“This is what happens when you try to run the country without a science adviser.”

So wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus after President Donald Trump, citing the bitter cold currently gripping the eastern U.S., suggested in a Thursday night tweet, “Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against.”

In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

In addition to demonstrating that he is unaware of the distinction between weather and climate, Trump also appeared to be referencing his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord—a move environmentalists slammed as “stupid and reckless.”

Such recklessness has characterized much of Trump’s approach to the environment—both globally and in the U.S.—throughout his first year in office.

As the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continue to be filled with climate deniers and Big Oil favorites, the agency’s chief, Scott Pruitt, is moving at breakneck speed to dismantle even the most basic protections against environmental degradation—opening the door to both short-term and long-term catastrophes in a bid to reward the fossil fuel industry.

Furthermore, the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax bill Trump signed into law last Friday opens Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, a decision characterized by Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune as “a gift to corporate polluters and a means to pay off these tax cuts for the rich.”

Trump’s tweet Thursday night sparked a flurry of reaction from climate experts and analysts, but it wasn’t the first time Trump has used cold weather to suggest that the citizens of the world should welcome the climate crisis.

It’s really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2015

Holthaus concluded that “as twisted and wrong” as these tweets are, they are “exactly what resonates with his base. Poking fun at existential global problems in the sickest, most selfish way possible.”

Others echoed Holthaus on Thursday, calling Trump’s scientific ignorance a serious danger to future generations.

Please let someone preserve this tweet forever so that future generations at least know why the American government didn’t take action to deal with the climate change crisis that now afflicts them https://t.co/FyV2dlbNzE

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 29, 2017

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This is what we’re up against. He is dismantling our most critical environmental and public health protections, while also spreading misinformation.

Help us fight this madness. https://t.co/A9H8Xy8dxL https://t.co/3h6gvambd5

— NRDC (@NRDC) December 29, 2017

The ignorance is astounding. https://t.co/V5yo7N4TQX

— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) December 29, 2017

In 2017, there were about three record high temperatures in the U.S. for every record low temperature. Weather is not the same as climate. The president should be able to understand that. It isn’t hard. https://t.co/piwHcvZWbH https://t.co/7EFkR5SmUN

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) December 29, 2017

Published time: 29 Dec, 2017 11:25

Margaret Thatcher met disgraced US President Richard Nixon despite advisers urging her not to. The relationship echoes Theresa May’s determination to meet Donald Trump in the face of widespread opposition.

Published time: 29 Dec, 2017 11:18

Trump says the east coast of the US could “use a little bit of that good old Global Warming” as it faces its coldest New Year’s Eve on record – appearing to either misunderstand or ignore the scientific evidence on climate change.

Published time: 29 Dec, 2017 09:58

Fake news may spell the “beginning of the end” for social media giants, a media expert has claimed. Facebook and Twitter risk tough sanctions in the UK for allegedly failing to provide evidence of disinformation.

As of Thursday, 128 federal, state and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2017, a decrease of 10 percent from last year, according to a preliminary report from the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) released Thursday.

The total number of officers killed in the line of duty this year is the lowest since 2013, when 117 officers were killed. Since then, the number of fatalities has been on the rise for the past three consecutive years, reaching a peak of 143 fatalities in 2016.

“After three consecutive years of rising deaths in the law enforcement profession, this year’s decline offered some encouraging news,” Craig Floyd, NLEOMF CEO, said in a statement.

Floyd added there has been a downward trend in the number of officers killed in the line of duty since the ‘70s, when there was an average of 234 fatalities reported.

Since 1970, the number of officer fatalities reached a high in 2001, with 242 officers killed while on duty. The spike was most likely the result of officers responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

Traffic-related incidents were the leading cause of deaths this year, claiming the lives of 47 officers, a 13 percent drop from the 54 traffic-related fatalities reported last year.

Firearm-related deaths were the second leading cause of deaths, with 44 officers shot and killed on the job this year, a decrease of 33 percent from the 66 fatalities last year.

Handguns were the leading type of firearm used in fatal shootings of law enforcement, with 29 officers shot and killed by people firing sidearms.

The average number of firearm-related fatalities by decade decreased from 127 in the ‘70s to 53 in the 2010s. Floyd said the drop is most likely due to advances in safety gear, such as bullet-proof vests and de-escalation training.

“In my 33 years doing this, I’ve never seen the amount of awareness given to officer safety and wellness,” Floyd told USA Today. “That’s definitely been paying off and will continue to help make law enforcement a significantly safer profession.”

Of the remaining 37 police officer deaths, 16 were attributed to job-linked ailments, with 10 heart attack-related deaths. Seven of the officers died as the result of being beaten, with nearly all of them correctional officers killed during a single incident at a state prison.

Five officers drowned, all of them on duty  during the recent hurricanes. Four officers died as a result of illness contracted during the 9/11 rescue and recovery efforts. Two officers died in a helicopter crash during the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. Two officers died as the result of boating accidents and one officer was stabbed to death.

The average age of an officer killed in the line of duty this year was 42. On average, officers left behind two children. The state with the highest number of officer deaths was Texas, with 14 fatalities. A total of 14 states and the District of Columbia did not suffer any officer fatalities in 2017.

Randy Sutton, a former police lieutenant and spokesman for Blue Lives Matter, attributes the decrease in police fatalities to the so-called “Ferguson effect,” referring to nationwide protests triggered by the killing of an unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in 2014.

“There’s a saying in law enforcement: You can’t get in trouble for the car stop you don’t make,” Sutton told USA Today. “They don’t want to be the next Ferguson, the next officer burned on the stake.”

However, the number of people killed by officers increased from 963 in 2016 to 971 this year, according to data compiled by the Washington Post.

This post has been updated with a message from Erica Garner’s official Twitter account. The New York Daily News has also updated its original report, noting that Erica Garner’s family is clinging to “a glimpse of hope” that she will recover.

Early Thursday, the New York Daily News reported that Erica Garner—the 27-year-old civil rights activist and daughter of Eric Garner—had been declared “brain dead” by doctors. But later in the day, the Daily News updated their report as new information emerged.

Erica “is close to death but still showing her fighting spirit after a massive heart attack,” the Daily News now reports.

Erica remains on life support, according to her mother, Esaw Snipes. As the Daily News notes, “family members were being called early Thursday to Woodhull Hospital to say final goodbyes.”

However, Snipes told the Daily News Thursday evening that she “got the wrong information” and that the family is still holding onto “a glimpse of hope.”

“She’s still here with us,” Snipes said.

The news comes just hours after Erica’s official Twitter account—operated by one of her co-workers—announced that a CAT scan revealed that Erica had “suffered major brain damage from a lack of oxygen while in cardiac arrest.”

“Please continue to pray hard for Erica and pray for her family and kids just as much,” the announcement added.

Shortly after the Daily News broke its initial story, Erica’s co-worker appeared to raise questions about the outlet’s reporting.

I know that the @NYDailyNews didn’t get their information from anyone that heard it straight from a doctors mouth because only one person was in the room when the results were read. That person was me. I called each family member. So they are reporting 3 person hearsay.

— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) December 28, 2017

The Intercept‘s Shaun King added that he visited Garner at the hospital and observed that while her condition is “no doubt critical,” no one should be writing her obituary.

I just visited the hospital to see Erica Garner and family.

She has not passed away.

She does have limited brain function but doctors say they see some activity. Her condition is no doubt critical, but the family was encouraged this afternoon.

Do not write her obituary.

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) December 28, 2017

News of Erica’s condition sparked an outpouring of condolences and gratitude for the work she has done on behalf of justice and racial equality, much of which was retweeted by Erica’s official Twitter account.

my thoughts are with @es_snipes, her family, the people who love her, and those she inspires. fierce determination in her fight for justice. devastating. pic.twitter.com/3W9w3SW7UE

— arianna jones (@ariannaijones) December 28, 2017

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This is a tragedy for her family & a loss for the world. Erica Garner was an incredible organizer & was already planning to do much more. I interviewed her earlier this month & she talked abt health care & how expensive it was when she sought counseling after her father’s murder. https://t.co/XDDphRhswL

— Katie Halper (@kthalps) December 28, 2017

Erica is a freedom fighter @es_snipes praying for her family and community in Staten Island today. Sending light and love.

— Nelini Stamp (@NelStamp) December 28, 2017

Praying for a miracle. Our sister @es_snipes has not just fought for justice for her dad. She has fought for justice for all of us. pic.twitter.com/dCutxdbtiI

— Ben Jealous (@BenJealous) December 28, 2017

Our sister @es_snipes never cared to be a “celebrity activist” and always supported movement organizers around the nation who shared the singular objective that was hers, as well: freedom, justice & equality for all. Mourning her condition and still forever grateful for her life.

— Steve B.I.K.O. (@BIKOINC) December 28, 2017

Shout out to the sister and soldier #EricGarner . you represent your father well. Here is a lil somthing from last year’s march. #salute pic.twitter.com/AoBn1IjZhF

— Blackstar Flower (@BlackstarFlower) July 17, 2017

Stabbings

2017 was a year of widespread knife crime in Britain. According to official statistics, knife crime was up by 20 percent to 34,703 incidents in the past year – the highest in seven years. Knife crime in London accounted for 40 percent of that.

This video from January is representative of the spate of vicious knife attacks hitting the country in 2017. It shows the moment a man was stabbed 12 times in the middle of a Manchester street.

The attack took place at 12:15am on January 16 outside the popular Printworks venue. It saw a 25-year-old man suffering stab wounds to his abdomen and chest.

Following the altercation, the attacker, who was described as having dark hair and wearing a dark jacket, got into a taxi and threatened its driver with a knife before being dropped off.

Terrorism (GRAPHIC)

This year has been one of the most intense periods for terrorism in Britain’s recent history as the country was hit by six attacks.

The first attack to rock the country was that on Westminster in March, which claimed the lives of five people, including a police officer. That was followed by the attack on Manchester Arena in May, which killed 22.

The video below captures the moment police officers gunned down the perpetrators of the terrorist attack on London Bridge and London Borough Market that killed seven people and injured a further 48 in June.

The CCTV footage shows the three terrorists walking down Stoney Street in Borough Market before they quickly backtrack to attack a passerby.

A police car arrives moments later and three officers with submachine guns lunge out. Another vehicle is seen arriving and officers rushing to help neutralize the assailants.

As the attackers seem to refuse to surrender, the officers open fire.

Police say they responded and killed the attackers within eight minutes after receiving the first reports of the incident.

Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before going on a stabbing rampage in Borough Market while shouting: “This is for Allah.”

The attack preceded that in Finsbury Park in June outside a mosque, which left one dead.

Another assault in Parsons Green saw an improvised explosive device (IED) set off on board a packed District Line train.

Fortunately there were no fatalities as the bomb failed to detonate properly.

‘Putney Pusher’ 

One shocking viral video of 2017 was this footage of a jogger pushing a fellow pedestrian into the path of a London bus.

Below is the horrifying moment a woman cheats death after a jogger appears to shove her into the path of one of London’s iconic red double-decker buses. As the perpetrator is yet to be found, it has sparked claims it is emblematic of the falling numbers of police patrols which leave criminals to think “the streets are theirs.”

The incident, which happened on Putney Bridge at around 7.40am on May 5, shows the male jogger barging into the 33-year-old woman and sending her flying off the sidewalk. The bus is seen swerving at the last moment to avoid the woman, missing her by just a few inches.

The man then had the cheek to run past the victim again on the other side of the bridge 15 minutes later. When the woman sought his attention, however, he failed to acknowledge her, the Metropolitan Police reports.

Three men who had been arrested over the incident have all been released without charge.

Peter Kirkham, a former detective chief inspector, told the Independent “overworked” and “overstretched” detectives may be the underlying reason for the struggle to hunt down the ‘Putney Pusher.’

Flying man

This dramatic footage captures the moment a man was sent flying 45ft through the air after being hit by a double-decker bus in Reading. And lived.

The bus is seen accelerating and moving at high-speed before it smashes into Simon Smith, a truck driver who miraculously came out of the accident unhurt.

In an even more baffling scene, Smith is seen getting up and casually making his way to the Purple Turtle bar on Gun Street.

At the time of the crash, Smith said: “I heard some banging behind me and I was hit from behind. Then you can see what happened from the CCTV.

“The video says it all. I didn’t tense because I didn’t know it was coming. After it I just wanted to get somewhere safe. I feel very lucky to be alive,” Smith told the Sun newspaper.

The driver, Cheikh Senghor, 40, of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, last week at Reading Magistrates Court admitted to dangerous driving and to accidentally pressing the accelerator rather than the brakes.

Hit and run 

The number of hit and run incidents is at its highest in more than a decade as they accounted for 12 percent (17,122) of the 140,056 road traffic accidents causing casualties in 2015, according to Department for Transport figures. That is up from a rate of just over 10 percent, or 16,667, in 2014.

This sickening footage captures the moment a driver makes off after plowing into a man and catapulting him 60ft down the road in January.

Adam McDermott, 33, was jailed this November for six-and-a-half years after leaving 53-year-old Andrew Payne for dead on a street in Brighton.

The footage shows how the father-of-three was hurled in the air by McDermott, a builder with no driving license, before the driver sweeps away without stopping to assist his victim.

Payne, from Hove, East Sussex, survived with a head injury and a punctured lung. He spent six days in hospital.

Last month, Sussex Police Sgt Dan Pitcher said it is a miracle Payne is alive and did not suffer any more serious long-term impairments.

“McDermott’s actions that day were awful, he drove without regard for anyone’s life and when he hit Mr Payne, he didn’t even stop. He would have known how hard he hit him and he didn’t even brake. For all he knew, Mr Payne was dead,” Pitcher said.

“Thankfully this investigation has not been into Mr Payne’s death; this only comes down to luck.”

Published time: 29 Dec, 2017 00:43

Officials in Kokomo, Indiana are praising a brave 9-year-old who brandished his pellet gun to ward off a would-be car thief. No one’s eye was shot out, and the man was later arrested after trying to steal another nearby vehicle.

A fire has swept through several floors of an apartment building in New York City, leaving 12 people dead, including an infant, while leaving four others critically injured.

The cause of the blaze in the New York City borough of Bronx was not immediately clear, but it began on the first floor and spread rapidly to the third floor, officials said.

“I’m sorry to report 12 New Yorkers are dead, including one child as young as one year old,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters at the scene on Thursday. 

De Blasio said that the death toll ranked as “one of the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years” in the city.

Four people were in hospital in critical condition “fighting for their lives,” the mayor said. “We may lose others as well.”

De Blasio noted that the victims…

As Britain prepares to leave the EU, French President Emmanuel Macron will insist the UK must contribute millions for the improvement of border controls in northern France. Denying the request could see the collapse of the Le Touquet treaty, which allows the two states to manage border posts in each other’s territory. 

Macron wants new customs posts, which the UK will be expected to fund.

However, pro-Brexit MPs have been left furious by the expected demands, and it seems Theresa May and Brexit secretary David Davis are set for trouble whichever way they turn.

The Channel is one of Europe’s busiest trade routes and will be a vital link after Brexit. If an arrangement is not in place soon, businesses will suffer on both sides from Britain crashing out of the single market free trade area.

May and Macron will meet for an Anglo-French summit next month, where the border issue is likely to be raised, the Telegraph reports. France is not likely to back down on demands, as politicians and officials in northern France pile the pressure on the French government.

There is a growing humanitarian crisis on the border with families living in bushes after fleeing Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and parts of Africa. French police have been tearing down their tents to make them leave the area, and the migrants are often left in freezing temperatures, many needing medical attention.

Despite this, leaders on both sides are mainly concerned with the trade route, ensuring business can continue on the continent and the British Isles.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said: “There is no logical or legal reason why Britain should pay anything towards this. It is an absurdity.

“No other country is asking for money, not Holland, not Belgium, and Mrs. May should remind Mr. Macron that he stands to benefit from this arrangement because France sells more goods to us than we sell to them.

“Theresa May can smile sweetly at Mr. Macron and tell him there will not be a penny more than has already been agreed. We have already said how much we will pay, and if the EU wants to give some of that money to France, that’s up to them.”

The French, however, believe Britain should pay because of the lucrative route supplying UK businesses.

Jean-Paul Mulot, regional envoy to the UK for Hauts-de-France, which includes Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk, believes Britain should help towards the cost, which will reach hundreds of millions of pounds.

“The goal of our region is not to steal British business,” he told the Telegraph.

“On the contrary, we want British business to thrive so that we continue to enjoy a close and mutually beneficial relationship after Brexit. A disruption would affect jobs in our region.

“At the height of the migrant crisis two years ago, when cross-Channel traffic was being disrupted, Volkswagen’s Oxford factory considered closing temporarily because it was running out of parts,” he said.

About 800,000 car parts cross the Channel each day, and huge quantities of food too.

Mulot is part of the regional council of Hauts-de-France, a group that is leaning on Brussels to ensure the border issue remains an important part of the Brexit negotiations.

“We are not trying to impose solutions on the negotiators but to provide them with a constructive perspective,” he said.

“If we solve the border issue in the Channel, and Ireland, we’ll be 80 percent of the way towards an overall settlement.”

Ninth Circuit Judge Wallace Tashima ruled that Arizona violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment when it enacted HB 2281, a bill that prohibited public schools from teaching classes that are “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Any school found in violation of the law would have had 10 percent of their state funds withheld.

Tashima said the state was banned from enforcing the law, because it was “enacted and enforced, not for a legitimate educational purpose, but for an invidious discriminatory racial purpose and a politically partisan purpose.”

The judge blocked officials from carrying out any part of the law. The state is also banned from conducting inspections or audits of the program, or threatening to withhold any state funds from schools that do not comply. However, the state board can request that the permanent injunction be dissolved after seven years.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which defended state education officials in the case, said it may  appeal the ruling.

“We will consult with the superintendent and see how she would like to proceed,” spokesman Ryan Anderson told the Associated Press. “Additionally, we have an obligation to evaluate the likelihood of success on appeal for the individual findings.”

The Attorney General’s Office has until January 26 to appeal.

The seven-year court battle over the law began in 2010 when Dolores Huerta, a labor leader and civil rights activist, delivered a speech at the Tucson High School, where she said “Republicans hate Latinos.”

Tom Horne, a former state superintendent of public instruction, called Huerta’s remarks “hate speech,” and arranged for his Latina deputy, Margaret Garcia Dugan, to give a rebuttal speech to the same students. During Dugan’s speech, students turned their backs to her, taped their mouths shut and walked out of the auditorium in protest.

Horne deemed the protest “rude,” and when he later became the state’s attorney general, he launched a campaign to dismantle the program. He later drafted a law to ban ethnic studies in school, which he said were anti-American.

When the bill was passed and the school refused to end the program, opponents stepped up their attacks. John Huppenthal, a former state senator who succeeded Horne as state superintendent, wrote a blog criticizing the program, which he compared to Nazi propaganda.

“The Mexican American Studies classes use the exact same technique that Hitler used in his rise to power. In Hitler’s case it was the Sudetenland. In the Mexican American Studies case, it’s Aztlán,” Huppenthal wrote in a blog, according to the Washington Post.

The Tucson school district eventually ended the program in 2012 in order to avoid losing their funding. A Tucson attorney, Richard Martinez, filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf the teachers in the school district.

In his August ruling, Tashima cited Huppenthal’s blog posts as evidence that the law was “motivated by racial animus.”

“Several of his blog comments convey animus toward Mexican-Americans generally,” Tashima wrote.

State Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales (D-Tucson), who has introduced legislation every year to repeal the law, said she was “pleased” that she no longer had to reintroduce the bill this year.

“Attacking the Mexican-American studies program sends the wrong message to Arizona’s students and denies the state’s rich and diverse history,” Gonzales said in a statement. “It is important for Arizona to teach the history of minority communities of the past and present day.”

The Tucson school program began in 1998 and focused on Mexican-American history, literature and art in an effort to keep Mexican-American students in school and engaged.

Nolan Cabrera, an associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Center for the Study of Higher Education, led a study in 2012 that showed students who took part in the Mexican-American program were more likely to graduate and outperform their peers on standardized tests.

An Italian investigative journalist’s attempt to pull back the shroud covering the long-running Assange case, which involves four nations and at least two government prosecution agencies, ended in failure earlier this month.

Stefania Maurizi, of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, had her appeal to the UK First-tier Tribunal to obtain documents held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in London dismissed on December 12. Maurizi had sought access to the full correspondence between the UK’s CPS and the Swedish Prosecution Authority (SPA). The reporter has been trying to get a hold of the documents for two years.

READ MORE: Julian Assange rape allegations: The story behind the saga

The quest for further information could have also potentially uncovered any dealings between the UK, Sweden, the US and Ecuador – the latter being the nation in which Assange has sought asylum. It may have also finally addressed Assange’s fears that extradition to Sweden could ultimately pave the way for rendition to the US.

However, in the appeal documents seen by RT.com, the tribunal agreed that if any such request exists then “disclosing it would tip off Mr Assange illegitimately and undesirably.”

Following sexual allegations deriving from a visit to Sweden in August 2010, Assange lost an appeal over his extradition to the Scandinavian nation. Assange, who denies the allegations, subsequently claimed diplomatic asylum in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, where he has remained for more than five years.

READ MORE: Swedish prosecutor drops case against Julian Assange

The case, which Swedish prosecutors have since “discontinued,” resulted in Assange being “arbitrarily detained” in the building, according to the UN.

Extradition protection

Information regarding the inner workings of the case will remain close to the chests of lawyers and government officials, however. The reason for the covertness? To protect the UK’s extradition process and relationship with foreign countries, according to the tribunal on information rights.

The authority has ruled the CPS is obligated to maintain the confidence, in this case, of it’s Swedish counterpart. The tribunal said it was convinced by the argument that full disclosure of the documents “would likely damage the functions of the CPS in extradition proceedings, with the knock-on effects… for the relationship with the SPA in particular and with other prosecuting authorities or judicial authorities more generally.”

US extradition

In her appeal, Maurizi cited public interest and the fact that people deserved clarity over whether the US had inquired about Assange’s extradition. Indeed, it’s been reported a number of times that Assange and WikiLeaks were the subject of US investigation. However, it is unclear if there was an attempt to move Assange to America.

That question will at the moment remain unanswered, with the tribunal agreeing with the CPS that a release would be a lose-lose situation for authorities.

“If the correspondence between the SPA and the CPS did not contain any mention of an extradition request by the US, this would tell the public nothing about whether such a request had in fact been made by the US or not. If there was such a request from the US mentioned in the correspondence between the SPA and the CPS, disclosing it would tip off Mr Assange illegitimately and undesirably,” a CPS lawyer said during tribunal evidence.

RT.com has contacted La Repubblica to ask if it will continue its pursuit of the documents in a higher tribunal.

A disagreement with a tribunal decision can be taken to the General Regulatory Chamber.

The tech giant is currently facing nine lawsuits in relation to how the company handles the power management of its batteries in older iPhones.

In response, the company sent a letter to customers Thursday, attempting to clear up what it said were some “misunderstandings” about the issue.

“We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process,” Apple said. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue.”

The company added they have never, and would never, do “anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.”

“Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that,” the letter continued.

Apple went on to explain that the rechargeable batteries in older iPhones are “consumable components,” which become less effective through a “chemical aging process.” The company said the aging process, as well as the way the device is used, are the only reasons that the batteries ability to hold a charge diminishes.

“These are characteristics of battery chemistry, common to lithium-ion batteries across the industry,” the company said.

The multinational tech behemoth advised customers to replace their old batteries with new ones, promising to reduce the price of an out-of-warranty battery replacement for an iPhone 6 or later from $79 to $29 starting late January. The deal would be ongoing through December 2018, it added.

In addition, Apple said it would issue an iOS (operating system) update with a feature that will afford users the ability to see if the condition of their batteries are affecting the performance of their iPhones.

The backlash against the California-headquartered concern began when a Reddit user posted a report earlier this month, detailing how the performance of their old iPhone increased dramatically after the battery was replaced. The post quickly went viral and many followed suit, complaining about the same issue. Many others have speculated that Apple was engaging in planned obsolescence to boost sales of newer iPhone models.

However, when Geekbench developer John Poole conducted several benchmark tests last week, he discovered that Apple was throttling the performance of older iPhones in order to preserve the life of the battery and avoid unexpected shutdowns as the power source degrades.

Poole found that the iOS 11.2 update, which was released in January, was retarding older iPhones.

Last week, Apple issued a statement to TechCrunch, admitting that the year-old update was the cause of the problem. However, the company said they only released the update in order to fix a bug that caused older phones to unexpectedly shut down when they were in cold conditions, had low battery charge, or as they aged over time.

Under these conditions, the old iPhones were hitting “peaks” of processing power, which made the devices shut down in order to protect their electronic components. Owners who experienced these shutdowns were unable to turn on their phones until they plugged them into a power source.

In their statement, Apple said that the iOS was released to “smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down.”

After the update was released, Apple told TechCrunch the update reduced the unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6s by 80 percent and 70 percent on other iPhone 6 devices.

In an article linked in the apology letter, Apple explained the update’s “only intent is to prevent unexpected shutdowns so that the iPhone can still be used.”

The “power management” feature included in the update checks the device’s temperature, battery state of charge, and the battery’s impedance, and “dynamically manage the maximum performance of some system components, such as the CPU and GPU in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns.”

“As a result, the device workloads will self-balance, allowing a smoother distribution of system tasks, rather than larger, quick spikes of performance all at once,” Apple said. “In some cases, a user may not notice any differences in daily device performance. The level of perceived change depends on how much power management is required for a particular device.”

Investors in the private prison industry in the U.S. will see major tax cuts under the new Republican tax law, making the unpopular law beneficial for those who count on the country’s mass incarceration crisis for financial gain.

Investments in for-profit prisons will go from 39.6 to 29.6 percent, thanks to the industry’s classification within the tax code.

In a move critics including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have called “unjust” and “unfair,” private prison corporations including CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA) and the Geo Group have been structured as “real estate investment trusts” since 2013. The companies have argued that by housing inmates for the government, they operate in the same way as any company that charges a tenant rent. The restructuring has allowed the companies to pay far less than the corporate tax rate they paid prior to 2013, and now those who own private prison shares will benefit as well.

“It’s going to be great for the investors, banks and hedge funds that…are dependent on increased incarceration and criminalization,” Jamie Trinkle of the racial and economic justice coalition Enlace, told the Guardian.

Investors in the $4 billion industry can expect to see an additional $50 million in earnings from dividends in 2018, according to the Guardian.

Private prisons have found an ally in President Donald Trump and his administration, following efforts by President Barack Obama to phase out the use of for-profit detention facilities. The Geo Group hosted its annual leadership conference at one of the president’s golf clubs shortly before being awarded a government contract to run an immigration detention center.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions also quickly reversed Obama’s directive to move away from the use of for-profit prisons, arguing that doing so would impair the government’s “ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system.” Critics have pointed to reports like one released in 2016 by the Justice Department’s own Office of the Inspector General, which found that private prisons are far less safe than those run by the government.

They’ve also urged companies to divest from the for-profit incarceration industry as a way of limiting private prisons’ power. Enlace has targeted investors in CoreCivic and Geo Group, successfully pressuring cities, universities, and financial institutions to end their investment in the businesses and their major lenders.

On social media, critics denounced reports of even more profits for those who have a stake in mass incarceration.

Just in case you needed one more reason to find the GOP tax bill abhorrent, investors in private prisons are set to collect millions of dollars from it. https://t.co/TOYxpNZpZf

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Published time: 28 Dec, 2017 13:27

British MPs have hit back at former US governor Mike Huckabee for comparing President Donald Trump to Winston Churchill. Huckabee claimed both leaders were “hated by his own party, opposition party and press.”

Published time: 29 Dec, 2017 02:08

Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.