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U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow sought to meddle in the campaign to tilt the vote in favor of Trump, including by hacking the emails of leading Democrats and distributing disinformation and propaganda online.
Gates and Manafort were first charged in October. On Thursday, Mueller piled up more pressure on the pair - filing a 32-count indictment against them that includes charges of bank fraud and lying on tax returns.
As part of the conspiracy charge, prosecutors say that Gates and Manafort lied to the Justice Department in September 2016, when they were asked whether they had acted as foreign agents in 2013 on behalf of Ukraine’s pro-Russian government.
A superseding indictment returned on Friday against Manafort from a Washington, D.C., grand jury contained additional details about their political work in Ukraine, including allegations that Manafort secretly retained a group of former European politicians known as the “Hapsburg group” to lobby for the government.
The indictment did not name the former politicians, but said that in 2012 and 2013 Manafort paid them 2 million euros through offshore accounts. The group was managed by a former European chancellor, which the indictment identifies as “Foreign Politician A,” in coordination with Manafort.
The majority of the charges in the new indictment are the same as the ones filed against Manafort in October.
In the plea deal, Gates agreed that he lied to the investigators on Mueller’s team on Feb. 1, about a 2013 meeting between Manafort, a senior lobbyist and an unnamed member of Congress who sits on a congressional subcommittee with jurisdiction over Ukraine.
Gates’ plea may push Manafort to try to reach his own plea deal and cooperate with the probe, despite his protestations to the contrary, said Michael Padula, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice.
“His ability to negotiate a deal that is favorable to him at this point given that his codefendant has already made a deal with the government will depend on what he can potentially offer the special counsel regarding their investigation into Russia collusion,” Padula said.
The White House said on Friday that the latest charges against Manafort and Gates were unrelated to Trump.
“This indictment has nothing to do with the White House or the president. As you know, we have been cooperative with the special counsel and as we continue to see, there’s no evidence of collusion, no evidence of wrongdoing,” Mercedes Schlapp, the White House strategic communications director, told Fox News Channel.
A court filing on Friday charged that between 2008 and 2017, Gates and Manafort devised a scheme to defraud the United States to obtain money and property by making false representations to banks and other financial institutions. Toward the end of that period they worked for Trump’s campaign.
In March 2016, Manafort fraudulently obtained a loan for over $3 million on a Manhattan condominium, prosecutors say.
In a letter to relatives and close friends that was obtained by ABC News, Gates expressed concern that a long trial would take a heavy toll.
“The reality of how long this legal process will likely take, the cost, and the circus-like atmosphere of an anticipated trial are too much. I will better serve my family moving forward by exiting this process,” he wrote.
Gates, who has a young family and who has been under house arrest, has been peppering the court since last year with requests to travel, coach his children’s sports teams and attend school functions.
Pet Selfie Stick-It® uses a safe, reusable sticky gel to provide a strong temporary means to mount a smartphone on walls, park benches and other surfaces. With the included remote control the smartphone can be up to 20-feet away from the subjects.
* Photo 1 Caption: Pet Selfie Stick-It from Fromm Works, Inc.
* Photo 2 Caption: Take better pet selfies with the Pet Selfie Stick-It®.
"Growing up I was the photographer in the family and I don't have any photos of me with my childhood dog, Fluffy. I want everyone to be able to capture memories that they'll cherish with their lovable pet," said Fromm.
How does a real ghost hunter feel about Ghostbusters?
Strip away the controversy driven by a few yahoos with internet access, and the idea of remaking "Ghostbusters" with women is the main thing that injects any life into an otherwise pretty banal summer movie.
After setting up the slightly revised premise, though, the movie pretty conspicuously runs out of gas about halfway through, yielding lapses where it doesn't scare up much of anything, most notably laughter.
In a way, this is the Not Ready for Primetime "Ghostbusters," with Melissa McCarthy joined by "Saturday Night Live" stalwarts Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, donning jumpsuits and anti-ghost packs to save the world.
McKinnon, as the wild-eyed, mad genius inventor Holtzmann, brings the most manic energy to the proceedings, without being given anything approaching a back story.
That's left to Wiig's Erin, a buttoned-up, about-to-be-tenured professor, eager to hide the fact that she once wrote a book embracing the paranormal with her former friend, Abby (McCarthy).
When strange sightings start happening, Erin is enlisted to lend her expertise, leading to her reunion with Abby and her new partner in creeps, Holtzmann. But the trio of scientists -- plus Jones' transit worker after her own spectral encounter -- are soon destroying property and catching ghosts, so much so that the ma...
"Don't be like the mayor in 'Jaws!'" Erin eventually snaps at him, provoking understandable indignation.
Addressing one of the first version's shortcomings, Feig and writer Katie Dippold have sharpened the threat by introducing a human bad guy seeking to trigger this apparitional apocalypse. In the most inspired move, they also have the women hire a gorgeous but dimwitted secretary (Chris Hemsworth, revealing a flare for ...
It's only too bad those high points can't keep the movie aloft through its flabby midsection and inevitable, visually unimaginative last-act pyrotechnics. The film somewhat redeems itself in the closing frames, in part by getting back to the nostalgic shtick that animated its opening, but too much in between has the wh...
Mostly, this female twist on "Ghostbusters" provides a conceptually inventive way to stoke interest in a project that otherwise wasn't crying out for a second life, if only to see whether the result warranted all the fuss.
That fallout bordered on the absurd, triggering a debate about whether the pushback against even the trailer could be traced to misogyny or merely misguided nostalgia. Yet despite various attempts to politicize it, like most remakes or sequels, the primary motivation here was capitalism, not feminism, in a movie that a...
From that perspective, the overreaction from those voicing outrage has done Sony Pictures (SNEJF) a favor. And if the movie performs well enough to yield the hoped-for sequel, there will be poetic justice in knowing that "Ghostbusters" received an assist from the very people who sought to slime it.
"Ghostbusters" opens July 15 in the U.S.
The world is a complicated place. Reality is dense with patterns, but these patterns are often subtle and inconsistent. We think we understand how things work – X always causes Y – but then Z happens. It's very confusing.
Needless to say, such complexity poses a big problem for biology. How should animals learn from such unpredictable situations? What's the best way to cope with contingency? We don't need perfection, but we do require an efficient mental mechanism that allows us to maximize utility most of the time.
Enter reinforcement learning, a theoretical framework that helps explain how the rewards and punishments of life get translated into effective behavior. It doesn't matter if it's monkeys responding to squirts of juice or rats jonesing for pellets or humans plying the stock market: The algorithms of reinforcement learni...
However, one of the longstanding limitations of much reinforcement learning research is the lack of naturalistic context, as scientists have been forced to rely on abstract games in the lab. We don't observe rats in the wild – we track them in Plexiglas cages. We don't watch monkeys swing through the forest – we give t...
To answer these questions, Tal Neiman and Yonatan Loewenstein at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem turned to professional basketball. More specifically, they looked at 200,000 three-point shots taken by 291 leading players in the NBA between 2007 and 2009. (They also looked at 15,000 attempted shots by 41 leading play...
But that's not what the scientists found. Instead, they discovered that professional athletes were exquisitely sensitive to reinforcement, so that a successful three-pointer made players far significantly more likely to attempt another distant shot. In fact, after a player made three three-point shots in a row – they w...
What is the effect of the change in behaviour on players' performance? Intuitively, increasing the frequency of attempting a 3pt after made 3pts and decreasing it after missed 3pts makes sense if a made/missed 3pts predicted a higher/lower 3pt percentage on the next 3pt attempt. Surprizingly [sic], our data show that t...
This anticorrelation works in both directions. as players who missed a previous three-pointer were more likely to score on their next attempt. A brick was a blessing in disguise.
What's the larger lesson? It turns out that professional athletes over-generalize from their most recent actions and outcomes. They modify their behavior based on the result of a single shot, even though the success of the shot was shaped by unpredictable forces (a butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo, etc.) and depen...
This problem, of course, isn't confined to athletes. Investors modify behavior based on recent market performance, even though the market is mostly a random walk. Gamblers won't leave a casino if they're on a hot streak. Pundits who make an accurate prediction are convinced they've now solved the world. Military genera...
Walking With Dinosaurs return for one last bite at Sheffield FlyDSA Arena on August 10 and 11, 2018.
Walking With Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular, based on the award-winning BBC Television Series, is returning to Sheffield FlyDSA Area and we have family tickets to be won.
It is billed as the last ever visit of this incredible show and two readers can each win a family ticket. Entry details below.
Fighters of the notorious paramilitary battalion Aidar have rallied in Kiev against their disbandment, attempting to storm the Ukraine Defense Ministry’s HQ and accusing the regular army of deliberately shelling Aidar’s own positions with heavy artillery.
Ukraine’s most infamous volunteer squad, the Aidar battalion – condemned by Amnesty International for its unmatched brutality in eastern Ukraine – allegedly came under Grad and Smerch rocket fire by the regular military near the town of Schastya in Lugansk region.
Melnichuk and his fighters called the rally outside the country’s military headquarters on Friday, after the volunteer battalion was disbanded – or "rebranded" – according to the Defense Ministry.
“The battalion was disbanded three days ago. It does not exist according to documents. The Minister of Defense and the Head of the General Staff say that they have not signed such an order. However, documents confirming that such a unit does not exist as well as the seal of a new unit have already been delivered to the...
According to the battalion’s press secretary, Yuliya Evdokimova, the voluntary units are being disbanded “because it is detrimental to have voluntary battalions at the frontline.” All voluntary battalions will be “re-formatted into other organizations, merged with other brigades or other units, and thoroughly purged,” ...
However, the next day, the Facebook page of the battalion refuted the disbandment of the fighting force, claiming that Evdokimova does not represent the volunteer fighters.
The confusion on the status of the battalion continued on Friday, as some 50 Aidar fighters rallied to show their “under-appreciation” by their own command. Formally, all volunteer territorial battalions are detachments of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense.
Melnichuk said that his squad “will not leave the frontline, no one will leave positions even if our own will storm us, and we have such instances,” as quoted by NTV channel.
The commander told the Russian outlet that the decision to get rid of the nationalistically committed contingent arises from the unwillingness of Kiev authorities to pay for Aidar's services.
“Now they have to pay our salaries, but if you disband us, no one has to pay anyone,” Melnichuk said.
Melnichuk also claimed in an interview with Ukraine’s 112 channel that the central military command might have “got ahold of big funds” in exchange for surrendering Schastya to the rebel forces. Melnichuk claimed that when a similar deal was offered to him – $20 million in exchange for Aidar leaving Schastya – he turne...
“To perform essential tasks, Aidar battalion will be strengthened further, and its soldiers equipped with everything they need,” the statement read, adding that changes were only made to the official seal of the unit, as its number designation has changed.
“Blocking the Defense Ministry of a country at war, during the active battles at the frontline – is treason,” he said.
(CNSNews.com) – A new report produced by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that people in the United States illegally can in some cases get more food stamps than U.S. citizens.
“Those states which do not count all the income of the ineligible aliens make it easier for a family with an illegal alien present to qualify for food stamps than for an identical all-citizen family,” says the statement.
“Ineligible aliens, in the food stamp program, are primarily illegal aliens and those green card holders who have been in that status for less than five years,” the press release states.
“Let’s say that the all-citizen family consisted of three people, employed father, stay-at-home mother, and a small child. Dad makes $2,400 a month. The family’s income is too high for food stamps since the maximum monthly income is $2,177 for a family of three.
“Then next door there is a mixed family, also three people, with the father being the only worker, also earning $2,400 a month. The difference is that the father is an ineligible alien and so, under many states’ regulations, one-third of the family’s income is ignored (prorated is the word in SNAP circles), leaving the...
Thus, the report says, the “proration formula” benefits families who have an illegal alien as the breadwinner of the family.
The report further notes that these added food stamp benefits only help families with higher incomes because mixed families already qualify because of their very low-income status.
“Of the U.S. states and territories, 47 have opted for proration and six have not,” according to the report.
“According to the most recent of SNAP’s State Options Reports the six dissenters are Arizona, Guam, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Utah,” the report states.
ARSENAL young gun Serge Gnabry is nearing his first team return.
The Germany under-21 international has been unavailable for most of the season with a knee problem but has completed back-to-back games for Arsenal's youth side in the past week.
Gnabry hasn't featured for the Gunners since their Champions League draw against Bayern Munich in March 2014.
While it has been a frustrating year for the 19-year-old, he is finally nearing his comeback which is sure to bring a timely boost as Arsene Wenger's team as they head into the final weeks of the season.
Gnabry said: "I am feeling good, I’m feeling better and better.
"It is my second 90 minutes [in the space of a week], I am playing and over my injury so it is all good and I am looking forward to the next game."
Gnabry has been away on international duty with Germany's youth side and reckons these extra games have aided his recovery.
He added: "It’s good, I have been injured for a long time.
"I have been away with the young national team for the past few weeks, which was a good experience with a good side so I am looking forward to the Euros so hopefully we can go there and win the title.
"I think it is team spirit. When you are away for a long time, you get together as a team.
"I think the stronger the team, the better the performances on the pitch."
A crumbling church placed on an 'at risk' register has been given £105,000 for vital structural repairs.
Residents of Marstow, Ross-on-Wye, are celebrating a lottery grant for their Grade II-listed St Matthew’s Church.
It was put on the Historic England ‘At Risk’ Register in February 2017, but now the Heritage Lottery Fund money will protect it for future generations.
Total cost of the project is £175,000, with the rest of the money raised through a special fundraising campaign.
When finished the church and new community space will host social and educational events, be used for meetings and as a venue to display local historical and environmental information.
Repair work has already started and will take about seven months.
The church will stay open during the work for the regular service at 9.30am on the first Sunday of every month and Communion at 9.30am every third Sunday. Special Services, Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals will also be accommodated.
THE NATURAL CLEANING LADY: Jessica Bragdon and her husband Paul launched Koala Eco in 2017, the products now stocked in more than 400 Australian stores.
Making your home sparkle can be an ultimately rewarding “chore”, but at what cost to the environment and your family and pets?
It’s a question Jessica Bragdon and her husband Paul asked themselves as they went on the very long hunt for safe, affordable, chemical-free cleaning products that not only could make their home smell fabulous, but actually work.
“If you look at the labels on ordinary products, you’ll see warnings about some of their ingredients being hazardous if accidentally inhaled, or if they come into contact with skin,” says Jessica.
“That’s because these chemicals are either poisonous or at the very least, harmful. So you start to wonder, however carefully I use these types of product, can I be sure they’re not leaving behind any nasty vapours or residue? If I’m using harsh chemicals on bathroom and kitchen surfaces, am I really cleaning them? And...
I came to realise that cleaning our house by filling it with the toxic chemicals found in most cleaners was not actually creating a clean and healthy home.
When the couple couldn’t find something suitable they decided to create their own range of products, completely free of synthetic fragrance and colouring, and using natural, native plant-based remedies that contain natural antiseptic and astringent qualities, and have been harvested for tens of thousands of years by Ab...
Called Koala Eco, the ingredients in the products are 100 per cent pure essential oils from the bark and leaves of native Australian trees and plants such as eucalyptus, tea tree, lemon scented iron bark, lemon myrtle, peppermint, lavender and rosemary.
Jessica says it’s hard not to be inspired by nature when you live in Australia.
Is Toledo basketball the MAC favorite in 2020?
With wide-open conference and loss of top players, it’s anyone’s game now.
Mark Stephens spent three seasons as an assistant coach with Xavier.
The Rockets will have to replace Jaelan Sanford, Nate Navigato, and Chris Darrington.

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