Walkouts as Roman Polanski wins best director at French Oscars

AFP / Bertrand GUAY

Adele Haenel (R), who has become a hero of the #MeToo 

movement in France, stormed out when Roman Polanski 

won best director at the French Oscars

Roman Polanski won best director for "An Officer and a Spy" at a fractious ceremony for the French Oscars, the Cesars, that ended in walkouts and recrimination in Paris early Saturday.

The entire French academy had been forced to resign earlier this month amid fury that the veteran -- wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977 -- had topped the list of nominations.

Protesters chanting "Lock up Polanski!" tried to storm the theatre where the ceremony was being held before being pushed back by police firing tear gas.

And France's Culture Minister Franck Riester had warned that giving the maker of "Rosemary's Baby" a Cesar would be "symbolically bad given the stance we must take against sexual and sexist violence".

AFP / Lucas BARIOULET

Protesters chanting 'Lock up Polanski!' tried to storm the 

theatre where the ceremony was being held


But Polanski won two awards, best adapted screenplay and best director -- with the latter prompting Adele Haenel, who was nominated for best actress for "Portrait of a Lady on Fire", to storm out, crying "Shame!"

Haenel has become a hero of the #MeToo movement in France after accusing the director of her first film, Christophe Ruggia, of sexually harassing her when she was only 12.

Polanski's film also picked up best costume design.

- 'Public lynching' -

"Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims," Haenel had said in the run-up to the Cesars.

"It means raping women isn't that bad."

AFP/File / Lou BENOIST

Polanski on the red carpet at the ville US Film Festival in

 northern France last September

Polanski, 86, and the entire team of his historical drama had boycotted the ceremony, fearing a "public lynching".

"An Officer and a Spy" is based on the Dreyfus affair which divided France in the late 19th century when a Jewish army officer was wrongly prosecuted for spying.

"What place can there be in such deplorable conditions for a film about the defence of truth, the fight for justice, (against) blind hate and anti-Semitism?" the director told AFP.

Polanski's epic, which won two top prizes at the Venice film festival last year, was in the running in 12 categories at the Cesars.

AFP / Bertrand GUAY

But the big winner on the night was the Oscar-nominated "Les Miserables", set in one of France's deprived and restive suburbs.

It took best film and three other prizes including the audience award.

It's Mali-born director Ladj Ly made an appeal for unity on a highly fraught night, saying "our enemy is not the other, but poverty".

- Poisonous atmosphere -

"Papicha", a touching story of Algerian women fighting for their freedom by Mounia Meddour, also fared well, winning both best first film and best female newcomer for actress Lyna Khoudri.

With the French film industry at war with itself over Polanski, Hollywood star Brad Pitt also snubbed the event having reportedly been offered an honorary award.

AFP / BERTRAND GUAY

Posters with a play on words combining the word rape in French 

with the name of Polish-French filmmaker Roman Polanski, 

and reading "Violanski, the Cesars of shame" plastered on 

 the headquarters of the French film academy ahead of its 'Cesar' award

The French press had dubbed the event "The Cesars of Anguish", with Le Parisien daily mocking up a movie poster of Hitchcock's "Vertigo".

And the ceremony lived up to its billing.

The poisonous atmosphere had already worsened on the eve of the awards when 30 film figures from minority backgrounds lashed the lip service they claimed the industry plays to inclusion.

- Casual racism -

In blistering open letter they said black, North African and Asian-origin performers are mostly confined to stereotypical bit parts in French films.

On the night, one of the signatories of the letter, actress Aissa Maiga, delivering a scathing critique of casual racism in the industry as she presented the prize for best newcomer, including skewering presenter Florence Foresti for once donning blackface.

But it was the absent figure of Polanski which caused most unease, with a presenter only daring to mumble his name when he opened the envelope for his first win.

AFP / Bertrand GUAY

'Papicha', a touching story of Algerian women fighting for

 their freedom by Mounia Meddour, also fared well


The publicity campaign for Polanski's movie was halted last year after another woman, photographer Valentine Monnier, claimed that she had also been raped by the director in 1975.

But that did not stop it becoming a box office hit in France.

Polanski had told AFP that he had decided to stay away from the ceremony to protect his family and his team from abuse.

"The activists brandish the figure of 12 women who I am supposed to have molested half a century ago," he said.

"These fantasies of sick minds are treated as established fact," he complained.

Polanski snubs French Oscars fearing 'lynching'

AFP/File / Thomas SAMSONFrench-Polish director Roman

 Polanski is wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977

Controversial film director Roman Polanski told AFP on Thursday he will not attend the French Oscars because he fears a "public lynching" by feminist activists.

The veteran is at the centre of a storm of protest after his new film about the Dreyfus affair, "An Officer and a Spy", topped the list of nominations for the Cesar awards, which will be presented in Paris on Friday night.

France's equality minister and feminists were outraged at his 12 nominations, including for best film, given that Polanski is still wanted in the United States for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

"We know how this evening will unfold already," Polanski said in a statement to AFP as posters appeared at the theatre that will host the ceremony condemning him as a rapist and sex criminal.

"Activists are already threatening me with a public lynching, with some saying they are going to protest outside," the 87-year-old added.

"What place can there be in such deplorable conditions for a film about the defence of truth, the fight for justice, blind hate and anti-Semitism?"

Earlier this week, French star Adele Haenel, who last year accused the director of her first film of sexually harassing her when she was only 12, blasted the Cesars for honouring Polanski.

"Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims," she said. "It means raping women isn't that bad."

The entire board of the French film academy which awards the Cesars was forced to resign early this month after Polanski's movie became the favourite to lift the top prizes.

- 'Sick minds' -

Academy head Alain Terzian had justified its choice by saying that the academy "should not take moral positions" about giving awards.

Despite protests outside some cinemas, the movie -- about Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer wrongly persecuted by the French army at the turn of the 20th century -- has been a French box office hit.

However, even before it opened the publicity campaign for the film was halted after French photographer Valentine Monnier claimed that she had also been raped by the director in 1975.

AFP/File / Christophe ARCHAMBAULT

The publicity campaign for the film was halted after a French 

photographer claimed that she had also been raped by the director in 1975

Monnier, an 18-year-old model and actress at the time, said Polanski tried to give her a pill as he beat her "into submission" at his Swiss chalet.

Polanski "absolutely denied" the allegations, pouring scorn on her story.

The director told AFP that he had taken the decision not to attend the Cesars ceremony to protect his team and "my family, my wife and my children, who have been subject to insults and affronts as part of a kind of collective responsibility that comes from another age".

"The activists brandish the figure of 12 women who I am supposed to have molested half a century ago," he added.

"These fantasies of sick minds are treated as established fact -- a lie repeated 1,000 times becomes a truth."

- No fix -

Polanski said that he would not submit himself to a trial by media so "that the irrational triumphs yet again".

And he hit out at those who claimed that "our 12 nominations were a present from the academy management... brushing aside the secret vote of 4,313 professionals who alone decide the nominations as well as the more than 1.5 million people who have gone to see the film" in France.

The director caused uproar at the Venice film festival last year -- where his film won two prizes -- by likening his hounding by the media to the anti-Semitic persecution Dreyfus suffered.

He later blamed the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for his woes.

He said Weinstein had tried to brand him a "child rapist" to stop him winning an Oscar in 2003 for "The Pianist".

"Portrait Of A Lady On Fire" Actor Adèle Haenel Stormed Out Of An Awards Ceremony After Roman Polanski Won

"Bravo, pedophelia!" the actor yelled after walking out of the French César awards. Polanski is a convicted child rapist.

Salvador Hernandez BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on February 29, 2020

 Abaca Press / Sipa USA via AP

Actor Adèle Haenel walked out in protest of the César awards — France's equivalent of the Oscars — after Roman Polanski won best director for his film An Officer And A Spy.

"Bravo, pedophelia!" Haenel, who starred in the film Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, was then heard saying in the lobby of the Salle Pleyel, where the awards show was held.

Polanski was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl but fled the US in 1978 before he could be sentenced. He has been living in exile since.



Mona Eltahawy@monaeltahawy

“Bravo, pedophilia!” Adèle Haenel, star of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and the film’s director Céline Sciamma walking out after child rapist Roman #Polanski won the best director award at the Césars, #France’s equivalent to the Oscars. h/t @alucarda01:59 PM - 29 Feb 2020
Reply Retweet Favorite

The director has continued working during his exile, but his nomination sparked outrage in France's film industry, leading to the 21 members of the César Academy to resign and the replacement of its president, Variety reported.

Several other people could be seen walking out of the 45th annual awards ceremony Friday night after Polanski won, including Portrait Of A Lady On Fire director Celine Sciamma.


CANAL+@canalplus

A l'annonce du César de la Meilleure Réalisation pour Roman Polanski ("J'accuse"), Adèle Haenel quitte la salle. Le meilleur des #César2020 > https://t.co/ipnVwouBeV11:22 PM - 28 Feb 2020
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Outside the concert hall, demonstrators protested Polanski's nomination, clashing with police.

Neither Polanski nor the crew of the film attended the ceremony. Alain Goldman, who produced An Officer And A Spy, said the cast and team of the film would not attend the show because of, "an escalation of inappropriate and violent language and behavior," according to Variety.

Polanski previously said he would not attend the awards show to avoid a "public lynching."


Abaca Press / Sipa USA via AP

Haenel has been a leading advocate for what has become France's own #MeToo movement. In November, she accused French director, Christophe Ruggia, of sexually harassing her for years beginning when she was 12 years old

The accusation prompted French authorities to launch an investigation. Ruggia now faces sexual aggression charges.

Despite the protests and the controversy prompted by his film, Polanski still faced some support from colleagues in the industry.

French actress Brigitte Bardot posted a handwritten note of support for the director.

"I judge him on his talent and not on his private life!" she wrote. "I regret never having shot with him!"

Haenel was not the only celebrity to protest Polanski's win. French comedian and host of the Césars, Florence Foresti, who opened the ceremony by calling out "predators," did not return to the stage after Polanski's win.

Shortly after the ceremony, she posted a single word to her Instagram story: "Disgusted."


Screenshot

Salvador Hernandez is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.

Brain freeze: Russian firm offers path to immortality for a fee
Dmitriy Turlyun

SERGIYEV POSAD, Russia (Reuters) - When Alexei Voronenkov’s 70-year-old mother passed away, he paid to have her brain frozen and stored in the hope breakthroughs in science will one day be able to bring her back to life.

It is one of 71 brains and human cadavers - which Russian company KrioRus calls its “patients” - floating in liquid nitrogen in one of several metres-tall vats in a corrugated metal shed outside Moscow.

They are stored at -196 degrees Celsius (-320.8°F) with the aim of protecting them against deterioration, although there is currently no evidence science will be able to revive the dead.

“I did this because we were very close and I think it is the only chance for us to meet in the future,” said Voronenkov who intends to undergo the procedure, known as cryonics, when he dies.

The head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’s Pseudoscience Commission, Evgeny Alexandrov, described cryonics as “an exclusively commercial undertaking that does not have any scientific basis”, in comments to the Izvestia newspaper.

It is “a fantasy speculating on people’s hopes of resurrection from the dead and dreams of eternal life”, the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Valeriya Udalova, KrioRus’s director who got her dog frozen when it died in 2008, said it is likely that humankind will develop the technology to revive dead people in the future, but that there is no guarantee of such technology.

KrioRus says hundreds of potential clients from nearly 20 countries have signed up for its after-death service.

It costs $36,000 for a whole body and $15,000 for the brain alone for Russians, who earn average monthly salaries of $760, according to official statistics. Prices are slightly higher for non-Russians.

The company says it is the only one in Russia and the surrounding region. Set up in 2005, it has at least two competitors in the United States, where the practice dates back further.

Voronenkov said he set his hopes on science. “I hope one day it reaches a level when we can produce artificial bodies and organs to create an artificial body where my mother’s brain can be integrated.”

KrioRus’ director Udalova argues that those paying to have dying relatives’ remains preserved are showing how much they love them.

“They try to bring hope,” she said. “What can we do for our dying relatives or the ones that we love? A nice burial, a photo album,” she said. “They go further, proving their love even more.”

Reporting by Dmitriy Turlyun; Writing by To

Abortion rights face stern new test at conservative U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court this week gets its first chance to consider new curbs on abortion rights with President Donald Trump’s two conservative appointees on the bench as it examines the legality of a Louisiana law that could force two of the state’s three clinics that perform the procedure to shut down.

The court, with a 5-4 conservative majority, is scheduled on Wednesday to hear arguments in an appeal by Shreveport-based abortion provider Hope Medical Group for Women seeking to invalidate the law. Chief Justice John Roberts may be pivotal in deciding the outcome, with Trump’s appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch also in the spotlight.

The clinic sued to block the 2014 law, which requires that doctors who perform abortions have a difficult-to-obtain arrangement called “admitting privileges” at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of the abortion clinic. A federal appeals court ruled against the clinic and upheld the law.

The Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas requirement in 2016 when conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in 2018, joined the four liberal justices to defend abortion rights. Trump has tightened the conservative grip on the court with his 2018 appointment of Kavanaugh, who replaced Kennedy, and his 2017 appointment of Gorsuch.

In their prior stints as federal appellate judges, neither Kavanaugh nor Kennedy ruled directly on abortion rights. But Trump promised during the 2016 presidential race to appoint justices who would overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide.

The Louisiana case will test the willingness of the court to uphold Republican-backed abortion restrictions being pursued in numerous conservative states.

Roberts, a conservative, cast the deciding vote when the court last year on a 5-4 vote blocked Louisiana’s law from going into effect while the litigation over its legality continued.

When the Supreme Court in 1992 reaffirmed Roe v. Wade, it prohibited laws that placed an “undue burden” on a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion. In the Texas case, Roberts concluded that an admitting privileges requirement did not represent an undue burden, but he was in the minority in the ruling.


Known to be concerned about the court’s institutional reputation and integrity, Roberts may be wary about reversing such a recent precedent even though he was one of the dissenters in the 2016 case.

“Everyone is looking to the chief justice to see what he is going to do,” said Nicole Saharsky, a lawyer who regularly argues at the Supreme Court.

Baton Rouge-based U.S. District Judge John deGravelles cited the undue burden precedent when he struck down Louisiana’s law in 2016, prompting the state to appeal to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit upheld the law despite the 2016 precedent, concluding there was no evidence any Louisiana clinic would close due to the admitting privileges requirement.

Graphic - U.S. state abortion laws: here

‘OPEN DEFIANCE’

Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights legal advocacy group representing the Hope clinic, said the justices must know that Louisiana’s law was in “open defiance” of their 2016 precedent.

“The real issue for the court in this case is: are they going to follow their own precedent from four years ago?” Northup said.


Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Murrill, who is defending the law, said “big differences” between the Texas and Louisiana laws mean the justices do not need to treat them the same way.

“The state has a significant and compelling interest in showing there’s a safe environment. We can’t rely on them to do it,” Murrill said, referring to the clinics.

The Hope clinic has said implementation of the law would force it and another facility in Baton Rouge to shut, leaving a single clinic, located in New Orleans, for the entire state of about 4.6 million people. The state disputes that finding.

The Hope clinic, in a windowless brick building in Shreveport often with anti-abortion protesters outside, draws women not just from northwestern Louisiana but also eastern Texas and southern Arkansas.

Abortion remains one of the most divisive social issues in the United States, with Christian conservatives among those most opposed to it. A Supreme Court ruling in favor of Louisiana’s law could lead other states to pass similar measures.

Abortion rights advocates have argued that restrictions such as admitting privileges are meant to limit access to abortion not protect women’s health as proponents say.

Anti-abortion activists are hoping the Supreme Court, with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and perhaps additional Trump appointees on the bench if he wins re-election on Nov. 3, will scale back or even overturn Roe v. Wade.

Amanda Nottingham, an activist with the Louisiana Right to Life advocacy group that supports Louisiana’s law, said the court is “far more favorable now than it was a few years ago.”


“Obviously our goal is to see the end of abortion,” Nottingham added.

Louisiana’s law, Nottingham said, “makes a statement to the rest of the nation that Louisiana is pro-life and we are here to protect women, and we want the highest level of care and safety for them.”

[For a graphic on U.S. state abortion laws, see tmsnrt.rs/2WZuiVP ]

Lawmakers criticize Pentagon for shifting money to Mexico border wall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday criticized the Pentagon’s decision to shift nearly $4 billion from the defense budget to pay for a wall on the border with Mexico, saying that it circumvented Congress’ authority and could affect the military’s ability to reprogram funds in the future.

Earlier this month the Pentagon said it would be shifting $3.8 billion from the military budget to pay for the wall, a central promise of President Donald Trump’s campaign for the White House four years ago and bid this year for a second term.

The decision was met with bipartisan concern from lawmakers during a congressional hearing on the budget with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.

“You are heading for a major brawl with this committee,” Representative John Garamendi, a Democrat, said during the hearing.

The Trump administration has vowed to build at least 400 miles (640 km) of wall along the border by November 2020, when Americans will vote for president. In his 2016 campaign, Trump said Mexico would pay for the wall. The Mexican government has consistently refused to do so.

“I support walls but I am deeply concerned about where we’re headed with the constitutional issue, about Congress’s role in national defense and whether that is being overridden,” Representative Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said during the hearing.

Congressman Adam Smith, chairman of the committee, said the decision was “very, very damaging” and undercut the Pentagon’s argument that it needed resources.

Last year lawmakers expressed similar concern about the Pentagon shifting money but have done little to actually stop it.

Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, particularly for immigrants who come across the southern border with Mexico, have been a signature of his political campaign and first term in the White House.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Smith and Thornberry said that they denied the Pentagon’s request to shift money, underscoring the concern about using the defense budget to pay for the wall.

“The steps taken in this reprogramming put the Department at risk to lose the flexibility Congress has historically granted to effectively manage the resources provided,” the letter added.

Trafigura forms venture with Phillips 66 for deepwater Texas oil port

Julia Payne

LONDON (Reuters) - Global commodities trader Trafigura said on Friday it had formed a joint venture with U.S. refiner Phillips 66 (PSX.N) to build a major deepwater port in Texas capable of handling supertankers, ditching its own competing project.
\
The Bluewater Texas Terminal, to be located 21 nautical miles east of the entrance to Corpus Christi port, will have two single point mooring buoys that can load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), each capable of carrying about 2 million barrels of oil.

Geneva-based Trafigura, the biggest U.S. crude exporter handling about 600,000 bpd, said it had withdrawn its Texas Gulf Terminals project submitted to the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) in July 2018.

The United States became a crude exporter in early 2016 after a decades-long ban was lifted but infrastructure has lagged behind the country’s sky-rocketing shale production.

The United States is now the world’s biggest crude producer at 13 million barrels per day (bpd) with exports averaging about 3.4 million bpd for the last four weeks, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Severe pipeline bottlenecks out of the Permian basin, the biggest in the United States, have improved with the start of three major pipes last year but export terminals capable of handling supertankers are still in short supply.

A flurry of port projects have been proposed to fix the gap.

Phillips 66, the fourth largest U.S. refiner, first proposed Bluewater terminal in July. At the time, at least eight other projects had already been announced.

A final investment decision is expected to be made this year, the statement said. Once built, the terminal will be capable of loading tankers at a rate of between 40,000 and 80,000 barrels per hour or about 16 VLCCs per month.

U.S. maritime officials suspended Phillips 66’s application for a U.S. Gulf Coast deepwater export terminal, seeking additional information in November.

“By easing infrastructure barriers, the Bluewater Texas Terminals project will help the Permian region produce and export more crude oil, grow the U.S. economy and support Texas jobs,” said Corey Prologo, director of oil trading North America for Trafigura.

CORONA BEER NOT VIRUS

A survey says 38% of drinkers won't touch Corona because of epidemic fear. Corona says despite that 'misinformation,' sales are strong.
Áine Cain

The coronavirus is in no way linked to the popular beer brand. 

Victor Ruiz Garcia / Reuters


The marketing-research firm YouGov estimates that Corona Extra beer's image has taken a hit thanks to the coronavirus.

For its part, the beer brand's parent company disputes the idea that the epidemic is a major drain.

"Sales of Corona remain strong, and we appreciate the continued support of Corona drinkers," a spokesperson for Constellation Brands told Business Insider.
There is no link between the coronavirus and the beer brand.

CORONA (CORVID-19) VIRUS

Corona — Latin for "crown" — is one of the most popular beer brands, and its labels are aptly adorned with a golden crown.

But the link between the word "corona" and a global epidemic has led to questions about whether or not Corona is in for a branding nightmare. The coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, has killed at least 2,900 people around the world since it originated in China in December. Its name was derived from the crown shape its viral particles form.

Constellation Brands, which has the exclusive license to distribute Corona Extra in the US, has unequivocally said that concerns that shoppers are ditching the beer because of fears over the illness are misleading.

"There's a good amount of misinformation out there that doesn't match the reality of the business or consumer sentiment," a Constellation spokesperson told Business Insider. "Sales of Corona remain strong, and we appreciate the continued support of Corona drinkers."

But some studies have raised concerns about the health of the Corona brand. The public-relations agency 5WPR surveyed 737 adult US consumers about Corona and found 38% said they "would not buy Corona under any circumstances." A total of 16% said they were "confused about whether Corona beer is related to the coronavirus."


The market-research firm YouGov calculates "buzz" scores for brands based on an average daily sample size of 357 respondents with an opinion on a brand. The firm also breaks down "purchase intent" for different products and brands based on an average daily sample size of 2,110 participants.

YouGov found that Corona beer's buzz score dropped from 75 at the start of 2020, around when news of the coronavirus first began to spread, to around 51 in February. YouGov said the beer brand's additional drop regarding "purchase intent" could also be attributed to it being "closely associated with beach holidays."

And in a case of unfortunate timing, Corona just released a hard-seltzer campaign based on the slogan "coming ashore soon" — which, given the spread of the coronavirus from China to 55 countries around the globe, landed with a thud on social media.

But for its part, Constellation Brands has maintained that it trusts consumers not to link the epidemic to its beer brand.

"We believe, by and large, that consumers understand there's no linkage between the virus and our business," Maggie Bowman, a representative for Constellation Brands, told Business Insider in January.

Corona beer maker says U.S. sales remain strong despite virus outbreak

(Reuters) - Corona beer maker Constellation Brands Inc (STZ.N) said on Friday sales of its Corona Extra beer remained strong in the United States in the four weeks to Feb. 16, amid the rapid global spread of the coronavirus.

The Modelo Especial beer maker also said all units supporting its beer business are seeing positive sales trends for the brand thus far in 2020 despite claims about the impact of the coronavirus on its business.

There have been a few media reports inaccurately claiming sales of the beer were being impacted by the virus, a Constellation spokesman said.

“We’ve seen no impact to our people, facilities or operations and our business continues to perform very well,” Chief Executive Officer Bill Newlands said in a statement.

Newlands added the company does not have much exposure to international markets such as China that have been most impacted by the outbreak.

The epidemic has killed over 2,700 and infected at least 80,000 people, most of them in China.


Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber

Harley-Davidson looks for new leadership to end its sales struggle

Rajesh Kumar Singh
(Reuters) - Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) on Friday named a board member hailed for turning around the Puma brand’s near-bankrupt business as its interim chief as the motorcycle maker gropes for an effective strategy to woo young customers and revive sales.

Jochen Zeitz was asked to take over after Chief Executive Officer Matthew Levatich stepped down following the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company’s worst sales performance in at least 16 years.

Harley-Davidson said Zeitz will serve as interim CEO until an external search firm helps find a new chief executive.

Michael Uhlarik, founder of consultancy Motorcycle Global, said Levatich’s exit was expected. He said Harley was likely to give Zeitz a long run as he has “proven turnaround” skills.

Zeitz is well known for transforming the loss-making Puma in the 1990s into one of the world’s top three sports brands.

“It is not about the next quarter or earnings per share,” Uhlarik said. “They will have to build a long-term, multi-year strategy.”

Harley has failed for years to increase sales in the United States, its top market, which accounts for more than half of its motorcycles sold. As its tattooed, baby-boomer consumer base ages, the Milwaukee-based company is finding it challenging to attract new customers.


Levatich, who took the company’s reins in May 2015, bet on new launches, including of battery-powered bikes, to turn around the company’s fortunes in the domestic market.

The results, however, remained elusive.

Harley’s 2019 U.S. bike sales were the lowest in at least 16 years. Falling sales in the past 12 quarters have forced the company to limit production of its bikes to prevent price discount pressure and protect profit.

In 2019, Harley’s bike shipment volume in the United States was the lowest in at least two decades. Global shipments were the lowest since 2010.

With no sales revival in sight, investors were becoming restless.

Since Levatich took the helm, Harley's shares have fallen 46%. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index .SPX has gained 40%.

Falling sales have had made Wall Street speculate whether the company, which symbolized the counterculture movement of the 1960s, would seek refuge in a buyout or turn private to rework its product lines and branding without the pressure from shareholders to shield its profit margins.

Last month, Levatich tried to parry that question by expressing confidence in the current strategy. But he also acknowledged that the challenges facing Harley were “significant” as its heavy and expensive bikes were competing for “people’s scarce time, people’s scarce funding and commitment.”

Levatich will assist with the transition through the end of March, the company said.

On Friday, Harley’s shares closed down 2.2% at $30.47.

Venezuela revamps PDVSA leadership after Maduro launches restructuring

FILE PHOTO: State oil company PDVSA's logo is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela, May 17, 2019. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has named new vice presidents for four units of state oil company PDVSA, as well as a new president for the unit that handles joint ventures with private oil companies, PDVSA said on Saturday.

The company asked several vice presidents to resign amid a shakeup announced earlier this month, when socialist President Nicolas Maduro named a commission led by Economy Vice President Tareck El Aissami to restructure the industry.

PDVSA’S crude output has been hovering near its lowest levels in decades, and intensifying U.S. sanctions on the company, which are intended to force Maduro out of office, threaten to cut Venezuela off from its main oil export markets.

Venezuela named Oswaldo Perez, who currently serves in the Finance Ministry, as PDVSA’s vice president of finance, according to PDVSA and a copy of the government’s official gazette dated Feb. 28, which has not yet been published online. Erwin Hernandez was named vice president for exploration and Gabriel Oliveros was named vice president for refining.

Hernandez previously served as a manager at the Jose terminal here, Venezuela's main oil port, as well as a manager at Petrocedeno here a crude joint venture between PDVSA, France's Total and Norway's Equinor. Oliveros previously served as PDVSA's executive director for new refinery projects here

Antonio Perez Suarez, previously the director of a state-run distributor of locally made products known as “Productive Venezuela,” was named vice president for supply and trading on an interim basis, according to the gazette. Reuters reported Perez Suarez’s appointment earlier this week.

German Marquez, who currently serves as vice minister for hydrocarbons in the country’s Oil Ministry, was named president of Venezuelan Petroleum Corp, which manages PDVSA’s stakes in exploration and production joint ventures with private oil companies.

The company also named a new human resources manager, Victor Ramon Zamora.

Dozens detained at Kazakh protests over activist’s death

Kazakh law enforcement officers detain a protester during a rally held by opposition supporters, after anti-government activist has died of heart problems in a police detention center earlier this week, in Almaty, Kazakhstan March 1, 2020 REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev

ALMATY/NUR SULTAN (Reuters) - Police in Kazakhstan detained dozens of opposition supporters on Sunday who took to the streets after the death of an anti-government activist in a detention center.

Activist Dulat Agadil died in a jail cell on Feb. 25, a day after police took him in on charges of contempt of court and insulting a judge. The authorities - including President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev - have said his death was caused by acute cardiovascular failure, ruling out any foul play.

Agadil’s case has galvanized the oil-rich Central Asian nations’ opposition movement, triggering several small-scale protests during the week and calls for a larger one on Sunday that would bring together groups that otherwise rarely coordinate their activities.

But police in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and the biggest city, Almaty, detained dozens of activists while they were still walking toward the rallying points. In Almaty, policemen including some in riot gear cordoned off the city’s main square and Reuters reporters saw them detain some 40 people.

A few people shouted “Wake up Kazakhstan!” or “Old man, go away!” - an opposition slogan aimed at Tokayev’s predecessor and patron Nursultan Nazarbayev who retains sweeping powers even after giving up the presidency a year ago.

In Nur-Sultan, some protesters carried posters that read “Dulat is a victim of the system” and “No to dictatorship”. A Reuters reporter saw police detain about 30 people there.

Street protests are illegal in the former Soviet republic of 19 million unless sanctioned by the authorities.

Afghan President Ghani rejects Taliban prisoner release clause in U.S. deal

LESS THAN 24 HOURS LATER

NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT IS WRITTEN ON

Abdul Qadir Sediqi


KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani rejected on Sunday a Taliban demand for the release of 5,000 prisoners as a condition for talks with the Afghan government and civilians, included in a deal between the United States and the Islamist militants.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan March 1, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

His remarks come against the backdrop of the difficulties U.S. negotiators face in shepherding the Afghan government and Taliban towards intra-Afghan negotiations, according to Western diplomats.

“The government of Afghanistan has made no commitment to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners,” Ghani told reporters in Kabul, a day after the deal was signed in Qatar to start a political settlement aimed at ending the United States’ longest war.

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Iran dismisses U.S.-Taliban agreement over Afghanistan

The accord said the United States and the Taliban were committed to work expeditiously to release combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides.

It said that up to 5,000 jailed Taliban would be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10.

However, on the issue of the prisoner swap, Ghani said, “It is not in the authority of United States to decide, they are only a facilitator.”


Saturday’s accord was signed by U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, witnessed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

After the ceremony, Baradar met foreign ministers from Norway, Turkey and Uzbekistan in Doha along with diplomats from Russia, Indonesia and neighboring nations, the Taliban said, a move that signaled the group’s determination to secure international legitimacy.

“The dignitaries who met Mullah Baradar expressed their commitments towards Afghanistan’s reconstruction and development... the U.S.-Taliban agreement is historical,” said Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.

U.S. President Donald Trump rejected criticism around the deal and said he would meet Taliban leaders in the near future.


Ghani’s aides said Trump’s decision to meet the Taliban could pose a challenge to the government at a time when the U.S. troop withdrawal becomes imminent.

Under the agreement, Washington is committed to reducing the number of its troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 from 13,000 within 135 days of signing.

It will also work with allies to proportionally reduce the number of coalition forces in Afghanistan over that period, if the Taliban adhere to their security guarantees and ceasefire.

A full withdrawal of all U.S. and coalition forces would occur within 14 months, the joint statement said.

The withdrawal, however, depends on security guarantees by the Taliban who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and imposed many restrictions on women and activities it deemed “un-Islamic”.

After being ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban have led a violent insurgency.

The Afghan war has been a stalemate for over 18 years, with the Taliban increasingly controlling or contesting more territory, yet unable to capture and hold major urban centers.

Afghanistan did not commit to release 5,000 Taliban, Ghani says

KABUL (Reuters) - The government of Afghanistan has made no commitment to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners as stated in a pact signed between the United States and Taliban Islamic militants, President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday.

The Taliban demand for the release of its prisoners from Afghan jails cannot be a pre-condition to direct talks with the hardline group, Ghani told a news briefing in the capital, Kabul.

Saturday’s accord between the United States and the Taliban said both were committed to work expeditiously to release combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides.

Up to 5,000 jailed Taliban will be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10, the pact added.

Reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi, Orooj Hakimi in Kabul, Gibran Peshimam in Islamabad; Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Prayers at fire-bombed mosques as India’s riot toll grows

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and EMILY SCHMALL February 28, 2020

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Muslims offer prayers on the roof of a fire-bombed mosque in New Delhi, India, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Muslims returned to the battle-torn streets of northeastern New Delhi for weekly prayers at heavily-policed fire-bombed mosques on Friday, two days after a 72-hour clash between Hindus and Muslims that left at least 38 dead and hundreds injured. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)


NEW DELHI (AP) — Muslims in a northeastern neighborhood of India’s capital returned for weekly prayers at fire-bombed mosques on Friday, two days after a 72-hour clash between Hindus and Muslims that left at least 40 dead and hundreds injured.

Five days after the riots started, authorities have not said what sparked the worst communal violence in New Delhi in decades. Hospitals were still trying to identify the dead as the toll continued to rise, and residents of the areas affected by the riots were still seeking loved ones.

“If they burn our mosques, we will rebuild them again and pray. It’s our religious right and nobody can stop us from practicing our religion,” said Mohammad Sulaiman, who was among about 180 men who prayed on the rooftop of a mosque that was set on fire in the unrest.

Muslims offer prayers on the roof of a fire-bombed mosque in New Delhi, India, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Muslims returned to the battle-torn streets of northeastern New Delhi for weekly prayers at heavily-policed fire-bombed mosques on Friday, two days after a 72-hour clash between Hindus and Muslims that left at least 38 dead and hundreds injured. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Tensions between Hindu hard-liners and Muslims protesting the Hindu-first policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had been building for months when the violence exploded Sunday night, on the eve of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India.

Kapil Mishra, a local leader of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party who lost his Delhi state assembly seat in recent elections, demanded at a rally Sunday that police shut down a Muslim-led protest in the city or else he and his followers would do it themselves.

And it appears they did.

Hindus and Muslims attacked each other with guns and swords, metal rods and axes, leaving the streets where the rioting occurred resembling a war zone.

Al-Hind hospital, a small clinic with two doctors, was the nearest medical facility for many of the victims. When the riots broke out, it turned into a chaotic emergency ward, its doctors dealing for the first time with injuries such as gunshot wounds, crushed skulls, stabbings and torn genitals.

“It was horrific, as if evil had pervaded and housed itself in the hearts of the mob,” said M.A. Anwar, the doctor on duty,

Religious tensions in the area where the clashes occurred still simmered on Friday, tempered by a heavy police presence. On one riot-torn street, Hindus shouted “Jai Shri Ram,” or Long Live Ram, the Hindu god, as Muslims attempted to reach a mosque damaged in the riots.

Several Muslim residents told The Associated Press that most Muslim families had locked their homes and fled the area.

The passage of a citizenship law in December that fast-tracks naturalization for some religious minorities from neighboring countries but not Muslims earlier spurred massive protests across India that left 23 dead.

The protest violence is the latest in a long line of periodic communal clashes that date to the British partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, when the country was split into secular, Hindu-majority India and the Islamic state of Pakistan.

The protection of India’s religious, cultural and linguistic diversity is enshrined in its constitution. But communal tensions have occasionally flared into deadly riots, beginning with partition itself, when Hindus living in what is now Pakistan migrated to India, and Muslims in modern India to Pakistan.


Clashes claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and people of other religions.

This week’s death toll marked the worst religiously motivated violence in New Delhi since 1984, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed by her Sikh bodyguards, triggering a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 Sikhs in the capital and more than 8,000 nationwide.

In 1992, tens of thousands of Hindu extremists razed a 16th-century mosque in northern India, claiming that it stood on Ram’s birthplace. Nearly 2,000 people were killed across the country in the riots that followed.

The religious polarization that followed saw Modi’s right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party emerge as the single largest party in India’s Parliament.

In 2002, the western Indian state of Gujarat erupted in violence when a train filled with Hindu pilgrims was attacked by a Muslim mob. A fire erupted — it remains unclear whether it was arson — and 60 Hindus burned to death. In retaliation, more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the state.

Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister at the time. He was accused of tacit support for the rampage against Muslims, but a court ultimately cleared him of wrongdoing.

Violent large-scale clashes between Hindus and Muslims last took place in New Delhi in 2014, months after Modi’s party came to power, in a largely poor neighborhood close to where this week’s rioting occurred. That violence left three dozen people injured.
Full Coverage: India

Ashutosh Varshney, a professor at Brown University who wrote a book about Indian riots, said the worst has been averted — at least for now.

“If it had reached the scale of Delhi 1984 or Gujarat 2002, it would have doomed Indian politics for many years to come and brought India closer to the kind of Hindu-Muslim polarization that the current ruling party would ideally want, but is finding it hard to manufacture,” Varshney said.

BJP leaders, who have sought to demonize Muslim protesters as a threat to India, may see some gain from the violence, Varshney said.

But it comes at a cost, the international perception that India under Modi has become ungovernable, he said.

Government spokesman Raveesh Kumar denied the Modi government had inflamed religious tensions and failed to protect Muslims.

“These are factually inaccurate and misleading, and appear to be aimed at politicizing the issue,” he said. “Our law enforcement agencies are working on the ground to prevent violence and ensure restoration of confidence and normalcy.”

He added that Modi had “publicly appealed for peace and brotherhood.”

“We would urge that irresponsible comments are not made at this sensitive time,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Anirrudha Ghosal contributed to this report.

As India counts dead, brutality of Hindu-Muslim riot emerges
By SHEIKH SAALIQ 29/2/2020

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In this Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 photo, paramedics tend to the wounds of Mehfooz Umar at Al-Hind hospital in Old Mustafabad neighborhood of New Delhi, India. As the Mustafabad neighborhood of India's capital broke out in brutal communal riots for three days this week, the Al-Hind Hospital turned from a community clinic into a trauma ward. Authorities haven't said what sparked the violence that has left more than 40 dead and hundreds injured, but it was the culmination of growing tensions since the passage of a citizenship law in December that fast-tracks naturalization for some religious minorities from neighboring countries but not Muslims. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

NEW DELHI (AP) — The wounded came in waves. First in ones and twos, limping up the steps and staggering through the aluminum doors, and then in wheelbarrows, with bleeding skulls and stabbed necks. Finally, the motorcycles and auto-rickshaws arrived, their seats stained with the blood of as many as they could hold.

As the Mustafabad neighborhood of India’s capital was ravaged by communal riots for three days this week, the Al-Hind Hospital turned from a community clinic into a trauma ward.

Doctors like M.A. Anwar were for the first time dealing with injuries such as gunshot wounds, crushed skulls and torn genitals.


“I wanted to cry and scream,” he recalled. “Something inside of me died during those three days.”

Almost a week after the clashes between Hindus and Muslims began, a clearer picture of the horrors inflicted during New Delhi’s worst communal riots in decades has begun to emerge.

On the eve of President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India last Sunday, Hindus and Muslims in the Indian capital charged at each other with homemade guns and crude weapons, leaving the streets where the rioting occurred resembling a war zone, with houses, shops, mosques, schools and vehicles up in flames. At least 42 people were killed and hundreds more wounded.

Authorities have struggled to identify some of the bodies because of the gruesomeness of the injuries.

While both sides behaved brutally, most of the victims were Muslim.

Authorities haven’t given an official account of what sparked the riots, though the violence appeared to be a culmination of growing tensions that followed the passage of a new citizenship law in December.

The law fast-tracks naturalization for some religious minorities from neighboring countries but not Muslims. Opponents say it violates India’s secular constitution, and further marginalizes the 200 million Muslims in this Hindu-majority nation of 1.4 billion people.

The law spurred massive protests across India that left at least 23 dead.

But what unfolded in Mustafabad this week was far more brutal, with mobs hacking individuals with swords, burning people alive and bludgeoning people to death.

A Hindu intelligence bureau officer was repeatedly stabbed and his dead body thrown into a sewage drain that divides Hindu and Muslim residential areas. A Muslim man had his legs spread so far apart that the lower half of his body tore. His condition remained critical.


Questions have been raised about the role of the New Delhi police and whether they stood by while the violence raged or even aided the Hindu mobs.

A New Delhi police spokesman, Anil Mittal, denied that police had aided rioters.

Al-Hind hospital’s doctors said authorities kept ambulances from reaching certain riot-hit places.

A little after midnight on Wednesday — more than 72 hours after the violence began — a New Delhi High Court passed an extraordinary order directing the police to provide safe passage for ambulances.

It was too late for many victims.

With streets taken over by the mobs and no way through for ambulances, Anwar knew early on that his clinic would soon be overcome with wounded.

Some slumped in plastic chairs as they draped gunshot-riddled arms and legs over tables.

Others just lay on the floor, bleeding.

Those who were there described the blood and chaos, but also shared oddly uplifting stories of teamwork and grit.

“We didn’t sleep. We didn’t eat anything. All we wanted to do was save lives. And we did,” said Aanis Mohammad, a volunteer at the clinic. “No patient of any religion was turned away.”

By mid-afternoon Wednesday as the violence came to an end, Anwar and his overwhelmed colleagues had treated more than 400 people and referred almost 100 to larger hospitals. Dozens, however, remained at the clinic in critical condition.

The hospital also gave refuge to those fleeing the violence, providing more than 50 people with food, bedding and safety.

Clean-up efforts in Mustafabad are underway but the scars are still visible.

At Guru Teg Bahadur hospital along New Delhi’s eastern border, 18-year-old Salman Ansari waited for his father’s body to be handed over.

Ansari’s father had gone out to collect scrap for money as there was no food in the house. After seeing police assurances on the news, he thought it would be safe. It wasn’t.

Ansari said he was sleeping when two strangers dumped his father outside their home early Wednesday.

He carted his father 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) on the family’s rickshaw to a private clinic. The doctors demanded 5,000 rupees ($69). His pockets were empty.

By the time Ansari managed to reach a public hospital, his father was dead.

For Anwar, the doctor, he said he eventually grew numb to the carnage. Yet he’s still coming to grips with how fellow Indians could do what they did to one another.

“It’s as if evil had pervaded and housed itself in the hearts of the mob,” he said.

___ Associated Press writer Aniruddha Ghosal contributed to thisTOPICS

Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims protest India violence

February 28, 2020

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Bangladeshis protest against the communal violence in New Delhi, after Friday prayers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Authorities have not said what sparked the riots, the worst communal violence in New Delhi in decades, as the the toll continued to rise. The protestors also raised slogans against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is scheduled to visit Bangladesh in mid-March. Poster reads "Your religion allows the destruction of mosques, my religion prohibits destroying temples." (AP Photo/Al-emrun Garjon)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Several thousand Muslims marched from the main mosque in Bangladesh’s capital on Friday to denounce India’s government for allegedly inflaming tensions between Hindus and Muslims, leading to clashes that left at least 40 dead and hundreds injured.

After Friday prayers, thousands of Muslims left the Baitul Mokarram Mosque in Dhaka and joined the rally, chanting slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They threw shows at posters of Modi and burned a portrait of him. Many of the protesters carried banners saying, “Stop killing Muslims” and “Save Indian Muslims.”

The protesters also demanded that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cancel a plan to invite Modi to a commemoration next month of the 100th anniversary of the birth of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Rahman, Hasina’s father, led a political movement that created the separate nation of Bangladesh after a nine-month war with what is now Pakistan in 1971.

“I ask the prime minister to immediately cancel Narendra Modi’s invitation,” Nur Hossain Kasemi of the influential Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam told the protesters. “If she fails to do so, the people of the country will be forced to take action and surround the airport. They will build resistance.”


Bangladeshis protest against the communal violence in New Delhi, after Friday prayers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Authorities have not said what sparked the riots, the worst communal violence in New Delhi in decades, as the the toll continued to rise. The protestors also raised slogans against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is scheduled to visit Bangladesh in mid-March. Poster reads "Bangladeshis do not want terrorist Modi to come here." (AP Photo/Al-emrun Garjon)

But he asked Bangladeshi Muslims not to harm Hindus.

“I remind the Muslims of our country that we believe in harmony. We don’t believe in violence. We shall not harm any non-Muslims in this country,” he said.

Tensions in India between Hindu hard-liners and Muslims protesting the Modi government’s Hindu-first policies have been building for months. Violence exploded in parts of New Delhi on Sunday night, the eve of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India.

Hindus and Muslims attacked each other with guns and swords, metal rods and axes, leaving the streets where the three days of rioting occurred resembling a war

Bangladeshis beat a poster with a caricature of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest against the communal violence in New Delhi, after Friday prayers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Authorities have not said what sparked the riots, the worst communal violence in New Delhi in decades, as the the toll continued to rise. The protestors also raised slogans against the visit of Modi who is scheduled to visit Bangladesh in mid-March. (AP Photo/Al-emrun Garjon)
AP 

Boeing blames incomplete testing for astronaut capsule woes
JUST IN TIME PRODUCTION FAILS, AGAIN

FILE - This Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019 file photo shows the Boeing Starliner spacecraft after it landed in White Sands, N.M. On Friday, Feb. 28, 2020, Boeing acknowledged it failed to conduct full and adequate software tests before the botched space debut of its astronaut capsule late last year. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

By MARCIA DUNNFebruary 28, 2020
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing acknowledged Friday it failed to conduct full and adequate software tests before the botched space debut of its astronaut capsule late last year.

A software error left the Starliner capsule in the wrong orbit in December and precluded a docking with the International Space Station. Another software flaw could have ended up destroying the capsule, if not fixed right before reentry.

A Boeing vice president, John Mulholland, said both mistakes would have been caught if complete, end-to-end testing had been conducted in advance and actual flight equipment used instead of substitutes.


“We know that we need to improve,” he said.

The company is still uncertain when its next test flight might occur and whether astronauts might be aboard. NASA — which will have the final say — will announce the outcome of the ongoing investigation review next Friday. The first flight test had no crew.

SpaceX, meanwhile, aims to launch its Dragon crew capsule with NASA astronauts this spring.

Mulholland, who serves as the Starliner program manager, said the company is still reviewing the Starliner’s 1 million lines of code to make certain no other problems exist.

Because Boeing tested the Starliner’s software in segments rather than in one continuous stream to simulate the flight to and from the space station, the company failed to catch an error that knocked the capsule’s internal timer off by 11 hours shortly after liftoff. An unrelated communication problem prevented flight controllers from quickly sending commands in a bid to salvage the docking portion of the mission.

Then, just hours before the capsule’s early return to New Mexico, a second software error was detected by ground controllers. This mistake stemmed from the use of substitute equipment during preflight testing rather than actual flight hardware.

Mulholland stressed that the situation had nothing to do with saving money.

“We’re going to go make it right and we’re going to have a fantastic spacecraft going forward,” he said.

The December mission was supposed to be the company’s last major hurdle before launching the first Starliner crew — two NASA astronauts and a Boeing astronaut. NASA astronauts have not launched from home soil since the space shuttle program ended in 2011.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Biggest explosion seen in universe came from black hole
February 27, 2020

This image made available by NASA on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 shows the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster viewed in a composite of X-ray, radio and infrared data. The inset image at bottom right shows data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory which confirmed a cavity formed by a record-breaking explosion from a super-massive black hole. The explosion was so large it carved out a crater in the hot gas that could hold 15 Milky Ways, said lead author Simona Giacintucci of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. (Chandra: NASA/CXC/NRL/S. Giacintucci, et al., XMM: ESA/XMM; Radio: NCRA/TIFR/GMRT; Infrared: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF via AP)


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the universe, originating from a super-massive black hole.

Scientists reported Thursday that the blast came from a black hole in a cluster of galaxies 390 million light-years away.

The explosion was so large it carved out a crater in the hot gas that could hold 15 Milky Ways, said lead author Simona Giacintucci of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.

It’s five times bigger than the previous record-holder.

Astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory to make the discovery, along with a European space observatory and ground telescopes. They believe the explosion came from the heart of the Ophiuchus cluster of thousands of galaxies: a large galaxy at the center contains a colossal black hole.

Black holes don’t just draw matter in. They also blast out jets of material and energy.

The first hint of this giant explosion actually came in 2016. Chandra images of the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster revealed an unusual curved edge, but scientists ruled out an eruption given the amount of energy that would have been needed to carve out such a large cavity in the gas.

The two space observatories, along with radio data from telescopes in Australia and India, confirmed that the curvature was, indeed, part of a cavity.

“The radio data fit inside the X-rays like a hand in a glove,” co-author Maxim Markevitch of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement. “This is the clincher that tells us an eruption of unprecedented size occurred here.”

The blast is believed to be over by now: There are no signs of jets currently shooting from the black hole.

More observations are needed in other wavelengths to better understand what occurred, according to the team.

The findings appeared in the Astrophysical Journal.
Explore: Science

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Feds reject removal of 4 US Northwest dams in key report

By GILLIAN FLACCUS

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FILE - In this April 11, 2018 file photo, water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Wash. Farmers, environmentalists, tribal leaders and public utility officials are eagerly awaiting a federal report due Friday, Feb. 28, 2020, that could decide the fate of four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios,File)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A long-awaited federal report out Friday rejected the idea of removing four hydroelectric dams on a major Pacific Northwest river in a last-ditch effort tosave threatened and endangered salmon, saying such a dramatic approach would destabilize the power grid, increase overall greenhouse emissions and more than double the risk of regional power outages.

The four dams on the lower Snake River are part of a vast and complex hydroelectric power system operated by the federal government in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The massive dams, built in eastern Washington between 1961 and 1975, are at the center of a years-long battle that pits the fate of two iconic Pacific Northwest species — the salmon and the killer whale — against the need for plentiful, carbon-free power for the booming region.

Environmental groups that have pushed for years for the dams to come down immediately blasted the report. The three agencies in charge of overseeing the sprawling hydropower system recommended an alternative that doubles down on an approach that includes spilling more water over the dams when juvenile salmon are migrating — a tactic already being used.

“Rather than seizing this opportunity to heed the public’s call for working together for a solution that revives salmon populations, the draft plan is built on the same failed approach the courts have rejected time and again,” said Todd True, an attorney for Earthjustice who has represented environmentalists and fishing groups in ongoing litigation over the dams.


Dam removal opponents, however, said the report presented a balanced solution that won’t burden ratepayers or disrupt the region’s power supply.

“Once again, the science has determined that destroying the four Lower Snake River dams would have high environmental and economic costs,” said Todd Myers, environmental director at the Washington Policy Center, a conservative think tank.
The 14 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers together produce 40% of the region’s power — enough electricity to power nearly 5 million homes, or eight cities roughly the size of Seattle. They also contain a system of locks that allows cities nearly 500 miles (800 kilometers) inland access to Asian markets via barges that float down the rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Roughly 50 million to 60 million tons of cargo navigate the Snake and Columbia river system annually.

Yet the towering dams have proven disastrous for salmon that struggle to navigate past them on their way to and from the Pacific Ocean. Salmon are rare in that they hatch in freshwater streams, then make their way hundreds of miles to the ocean, where they spend years before finding their way back to mate, lay eggs and die.

Snake River sockeye were the first species in the Columbia River Basin listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1991. Now, 13 salmon runs are listed as federally endangered or threatened. Four of those runs return to the Snake River.

The Columbia River system dams cut off more than half of salmon spawning and rearing habitat, and many wild salmon runs in the region have 2% or less of their historic populations, said Meg Townsend, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

A chinook salmon, below, and a steelhead, above, move through the fish ladder at the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River in Washington state. (Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review via AP, File)

On the way to the ocean, juvenile salmon can get chewed up in the dams’ turbines, she said. The adults returning from the ocean must navigate fish ladders — concrete chutes that bypass the dams — but they can become bottle-necked before reaching them and get picked off by predators, Townsend said.

Until recently, young salmon were sent by truck or barge around the dams or passed through the turbines or bypasses. An interim agreement that took effect last year prioritized the “flex spill” strategy of increasing the water in spillways to send more fish over the tops of the structures. This approach allows the U.S. government to adjust the spill level according to power demands.

The effect on the long-term survival of juvenile salmon won’t be known for several years, when biologists can start counting the adult fish that return from the ocean.

Scientists also warn that southern resident orcas are starving to death because of a dearth of the chinook salmon that are their primary food source.

FILE- In this Jan. 18, 2014, file photo, an endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle, Wash. A federal report released Friday, Feb. 28, 2020, rejected the idea of removing four hydroelectric dams on a major Pacific Northwest river in a last-ditch effort to save threatened and endangered salmon. Scientists also warn that southern resident orcas are starving to death because of a dearth of the chinook salmon that are their primary food source. Dam removal could increase the numbers of two key stocks of chinook salmon for orcas. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

The Pacific Northwest population of orcas — also called killer whales — was placed on the endangered species list in 2005. A mother orca that carried her dead baby on her back for 17 days brought international attention in 2018 as their numbers have dwindled to 72 animals.

Opponents of dam removal say they want salmon to flourish, but they aren’t sure breaching four major hydroelectric dams will help — and it could instead damage the regional economy and the stability of the power supply.

Reservoirs behind some of the dams allow the Bonneville Power Administration to even out the more erratic power supply from wind and solar by spilling water to generate electricity on short notice. And a move away from low-cost coal plants in the Pacific Northwest has some worried about what the future could hold for ratepayers if the Snake River dams are removed, said Kurt Miller, of Northwest River Partners, which represents community-owned utilities across Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

The Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River is seen from the air near Colfax, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren,File)

“If worldwide salmon populations are doing poorly because of climate change and carbon, does it make sense to tear out 1,000 average megawatts of carbon-free electricity?” he said. “For so many reasons, it’s bad public policy.”

The report addressed those concerns, noting hydropower generation would decrease by 1,100 average megawatts under average water conditions, and 730 average megawatts under low water conditions. The risk of a regional power shortages would more than double and the lowest-cost replacement power would be $200 million a year, it said. Those adjustments would increase the wholesale power rate up to 9.6%, the authors wrote.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration to revisit the impact of the hydroelectric system in 2016 while overseeing litigation over salmon.

In all, three federal judges have thrown out five plans for the system over the decades after finding they didn’t do enough to protect salmon.

Friday’s report is a draft and will be subject to 45 days of public comment. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will next analyze the proposal to determine if it does enough to protect salmon and orcas — a process that should be completed by June.

A final report is expected in September.

In this Feb. 12, 2020, photo, informational signs promoting dams on the Snake River are displayed during a lobby day at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. A federal report released Friday, Feb. 28, rejected the idea of removing four hydroelectric dams on a major Pacific Northwest river in a last-ditch effort to save threatened and endangered salmon. The report says breaching the dams would destabilize the power grid, increase greenhouse emissions and raise the risk of power outages. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)