Amazon Inc. to buy Whole Food Market Inc.

Amazon.com Inc said it would buy Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) in a deal valued at about $13.7 billion, including debt. The $42 per share offer represents a premium of 27 percent to the upmarket grocery chain's Thursday close. Whole Foods shares were halted at $32.77 in premarket trading, while Amazon's shares were up 0.5 percent at $969. Excluding debt, the deal is valued at $13.39 billion, based on 318.9 million diluted shares outstanding as of April 9. The grocer will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand, the companies said. John Mackey will continue as chief executive of Whole Foods, and the company's headquarters will remain in Austin, Texas. Amazon and Whole Foods expect to close the deal during the second half of 2017.

Apple Inc. hires Sony pictures co-president

Apple Inc said on Friday it hired co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to lead its video programing efforts. The duo, responsible for shows such "Breaking Bad", "Better Call Saul", "The Crown" and "The Blacklist", have been Sony Pictures presidents since 2005. "Jamie and Zack are two of the most talented TV executives in the world and have been instrumental in making this the golden age of television," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. Apple began its long-awaited move into original television series last week, with a reality show called "Planet of the Apps", an unscripted show about developers trying to interest celebrity mentors with a 60-second pitch on an escalator. The company's future programing plans include an adaptation of comedian James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" segment from his CBS (CBS.N) show that will begin airing in August, as well as a documentary about Sean Combs in June and another about Clive Davis in a few months.

Parents to be jailed for giving children western names

Parents in Egypt could soon be sentenced to six months in jail for giving their children ‘Western’ names such as ‘Mark’, ‘Lara’ and ‘Sam’. A draft law banning the use of ‘foreign names’ was introduced by MP Bedier Abdel Aziz and discussed by his country’s parliament yesterday. According to the Egypt Independent, he said “The fine should be between LE1,000- LE5,000($60-$300) and the sentence should be six months at the most. Using such Western names and abandoning Arabic ones will lead to an undesired and radical change in our society and culture. Our sons will no longer be connected to their true identity,” he claimed. As for what motivated him to propose this law, MP Abdel-Aziz explained that Western names such as ‘Lara’, Mark’ or ‘Sam’ are difficult to pronounce for other Arabs. The draft law has caused massive outrage among social media users who have expressed their condemnation, citing it as a trivial matter that the Parliament should not discuss.

Buhari, Nigeria's President too sick even to see wife

President Muhammadu Buhari was not allowed to see his wife, Aisha, during her recent visit to the United Kingdom, presidency sources have disclosed. In the stunning disclosure, the sources affirmed that the president has been kept away from several of his aides and even those bodyguards who supposedly travelled with him. The President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari who also frequents London to take care of himself, is still the manipulator-in-chief, according to the sources. Furthermore, It was learned that Mr. Buhari has not spoken to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for several weeks following his departure from Abuja for a second round of medical treatment for an undisclosed medical condition suspected to be cancer. The sources gave the example of Wednesday last week when members of Buhari’s cabal called the Acting President and asked him to await a call from the ailing President, pointing out that no such call was received except one that was just a few seconds of hellos before the person hung up the phone. It was also learned that the public declaration by Orji Uzor Kalu, a former Governor of Abia State, that he met Buhari in London is a complete fabrication as Buhari did not at any time receive Kalu, who recently decamped to the president’s All Progressives Congress party. One particular presidencial source said they suspect Kalu was using that gimmick to intimidate the judge who is trying him for corruption, considering that he wore a turban to court a few days later. Our sources confirmed that Buhari is incommunicado, and is only reached by two aides, Tunde Saburi and Sarki Abba, who have maintained stoic silence about his condition. It is notable that when Mrs. Buhari returned from her recent trip, she sent messages to her family members in Adamawa claiming her husband was recovering fast but asked for intensification of prayers. The cabal reportedly reduced access to Buhari in an effort to control information leaks to the public. They cabal reportedly went as far as forging Buhari’s signature so as to give the impression that he is still in control even after Buhari himself had handed over power to his vice, trying to create the impression that he is still in charge. Mr. Kyari is said to be in charge of all the behind-the-scene moves. It was he, they claimed, who a few days ago passed a fake document to Garba Shehu, one of Buhari’s spokespersons, claiming that Buhari had given Osinbajo the go-ahead to sign the 2017 budget. According to their account, Osinbajo had already decided on the date he would sign the budget, a decision that was delayed only by a last-minute discussion to include some projects such as the Lagos-Apapa Port road repairs. They said they were not surprised at Mr. Shehu’s fake statement claiming Buhari sent a letter granting the Acting President the right to sign the budget. Buhari is said to be rather unaware of his environment, his memory somewhat affected. For instance, on his way to the UK, he was said to have asked if he was on his way to Sokoto. Our sources said that the cabal working with Buhari might bring him back the same way he was returned in February, in a scheme to use his presence to perpetrate more fraud and control power.

Trump Grants Authority to Pentagon to Manage Troops in Afghanistan

The Trump administration has granted the Pentagon the authority to manage troop levels in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. official who said the decision is expected to be announced on Wednesday. The move means it will likely be up to Defense Secretary James Mattis to decide whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan as has been recommended by U.S. military commanders. In late April, Trump similarly gave Mattis the authority to manage the U.S. troop levels in Iraq and Syria. Trump gives Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Syria and Iraq While a similar delegation of authority to the Pentagon for Afghanistan troop levels had been expected, it had been anticipated that it would occur after the Trump administration concluded its Afghanistan strategy review. Earlier on Tuesday, Mattis told a congressional panel that the review will be completed in mid-July. "We are not winning in Afghanistan right now, and we will correct this as soon as possible," Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee. There are about 8,400 American troops in Afghanistan advising and assisting the Afghan military in its fight against the Taliban and the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan. In February, General John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, described the military situation in Afghanistan as "a stalemate" and acknowledged the need for additional troops to help train, advise and assist the Afghan military. U.S. officials have said that as part of the strategy review the U.S. military had proposed sending 2,000 to 4,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. The delegation of troop level authority to Mattis presumably means that the defense secretary will decide how many additional American troops could be headed to Afghanistan. The move restores the process that had been in place prior to the Bush and Obama administrations. Defense Department officials portrayed the return of Pentagon control over Iraq and Syria troop levels as giving military commanders more flexibility and better management of their

200 Democrats file law suit against Trump

200 Democratic lawmakers have joined together to bring a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, alleging he breached a clause of the Constitution that forbids foreign payments and gifts. The Congressional lawsuit alleges that Trump through his business interests has been in violation of the so-called emoluments clause of the Constitution -- which prohibits a president from accepting foreign gifts or payments without consent from Congress -- since he took office in January. The 196 members of Congress who have thus far joined the complaint -- 30 from the Senate and 166 members of the House of Representatives -- say in the suit that they sought to "obtain relief from the president's continuing violation of the foreign emoluments clause," which they said was created, in part, to prevent foreign influence. A copy of the suit was published Tuesday night by the Constitutional Accountability Center, a Washington, D.C.-based legal organization which is filing on behalf of the Congressional plaintiffs. The suit is set to be filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. "Through this measure, the nation's founders invested members of Congress with an important role in preventing the corruption and foreign influence that the founders sought to avoid," the the suit reads, referring to the emoluments clause. "President Donald J. Trump has a financial interest in vast business holdings around the world that engage in dealings with foreign governments and receive benefits from those governments." Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who helped to organize the suit along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), said -- according to the Associated Press -- that they had gathered the "greatest number of congressional plaintiffs on any lawsuit against a president." While the 196 signers are so far all Democrats, Blumenthal and Conyers indicated they will invite their Republican colleagues to join in on the suit later on Wednesday. The lawsuit asks that Congress first obtain "consent" before "accepting any benefits from foreign states." Trump decided to maintain ownership of his company -- the Trump Organization -- after becoming president but announced in January that he would hand it over to his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump through a financial trust, in an effort to address concerns of potential conflicts of interest. The lawsuit, the third of its kind to target emoluments since Trump became president, comes just a few days after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, D.C., and Maryland filed a similar suit, which also claimed that Trump had been in violation of the Constitution since he took office because his business accepted payments from foreign governments. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer responded to that suit at a press briefing on Monday afternoon, reiterating the administration's position that Trump is not in violation of the emoluments clause and suggested that the lawsuit was motivated by politics. "It's not hard to conclude that partisan politics may be one of the motivations behind the suit," Spicer told reporters. A separate suit -- filed earlier this year by government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United Inc. and two individuals -- alleged that Trump has been in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause as well. The Justice Department last week sought to have that suit dismissed, arguing that none of the plaintiffs suffered an injury that would give them standing to sue, according to papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

Breaking: Shooting in Alexandria, Virginia

House Majority Whip. Steve Scalise speaks to the media, May 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C.more Police are investigating a shooting at a park in Alexandria, Virginia, this morning, and initial law enforcement reports indicate that Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, was among those shot. Two officers were also shot and one suspect in custody, according to initial law enforcement reports. The Alexandria Police Department said victims were being transported to local hospitals. The FBI has arrived at the scene of the shooting, which is about 7 miles away from the White House in Washington, D.C. This is a breaking news story. Check back for update...

Apple issues $1 billion green bond

Apple issues $1 billion green bond after Trump's... Apple Inc (AAPL.O) offered a $1 billion bond dedicated to financing clean energy and environmental projects on Tuesday, the first corporate green bond offered since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement. The offering comes over a year after Apple issued its first green bond of $1.5 billion - the largest issued by a U.S. corporation - as a response to the 2015 Paris agreement. Apple said its second green bond is meant to show that businesses are still committed to the goals of the 194-nation accord. “Leadership from the business community is essential to address the threat of climate change and protect our shared planet,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was one of several CEOs who directly appealed to Trump to keep the United States in the pact before he made his decision. The tech giant said proceeds from the green bond sales will be used to finance renewable energy, energy efficiency at Apple facilities and in its supply chain and procuring safer materials for its products. The offering also includes a specific focus on helping Apple meet a goal of greening its supply chain and using only renewable resources or recycled material, reducing its need to mine rare earth materials. Last year, Apple allocated $442 million to 16 different projects from renewable energy to recycling from its first bond offer. One of the projects it funded was a robotic system called Liam to take apart junked iPhones and recover valuable materials that can be recycled, such as silver and tungsten - an attempt to address criticism that Apple's products, while sleek and seamless in design, are so tightly constructed that their components can be difficult to take apart. Although green bonds comprise a small fraction of the overall bond market, demand has grown significantly as investors seek lower-carbon investments. In 2016, $81 billion of green bonds were issued, double the number from 2015, according to the Climate Bonds Initiative, an organization that promotes the use of green bonds. Governments are also embracing the use of green bonds as a way to meet a 2015 pledge by world leaders to limit global warming this century to below 2 degrees

Bike Sharing hits UK streets

Bike-sharing schemes in the UK city of Oxford are quite different from the business model in China, where people don’t have to worry about finding a docking station. CGTN’s Zhang He reports that Oxford city council is very supportive of cycling as it help to reduce traffic and pollution. But it is expensive to invest in infrastructure and provide bikes for everyone, so less formal bike-sharing is not new to the locals. Agne Milukaite has launched a peer-to-peer bike sharing scheme. This “Airbnb for Bikes” community enables people to borrow bikes from local cyclists, families and vendors, from as little as ‍one British pound per day. Ofo is China's largest bike-sharing operator and it has launched a trial in Cambridge, while several companies have been in contact with Oxford city council. Each city will have a different business model and bike-sharing schemes will differ from city to city, but whether China's model can flourish in the UK remains to be seen.

China bike sharing goes to Kazaskhtan

Smart companies from China are attending the Astana Expo 2017, hoping to use the event to expand their businesses into the central Asian country. Chinese President Xi Jinping is also attending the event, together with representatives from the Shanghai Cooperation Organizaton summit. Bike-sharing service ofo is one of them and the company has just placed 1,000 cycles in Astana, Xinhua reported. People in the capital can instantly hop on after downloading the app and scanning the QR code. The famous yellow bike company announced on Friday that it had entered the Kazakh market after rounds of negotiations with local authorities. Kazakhstan is the fourth overseas market for ofo, following Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The 1,000 bikes were deployed for a trial run, and a Russian translation was added to the app. During trial operations, the bicycle-sharing service will primarily cover the Expo area. Bike sharing is all the rage across China. The service's founder and CEO Dai Wei said he plans to roll out the service in around 20 countries and regions, mostly participating nations in the Belt and Road Initiative. The ofo bike-sharing service was launched at Peking University in 2014. It's now serving people in 120 cities. Alongside Mobike and Bluegogo, it's one of the leading players in China's current craze for affordable rent-a-bike services.

China to use facial recognition software drones in future exams

A high are the stakes and so competitive is the exam that some students resort to cheating. Authorities said over the years, students have used wireless cheating devices disguised as erasers, belts and watches. China to use facial recognition, drones to catch exam cheats Chinese education authorities have gone high-tech to catch cheaters as millions of high-school students take their “gaokao”, the annual university entrance exam seen as key to landing a lucrative white-collar job. So high are the stakes and so competitive is the exam that some students resort to cheating. Authorities said over the years, students have used wireless cheating devices disguised as erasers, belts and watches. Some also use tiny earpieces to communicate with accomplices helping them outside the exam room. The innovations have forced authorities to step up their game in response. Authorities said exam centres this year have deployed metal detectors, facial and fingerprint recognition technology, cellphone-signal blockers, wireless detectors and even drones in their fight to root out cheating. Even before the exam kicked off in earnest on Tuesday, security officers had arrested 52 people nationwide. Cheaters and their accomplices face up to seven years in jail. Universities in Shandong province have banned students from taking leave on Tuesday and Wednesday, to prevent any of them from posing as real exam takers, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Cheating is more common for papers that include multiple choice questions such as mathematics and English. Some papers, however, such as essay-writing, confound the cheats. Essay-writing is an important section of the Chinese paper, and topics vary from province to province. In Beijing, students this year had to write about either their vision of China in 2049, the centennial of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, or about relationships. Students in nine provinces were told to introduce China to foreigners using key words like “Belt and Road initiative”, “bike-sharing”, “high-speed railway” or “mobile payment”, in a test of their knowledge of economic trends. The province of Jiangsu, notorious for tough exams, wanted students to expound on vehicles, while neighboring Zhejiang province demanded 800-word essays on books.

The Subtle quick start guide to engaging Trump on Twitter

US president Donald Trump’s unorthodox use of Twitter during his election campaign and especially since taking office has flummoxed many governments around the world. The key questions foreign governments are asking is whether they should follow and mention the personal account of the president, @realDonaldTrump, or the institutional account, @POTUS, and how they should they engage with the president on social media. Many world leaders tweeted the customary congratulations when Trump took office on 20 January. The @realDonaldTrump account is now followed by 137 world leaders, up from 97 at the end of January, while 226 world leaders follow the official @POTUS account. Trump’s frequent use of Twitter presents unprecedented challenges to traditional diplomacy, and only a handful of world leaders have engaged directly with him on the platform. In one of her first radio interviews, Switzerland’s new president, Doris Leuthard, admitted she found Trump’s Twitter approach unexpected and worrying. “We will see if he calms down,” she said. The former German foreign minister and now president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, acknowledged: “Every president needs to develop and coin their own style,” adding, “I can't imagine that tweets will be the way to go in the long run.” The diplomatic community has been stunned by the presidential tweets and does not react directly to rebuke him, not wanting to pick a Twitter fight with the most powerful world leader. The UK Foreign Office stayed mum when President-Elect Donald Trump tweeted that former UKIP leader Nigel Farage “would do a great job” as the UK ambassador to the United States. While a spokesperson for No 10 was quick to explain that, “There is no vacancy. We already have an excellent ambassador to the US,” neither the Foreign Office nor the UK government reacted publicly on Twitter in an apparent attempt to downplay the diplomatic incident. The Canadian government decided not to reply directly to Donald Trump’s tweet claiming that “Canada has made business for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin and other border states very difficult. We will not stand for this. Watch!” However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau picked up the phone the following day to discuss bilateral trade issues with President Trump, and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland went on Bloomberg TV to address the looming trade war. Pope Francis’s two most popular tweets are clear references to Donald Trump’s policies without mentioning the US president: “How often in the Bible the Lord asks us to welcome migrants and foreigners, reminding us that we too are foreigners!” he tweeted on 18 February; and “I invite you not to build walls but bridges, to conquer evil with good, offence with forgiveness, to live in peace with everyone,” posted on 18 March. Only a handful of world leaders have directly addressed @realDonaldTrump on Twitter. On 1 June, European Council President Donald Tusk asked President Trump not to "change the (political) climate for the worse" and pull out of the Paris climate deal. On 1 May 2017, Hilda Heine, the president of the Marshall Islands, had a similar message pleading with President Trump not to abandon the Paris agreement on fighting climate change: “From one President to another, staying in #ParisAgreement is best way to create jobs & grow economy. US has most to gain” she tweeted, as the US president declared May 2017 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The governor of Puerto Rico replied on Twitter to Trump’s tweet stating that “Democrats are trying to bail out insurance companies from disastrous #ObamaCare, and Puerto Rico with your tax dollars. Sad!” Ricardo Rosselló hit back: “The American citizens of Puerto Rico deserve to be treated fairly. Health and civil rights are not partisan issues.” On the day President Trump issued the travel ban for citizens from a number of Middle East countries, Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau tweeted the exact opposite message: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.” This not so subtle sub-tweet has become the most popular tweet of any world leader over the past 12 months, with 1.2 million likes and retweets. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who is the 12th most followed world leader on Twitter with more than 6.3 million followers on his @EPN account, is so far the only foreign leader who has replied directly to one of Donald Trump’s tweets. After a meeting with the candidate Donald Trump in September 2016, @EPN bluntly replied to Donald Trump’s tweet that “Mexico will pay for the wall!” explaining in Spanish that “Mexico would never pay for a wall”, a Twitter spat which has attracted more than 48,000 retweets. After Donald Trump signed the executive order to build the border wall, the Mexican president posted a video reply on Twitter reiterating: “I’ve said time and again; Mexico won't pay for any wall. I regret and condemn the decision of the United States to continue construction of a wall that, for years, has divided us instead of uniting us.” He added that, “Mexico doesn’t believe in walls.” When President Trump replied in a tweet that: “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting,” Peña Nieto promptly cancelled the meeting in a tweet. Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin tweaked President Trump by posting a picture signing a climate bill surrounded by her female staffers, a subtle reference to the pictures from the White House showing the US president surrounded by an all-male staff when signing an executive order barring US federal funding for foreign NGOs that support abortion. At their recent meeting in Bergen, the five Nordic prime ministers from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland openly mocked Donald Trump’s orb picture with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman. Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg shared both pictures on her Facebook page with the caption: “Who rules the world? Riyadh vs Bergen.”

Paris Terrorism again! Police shoots man outside notre dame cathedral

A man was shot by police outside Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday afternoon after he attacked officers with a hammer. The man, who has not been identified, it believed to have attacked an officer who was patrolling with two other policemen. One of the officers responded with two gunshots, which injured the assailant. The motive for the attack was not immediately known. A man was shot by police after he attacked an officer with a hammer outside Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral A man was shot by police after he attacked an officer with a hammer outside Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral Officials warned people to stay away from the area after saying there was an 'incident' at the popular tourist destination, after a hammer-wielding man was shot by a police officer Officials warned people to stay away from the area after saying there was an 'incident' at the popular tourist destination, after a hammer-wielding man was shot by a police officer At least one person on the scene said on Twitter that he was inside the church and could hear sirens outside At least one person on the scene said on Twitter that he was inside the church and could hear sirens outside He later said that officials were not letting anyone in or out of the cathedral He later said that officials were not letting anyone in or out of the cathedral Police union official Cedric Michel said the man armed with a hammer went after the police officer who was patrolling on the esplanade in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. Police sources said the officers shot at the man after he refused to stop threatening them with the hammer. It is unclear whether the attacker was acting alone. One officer was lightly injured and the assailant was shot in the thorax, according to one source. Emergency responders were on scene after the incident, according to Europe 1. Police had earlier said they were dealing with an incident in the courtyard outside the world-famous tourist site amid reports of panic and gunshots in the area. Police arrived at the cathedral amid reports of gunshots and panic. Many people were stuck inside the cathedral at the time Police arrived at the cathedral amid reports of gunshots and panic. Many people were stuck inside the cathedral at the time Police boats were patrolling the river near the Notre Dame Cathedral after the incident on Tuesday Police boats were patrolling the river near the Notre Dame Cathedral after the incident on Tuesday Officials warned people to stay away from the area after saying there was an 'incident' at the popular tourist destination. At least one person on the scene said on Twitter that he was inside the church and could hear sirens outside. 'So we are trapped in Notre Dame Cathedral,' Matthew CurrieHolmes wrote on Twitter. 'Something is happening outside we don't know what it is. Police sirens can be heard.' He later said that officials were not letting anyone in or out of the cathedral. The police department tweeted about the operation on Tuesday afternoon but did not provide any details. A police official would not provide further information. Large numbers of police cars filled the area on the Ile de Cite island in the River Seine in the center of Paris. France remains on high alert after a series of deadly terror attacks in recent years. Police had earlier said they were dealing with an incident in the courtyard outside the world-famous tourist site amid reports of panic and gunshots in the area Police had earlier said they were dealing with an incident in the courtyard outside the world-famous tourist site amid reports of panic and gunshots in the area The police department tweeted about the operation on Tuesday afternoon but did not provide any details. A police official would not provide further information The police department tweeted about the operation on Tuesday afternoon but did not provide any details. A police official would not provide further information Large numbers of police cars filled the area on the Ile de Cite island in the River Seine in the center of Paris Large numbers of police cars filled the area on the Ile de Cite island in the River Seine in the center of Paris France remains on high alert after a series of deadly terror attacks in recent years, including one in April France remains on high alert after a series of deadly terror attacks in recent years, including one in April In April, traffic officer Xavier Jugele was shot dead while on duty on the Champs Elysees just days before the French presidential election. ISIS claimed the killing by 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi, who was shot dead by police in a gun battle. Two other officers were injured in the attack. A month earlier a convicted criminal with links to radical Islam shouted 'I am here to die for Allah, there will be deaths' seconds before he was shot dead during an attack at Paris Orly airport. The 39-year-old, named locally as career criminal Ziyed Ben Belgacem, was killed after wrestling a soldier's gun from her and fleeing into a McDonald's. He sent a text message to his brother and father stating 'I shot the police', shortly before he was killed. It followed the shooting in February of a man outside the Louvre museum in the heart of Paris after he attempted to storm the historic art gallery. Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral is a tourist hotspot in the French city, with visitors travelling from all over to see the structure Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral is a tourist hotspot in the French city, with visitors travelling from all over to see the structure On July 14 last year amid Bastille Day celebrations in the Riviera city of Nice, a large truck was driven into a festive crowd killing 86 people. The driver was shot dead. ISIS extremists claimed responsibility for the attack. Just 12 days later two ISIS fanatics stormed into a church in Normandy and slit the throat of a priest as he was celebrating mass. A month earlier, two French police officers were murdered in their Paris home in front of their three-year-old son. Again ISIS claimed responsibility for the slaying, which was carried out by a jihadist with a prior terrorist conviction. He was killed by police on the scene. The killings came after a massacre in the French capital in November 2015 in which ISIS militants went on the rampage murdering 130 people. They used machine guns to slaughter revellers at the Bataclan music hall and in bars and restaurants in some of the city's most popular night spots. A suicide bomber also targeted to Stade de France stadium. The atrocity led to the declaration of a state of emergency in France. In January the same year, two brothers killed 11 people inside the Paris building where the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is headquartered in what ISIS claimed was retaliation for the publication of cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad. More were killed subsequently in attacks on a kosher market in eastern Paris and on police. There were 17 victims in all, including two police officers. The attackers are killed.

Trump's Twitter Gamble

It was a jaw-dropping day in any normal presidency. Which is to say, almost any presidency other than that of Donald J. Trump. In the aftermath of the weekend terror attack in London, Trump repeatedly attacked that city’s mayor on Twitter, while criticizing his own Department of Justice and undercutting DOJ’s legal rationale for his troubled travel ban on residents of six Muslim-majority countries. In his Twitter-targeting of London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim, Trump misrepresented Khan’s comment that Londoners shouldn’t be alarmed by the increased police presence on the streets as a result of the attack, making it sound as though Khan meant Londoners shouldn’t be alarmed by the attack itself. Then, after a mayoral spokesman accurately noted that Trump’s tweet “deliberately takes out of context” Khan’s comment, Trump re-tworted that that response was a “pathetic excuse by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement.” If that conduct was unbecoming in an American president, Trump’s tweets about his court-stayed travel policy were astonishing. He confirmed what critics have said all along: It’s meant to be a ban on Muslims. He at first tweeted: “People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN.” He then followed up this way: “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.” Our conservative columnist offers a weekly take on everything from politics to pet peeves. If construed as a Muslim ban, Trump’s executive order would likely have a much harder time passing Supreme Court scrutiny. As it is, lower courts have blocked two versions of the policy. Last week, an appeals court upheld the stay of Trump’s revised executive order, saying that order “drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.” Among other things, the courts have cited Trump’s campaign call for a ban on Muslims, saying that lends weight to the claim that effectuating such a ban is the administration’s true goal. DOJ, however, argues that campaign-trail talk doesn’t deserve that much legal weight. Trump’s latest tweets could hurt effort to restore travel ban In a tweet, the president called the current version of the ban ‘‘politically correct,’’ ignoring that he himself signed the executive order for it. Trump blasts his own Justice Dept. over travel ban Trump calls for courts to reinstate his travel ban amid London attacks So it’s significant that President Trump has now conceded his order is a ban. The fact that his acknowledgment came via Twitter shouldn’t matter. It is, after all, a statement from the president, one that speaks directly to the issue at hand. Further, even if the Supreme Court were to accept DOJ’s argument — that is, that a 90-day pause on travelers from those six countries is needed while the administration evaluates the current entry rules and makes changes — it has now been more than three months. One interesting question is why Trump dropped the pretense about the ban. Is this merely a case of a president who can’t keep his story straight? Did Trump decide he wanted to strike a resonant chord with his base, legal consequences be damned? Or has he made a more complex calculation that tweeting now will let him say “I told you so” if the Supreme Court doesn’t reinstate his order and a terrorist attack somehow involving one of those Muslim nations then occurs in the United States? The profound cynicism shown by this administration about governing makes nearly anything possible. We may never know. All we do know is that Trump has seldom looked less like a serious, competent, high-minded president than he did on Monday. And that’s sad.

Muslim travel ban!!! say it like it is "trump says..."

President Trump rebelled on Monday against his own advisers who “watered down” his original executive order barring visitors from select Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States and who insisted on calling it something other than a travel ban. Returning to one of the issues that animated the early days of his presidency and generated a court battle that has now gone to the Supreme Court, Mr. Trump argued that it was a mistake to revise the first order he signed and suggested that his administration should return to a “much tougher version.” In a series of Twitter posts just two days after a terrorist attack killed at least seven people in London, Mr. Trump seemed to reject everything his own administration has done to win court approval for restrictions on entry from countries that he designated, both in terms of vocabulary and in terms of its provisions. “People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” he wrote. It was his own staff who insisted it was not a travel ban. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, spent much of one early briefing telling reporters not to call it a travel ban. Mr. Trump went on to express frustration that after his original order was thrown out by the courts, his administration rewrote it in an effort to pass judicial muster. The second version was also rejected, and the administration last week appealed to the Supreme Court. “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.,” he wrote. He added: “The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court — & seek much tougher version!” Mr. Trump’s language suggested that the decision was somehow made by someone other than him, even though the Justice Department acts on the president’s orders in matters of policy such as this. The second version he criticized on Monday took Iraq off the list of countries that would be affected and made clear that the restrictions did not apply to those who hold green cards or valid visas. It also eliminated a provision that seemed to prioritize Christian refugees for entry. The revised version, like the first, barred all refugees from entering the country for 120 days and from Syria indefinitely. It barred entry for 90 days for any visitors from six countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. “In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe,” Mr. Trump wrote on Monday. “The courts are slow and political!