Trump dumped Flynn over ‘trust issue,’ spokesman says

WASHINGTON — President Trump requested Michael Flynn’s resignation after a weekslong review of his contacts with a Russian diplomat led Trump to conclude he could no longer trust his national security adviser, the White House said Tuesday. But the internal investigation, led by Trump’s government lawyer, found that Flynn hadn’t violated the law.

“The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for Gen. Flynn’s resignation,” press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters.

Spicer did not detail the nature of the “other questionable instances,” but officials pointed to news accounts of Flynn’s temper and of National Security Council dysfunction. And one career national security official told Yahoo News that Flynn had clashed last week with Defense Secretary James Mattis, whose judgment is known to carry great weight with Trump.

Trump removed Flynn ostensibly over a controversy involving contacts between the retired Army lieutenant general and a Russian diplomat during the transition. Apparently on Flynn’s say-so, top officials including Vice President Mike Pence and Spicer denied that the conversations touched on the question of U.S. sanctions imposed under the Obama administration in response to allegations that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election. Flynn at first expressed confidence that the sanctions didn’t come up, then later allowed that they might have. A bombshell Washington Post report on Friday disclosed that U.S. intelligence officials possessed transcripts of the calls that contradicted Flynn. Pence press secretary Marc Lotter said Pence “became aware” that Flynn misled him “based on news reports” on Feb. 9.

Olivier Knox

Chief Washington Correspondent

Liang Barsky Line Clipping Algorithm in C and C++

On ciuconnect today programmers have the opportunity to learn about liang barsky line clipping algorithm in C and C++.

This Algorithm was developed by Liang and Barsky. It is used for line clipping as it is more efficient than Cyrus Beck algorithm and Cohen Sutherland algorithm because it uses more efficient parametric equations to clip the given line.

These parametric equations are given as:

x = x1 + tdx

y = y1 + tdy, 0 <= t <= 1

Where dx = x2 – x1 & dy = y2 – y1

Liang Barsky line clipping algorithm uses 4 inequalities with 2 parameters p & q which are defined in the algorithm below.

Algorithm

1. Read 2 endpoints of line as p1 (x1, y1) & p2 (x2, y2).

2. Read 2 corners (left-top & right-bottom) of the clipping window as (xwmin, ywmin, xwmax, ywmax).

3. Calculate values of parameters pi and qi for i = 1, 2, 3, 4 such that

p1 = -dx, q1 = x1 – xwmin

p2 = dx, q2 = xwmax – x1

p3 = -dy, q3 = y1 – ywmin

p4 = dy, q4 = ywmax – y1

4. if pi = 0 then line is parallel to ith boundary

if qi < 0 then line is completely outside boundary so discard line

else, check whether line is horizontal or vertical and then check the line endpoints with the corresponding boundaries.

5. Initialize t1 & t2 as

t1 = 0 & t2 = 1

6. Calculate values for qi/pi for i = 1, 2, 3, 4.

7. Select values of qi/pi where pi < 0 and assign maximum out of them as t1.

8. Select values of qi/pi where pi > 0 and assign minimum out of them as t2.

9. if (t1 < t2)
{
xx1 = x1 + t1dx

xx2 = x1 + t2dx

yy1 = y1 + t1dy

yy2 = y1 + t2dy

line (xx1, yy1, xx2, yy2)
}

10. Stop.

Advantages

1. More efficient than other algorithms as line intersection with boundaries calculations are reduced.

2. Intersections of line are computed only once.

OUTPUT:

Turkish Cypriot Council urges TCs in Britain to apply for TRNC citizenship

The Council of Turkish Cypriot Unions has called on Turkish Cypriots who live in the UK to apply for TRNC citizenship.

According to a statement issued by the Council, only 220,000 Turkish Cypriots will have citizenship of the new federal state that will be formed in a Cyprus settlement, following which only 22,000 Turkish Cypriots who live abroad will have the right to apply for it.

Stating that there are currently 300,000 Turkish Cypriots who live in the UK, the Council says that another reason for applying for TRNC citizenship is that Turkish Cypriots in the UK will no longer be EU citizens after Brexit.

Last November, the Council met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertugruloglu who made the necessary preparations to ease application for TRNC citizenship.

Star Kibris

NFC/RFID implant project is ongoing

 

The project was founded on the insight that NFC/RFID implants have an increasing potential to serve as a practical user interface between humans and machines as a consequence of the quick spread of cheap and distributed sensors. The technology itself is not new, it has been in use industrially since the 1990s in animals and there are examples of human implantees in the late 1990s. But with the development of NFC compatible smartphones and the ‘internet of things’ there are today a number of concrete user cases where this technology can make everyday activities easier and simpler.
The goal of the project is to create a user community of at least 100 persons with NFC implants who experiment with and help develop possible uses. The implantations are entirely volunteer based and people normally pay for their own implants. As we want participants to feel as part of a community we prefer to do the chip insertions as group events which we call Implant parties. A typical implant party involves between 8-15 implantees and a bit of socialising around the experience. The fast growing implantee community is diverse, involving people of all different ages and professions but many come from hacker- and maker communities and see experimenting with technology as a natural way of life.
The objectives of the project are
– To discover and develop relevant user cases for NFC implants
– To forward the idea that subdermal implants are not only harmless but in fact useful in everyday life
– To change the public perception of smart implants, to make it as normal to have an implant as it is to have other near-body technology such as for example earrings.
– To learn and document how this technology works to help develop new generations of implants with much greater capabilities
– To give external service providers the opportunity to interact with a knowledgeable, highly skilled and visionary group of early adopters
If you are a company or organisation who would want to engage with us in order to arrange workshops or user testing of new products and services we welcome all initiatives that help develop this exciting new ecosystem. Please contact the project coordinator Hannes 
nfcimplant@bionyfiken.se

Trump's White House: Five takeaways from Friday

With the first two weeks of his presidency behind him, Donald Trump arrived at his luxury Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, dubbed the "Winter White House," where he will spend the weekend.

The president's long day included slapping new sanctions on Iran and announcing plans to take an ax to a landmark financial reform bill. A few hours before midnight, the White House issued a pledge to fight a judge's order temporarily halting Trump's controversial traveler ban.

Here are five takeaways from Friday's events in Washington:

- Travel ban halted -

The White House vowed to fight back late Friday after a federal judge in Seattle ordered a temporary nationwide halt to Trump's controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Press secretary Sean Spicer called Trump's executive action "lawful and appropriate" and said the Department of Justice would request an emergency stay of the federal court order filed earlier in the day.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said.

- Iran sanctions -

The US president slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's weapons procurement network, provoking an angry response from Tehran in what is an increasingly tense stand-off.

"Iran is playing with fire -- they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump tweeted.

The fresh US measures were in response to Iran's latest ballistic missile test and its support for Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen who in the past week targeted a Saudi warship, US officials said.

- Dodd-Frank goes under knife -

The landmark Dodd-Frank financial reforms adopted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis were aimed at curbing risky excesses by Wall Street investors that led to the "Great Recession."

On Friday, Trump -- who frequently vowed on the campaign trail that he would get rid of Dodd-Frank -- ordered a review of the law, telling business leaders: "We expect to cut a lot out of Dodd-Frank."

"I have friends who can't start businesses because the banks wouldn't let them borrow because of rules and regulations and Dodd-Frank."

Critics claim the legislation created red tape that stifles the finance industry.

- Visa numbers out -

The United States has revoked up to 60,000 travel visas since Trump ordered a ban on visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries, the State Department said.

"We recognize that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the Executive Order," Will Cocks, spokesman for the department's bureau of consular affairs said.

A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

A week ago, Trump issued an executive order halting arrivals for at least 90 days for the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

All refugee arrivals from around the world were also halted, in this case for 120 days.

- Bannon brigade -

Fifty Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter to Trump demanding he explain his placement of controversial chief strategist Steve Bannon on the National Security Council despite lacking formal foreign policy experience.

Trump caused an uproar last weekend when he issued a memorandum that reorganized the NSC to elevate Bannon onto the Principals Committee and to relegate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Director of National Intelligence to roles where they only attend when "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise" are discussed.

Becca MILFELD

AFP4 February 2017

Community leaders meet again today

President Mustafa Akinci and President Nicos Anastasiades are meeting today in what UN envoy Espen Barth Eide described as a crucial meeting to decide the way forward.

The two community leaders agreed during their last meeting on 26^th January that they will meet again on 1^st February to decide the how the negotiations process should continue. Following which, all topics, will be on the table.

Cyprus Mail

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