Icetruck

Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno faces party revolt

Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno has been removed from his post of leader of the governing Alianza País party by the party's national leadership committee.

Mr Moreno's position as the country's president is not affected but the committee said that Alianza País would now be led by the former foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño.

Supporters of Mr Moreno said they did not accept the committee's decision.

The move highlights the deep divisions inside the governing party.

Alianza Pais' leadership committee accused Mr Moreno of not following the party's political line.

Who is Lenin Moreno?

• 64 years old, left-wing, former vice-president
• Became paraplegic after being shot in the back during a robbery in 1998
• Wants to increase employment opportunities and give all Ecuadoreans the chance to go on to higher education
• Has written books with titles such as "Being Happy is Easy and Fun"

The move by the committee came after former party leader Rafael Correa called Mr Moreno a "traitor" to the "citizens' revolution" led by Mr Correa when he was president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017.

The committee also called on Mr Correa to return from Belgium to "lead the restructuring of the Alianza País movement".

Mr Correa moved to Belgium, where his wife is from, after serving his third term in office.

The former president has been fiercely critical of his successor in office, who he has labelled a "wolf in sheep's clothing".

He has accused Mr Moreno, who served as Mr Correa's vice-president from 2007 to 2013, of pretending for years to be a close political ally only to change his political colours once he came to power.

Mr Moreno has struck a more conciliatory note with the country's opposition and has also backed investigations into alleged corruption during Mr Correa's administration.

The corruption probe has led to the arrest of Vice-President Jorge Glas, a close friend of Mr Correa.

While the decision by Alianza Pais's national committee to remove Mr Moreno from the party's top post was taken unanimously, the move has been met with criticism by other members of the party.

Ecuador's acting vice-president, María Alejandra Vicuña, called it "arbitrary".

The president of Ecuador's National Assembly, Jose Serrano, who is a fellow member of Alianza País, also expressed his support for Mr Moreno.

Source – bbc.com

San Diego reports 20th death from Hepatitis A outbreak

San Diego County has reported a 20th person has died from a Hepatitis A outbreak — the worst of its kind in the United States in 20 years.

Dr. Eric McDonald, chief of the county's Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch, told the San Diego Union Tribune that a 67-year-old man who appeared to be recovering suddenly relapsed and died on Oct. 26.

More than 530 people have fallen ill and more than 360 have been hospitalized since November 2016.

Most of the deaths have been among the homeless population. The contagious, liver-damaging illness lives in fecal matter.

California Gov. Jerry Brown last month declared a state of emergency to allow the state to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers and distribute them.

San Diego County has vaccinated more than 90,000 people in recent months.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

New York truck attack: Five Argentine friends killed

Five friends from Argentina were among those killed in a truck attack in New York on Tuesday.

Eight people were killed and 12 injured when the driver of the truck hit people on a cycle path in Lower Manhattan.

Suspect Sayfullo Saipov, 29, an Uzbek immigrant, was shot and injured by police. He is in hospital and under arrest, and police have spoken to him.

Notes in Arabic claiming the attack on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) group were recovered from the scene.

New York Police Department (NYPD) Deputy Commissioner John Miller said the attacker had closely followed IS instructions from social media on how to carry out such an assault, and had been planning it for a number of weeks.

It was the deadliest terror attack in the city since 11 September, 2001.

Who were the victims?

The deaths of five Argentines were confirmed by the country's foreign ministry. They were part of a group of nine friends in New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their graduation from a polytechnic college in the central city of Rosario, Argentine media said.

One of the men who died, steel firm owner Ariel Erlij, helped pay for the friends' trip, La Nación newspaper reported (in Spanish).

• What we know and don't
• Read more on the victims
• Trump calls for end of green card lottery

The men – all aged 48 or 49 – were named as Hernán Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damián Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferrucci.

Another of the friends, Martín Ludovico Marro, is being treated in hospital. Three days of mourning have been declared in Rosario.

Belgian officials said Anne-Laure Decadt, a 31-year-old from Staden in Flanders, was also killed. Three Belgians were wounded.

Two other victims, both Americans, have not yet been named.

How did the attack unfold?

The attacker rented the truck from a New Jersey branch of retailer Home Depot on Tuesday afternoon before driving to New York City and entering the bike lane, police said.

Video cameras show the van driving at very high speed, appearing to target bike riders and pedestrians.

After the van collided with a school bus, its driver emerged and brandished what appeared to be two weapons.

A suspect was shot and wounded by police officer Ryan Nash, 28, one of three NYPD officers who attended the scene after being alerted by witnesses.

Police say the suspect is currently being treated at Bellevue hospital, where he has been interviewed by officers.

Knives, a paint gun and a pellet gun were recovered from the scene.

Police say the suspect is currently being treated at Bellevue hospital in the city, where he has been interviewed by officers.

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Who is the suspect?

Sayfullo Saipov had reportedly lived in Tampa, Florida, and Paterson, New Jersey.

He arrived in America from Uzbekistan in 2010 and is a legal resident in the country. Uber confirmed he had been working as a driver for them.

• In pictures: New York truck attack
• Who is the suspect?
• What witnesses saw and heard

Three officials said Mr Saipov had previously come to the federal authorities' attention because of an unrelated investigation, the New York Times reported.

Police records show he was arrested in Missouri last year over a traffic fine.

Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev told President Donald Trump his country was ready to "use all forces and resources" to help investigate the attack. Uzbek officials have not yet confirmed the identity or nationality of the attacker.

What has been the reaction?

President Trump took to Twitter to call the attacker "a very sick and deranged person", adding: "We must not allow ISIS [Islamic State] to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!"

He also announced he had ordered extreme vetting to be stepped up, without elaborating further.

Mr Trump first said he wanted "extreme vetting" of immigrants during his presidential campaign last August. As president, he introduced a ban on arrivals to the US from a number of mainly-Muslim countries – a move that has been challenged legally and is due before the Supreme Court in the coming weeks.

The American Civil Liberties Union civil rights group said the term extreme vetting was a "euphemism for discriminating against Muslims".

Early on Monday, he called for a "merit-based" visa system and attacked Democrat rival Chuck Schumer for having pushed for the creation of a diversity visa – or green card lottery – in the early 1990s.

Image Copyright @realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump Report

Image Copyright @SenSchumer @SenSchumer Report

A diversity visa is given to residents of countries with few immigrants to the US. A friend of Mr Saipov told the BBC the 29-year-old had obtained his residency this way.

Mr Schumer responded to Mr Trump on Twitter, saying: "Always believed & cont. to believe that immigration is good for America. President Trump, instead of politicizing & dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should focus on anti-terrorism funding which he proposed cutting in his budget."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the incident was a "cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians".

"We know that this action was intended to break our spirit. But we also know that New Yorkers are strong, New Yorkers are resilient and our spirit will never be moved by an act of violence and an act meant to intimidate us," he said.

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Source – bbc.com

Freeview blames air pressure for TV disruption

Freeview has said that high air pressure is the cause of disruption being experienced by some of its users in England and Wales.

The service provides access to digital TV channels through aerials, making it possible to watch programmes without a satellite or cable subscription.

The Downdetector website indicates the issue began on Tuesday evening.

Some viewers have complained they missed The Great British Bake Off final as a consequence.

Skip Twitter post by @Jaguarman62

BBC News – The Great British Bake Off 2017: How the final unfolded https://t.co/jjqgyJTsfs Did not see it. Freeview was down…

— Trevor (@Jaguarman62) November 1, 2017

Report

End of Twitter post by @Jaguarman62

Freeview said it was unable to remedy the problem until weather conditions changed.

"We recommend that you do not retune your equipment, as reception will return to normal once the weather changes," the platform posted on its website.

"TV and radio signals can be affected by atmospheric conditions, including high air pressure (which brings fine weather), heavy rain or snow."

A spokesman for the service told the BBC that the situation was "uncommon but unpredictable".

"It's impossible for us to say [how many people have been affected] but it's clear the disruption has been widespread across England and Wales," he added.

"The good news is that during the course of the day the issue has lessened as the weather front moves through."

Weather forecasts suggest the problem will continue for some into the evening, but a weak weather front is set to move in from the north on Thursday morning that should be more favourable for transmissions.

Read more about weather-related interference

Source – bbc.com

Wendy Williams addresses 'scary' fall on national TV

WATCH Wendy Williams faints on live TV after overheating

After Wendy Williams fainted on live national television Tuesday — saying then it was the result of heat exhaustion — the daytime talk show host is addressing the "scary" episode.

"A lot of people thought it was a joke. No, it was not a joke," Williams told her audience on Wednesday. "I’m a tall woman and it’s a long way down. I’m a woman of a particular age. I don’t do stunts like that. I don’t need that."

On Tuesday, Williams, clad in a Statue of Liberty costume for Halloween, was introducing a guest when she began to sway and dropped to the floor. Her publicist released a statement shortly after the show, explaining that the host was "dehydrated" and "on her way home for a good day and night of sleep."

Today, Williams delved into more detail, saying that that right before the Halloween costume segment, she'd "felt hot" and knew that something was going to happen.

Wendy Williams faints on live TV after overheating in Halloween costume

"It was scary, all I could think of was don’t pull the podium on top of you," she said, becoming emotional as she described the moments right before the fall.

Williams went on to say that she first fell on her bottom, then onto her back, but she had no bumps or bruises from the fall. She added paramedics came to her offices and checked her vitals and found that her blood pressure and heart rate were fine, but her electrolytes were low.

"I'm a 53-year-old middle-aged woman going through what middle-aged women go through, if you know what I mean," she said. "The costume got hot. All [of a] sudden right before passing out, I felt like I was in the middle of a campfire."

After thanking fans, the talk show host once again reassured the audience: "For people who thought that I was [stroking out] trying to get this chair next: Nope, I'm here for a long time!"

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The government maintains a Soviet-style command economy, with subsidies and control of production, prices and access to foreign currency, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Source – abcnews.go.com

US editor Michael Oreskes 'kissed women' in business meetings

Women working in US media have said a senior editor kissed them without their consent during business meetings.

Michael Oreskes, 63, has been placed on indefinite leave by the National Public Radio (NPR) network in response.

The incidents allegedly occurred in the late 1990s, when Mr Oreskes worked at the New York Times.

He has not commented publicly on the allegations, and journalists at NPR report that they have tried to contact him for comment, without success.

Two women spoke to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity, saying they were worried about career development if their names were made public.

They reported similar stories, of abrupt and unexpected kisses during business meetings.

One of the women said that while she met Mr Oreskes in the hope of getting a job with the New York Times, he suggested that they eat room service lunch in a hotel, before he unexpectedly kissed her and "slipped his tongue into her mouth".

She told the paper: "The worst part of my whole encounter with Oreskes wasn't the weird offers of room service lunch or the tongue kiss but the fact that he utterly destroyed my ambition."

The second woman said she met Mr Oreskes after he offered to help review her work.

She drove him to the airport as he had a flight to catch after their meeting, but he unexpectedly kissed her while saying goodbye.

"I was frozen. I was shocked. I thought, 'What just happened?'" she recalled.

Later, she said, when she confronted him directly about the incident, he told her he was "overcome with passion".

The Washington Post said it had made "multiple requests for comment" to Mr Oreskes, but none had been answered.

Meanwhile, a third woman, a current NPR employee, has detailed a formal complaint she filed against Mr Oreskes with the network back in 2015 after a business advice session she had with him turned into a long evening dinner.

She said he divulged many personal details and veered into topics including relationships and sex. He did not touch her inappropriately, she said, and she was satisfied by the response when she reported the incident to NPR.

Mr Oreskes, who had senior editorial roles at the New York Times and Associated Press, was hired as senior vice president for news at NPR in 2015.

There have been growing sexual harassment allegations against public figures in recent weeks, sparked by multiple women's allegations of behaviour from sexual harassment to rape by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and a subsequent campaign encouraging victims to share their stories under the #metoo hashtag.

Source – bbc.com

Correction: Sage Grouse-Conservation story

In a story Oct. 31 about the greater sage grouse, The Associated Press reported erroneously the name of an Interior Department spokeswoman. Her name is Heather Swift, not Heather Smith.

A corrected version of the story is below:

2 states warn Trump against big changes in sage grouse plan

Two governors are warning the Trump administration against big changes in a plan to protect a ground-dwelling bird across the West, saying it would send a message to states not to bother cooperating to save other imperiled species

By DAN ELLIOTT

Associated Press

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Two Western governors on Tuesday warned the Trump administration against making big changes in a plan to protect a ground-dwelling bird across the West, saying it would send a message to states not to bother working together to save other imperiled species.

Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper and Wyoming Republican Matt Mead said a 2015 conservation plan designed to save the greater sage grouse was the product of long negotiation among state and federal governments, conservation groups, industry and agriculture.

"If we go down a different road now with the sage grouse, what it says is, when you try to address other endangered species problems in this country, don't have a collaborative process, don't work together, because it's going to be changed," Mead said. "To me, that would be a very unfortunate circumstance."

Hickenlooper said, "We are both very concerned that the new administration is going to take away all the guide rails that allowed this collaboration to exist."

They appeared together at an energy conference at Colorado State University.

The 2015 plan is designed to protect the bird without putting it on the Endangered Species List, an outcome that most states try to avoid because it usually brings strict restrictions on oil and gas drilling, mining, agriculture and other activities to protect habitat.

But Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in June his department would consider changing the plan to give states more flexibility to allow mining, logging and other economic development. Environmentalists have said the planned revision was just a back-door attempt to open up more land to mining and drilling.

Millions of sage grouse once lived across the U.S. West, but development, disease, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that encourages wildfires has reduced its number to fewer than 500,000.

The 2015 plan covers 11 states and had the approval of the Obama administration. It took years to negotiate and was hailed as a model for saving a species through cooperation, rather than the hammer of the Endangered Species Act.

The Interior Department has not released the full details of its planned revisions, but the agency announced in early October it would withdraw protections for about 15,600 square miles (40,000 square kilometers) of sage grouse habitat on federal lands to allow energy development.

Despite Mead's support for the 2015 plan, Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said the department has been in contact with Wyoming officials "and many, many others who took serious issue with the Obama-era plans."

"We look forward to continuing to work with the governor on this and many other issues," Swift said in an email to The Associated Press.

Mead said protecting endangered species has become a serious problem, citing figures that show less than 2 percent of the species protected under the act since it was passed in 1973 have recovered enough to be removed from the list.

"Now, if you care about species, or you care about energy production or you care about commerce, we've got to do better than that, and a collaborative process that brings in Western states on endangered species, in my mind, is the best way to go," he said.

Not all Western governors support the 2015 plan. Idaho Republican C. L. "Butch" Otter filed a lawsuit shortly after the plan was released, contending the Obama administration illegally imposed federal land-use restrictions. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in January, but Otter has appealed.

———

This story has been corrected to show the Interior Department announced it would consider changing the plan in June, not August.

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Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP. His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/dan%20elliott.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Sony revives Aibo robot dog toy

Sony says it is to bring back Aibo, its famous robot pet dog.

The new Aibo is the tech giant's first entertainment robot in 12 years, and for now, it will only be sold in Japan.

The machine learns from its owners and environment, as well as tapping into collective data stored in the cloud by other robot units.

The return of Aibo suggests that Sony has finally got its innovative spirit back, say experts, after several difficult years.

The revamped device is designed to move and act more like a real dog, and over time to develop its own distinct personality.

The robot incorporates fish-eye cameras, location and mapping software, wi-fi connectivity and "artificial intelligence" to help it understand and adapt to its owners.

Aibo will go on sale in January for 198,000 yen ($1,730, £1,300). Users will also need to pay a monthly subscription and use an app-based store to purchase and install additional abilities.

Turnaround

In 2006, veteran Sony engineer Toshitada Doi threw a mock funeral for Aibo, after the firm axed his pet project for being superfluous, according to the Wall Street Journal. At the time, Mr Doi said that Aibo was a symbol that Sony's "risk-taking spirit was now dead".

This was under the tenure of Welsh-born businessman Sir Howard Stringer – Sony's first foreign chief executive – who tried to turn around the electronics business by cutting thousands of jobs and ending unprofitable projects.

However, Sony continued to lose money until Sir Howard retired in 2013 and handed the controls over to successor Kazuo Hirai.

Following Mr Hirai's extensive restructuring programme, the electronics giant finally seems to be back on form.

On Wednesday, Sony shares soared to a nine-year high after the firm forecast record annual profits.

"What Sony is doing is using Aibo to demonstrate its artificial intelligence credentials," commented Nick Maynard, a research analyst at Juniper Research.

"It's not impossible for it to become a popular device, but I don't think it will be in every household.

"This product is a statement of intent – it's Sony announcing its return as a creative force."

Sony said in May 2016 that it was keen to build up its artificial intelligence business and it has invested in the AI start-up Cogitai.

The firm is also leaning towards innovations such as augmented reality and projections.

"What's fascinating is that Sony certainly seems to have its innovation mojo back, whether it's the Xperia Touch Android-based projector for smart homes, the e-ink watch or the 3D Creator augmented-reality technology that lets you scan someone's head and make an avatar of them," Ben Wood, a chief analyst at CCS Insight told the BBC.

"Because Sony's fortunes as a corporation have improved, it's given it the confidence to bet on riskier technologies.

"Not all of these products are going to succeed, but to keep your innovation edge, that's exactly what you need to be doing."

Source – bbc.com

Social-media images shown as evidence of 'Russian trolls'

US senators have put on show several examples of what they believe to be Russia's attempt to influence US citizens via social media.

Facebook, Twitter and Google had previously shared with congressional investigators some examples of what they suspected to be adverts and messages posted by Russia-based "troll" operatives, but the material had not previously been made public – although some instances had already been identified by the press.

Below are the cases displayed during the Senate Subcommittee on the Judiciary's hearing on Tuesday and a follow-up event held by the Senate Subcommittee on Intelligence, which is ongoing.

• Tech giants berated by senators on Russia
• Can democracy survive Facebook?
• Social media firms under scrutiny for 'Russian meddling'
• Reality Check: When 126m isn't 126m on Facebook

Source – bbc.com