Oahu had hottest year on record in 2019, officials say

HONOLULU (AP) — Oahu experienced its hottest year on record in 2019, according to federal officials and municipal authorities.

© Perspectives/Getty Images

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the island reached its highest temperatures last year and the National Weather Service said 273 daily temperature records were tied or broken across the state,Hawaii Public Radio reported Thursday.


A separate study by the City and County of Honolulu also found the state experienced its hottest recorded day last year.

The city's Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency performed the first Community Heat Assessment Aug. 31.

The study found the maximum heat index in several Oahu communities was more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius), with Waimalu Plaza Shopping Center recording the highest temperature at 107.3 (41.8 Celsius).

“By all indications, that's the new normal," said Josh Stanbro, Honolulu's chief resilience officer. "So that's why we have to take action immediately to try to reverse that trend. We have to completely slam on the brakes in terms of burning carbon fuels for our energy source.”

Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Wednesday that increasing the city's tree canopy is expected to help cool communities.

City officials advised residents to protect themselves from high temperatures, especially children and the elderly.

Honolulu Emergency Services Director Jim Howe urged residents to not leave children or pets in locked cars on hot days and advised surfers and stand-up paddle boarders to drink a liter of water before heading onto the water.

"The time you need to be most prepared is between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.," Howe said. “Every one of our lifeguards here knows that when you're out at the beach, the first place you go is you go for the shade. So you want to stay in the shade and you want to stay well-hydrated.”



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Fossil hunters make astonishing find that offers 'fleeting glimpse of a time long gone' after windstorm

Chaffin Mitchell

A monstrous dinosaur footprint believed to be 130 million years old was found preserved in clay after Storm Ciara shifted the sands above it with its powerful winds and waves.

The prehistoric three-toed track was discovered by fossil hunters on Sandown Bay on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom.

"All this weather is revealing traces of vanished worlds along our coastline," Wight Coast Fossils said in a Facebook post.

© Provided by AccuWeather
"Our track maker was crossing this environment 130 million years ago, heading southwest in what is now Sandown Bay, leaving these huge tracks in the boggy soil," the Wight Coast Fossils Facebook post said. (Facebook / Wight Coast Fossils)

The footprints present on the foreshore depend on changing sand levels to be revealed. This track size is almost 20 inches, or approximately 50 cm, from the central toe to the heel.

"Sand levels on the beach fluctuate in response to storm events, longshore drift currents and tidal movements which can either bury the footprints beneath meters of sand or deposit the sand elsewhere revealing bedrock and dinosaur footprints, which is how we spotted this track," Wight Coast Fossils Island fossil hunter Theo Vickers said in an interview with AccuWeather.

In terms of time, Vickers said footprints are probably visible a handful of times a year, with a greater chance during the rougher winter months.

"The weather is the key driving force behind the erosion that allows us to discover fossils. Rain, wind, a wave action are fantastic at wearing away exposures of rock and revealing fossils in the process," Vickers said.

"Along the coastline of the Isle of Wight, and really anywhere, the days following storms are the best for fossil hunting due to increased erosion and movement of sand. During the storm itself can be extremely dangerous," Vickers said.

Although the weather can help unearth archaeological treasures, it is also responsible for causing them to vanish quickly.

"Clay footprints such as these can be relatively common in our Wessex Formation exposures but do not hold up to the forces of erosion for long," Vickers said.

© Provided by AccuWeather
A drawing overlay to highlight the footprint made by a dinosaur 130 million years ago. It was found on the foreshore at Yaverland on Sandown Bay in an area of brightly colored clays from the Wessex Formation. (Facebook / Wight Coast Fossils)

"Sadly, they will typically disappear in a couple of days or weeks, as the tide wears down the soft clays of the Wessex Formation, an awesome but fleeting glimpse of a time long gone, lying in plain sight on our coastline," Vickers said.

The preservation of clay footprints such as these are extremely fragile therefore attempting to physically remove them to protect them would ultimately destroy them.

"Additionally, if physically removing them was possible, dinosaur footprints and footcasts around the coastline of the Isle of Wight are protected legally and can only be removed with permission," Vickers said.
The best method with these tracks, Vickers said, is to photograph them and record their position and let nature take its course.

Experts say this occurrence isn't as rare as one might think. As one disappears, another will likely appear.

"Tracks like these are actually relatively common in the dinosaur-rich Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight so while others erode away and disappear, it's often the case that elsewhere other dinosaur tracks will be appearing," Vickers said.

The Wessex Formation is a geological formation in Southern England that is a hotbed for fossil discovery.

According to Vickers, the pointed toes of this track may indicate a large theropod, perhaps Neovenator or the Spinosaur Baryonyx, which are giant carnivorous lizards that walked on two legs.

"These are just possible species that we have suggested based on the size of the track and species present in the Wessex Formation," Vickers said.

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Pilots aboard Hurricane Hunter plane chasing a winter storm experience strange phenomenon
FOR REAL NOT THE MOVIE

Mark Puleo

An experienced hurricane hunting crew chasing a winter storm came across a far different discovery this past weekend. In what is know as St. Elmo's fire, footage of the forking electric discharge was captured on Saturday by pilots as the spectacle flashed throughout the cockpit.

The video, captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center (AOC), was taken as pilots flew across the Atlantic Ocean amid thunderstorms. NOAA deployed the hunters to support a project analyzing ocean surface winds in winter storms over the North Atlantic.

The flight took place as Storm Dennis chugged along in the North Atlantic approaching Ireland and the United Kingdom.

While frightening and shocking on camera, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said the actual charge from the weather phenomenon is harmless, especially for those surrounded by the metal shell of the aircraft.

"St. Elmo's fire is a phenomena that has occurred throughout human history. Before it was reported on planes, it happened on ships in the open ocean," Samuhel said. "It happens when the charge of an object is much different than the charge of the air. Unlike lightning when huge bolts of electricity jump across a large distance from one charge to another, St. Elmo's fire happens on a very small scale."

© Provided by AccuWeather
Sprawling displays of St. Elmo's fire illuminated the cockpit of a crew flying across the Atlantic Ocean. (NOAA Corps)

Named after St. Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors, reports of St. Elmo's fire trace back thousands of years to ancient Greece and tales of the marvel were consistently shared by ship fleets.

St. Elmo's fire differs from lightning in that it is simply a glow of electrons in the air, whereas lightning is the movement of electricity from a charged cloud to the ground. In a thunderstorm, where the surrounding environment is electrically charged, the phenomenon is sparked when a charged object, such as a ship mast or airplane nose, causes a dramatic difference in charge, emitting a visual discharge. It can most simply be compared to a continuous spark.

"The point of the nose of an aircraft gives electricity an easy path to flow, as does the mast of the ship," Samuhel said. "These locations are where St. Elmo's fire is most common."

In historical recounts of St. Elmo's fire, writers such as Julius Caesar and Charles Darwin depict the instances as a steady glow.

"Everything is in flames: the sky with lightning, the water with luminous particles and even the very masts are pointed with a blue flame," Darwin wrote while aboard the Beagle as he traveled across the Atlantic.

For experienced pilots like the Hurricane Hunters, the light show in front of them likely wouldn't have induced any fear or panic, although the event could be a sign of stormy weather ahead.

"It lasted about three minutes," explained Maria Ines Rubio, a flight attendant who witnessed the phenomenon in 2017, to The Washington Post. "I wasn't nervous, because it a rather normal occurrence when you get into a strong enough storm."

The phenomenon, also known as a corona discharge, is "commonly observed on the periphery of propellers and along the wing tips, windshield, and nose of aircraft flying in dry snow, in ice crystals, or near thunderstorms," according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier 'Has Got Three Guns Pointed Right At It'


Scientists have discovered three channels of warm water under Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier mixing underneath the ice, threatening the glacier's collapse. "Thwaites has got these three guns pointed right at it," Erin Pettit, a glaciologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, told Nature. "There is warm water coming from all directions."

© EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty New research suggests the Thwaites glacier has "three guns pointed right at it." A boat of people near the western Antarctic peninsula on March 04, 2016, which lies to the north of Thwaites.

Pettit, who is co-leader of a five-year project investigating Thwaites' stability, presented the team's initial findings at the American Geophysical Union's ocean science meeting, held in San Diego, California, earlier this week, the magazine reports.

Data gathered during the first two years of the project has heightened concerns the glacier could collapse. If this happens it could raise global sea levels by two feet. That is enough to cause "significant problems" for coastal cities, according to NASA.


Scientists Produce Map Tracking Ice Movement in Antarctica

There is also a concern that if the glacier collapses, it could trigger others to do the same. If this happens, Thwaites could be the largest single driver of sea level rise in the 21st century, say scientists.

Pettit and her team's research on Thwaites is part of a larger mission coordinated by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. Data collected over the course of the program will eventually be fed into modeling systems.

According to Nature, the expedition completed last year was the first to reach the tip of the Thwaites ice shelf, the section of the glacier straddles the ocean, and is typically sealed in by sea ice.

Pettit's team deployed an underwater robot named Rán, after the Norse goddess of the sea. It obtained data on ocean conditions underneath the shelf, plus information that has since informed detailed seafloor maps of the area.

Information collected over the last two years suggests warm water is hitting Thwaites from Pine Island Glacier to its north. This warm water is merging with two more streams of warm water coming from different directions underneath the ice shelf, Nature reports.

The warm water streams threaten to destabilize Thwaites' traditionally more stable eastern side—which flows at approximately 2,000 feet per year, compared to 1.2 miles per year on the western side.

One of the most surprising finds to come out of the project, said Pettit, is the discovery that the Thwaites glacier contains a rich and complex landscape of channels, ridges and cliffs on its underside, forged by warm water currents, showing that the glacier is not melting uniformly.

Pettit and her team are just two years into a five-year mission. At the end, scientists expect to know more about the risks and vulnerabilities of the Thwaites glacier and its future. "We've never seen an ice sheet disintegrate in a warming climate, so we're struggling to project how it could happen," Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, told Nature

Trump has flipped the 9th Circuit — and some new judges are causing a 'shock wave'


By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
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When President Trump ticks off his accomplishments since taking office, he frequently mentions his aggressive makeover of a key sector of the federal judiciary — the circuit courts of appeal, where he has appointed 51 judges to lifetime jobs in three years.

© Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS EL SEGUNDO-CA-JANUARY 16, 2020: Portrait of 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. at his office in El Segundo on Thursday, January 16, 2020.

In few places has the effect been felt more powerfully than in the sprawling 9th Circuit, which covers California and eight other states. Because of Trump's success in filling vacancies, the San Francisco-based circuit, long dominated by Democratic appointees, has suddenly shifted to the right, with an even more pronounced tilt expected in the years ahead.


Trump has now named 10 judges to the 9th Circuit — more than one-third of its active judges — compared with seven appointed by President Obama over eight years.

"Trump has effectively flipped the circuit," said 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., an appointee of President George W. Bush.

To assess the early impact of these appointments, The Times interviewed several judges on the 9th Circuit. Some either declined to discuss their colleagues or inner deliberations or refused to be quoted by name, saying they were not authorized to speak about what goes on behind the scenes.

To be sure, some of the new appointees to the 9th Circuit have quickly won the respect of their colleagues. But the rapid influx of so many judges — most without judicial experience — has put strains upon the court and stirred criticism among judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents.

"Ten new people at once sends a shock wave through the system," a 9th Circuit judge said.

Among those who have caused the most consternation is Judge Daniel P. Collins, a former federal prosecutor and partner of a prestigious law firm.

Some judges said that in the early months of his tenure, Collins has appeared oblivious to court tradition. He has sent memos at all times of the night in violation of a court rule and objected to other judges' rulings in language that some colleagues found combative, they said.

Collins also moved quickly to challenge rulings by his new colleagues, calling for review of five decisions by three-judge panels, and some of the calls came before Collins even had been assigned to his first panel, judges said.

Active judges vote on the calls behind the scenes, and the public becomes aware of a failed effort only when dissents are later filed by the judges who favored reconsideration. Judges said it was unprecedented for a new jurist to try to overturn so many decisions in such a short period of time. The court has so far rejected most of Collins' calls.

"Collins has definitely bulldozed his way around here already in a short time," one 9th Circuit judge said. "Either he doesn't care or doesn't realize that he has offended half the court already."

Collins did not respond to a request for an interview.

Democratic appointees still make up the majority of active judges — 16 to 13. But the court also has judges on "senior status" who continue to sit on panels that decide cases. Senior status rank gives judges more flexibility but allows them to continue to work, even full time.

Of the senior judges who will be deciding cases on "merits" panels — reading briefs and issuing rulings — 10 are Republicans and only three are Democratic appointees, Smith said.

"You will see a sea change in the 9th Circuit on day-to-day decisions," Smith predicted.

The biggest change will come in controversial cases that test the constitutionality of laws and the legal ability of presidents to establish contentious new rules. The 9th Circuit is weighing challenges to Trump on a wide array of issues, from immigration to reproductive rights, and the rightward tilt is likely to make it easier for the president to prevail.

Only two of the 9th Circuit appointees have prior judicial experience — Bridget S. Bade and Danielle Hunsaker. They also are the only women among the court's new judges. Three are Asian Americans — one an openly gay man who has two children with his husband. The other five are white men. Several went to the nation's top universities.

The American Bar Assn. rated six of the 10, including Collins, "well qualified," the group's highest rating for circuit judge candidates. Three received the lower "qualified" rating, and one, Lawrence VanDyke, was found to be "not qualified."

Though conservative, the Trump appointees to the 9th Circuit are not monolithic. Two Trump appointees — Bade, a former federal court magistrate, and Mark J. Bennett, a former attorney general of Hawaii — are regarded by their colleagues as experienced and collegial.

Trump appointee Eric D. Miller also has drawn positive reviews from both Democratic and Republican appointees. Before his appointment, Miller headed up the appellate division of a major law firm.

"I think he will be a good judge," a 9th Circuit veteran said.

But Trump appointee Judge Ryan D. Nelson rattled other members of the court when he suggested during a hearing in August that the 9th Circuit remove a respected San Francisco district judge, Edward M. Chen, from a case. The 9th Circuit rarely takes cases away from district judges and only in extreme situations.

Chen, a former ACLU lawyer, was serving as a federal magistrate when Obama elevated him to the district court. Nelson complained about him during a hearing on a case in which Chen imposed an injunction on a Trump plan to take away protected status from many immigrants.

"You can reverse Ed Chen from time to time, but to suggest from the bench that are you are going to reassign" a case is "off the reservation," one longtime 9th Circuit judge said. "Ed is an extremely well respected judge."

Another veteran called Nelson's suggestion "beginner stuff."

"When he is in a china shop, he doesn't walk around with caution," the judge said.

Nelson, an Idaho lawyer who worked as general counsel for a wellness consumer goods company, did not respond to a request for comment.

Ninth Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, a Clinton appointee, noted that most of the Trump appointees are still in transition, with the heat of the political process of Senate confirmation not far behind them. She said she was optimistic the 9th Circuit would continue to be collegial.

Another judge predicted that even the hard-charging Collins, educated at Harvard and Stanford, "will mellow."

"I think he will be fine, though he will never be a go-along-get-along guy," the judge said.

The behind-the-scenes tensions over Collins spilled into public last month in an order rejecting a call, presumably made by Collins, to reconsider a panel's decision. The panel had upheld a lower court's ruling in favor of suppressing evidence from a tribal officer's search of a vehicle on a public highway. The highway ran through tribal land.

Collins, dissenting from the court's refusal to reconsider, was joined by three judges, two Trump appointees and one appointed by President George W. Bush.

Collins called the panel's decision "deeply flawed," "plagued" by legal error and marked by "confused analysis."

Two Democratic appointees whose ruling Collins wanted reversed wrote that even in the genre of such dissents, Collins' was was an "outlier."

"It misrepresents the legal context of this case and wildly exaggerates the purported consequences of the panel opinion," wrote Judge Marsha S. Berzon, a Clinton appointee, and Judge Andrew D. Hurwitz, an Obama appointee.

"This case involves an unusual factual scenario and a technical issue of Indian tribal authority," they said. "It certainly does not present a 'question of exceptional importance' meriting en banc consideration."

The 9th Circuit court has been dominated by Democratic appointees for decades. In 1978, a federal law created 10 new judgeships on the court, allowing President Carter to fill them all. The liberal Carter appointees were followed by judges named by three Republican presidents and two Democrats.

Clinton's and Obama's appointees were not uniformly liberal, however, and the 9th Circuit has been growing more moderate. One study, examining the years 2010 to 2015, found that the 9th Circuit was the third most reversed by the Supreme Court, following the Ohio-based 6th and Georgia-based 11th circuits.

Still, with Democratic nominees heavily outnumbering Republicans, there were usually enough votes to overturn conservative decisions by three-judge panels.

Smith predicted the full effect of the Trump appointees won't be seen until 2021, when they will be carrying full caseloads.

But even now Democratic appointees are likely to be more reluctant to ask for 11-judge panels to review conservative decisions because the larger en banc panels, chosen randomly, might be dominated by Republicans, judges said.

That happened in July after a panel of the three Republican appointees upheld a Trump ruling denying federal family planning funds to clinics that referred women for abortions. A Democratic appointee called for en banc review, and a majority voted in favor. But the randomly selected 11-member panel had a majority of Republican appointees, including two named by Trump.

The 9th Circuit is by far the largest in the federal appeals court in the nation, and its judges are scattered over nine states.

Some judges elect to work alone with their staffs in offices or courthouses near their homes. Most 9th Circuit veterans have yet to have had any experience with the new appointees, and it could take years before they serve on a panel with each of them.

Trump appointed the successors to the late Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Harry Pregerson, two of the most liberal circuit judges in the nation and filled other slots created by Republicans who opted to take senior status.

The new appointees include Patrick Bumatay, the openly gay former prosecutor, and Daniel A. Bress, a former partner at the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis. The ABA rated both qualified. During a hearing in January on challenges to Trump's immigration policies, Bress appeared ready to side with Trump.

The others are Kenneth Kiyul Lee, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Jenner & Block LLP, who received a well-qualified rating and VanDyke, a former solicitor general of Nevada and a federal deputy assistant attorney general.

In rating VanDyke unqualified for the job, the ABA wrote: "Mr. VanDyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice, including procedural rules." VanDyke cried during his confirmation hearing when attempting to rebut criticism that he might be unfair to the LGBTQ community.

Trump's rapid transformation of the circuit courts — three others went from a majority of active judges appointed by Democrats to Republican majorities — was accomplished with the support of Senate Republicans.

Nominations of appellate judges may no longer be blocked by filibuster, and Republican Senate leaders have declined under Trump to follow the practice of allowing an appointee's home-state senators to veto the president's choice.

"Trump has set all records for the number of appellate appointees," said University of Richmond law Professor Carl Tobias.

The federal appeals courts are just one rung below the Supreme Court, and federal judges serve for life.

Though some 9th Circuit veterans expressed unease at the inexperience of some of the new judges, 9th Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan said they would grow into the job.

"Both President Obama and President Trump appointed quite a few young people with really exceptional credentials, but not necessarily judicial experience," said Callahan, appointed by President George W. Bush.

Four of Obama's seven appointees had been judges.

"You have to learn to be a judge," Callahan said.

———

©2020 the Los Angeles Times

Opinion: Thailand has become #Juntaland

The banning of Thai opposition party Future Forward illustrates the country's lack of separation of powers. It is time to acknowledge Thailand's military government is an authoritarian junta, says Rodion Ebbighausen. 



The decision by Thailand's Constitutional Court to disband the opposition Future Forward party does not bode well for the country's democracy. On top of this, high-ranking party members, among them leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, have been banned from engaging in Thai politics for ten years.

The court justified its decision by pointing to illegal donations that were reportedly made to the Future Forward party. Party leader Thanathorn is said to have gifted over 191 million Thai baht (€5.6 million, $6.4 million) to his party — even though the country's party funding law prohibits private donations in excess of €300,000.

While Thanathorn has admitted giving this money to the party, he says it was a loan, rather than a donation. Thailand's electoral commission, however, decided that loans and donations ought to be treated the same in this context. And Thailand's Constitutional Court evidently subscribed to this interpretation as well.

These legal questions should not distract from the reality that this was essentially a show trial. And this, unfortunately, is all too common in Thailand. Future Forward is the fourth opposition party to be banned by the Constitutional Court in the past 13 years.

The real reason behind today's court decision is that the party won the third largest number of seats in last year's parliamentary elections. 41-year-old Thanatorn, who happens to be a millionaire, is popular especially with young Thais and Bangkok voters for challenging the Thai military. He has rejected the 2017 constitution that was drawn up by the military junta, calling it undemocratic.

Thanathorn: "The anger of the people is tangible"

Sham democracy

As the military only narrowly beat Thanatorn at the polls last year, it instrumentalized the Constitutional Court, electoral commission and public persecutor to go after his party. While officially independent, these institutions are staffed only by regime loyalists. And as such, they are regularly deployed to neutralize political adversaries.

The trial against Thanathorn once more proves that Thailand is effectively controlled by a military junta. It's not for nothing that the hashtag #Juntaland was coined after the coup.

Prior to the sentencing, Thahathorn had announced he would establish a new party should he lose and then support the extra-parliamentary opposition. Despite Friday's event, he is evidently determined to keep up his fight against the military.

Read more: The struggle continues for Thailand's opposition



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In one of Saturday's ceremonies, the king put on a crown weighing 7.3 kilograms (16 pounds) and measuring 66 centimeters (26 inches) in height. It symbolizes his royal powers, which include the right to intervene in government affairs. "I shall reign in righteousness for the benefits of the kingdom and the people forever," he said in his traditional first royal command.

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Thailand: Thousands rally against pro-military government

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Bangkok to protest against the banning of a prominent opposition party that has challenged the government of former military ruler Prayuth Chan-ocha. (14.12.2019)

Ornate coronation ceremonies in Thailand

Thailand is holding three days of coronation ceremonies for King Maja Vajiralongkorn, who ascended the throne in 2016. The ceremonies follow a period of mourning for his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. (04.05.2019)

Date 22.02.2020
Author Rodion Ebbighausen
Keywords Thailand, Thanatorn, junta, authoritarian, military
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Thailand court dissolves pro-democracy party
By Elizabeth Shim


Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of Thai opposition Future Forward Party, speaks to the media and supporters Friday after the Thai Constitutional Court ruled to dissolve the party. Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA-EFE

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Thailand's constitutional court ordered a pro-democracy party dissolved, citing an "illegal" loan from its party leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.

Thanathorn, a vocal opposition leader of the Future Forward Party who led anti-government protests in central Bangkok last year, is charged with making a donation of about $6 million to his party, an act that is in violation of local laws, the Thai court said.

The loan is being ruled as an illicit donation under Thailand's Political Parties Act, which limits political donations to about $316,000 a year, the Bangkok Post reported Friday.

Thanathorn and 15 other party executives are also banned from politics for 10 years, including secretary general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and spokeswoman Pannika Wanich.

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Bangkok's Constitutional Court also said Thailand's Election Commission could take criminal action against party executives. A conviction for Thanathorn could mean a five-year prison sentence, according to the report.

Thanathorn's party gained prominence following Thailand's general elections in March 2019, when it gained 6.3 million votes. It was the third-largest party in the country before it was dissolved on Friday.

Thanathorn, 41, is an heir to a car parts business, according to the BBC.
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In December, Thanathorn and other opposition parliamentarians, were charged with blocking a train station, failing to control protesters and using loudspeakers in public without permission during an anti-government rally.

Thanathorn has been critical of military rule of Thailand, which has continued uninterrupted since 2014. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha was re-elected this year, but opponents including Future Forward have questioned the fairness of polls.

Prayut has maintained power through political coalitions.
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Seksan Anantasirikiat, a researcher with KlangPanya Institute for National Strategies, previously told UPI the prime minister, also the former chief of the military's junta, has the support of the majority of Bangkok's middle class, Thai tycoons and military commanders.

Control of street protests has also contributed to the stability of his administration, according to Seksan.

Former Future Forward party members are expected to defect to coalition and opposition parties. Thanathorn had said in a previous interview the movement will continue.

"If they dissolve our party, there will be two paths running in parallel -- one is a new party in parliament, running under a new name but the same ideology and the second is a social movement run by me and Piyabutr," Thanathorn had told the Southeast Asia Globe earlier this month.

Mexican detainee dies in ICE custody; 7th since October
By
Ed Adamczyk
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Colula died while in custody at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, ICE said. Photo courtesy CoreCivic/Facebook

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Another Mexican detainee has died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency said Friday -- the seventh since October.

Officials said David Hernandez Colula was found unresponsive in his cell on Thursday at the Northeast Correctional Center in Youngstown, Ohio, a privately-run, medium-security facility. Efforts to revive him failed

The agency said the man's death is under investigation, but officials believe he killed himself.

Colula was taken into ICE custody in December after his arrest in Michigan. Officials said he was first apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in in Rochester, N.Y., in 2014.

After reports of inadequate medical attention for migrant detainees, the U.S. Congress opened an investigation into the matter in December.

"ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases," the agency said in a statement.

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Wells Fargo to pay $3B to settle fake customer account scam
By
Danielle Haynes


Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve allegations the bank pressured employees to meet "unrealistic" sales goals, leading to the creation of millions of fake customer accounts, the Justice Department announced Friday.

In the settlement, the company admitted it collected millions of dollars in fees and interest through the fake accounts and other products to which it wasn't entitled. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Central District of California said Wells Fargo also harmed the credit ratings of some customers and unlawfully used customers' personal information in the process.




"This case illustrates a complete failure of leadership at multiple levels within the bank. Simply put, Wells Fargo traded its hard-earned reputation for short-term profits, and harmed untold numbers of customers along the way," U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said. "We are hopeful that this $3 billion penalty, along with the personnel and structural changes at the bank, will ensure that such conduct will not reoccur."

Wells Fargo came under scrutiny for its practices in 2015 after a lawsuit accused the company of illegal sales tactics. The lawsuit pointed to a brochure encouraging employees to make sure customers on average had eight open accounts with Wells Fargo as part of its "Going for gr-eight" campaign.

Employees created thousands of phony accounts and manipulated some real accounts to boost sales figures and earn bonuses. The bank responded by firing more than 5,000 workers and pledged to end sales goals.

CEO John Stumpf resigned a year later amid backlash over the scandal and last month was fined $17.5 million for his role.

As part of the settlement, the Justice Department said it won't prosecute Wells Fargo for the scam during a three-year period if the company complies with certain conditions, including cooperating with ongoing investigations.

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