods, she consulted a new obstetrician/gynecologist. The doctor suggested that Savage’s constellation of problems might have a single cause. But it took a second OB/GYN to conduct the proper tests, which led to a definitive diagnosis of a common — and consequential — disorder.

“It’s frustrating to me that so many doctors” didn’t think of this, she said. “If I’d known, I would have made changes years ago.”

Comparisons rankled

From the time she was 12, Savage recalled, her inability to lose weight became one of the defining elements of her life. And because she is short — 5-foot-3 — extra pounds were particularly noticeable. Her family’s comparisons with her older, thinner sister rankled.

[He couldn’t eat, drink or work. And doctors couldn’t explain his searing pain.]

At her mother’s suggestion, Savage joined a gym, but that didn’t help her lose more than a few pounds.
Savage said she was too intimidated to ask her doctors why her weight didn’t budge much, even when she faithfully followed a diet and worked out.
Nor did she mention the other problems that plagued her. “The facial hair thing was embarrassing, so I didn’t want to talk about it,” she recalled. “Same with the acne. I felt so sensitive about it.”

.Jawad Ameer ©2016, copyright @ jawad ameer

‘They cut my son’s head off, and they took my son’s head. Who would do that?’

2016-05-17T14:01:00.004+05:00

‘They cut my son’s head off, and they took my son’s head. Who would do that?’

By Lindsey Bever May 16 at 11:18 AM

Jubal Alexander had been living in his pickup truck, parked under a farm-to-market road in southeast Texas, according to local news reports.
He was saving money to pay bills while working nights as a pipefitter at an area chemical plant, family and friends told ABC News. And, they said, he was never in any trouble.
Alexander, 24, was discovered dead earlier this month, police said.
When police stumbled upon the grisly scene, they found Alexander’s body in the front seat of his truck. His head had been removed — and was nowhere to be found.
“They cut my son’s head off and they took my son’s head. Who would do that?” his father, who was not named, told ABC affiliate KTRK. “They won’t even let me see him.”

[4-year-old girl’s decapitation in Taiwan sparks outrage and death penalty debate]

The Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after deputies were called May 3 about a headless body in a blue Chevrolet pickup parked at the Austin Bayou Boat Ramp on FM 2004 in Brazoria County, not far from Houston.
Deputies told CBS affiliate KHOU that a fisherman said he had been on the water all day and realized the truck had not moved.
Capt. Chris Kincheloe of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department told the Port Arthur News that authorities searched the grounds using cadaver dogs and the waters in boats but could not find Alexander’s head.
“We have absolutely no idea of the motive, but the mere fact that we have an unexplained homicide causes concern,” he told the newspaper.
Authorities said the victim was later identified through fingerprint analysis as Jubal Dee Alexander of Port Arthur, Tex.

[Man convicted of murder in near-decapitation of 95-year-old neighbor]

Alexander had been seen just a few days earlier, when he had dinner with his father in nearby Angleton, according to KTRK.
“He wanted me to be proud of him, so he worked exceptionally hard,” the father told the news station. “His shift was a 10-hour, maybe a 13-hour shift. He worked all night long.”
Alexander’s family told KTRK that it did not appear that he had been robbed because his wallet — filled with cash — was still inside the truck, along with Alexander’s guitar.

Jawad Ameer ©2016, copyright @ jawad ameer

Obama Targets Trump Campaign Proposals in Highly Political Commencement Speech

2016-05-16T10:40:00.000+05:00

Obama Targets Trump Campaign Proposals in Highly Political Commencement Speech

ALEXANDER MALLIN,Good Morning America 4 hours ago

While not directly naming the candidate, President Obama made it clear just what he thinks about Donald Trump's campaign and policy proposals in a highly political commencement speech Sunday at Rutgers University.

The president said he would skip giving students the usual commencement banter, and instead run down a list of "suggestions" that turned out to be a stern and direct indictment of everything Trump has built his campaign on.

First, Obama took on Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, telling students, "When you hear someone longing for the good old days, take it with a grain of salt."

Obama told graduates that despite what they may hear on the campaign trail, he believed they were better positioned than at any time to succeed and said the reason America doesn't tend to move backwards is "because you don't fear the future."

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Obama then went directly after Trump's proposals to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and to ban Muslims from entering the country.

"The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it's becoming more connected every day. Building walls won't change that," Obama said. "Isolating or disparaging Muslims, suggesting they should be treated when they come to this country, that is not just a betrayal of our values -– that's not just a betrayal of who we are –- we alienate the very communities at home or abroad who are our most important partners in the fight against violent extremism.

"Suggesting that we can build an endless wall along our borders and blame our challenges on immigrants, that doesn't just run counter to our history as the world's melting pot, it contradicts the evidence that our growth, and our innovation and our dynamism has always been spurred by our ability to attract strivers from every corner of the globe," Obama continued. "It's how we became America, why would we want to stop it now?"

Obama then took aim at what he called a "strain of anti-intellectualism" in American politics, saying, "in politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue."

"It's not cool to not know what you're talking about," Obama said. "That's not challenging political correctness, that's just not knowing what you're talking about."

He then called out leaders who are allowed to promote "the wildest conspiracy theories," who "express a disdain for facts" and then are "not held accountable."

Near the close of his speech, there was also a seeming slight at the campaign message of Bernie Sanders, as Obama belied those who exaggerate the corrupt and "rigged system," saying the great changes in American history "didn’t happen because some massive political revolution occurred."

"Contrary to what we hear sometimes from both the left as well as the right, the system is not as rigged as you think and it certainly is not as hopeless as you think," Obama said.

Role Recall: Kate Beckinsale Remembers 'Pearl Harbor,' Humble 'Underworld' Beginnings, and More

2016-05-16T10:31:00.003+05:00

Role Recall: Kate Beckinsale Remembers 'Pearl Harbor,' Humble 'Underworld' Beginnings, and More

Kevin Polowy Fri, May 13 11:09 AM PDT

These days Kate Beckinsale is probably better known for werewolf-whooping in theUnderworld series than tea-sipping in costume dramas. But her roots are firmly planted in the latter. The 42-year-old London native made her movie debut in the 1993 Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing while on summer break from Oxford before headlining fanciful fare like Cold Comfort Farm (1995) and Emma (1996).

She’s back in costume in her latest project, Love & Friendship, a comedic twist on Jane Austen’s novel Lady Susan that reunites her with her Last Days of Disco director Whit Stillman and costar Chloë Sevigny. Beckinsale plays the widowed Lady Susan Vernon, whose gregarious nature and hunt for a new husband gives the buttoned-up Brits of 1790s rural England something to talk about.

Of course, it won’t be long until she’s back in butt-kicking mode. Beckinsale will reprise her role of the vampire warrior Selene in October’s Underworld: Blood Wars. In our latest episode of Role Recall (watch above), Beckinsale talked about making the jump from proper dramas to bloody actioners, how bad she was at running and punching, and the incredible fact that she was considered unattractive by Michael Bay and company during the making of Pearl Harbor. Some highlights:

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)Beckinsale made her big-screen debut alongside Kenneth Branagh, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, and Keanu Reeves in this crowdpleaser, but it was Emma Thompson who made the biggest impression on the young actress. Thompson invited Beckinsale into the pool for some skinny-dipping, and advised Beckinsale not to shave her armpits because of the film’s Shakespearean setting. “I was like, ‘This is the coolest person I have ever met, I want to be her,’” Beckinsale laughed. “And still do.”

Pearl Harbor (2001)Michael Bay was reportedly hesitant to cast Beckinsale in this much-hyped romantic war epic. As Beckinsale put it with a dig at the Transformers director, “Because I wasn’t blond and my boobs weren’t bigger than my head, I didn’t make sense to him as an attractive woman. So there was a lot of panic and concern about, 'How on Earth are we going to make her attractive?’ You think you’d take that really personally but I sort of managed not to. It was so extreme I kind of didn’t.”

The Underworld Series (2003-2016)Beckinsale said she was being turned down for action roles in Hollywood because of her reputation as being “Jane Austen-y, very period, and a bit fragile.” Then Selene came along, forcing the actress to toughen up. “It was really frightening, cause I had never fired a gun before, I ran like a girl,” she said. Her punch (see above) was even worse.

Love & Friendship is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer:

Reporter From 1991 Audio Recording Says Trump's Denials Raise Questions About Character

2016-05-16T10:26:00.002+05:00

Reporter From 1991 Audio Recording Says Trump's Denials Raise Questions About Character

ALANA ABRAMSON,ABC News 23 hours ago

The former People Magazine reporter who interviewed Donald Trump's alleged spokesman "John Miller" in 1991 -- and immediately felt it was actually Trump himself -- says his denials that he masqueraded as his own spokesman raise questions about his character.

"It shows he's a liar right now. And that distresses me as the candidate running for theRepublican party," Sue Carswell said in an interview with ABC News' Mary Bruce. "If this is the kind of character that -- of a man that you're going to be voting for come November, I would be suspicious if he tells lies.

"I mean, he's punking me," Carswell said. "He's punking the country."

In 1991, Carswell spoke with a Trump spokesman named "John Miller" while reporting on Trump's divorce from Ivana Trump and his relationship with Marla Maples. She says she knew immediately that Miller was actually Trump, and reached out to three people, including Maples, to confirm her suspicions. Trump ultimately apologized to her, she said.

"He apologized and said, I'm sorry...which isn’t really a world you hear from Donald a lot," Carswell said. In a follow-up article, Trump characterized the incident as a joke gone awry.

"What I did became a good time at Marla's expense, and I'm very sorry," he was quoted as saying.

However, when Trump was asked about the audio Friday on the "Today Show," he unequivocally denied it was his own voice, claiming it was a "scam," someone trying to impersonate him.

Carswell reiterated that she believes Trump leaked the audio of the 1991 interview to the Washington Post. She said she lost her tape, and never gave a copy to anyone, and she assumes the only other person who has a copy is Trump.

"It's just strange that it broke on Friday, the week that he had trouble with...the summit with Paul, [Ryan] the questions into his taxes. The butler saying outrageous things. And it seems to me that this was some sort of distraction," Carswell said.

ABC News' Candace Smith contributed reporting.

'Captain America' Stays No. 1 With Huge $72.6M at Box Office; 'Money Monster' Banks $15M

2016-05-16T10:24:00.002+05:00

The Hollywood Reporter 6 hours ago

By Pamela McClintock

Disney easily dominated the weekend box office chart between Captain America: Civil War — which declined a respectable 59 percent in its second weekend to $72.6 million domestically — and The Jungle Book. Better yet, Civil War raced to $941 million worldwide, while Jungle Book crossed $800 million globally.

Civil War has now earned $296 million in North America and $645 overseas, where it likewise came in No. 1 for the weekend with $84.2 million. Among other overseas players, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising earned $8.8 million from 34 markets for an early foreign cume of $19.7 million (it opened overseas two weeks ahead of its May 20 U.S. launch).

Jungle Book remained a formidable force in its fifth weekend, grossing $17.8 million from 3,970 theaters to come in No. 2 and pushing its domestic total to $311.8 million. Globally, it has earned $828.1 million.

The weekend’s high-profile new offering was Jodie Foster’s adult-skewing financial thriller Money Monster, which came in ahead of expectations, earning $15 million from 3,104 theaters for Sony/TriStar. The film, reuniting George Clooney and Julia Roberts for the first time since 2004’s Ocean’s Twelve, fared better than a number of recent studio adult dramas with big stars, and opened on par with Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies.

Read More: Cannes: Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts Tear Up During Ovation After ‘Money Monster’ Premiere

Money Monster’s profile was no doubt boosted by its splashy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12.

“In the world of Netflix and other options, adult dramas and adult thrillers are worth fighting for,” said Sony worldwide marketing and distribution chief Josh Greenstein. “This is an important win as these movies are becoming an endangered species in the theatrical marketplace.”

Jack O'Connell also stars in Money Monster, which centers on a TV financial personality (Clooney) who is taken hostage on air by a viewer who followed the talk show host’s advice and lost all of his money. Roberts plays the show’s producer.

After Money Monster, the weekend’s other new player was Greg McLean’s supernatural horror film The Darkness, produced by Blumhouse and released by BH Tilt, a relatively new distribution venture designed to target genre fans without having to make a major nationwide marketing spend (Universal is assisting on the movie’s distribution).

The movie opened to $5.2 million from 1,755 theaters, a win according to BH Tilt. Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell, David Mazouz and Lucy Fry star in the pic, which revolves around a family who visits the Grand Canyon and brings home a supernatural force.

Read More: 'The Nice Guys’: Cannes Review

Rounding out the top five was Mother’s Day, Garry Marshall’s ensemble comedy that stars Roberts opposite Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis and Kate Hudson. As expected, the movie dropped a steep 72 percent to an estimated $3.1 million now that the holiday is over. Still, the movie has done better than expected, grossing a total of $28.6 million to date.

At the specialty box office, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster scored the top location average of the year to date among for a specialty film, grossing $188,195 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for an average $47,049 for A24 films. Colin Farrell, Rachel Wiesz, John C. Reilly and Ben Whishaw star in the acclaimed film, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Read More: ‘The Lobster’: Cannes Review

Whit Stillman’s Jane Austen adaptation also debuted in New York and L.A., taking in $132,750 from four location for a theater average of $33,187. Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions are partnering on the film’s theatrical release. Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny star in Love & Friendship, which sports a 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and will expand nationwide in the coming weeks.

Verizon, unions will return to bargaining table

2016-05-16T10:20:00.004+05:00

Verizon, unions will return to bargaining table

Mike Snider, USA TODAY7:58 p.m. EDT May 15, 2016

Verizon and striking union officials will restart negotiations Tuesday after a meeting with Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

Nearly 40,000 employees -- members of theCommunications Workers of America andInternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- have been on strike for about a month.

But Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, CWA president Chris Shelton and IBEW president Lonnie Stephenson met in person with Perez in Washington on Sunday after he contacted the company and unions last week. After "an open, frank and constructive dialogue," the parties decided to return to the bargaining table, the department said.

USA TODAY

Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers go on strike

“The best way to resolve this labor dispute is at the bargaining table, and I am heartened by the parties’ mutual commitment to get back to immediate discussions and work toward a new contract,” Perez said in a statement. “I was singularly impressed by the parties’ appreciation that time is of the essence, and their strong commitment to use the collective bargaining process to reach a mutually beneficial resolution.

Union members, employed by Verizon from Massachusetts to Virginia, have decried Verizon for outsourcing and increasing demands on workers despite burgeoning profits. Verizon officials say that employee health care and retirement compromises are needed to help manage costs.

FBI agent wounded in Ill. shootout; police shooting suspect killed

2016-05-16T10:13:00.002+05:00

FBI agent wounded in Ill. shootout; police shooting suspect killed

USA TODAY NETWORKGreg Toppo, USA TODAY, and Len Wells, Evansville (Ill.) Courier & Press10:25 p.m. EDT May 15, 2016

A week-long manhunt for a suspect who wounded an Illinois police officer ended Sunday in a shootout more than 200 miles south that wounded an FBI agent and left the suspect dead.

Police in southern Illinois said that after the shootout, a police robot entered an abandoned house in near Eddyville, Ill., near the Kentucky border, and found the body of Dracy “Clint” Pendleton on the second story. Officials did not immediately say whether he was killed by police or himself.

"Dracy Clint Pendleton is no longer a threat," Illinois State Police Captain Bill Sons told reporters Sunday afternoon.

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The manhunt began May 7, after Pendleton allegedly shot a police officer in the arm in Mahomet, Ill., near Champaign, during a traffic stop.

Police said a fleeing Pendleton got an assault rifle from his home, stole a truck from a rock quarry and drove south into the Lusk Creek Wilderness area in southeast Missouri. The search focused on the Shawnee National Forest area after a resident spotted Pendleton there.

State police said a SWAT team member spotted Pendleton running with a rifle and ammunition bandolier from a church cemetery south into dense woods. Early Sunday, when police approached an abandoned house about a half-mile away, Pendleton opened fire, police said.

Officers shot back and a member of an FBI SWAT team was wounded.

Pendleton, a father of two who lived in Bellflower, Ill., died at the scene.

Court records show that in February 2012, he was arrested in Pope County, Ill., after he threatened someone with a gun. He was initially charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, stalking and four counts of criminal trespass, the Courier & Pressreported. He pleaded guilty in November 2012 to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated assault. Pendleton drew a 30-day jail sentence and was ordered to pay $3,000.

Pendleton had been charged with attempted murder in the May 7 shooting, which also sparked a fatal collision when a trooper pursuing him struck and killed a 26-year-old who was driving her van in Decatur, Ill.

The manhunt closed a portion of the national forest for nearly a week.

The officers in both shootings were treated and released.

The FBI agent, not identified, was flown from the scene to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville and later transferred to a hospital in St. Louis. "The FBI agent will be OK," said Sean Cox, Special Agent in Charge of the Springfield, Ill. Bureau. "We are incredibly grateful that the Mahomet police officer is going to be OK and the FBI agent will be OK."