Adidas CEO very concerned about Europe's political failure - Welt

BERLIN (Reuters) - Adidas Chief Executive Kasper Rorsted is very worried about the effects of Europe's failure to solve its problems, German newspaper Die Welt reported.

European Union leaders are grappling with the challenges of migration, a lingering euro crisis, the rise of right-wing populist parties and the wider ramifications of Britain's vote to the leave the bloc.

"From the viewpoint of business I have no fear, but politically-speaking, I am very concerned that Europe is not capable of solving its problems," Rorsted said in an interview with the daily newspaper published on Saturday.

"Europe's inability to solve problems will punish us even more strongly this year," the CEO said, without being more specific. Germany, France and the Netherlands are all set to hold elections this year.

Rorsted also warned that Europe and Britain will suffer if the country's exit from the EU results in trade restrictions.

However, the Adidas CEO was relaxed about the political prospects of the United States under President Donald Trump.

"At the end of the day, I believe Trump is a business man. A couple of things may occur that displease us, but this will not be catastrophic," the newspaper quoted Rorsted as saying.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Reuters28 January 2017

Britain's May eyes stronger Turkey ties after Trump summit

Fresh from talks with US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet Turkish leaders in Ankara Saturday, hoping to expand ties and seal a new trading relationship before Britain leaves the EU.

On a one-day visit to the Turkish capital, her first since becoming premier, May will hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

While some EU states have been wary of sending top officials to Turkey following the July 15 failed coup and ensuing crackdown, May will follow several senior British ministers who have visited Ankara in recent weeks.

And symbolically, her visit to Turkey is the last leg of a trip which took her to the White House as the first foreign leader to be hosted by Trump.

Turkey, which has sought to join the European Union since the 1960s, has long seen Britain as one of the most enthusiastic supporters of its troubled bid.

But following Britain's June vote to leave the bloc, both sides are now looking to bring a new dynamic to relations, with London seeking to firm up post-Brexit trade deals with non-EU states.

- 'Engagement with Turkey' -

May's spokeswoman said increased security cooperation, especially on aviation, and a new trade relationship post-Brexit would top the agenda at the talks.

Following the failed coup, Turkey's relations with the EU have become strained, with Brussels sharply criticising the extent of the ensuing crackdown, and Ankara deploring Europe's failure to show solidarity.

The spokeswoman emphasised that there were no issues May would steer away from, including human rights and freedom of the press.

"The Prime Minister's approach is quite clear - she thinks it's important, and in the UK's national interest - to engage with Turkey on a range of issues - from defence and security cooperation to capitalising on trade opportunities," she said.

She added: "I don't think there are any issues that the prime minister is afraid to bring up."

- 'Unsavoury rulers' -

Ahead of May's visit, Britain's Trade and Investment Minister Mark Price held a series of meetings with Turkish ministers in Ankara.

Bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to more than $16 billion (14.9 billion euros) in 2015, Turkish figures show, with Britain the second most important country for exports and 11th in terms of imports.

Three months after the Brexit vote, Foreign Minister Boris Johnson made a colourful visit to Turkey during which he said Britain was seeking a "jumbo free trade deal" with Ankara.

Noting that trade ties were already significant, Johnson said he was the "proud" owner of a Turkish washing machine and acknowledged that Britain's iconic Jaffa Cake biscuits were owned by a Turkish confectionary giant.

He also ebulliently brushed off the embarrassment of penning the winning entry in an offensive poetry competition about Erdogan which was published by The Spectator magazine earlier in the year.

Back in the UK, MPs have urged May not to let her eagerness to promote trade overshadow human rights concerns over Turkey's post-coup crackdown.

"The Conservative Brexit government is so desperate for trade deals with anyone but the mature democracies of the European Union that even the most unsavoury rulers are to be subjected to the prime ministerial charm," opposition Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney wrote in the Guardian newspaper.

Raziye Akkoc with Stuart Williams in Istanbul and Alice Ritchie in Washington

AFP28 January 2017

Melania Trump just 'an object' to her husband, body language expert says

Melania Trump is “an object” to her husband, according to a body language expert who analysed the behaviour of the First Family on inauguration day.

Followed by TV cameras, the US President and his wife were scrutinised constantly on the day Donald Trump was sworn in.

Many observers remarked on the apparently cold nature of the relationship between the couple, particularly in comparison to the Obamas.

"Melania is an object to [Mr Trump]," said Susan Constantine, a body language expert who has trained US government departments and top lawyers.

"I don't see any warmth or true love and compassion in that relationship whatsoever," she told Mic.

Despite the close dancing of the President and his wife and the inauguration ball, another body language expert, Patti Wood, told the publication the way in which they danced was indicative of an unbalanced relationship.

The President was “pulling her in sexually,” making contact with the pelvis area, Ms Wood said, while Ms Trump was actually pulling away slightly from him as they danced – indicating she didn’t want to “merge with him as a partner”.

Another example which received more attention occurred near the beginning of inauguration day.

“It's interesting that Trump got out of the car and came up the stairs and shook hands instead of helping his wife out of the car, waiting for her, or even looking back for her,” Ms Wood told the Mail Online.

This view was echoed fully by Ms Constantine, who said: “If you didn't know that they were married, you wouldn't know that they are married.”

Later, at the swearing in ceremony, television cameras caught Mr Trump apparently giving his wife only the most cursory of greetings as she joined him shortly before what was likely the biggest moment of his life.

I'm so glad this GIF exists. pic.twitter.com/a4BNmzfa5C

— summer. (@SummerNazif) January 21, 2017

An immediate comparison could be drawn to the Obamas, with Barack warmly greeting Michelle as she joined him on stage.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Trump’s conduct with women was widely regarded as sexist and has been recorded using numerous misogynistic expressions.

And in addition to making lewd comments about sexual harassment, a number of women also alleged he had harassed them in the past.

On Monday, he reintroduced the Mexico City Policy, which blocks US funding supporting family planning and reproductive rights – a move decried as an "assault on women's health" by campaigners.

Many commentators are concerned that if Mr Trump has little regard for his wife, there will be little to impede him in implementing policies harmful to women.

Will Worley

The Independent24 January 2017

Gambia's Yahya Jammeh 'agrees to step down'

Gambia's new president has said that Yahya Jammeh, who ruled the country for 22 years and refused to step down after losing the recent election, has finally "agreed to leave".

Writing on Twitter on Friday, Adama Barrow said Jammeh would also leave the country.

Barrow was sworn-in at Gambia's embassy in Dakar in neighbouring Senegal on Thursday.

Red carpets were on Friday reportedly laid out at the airport in Gambia's capital in what appeared to be preparations for a speech by Jammeh and a departure.

Also on Friday, Gambia's chief of defence forces Ousmane Badjie pledged his allegiance to the country's new president, a major shift as mediation continued to persuade defeated Jammeh to cede power.

Jammeh had rejected Barrow's December 1 election win, despite significant pressure from regional powers and the UN, sparking a major crisis.

Poland welcomes thousands of US troops in NATO show of force

 

A convoy of US troops and military equipment crossed the border into Poland on Thursday, having arrived earlier in the week in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo welcomed US troops to her country at a formal ceremony Saturday, saying it was a "great day" that would help ensure Poland's security. Some 4,000 US soldiers have been deployed as part of troop rotations to Europe that the Pentagon has said are intended to bolster ties with NATO allies and send a clear message to Russia.

Russia has criticized the continuous deployments as a threat to Russian security.

"It's a great day today when we can welcome, here in Zagan, American soldiers who represent the best, the greatest army in the world," Szydlo said at the ceremony in the snowy western town of Zagan.

Speaking after the Polish leader, Paul Jones, the US ambassador to Poland, said the troops arriving in Poland were "America's most capable force," embodying an "iron-clad commitment" to defend NATO allies.

Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said the US troops would help ensure "freedom, independence and peace in Europe and the whole world" and that Poland was proud of "joint efforts that guarantee the security of Europe and of the eastern flanks of NATO."

American soldiers "stand united on Polish soil to deter and defend," said Maj. Gen. Timothy McGuire, deputy commander of US Land Forces in Europe. He added that the troops' arrival was a "concrete sign of the continued US commitment to the defense of Poland and the NATO alliance."

The 3rd Armored Combat Brigade Team of the 4th Infantry Division "is a highly capable and ready force with the best equipment, leadership and training of any combat force in the world," he said.

To maintain combat readiness, the soldiers will conduct "realistic exercises" with allies in locations across Poland and Europe, McGuire added. 

By Laura Smith-Spark and Atika Shubert, CNN

Uma Thurman has 'serious mental health issues' claims ex Arpad Busson

Actress Uma Thurman has been accused of having "serious mental health" issues and mixing medication with alcohol by ex-husband Arpad Busson, as the pair's custody battle over daughter Luna turns ugly.

The hearing at Manhattan Supreme Crown Court on Friday (13 January), opened with court psychologist Sara Weiss declaring that the "toxic relationship" between Thurman and Busson means they should not be in the same room together with their child.

Weiss confirmed under cross-examination that Thurman, 46, has "some attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder" and "a mild learning disability" but no "personality disorder".

The Oscar-nominated actress is currently taking triazolam, Wellbutrin and Klonopin to help deal with bouts of anxiety and depression, claimed Busson's lawyer Peter Bronstein.

The legal team also suggested that Thurman had mixed alcohol with medication, reported The Daily Mail. However this line of questioning was quickly shut down by Thurman's defence team.

French financier Busson, 53, who currently runs Gottex Fund Management Holdings, a Swiss investment company, began dating Thurman is 2007.

An engagement soon followed, only for the wedding to be called off in 2009.

However, the couple reconciled, and in 2012, Thurman gave birth to Luna, who has been subject to a custody battle ever since their final split in 2014.

The businessman has since pushed for visitation rights, filing a lawsuit demanding the power to make the key decisions surrounding his four-year-old daughter.

This legal challenge contravenes an alleged settlement made by the couple, including a three-year parenting strategy, in September 2015.

Busson, who now finds it difficult to travel to New York due to a lung infection, has requested 10 days a month with Luna, including school vacations.

However, Weiss contested this, citing that Luna's developed separation anxiety makes any stay beyond seven days detrimental to her health.

Weiss also raised doubts over the father's parenting commitment, stating, "Busson's visits are focused on his needs rather than his daughter's."

The tycoon is said to have attended a football game in London instead of spending time with his daughter, who he left in the care of his former partner Elle MacPherson.

However, the fight has even extended to Luna's education.

Bronstein claims that his client found the children at St Ann's private nursery in Brooklyn Heights looking "dirty depressed and dishevelled" when he visited.

The trial is set to continue, with the judge reprimanding the couple over their behaviour.

"Reasonable people work these things out," said Justice Cooper.

Om Puri, Bollywood star, dies in Mumbai at 66 after suffering a heart attack in Mumbai.

Tributes pour in from the world of Bollywood as actors and directors awoke to the news of Om Puri's death [Paul Hackett/Reuters]
Acclaimed Indian actor Om Puri, well known for his roles in hit movies Gandhi and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, has died at 66 after suffering a heart attack.
Puri died at his residence in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood, the Press Trust of India reported on Friday .
He returned home on Thursday evening after a film shoot but his door bell went unanswered on Friday morning, following which his driver raised an alarm, it said.

Puri made a name for himself in the 1980s with alternative art cinema that found a niche audience in India, playing several memorable characters that depicted the anger and angst of those times.
He also appeared in a number of British films, most notably Richard Attenborough's 1982 epic on the life of India's independence movement leader Mahatma Gandhi. He also had a role in the Hollywood film Charlie Wilson's War.

Puri starred opposite British actress Helen Mirren in the 2014 film The Hundred Foot Journey.
He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for his service to the film industry.
Tributes poured in from the world of Bollywood as actors and directors awoke to the news of his death.
source- aljazeera

Promising malaria vaccine disables key parasite genes

Crippling just three of the malaria parasite’s 5000 genes could create a powerful, safe vaccine against a disease that sickens nearly 200 million people each year, according to a new study. The new approach “holds great promise,” says Robert Seder, an immunologist at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, who was not involved with the work. No such vaccine has yet made it to market.
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium, a microscopic parasite spread to humans by mosquitoes. When bites deposit a version of the parasite under the skin, they migrate to the liver where each so-called sporozoite produces as many as 30,000 copies of a new parasite form. These then move into the blood stream and infect red blood cells, causing disease and—in some cases—death.
This three-stage infection complicates attempts to create a viable vaccine. The most advanced to date—dubbed RTS,S—tries to teach the immune system to defeat the parasite with a genetically engineered version of a protein from Plasmodium falciparum, the strain that causes the most serious disease in humans. Other investigators have developed “live” Plasmodium vaccines that zap sporozoites with radiation to damage their DNA. An unusually bold live strategy infects people with unmodified P. falciparum and then gives them antimalarial drugs to thwart the disease. RTS,S is still widely seen as the most practical of these strategies, and it will be rolled out in 2018 in three sub-Saharan African countries, despite the fact that it protected just 27% to 39% of infants in large human studies.
The new approach disrupts the cycle of infection by knocking out three genes that P. falciparum needs to move into the blood stream. A team led by parasitologist Stefan Kappe at the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Seattle in Washington gave a rodent version of this “genetically attenuated parasite,” or GAP, to mice and showed that they were completely protected when later infected with an unmodified—or wild-type—version of the same Plasmodium strain. The researchers then infected mosquitoes with a GAP designed for P. falciparum and put 150 to 200 of these insects on the arms of 10 human volunteers. As the team reports today in Science Translational Medicine, no one developed malaria or suffered serious harm in this first phase of human tests, and the vaccine triggered antibodies against the sporozoites.
“I really like this approach,” says Seder, who is helping develop a vaccine of irradiated sporozoites, which are delivered by a cumbersome intravenous injection to stimulate strong immune responses. He adds that the GAP approach is unique because the parasite is actually weakened in humans following the immunization.
There’s widespread agreement that the current front-runner, RTS,S, has serious limitations: Not only is the protection mediocre, it quickly wanes and requires booster doses. “At the end of day it’s not going to be that useful,” Seder says. Kappe and colleagues contend that their vaccine also has an advantage over other live strategies. Unlike radiation, which damages DNA in random spots, they carefully control how sporozoites are weakened, and they can make standard batches of the product. What’s more, using the wild-type P. falciparum followed by antimalarial drugs creates obvious safety dilemmas as the vaccine can cause the disease. The GAP, in contrast, “can have optimal safety but still produce immunity,” Kappe says.
But he also acknowledges there’s a long way to go between this early experiment and proof that the strategy is safe, effective, and practical. First, the researchers need to vaccinate volunteers and then challenge them with wild-type P. falciparum, which they plan to do next year. (Anyone who becomes infected by the challenge will immediately receive antimalarial drugs.) He also stresses that vaccinating people with mosquito bites won’t work in the real world. Instead, he hopes to develop ways to grow the weakened sporozoites in laboratory cultures and put them in traditional vaccine vials for later injection.
Ultimately, Kappe says his group may add genes to make the vaccine even more potent and durable. “You can really optimize the vaccine,” he says. “This study is just the foundation.”

Posted in:Health

DOI: 10.1126/science.aal0565