The bill, House Resolution 5682, was approved on Tuesday evening by a vote of 360 in favor and 59 opposed. Co-sponsored by Representatives Doug Collins (R-Georgia) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), the bill managed to unite President Donald Trump and some of his critics among the Democrats.

Under the law, federal inmates would be able to earn up to 54 days per year in “good time credits” towards an early release, up from the previous cap of 47. This would apply retroactively, meaning that around 4,000 inmates could be released immediately once it is signed into law, according to Axios.

The law also seeks to fund additional vocational and rehabilitative programs in federal prisons, to the tune of $50 million over five years, in order to help former convicts rebuild their lives after release. Among the reforms in the treatment of inmates, it would abolish the practice of shackling female prisoners during childbirth and place inmates no further than 500 miles away from their families.

However, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights argued that good conduct release would be “embedding deep racial and class bias” into decision-making and exclude illegal immigrants and serious offenders.

A number of Democrats have also come out in opposition to the bill, arguing that it does not go far enough. In an op-ed published Monday in the Washington Post, former Attorney General Eric Holder called it a “misguided legislative effort” and a “tempting half-measure,” saying it did nothing to advance sentencing reform.

Last week’s letter from Senators Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Kamala Harris (D-California) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) opposed the bill along the same lines, saying they would be “unwilling to support flawed prison reform legislation that does not include sentencing reform.”

Jeffries responded by calling the Booker-Durbin-Harris letter “riddled with factual inaccuracies and deliberately attempts to undermine the nationwide prison reform effort.”

Van Jones, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, also broke ranks with the Democratic leadership and backed the bill.

Jones thus found himself on the same side as Trump, who endorsed the bill during his weekend summit on prison reform at the White House. The president’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have been among the major backers of the bill inside the executive branch, arguing it would help reduce recidivism.

“The single biggest thing we want to do is really define what the purpose of a prison is. Is the purpose to punish, is the purpose to warehouse, or is the purpose to rehabilitate?” Kushner said at the meeting on May 18.

One of the guests expected at the summit was Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill, who was famously released from prison in April after being jailed for probation violations stemming from a 2008 weapons conviction. On Friday, however, Mill canceled his visit, saying that concerns over his association with Trump “might take away from creating a positive result.”

There are presently almost 2.3 million people behind bars in the US, of which 225,000 are in federal prisons and jails, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Most federal convictions are for drug offenses. State prisons account for 1,316,000 inmates, of which 718,000 are imprisoned for violent offenses.

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The striking thing is that the comment came at the end of an interview about Britain’s policy towards Moscow, with the casual nature of the reporting suggesting that potentially dangerous scaremongering about Russia has created a situation where a government minister can accuse Moscow of anything, however serious, and reporters from the BBC will report it.  

Here is what Nick Watt said: “I was talking to one minister who said that things are sort of eerily quiet on the Russian front, and what this minister said is that Moscow is biding its time for the World Cup, let that happen, and then, this minister said Russia will be after the UK.  Not through traditional warfare, but through warfare through the internet. And this minister, who would know Russian capabilities said, for example, they have the ability and may well decide for example to stop the city of London functioning.”

Presenter Evan Davis didn’t appear to think it was worth pushing Watt on the fact he had just aired accusations that Moscow could essentially decide to threaten the entire global financial system by targeting its main hub. Of course, only once the World Cup was over.   

It’s also worth putting into context that this was the final answer in a longer interview about Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s delayed visa, exemplifying the very definition of burying the lead.

This single quote suggests Russia has now become so demonised, that huge claims can be made about it without what would be considered basic journalistic scepticism or rigour. The BBC, which is supposed to hold government to account, instead casually reports accusations of “warfare” being planned, but is not willing to even name the minister making them.

At no point on Newsnight did anyone pose the question whether it would be in Russia’s interests to threaten a global financial system in which it is entwined, or whether the Kremlin might consider the likely backlash of launching something as provocative as this undesirable.

Kremlin watchers would be extremely curious to meet the British minister that “would know Russian capabilities” and apparently what Moscow is planning. In fact, it would be fairly easy to make a shortlist of hawkish anti-Russian ministers at this point, although perhaps harder to narrow them down to the ones that actually know what’s going on.  

Ironically, the feature directly following the comments from Watt was with a Russian woman who lives and works in the UK. She was asked whether she is concerned that “all Russians are being tarred” by the current accusations. It turns out that yes, she is concerned, and she may well have been concerned about what she just heard on the BBC’s flagship new show.  

By Simon Rite, RT

County Circuit Judge John A. Olson ordered the unnamed 15-year-old to pay the fine on Monday for throwing fireworks into Eagle Creek Canyon, sparking an almighty inferno that spread across the forest.

The monumental payment means that the teen would have to pay over $100,000 a month for the next 30 years to pay back the balance. Judge Olson recognized that the teen will likely not be able to fulfill the payment, and so he ordered the local juvenile department to develop a financial plan for him, The Oregonian reports.

Olson said that if the teen finishes their five-year probation and exhibits good behavior, they may stop payments after 10 years. The money will go toward the Eagle Creek fire victims, along with the US Forest Service and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The teen’s lawyer, Jack Morris, called the judgment “absurd” and “absolutely silly” and asked Olson to deliver a more “reasonable and rational” ruling with a more manageable dollar figure.

“It’s difficult to imagine anything more pointless than ordering an adolescent to pay 36 million in restitution,” Morris told The Oregonian.

However, Olson would not budge: “having reviewed the arguments presented by the parties, the court is persuaded that an award of more than $36 million in restitution does not violate either the state or federal constitution,” the judge wrote.

The teen was also ordered to carry out nearly 2,000 hours of community service with the federal forest service and write letters of apology to the 152 people who were trapped on Eagle Creek by the wildfire.

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US President Donald Trump has said his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “may not work out” in June, raising further doubt about whether the historic meeting would occur as planned.

Trump made the comment during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.

“We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters. “There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting.”

The US president did not specify the conditions Washington was setting for the landmark meeting due in Singapore on 12 June.

“There is a very substantial chance that it won’t work out, but that’s OK,” he added. “It doesn’t mean it won’t work out over a period of time, but it may not work out for June 12. But there is still a good chance we’ll have the meeting.”

In a frankly bizarre piece by the white, middle class, Eton and Oxford educated, associate director of the right-wing neocon think tank, The Henry Jackson Society, Murray tried to make the argument that the recent royal wedding between one white, privileged, royal and a mixed-race celebrity, was proof that Britain has no racism issue.

“Why would Meghan Markle have been so warmly received into the heart of the British public?” the author asks in his Spectator piece. Musing more, Murray wonders: “why did angry crowds not line the route of the royal carriage to shout insults at the newly married couple?”

READ MORE: ‘They called me Bin Laden’: Muslims most hit by hate crimes in Nottingham, new study reveals

Don’t expect to see Murray’s system for judging a population’s prejudice, a comparison between the amount of flags waived to the decibel level of insults shouted at a royal carriage, at a university humanities department near you.

Murray opens his piece by delegitimizing figures that showed a rise in hate crimes following the EU Referendum, saying that there had been a “parade of pseudo-scientific claims that ‘hate crime has soared'”, insisting he and the majority of Brits “knew all this to be nonsense.”

It’s safe to say that some on social media have been left aghast at Murray’s bold claims. Guardian journalist, Afua Hirsch, asks whether Murray, as a white man that appears to have had a privileged upbringing, is really the right individual to make such grand claims on race, as she tweeted:

While academic Jonathan Portes, among others, questions how the Spectator could ever profess to claim there is no racism in Britain when the magazine published an article last week by right winger, Taki Theodoracopulos originally headlined: “In praise of the Wehrmacht”. 

The accusations of racism stretch beyond Murray’s colleagues, with the writer himself widely regarded by many as Islamophobic for, among many assertions, suggesting in his book ‘Islamophilia’ that the idea that Islam is a religion of peace is “a nicety invented by Western politicians.”

Paul Goodman from Conservativehome.com reported that Douglas Murray made a speech in the Dutch Parliament in 2006 called “What are we to do about Islam?” In which he recommended that a hostile environment for Muslims was the answer to the Islam ‘problem’ as he told elected officials “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: “Europe must look like a less attractive proposition”.

As a result of his inflammatory speech to the Dutch parliament, Murray now requires police protection when visiting the Netherlands, according to the BBC.

What is striking about Murray’s article is that he fails to detail any statistics to back up his claims. How can a well-to-do white man base his judgement on personal observations alone? Does he seriously think that peppering his piece with mentions of people of color at the Royal Wedding provides substantive evidence that racism in Britain is a myth? How often does Murray leave the Spectator, Henry Jackson, Eton old-boy bubble? 

There is some actual expert analysis mentioned in Murray’s piece, though it is only included for the writer to mock. He cites the recent conclusion made by the UN’s ‘special rapporteur on racism’, Tendayi Achiume, who found that “racism had been ‘normalized’ in the UK since the Brexit vote”.

But not one to listen to experts he disagrees with, Murray suggests that the UN official must have felt pressured to come up with something negative to justify their trip, writing “I suppose no one likes to do themselves out of a job, do they?” 

On that warm welcome Murray talks about, British publications like the MailOnline welcomed Meghan Markle and her family into the hearts of the British public with features that describe her hometown of Crenshaw, LA as “straight outta Compton” that is “plagued by crime and riddled with street gangs.” While the MailOnline’s comment section, frequented by trolls from across the world no doubt, was awash with racist and sexist language.

While we can only hope that great bastion of race equality, Harry’s grandad – Prince Philip, has not been left alone with Meghan where he could get the opportunity to deliver one of his own famous ‘warm welcomes’. Greetings such as: “If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed” (to a group of British students during a royal visit to China) or “Still throwing spears?” (question put to an Aboriginal Australian).

For real evidence of British racism, Murray would do well to sit down with a black MP, such as Diane Abbott who was revealed by Amnesty International as receiving nearly 50% of all abuse directed at British parliamentarians on social media, during the lead up to the 2017 General election. Abbott told the Amnesty International study, that she had received hundreds of letters including ones “covered in swastikas and pictures of monkeys and chimpanzees”.

Spend some time with her and then tell your Spectator readers that racism in Britain is a myth.

Omar Baggili, RT Journalist

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In a snarky piece published on Monday, The Onion revealed the contents of a strongly-worded e-mail sent to them by Cohen in January 2013. Objecting to a commentary piece satirically attributed to Trump, titled “When You’re Feeling Low, Just Remember I’ll Be Dead In About 15 Or 20 Years,” Cohen wrote to The Onion: “The article is an absolutely disgusting piece that lacks any place in journalism; even in your Onion,” adding that the obviously fake commentary “goes way beyond defamation.” Cohen also warned the website that he would take “all actions necessary to ensure your actions do not go without consequence” if the piece was not immediately removed.

The Onion employed some of its world-famous wisecracking in an article revealing the letter’s contents:

“Mr. Trump’s column, which was thoroughly vetted by our editors, simply endeavored to offer any of The Onion’s over 10 billion readers who had found themselves depressed about the state of the world a hopeful reminder that he would mentally and physically deteriorate and most likely die very soon,” the ‘news’ site insisted.

As for why the existence of Cohen’s bizarre cease-and-desist letter had been hidden from the public for so many years, the Onion explained: “Shortly [after publishing the piece], we apparently received an email from Mr. Cohen. Unfortunately, this email must have been improperly sorted by one of the Malaysian children who work in our mailroom, and was only discovered crumpled up under a pile of journalism awards in a remote corner of our offices last week.” The Onion continued: “We read the email, and given Mr. Trump’s ascension to the presidency since its writing, we want to apologize for the delay and would be delighted to meet with Mr. Cohen in person—at the White House, perhaps?”

The timing of the e-mails disclosure is curious – and Cohen appears to deny having sent it.

Responding to the Onion piece, Cohen tweeted out: Maybe all of you #haters #trolls missed the memo but @TheOnion is a news ‘SATIRE’ Organization. That means…it’s not real! #GetALife”

But the Onion insists that while its article is tongue-in-cheek, the email is very real.

After a producer for MSNBC admitted that he “legitimately could not tell” if the email was genuine or not, David Ford, the communications coordinator for The Onion, tweeted: “I can confirm the email itself is the real deal. From Michael Cohen to our press email address in 2013. The rest of the story is obviously in @TheOnion’s signature satirical voice.”

As further evidence of the authenticity of the e-mails, Cole Bolton, the former editor-in-chief of The Onion, claimed in May 2016 that Trump, the then-presumptive GOP presidential nominee, had previously threatened the website with legal action.

Cohen has recently come under scrutiny for reportedly providing “insights” on the Trump administration to clients in exchange for payment and for offering porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged tryst she had with Trump in 2006.

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Williamson appeared during a Defence Committee on US, NATO and UK defense relations ahead of July’s upcoming NATO summit, where MPs scrutinized the MoD’s financial priorities as members of the alliance look to boost individual military spending to a minimum of 2% of their GDP.

Responding to a question on how quickly the UK could field a war-fighting division to the Baltics in the event of a conflict, Williamson said that while a force of 10,000 UK troops could be fielded between 2-10 days, a mechanized or armored brigade would take “significantly longer,” up to 20 days for deployment.

He added that all NATO troops, “not just British forces” would be used in the event of such a mobilization and said the alliance was still in discussions on how to boost military mobility.

When asked whether Germany’s reliance on Russian gas was “a fundamental flaw” in the proposition to deploy a rapid fighting force involving several nations, the Defence Secretary replied: “I wouldn’t like to go down the route on being dependent on Russia for anything.”

The secretary, who has made a name for himself with his hawkish comments, earlier told the committee that he was “proud” of the “significant role” the UK has played in NATO, adding that the alliance’s significance was growing more than ever with the UK exiting the European Union due to the growth of changing and “emerging threats.”

The threats in question included, for the attendees, the UK’s capabilities to counter the growing number of Russian submarines in the north Atlantic, as well as concerns among Baltic nations like Estonia, that Brexit would leave a “vacuum of leadership” within the bloc when discussing matters such as Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Russia, which is the largest supplier of gas to the EU, opened the Nord Stream pipeline in 2011 which supplies Germany directly with gas through the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream 2 looks to expand the pipeline with other firms such as Royal Dutch Shell involved.

However, the pipeline has faced opposition from the US and Poland, with former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying in January that the pipeline undermines Europe’s overall energy security and stability.

Germany and Austria meanwhile, have not seen any problem with availing from cheap gas from Russia, citing its commercial advantages.

In turn, Williamson added that there are “significant concerns” among the US that Russian maneuvers to increase reliance on its gas could leave countries like non-NATO member Ukraine isolated.

UK commitment to NATO could be seen in its “long history” in dealing with the submarine threat in the north Atlantic, and the UK was also capable of boosting its capabilities to counter a further growth in Russia’s submarine presence.

Britain’s commitment to defending from such underwater threats could be seen in the upgrading of its ageing Type 23 frigates, and the production of the “highly capable” Type 26 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigates, eight of which are being planned by the MoD, Williamson said.

Other ASW capabilities being invested in by Whitehall are 9 P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, to be based out of RAF Lossiemouth, its Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, as well as a planned upgrade of older Merlin helicopters to the ASW role.

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Trump and Moon met at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the summit, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. Both remained optimistic about the meeting, though Trump said he was “not happy” about the recent changes in North Korean attitude.

The tone from Pyongyang changed after Kim’s second meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump told reporters prior to the meeting, according to Reuters. He called Xi a “world class poker player” who he would like to think is committed to peace in the Korean peninsula.

“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later,” Trump said about the summit. “It may not work out for June 12.”

Asked if he would prefer denuclearization over time or all at once, Trump said, “all in one would be nice.”

If Kim follows through on denuclearization, “I will guarantee his safety,” Trump said, adding that leaders of South Korea, China and Japan have told him they would invest large amounts of money to “help make North Korea great.”

Moon said that Trump has been able to achieve “dramatic positive change” in relations with North Korea. He is confident that Trump will be able to make the upcoming summit successful and “end the Korean war,” he said.

Acknowledging there are voices in the US skeptical about the summit and the prospects of denuclearization, Moon said that the “fate and future” of the Korean Peninsula hinge on it.

Asked about his vision for the Korean peninsula, Trump said he was “looking at having two very successful Koreas” at first, and then it would be “largely up to them” whether to unify down the road.

He described the border between the two Koreas as “artificial” and largely imposed by the US, during the 1950s Korean War.

The Trump-Kim summit was scheduled after a historic meeting between Kim and Moon and Panmunjom in April. However, the North Korean rhetoric escalated after US national security adviser John Bolton brought up the “Libyan model” of denuclearization, with Pyongyang pointing out that Washington led a “regime change” operation in Libya in 2011, after Tripoli surrendered its nuclear research materials to the US in 2003.

Trump distanced himself from Bolton’s remarks last week, but told North Korea that the Libyan model of regime change might ensue if the peace talks fail. The message was later echoed by his vice president Mike Pence.

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Blair, speaking about the Belhaj case for the first time since the current UK government issued an apology and awarded an out of court settlement to the family, said he was “content to go along with” the apology. Blair but did not express any personal remorse over Belhaj’s rendition.

“This has been subject to a long legal process,” the former PM told BBC Radio 4’s Today program. “I have gone along with what the government has done, which is to issue an apology.

“I didn’t know myself about this case until after I left office, so I’m content to go along with that apology. And that’s all that’s frankly sensible for me to say.”

Rendition – defined as the practice of covertly taking a suspect to be interrogated in a country with less rigorous regulations for the humane treatment of prisoners – was widely used in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Belhaj and Boudchar were abducted and taken to a Tripoli prison under Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

Belhaj was the emir of the defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an anti-Gaddafi guerrilla group. Boudchar was pregnant at the time, and was released shortly before giving birth. The couple fought for compensation after it was revealed that British intelligence played a role in their kidnapping.

A fortnight ago the UK government finally publicly apologized. Attorney General Jeremy Wright revealed that the pair had dropped their claims against former foreign secretary Jack Straw and the former head of counter-terrorism at MI6, Sir Mark Allen for their roles in their rendition.

Wright also revealed that the UK government paid out £500,000 ($676,000) to Boudchar – but Belhaj did not seek compensation and has received no bursary from the Government as a result. Both will also receive a personal letter of apology from Theresa May.

“It is also important that we should act in line with our values and in accordance with the rule of law,” Wright said in his statement. “That means when we get things wrong, it is right and just that we should acknowledge it, compensate those affected, and learn lessons. I believe this is such a case.”

Boudchar, who was at parliament to hear the apology with the son she was pregnant with during her incarceration by Libyan forces, thanked Government for saying sorry. “I thank the British government for its apology and for inviting me and my son to the UK to hear it. I accept the government’s apology,” she said.

“This case has forced me to relive the lowest moments in my life for many years, and at times it has been a real struggle to keep going. But by today’s settlement I look forward to rebuilding my life with dignity and honor, and living free from the weight of these events with my husband and our five beautiful children.”

Belhaj echoed his wife’s sentiments in a statement. “I welcome and accept the prime minister’s apology, and I extend to her and the attorney general my thanks and sincere goodwill. For more than six years I have made clear that I had a single goal in bringing this case: justice. Now, at last, justice has been done,” he said.

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Crews at the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) plant worked overnight to cap the 11th and final well at the site, which provides 25 percent of the Big Island’s power.

The wells run 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,829-2,438 meters) underground to tap into extremely hot water and steam used to run turbines and produce electricity.

The capping is the latest measure to be taken at the plant, which has been closed since Kilauea first erupted on May 3. Authorities previously removed the highly flammable chemical pentane from the site.

“County, state, and federal partners have been collaborating closely to monitor the situation and work with PGV to ensure the safety of the surrounding communities,” county officials said, as quoted by Reuters.

Kilauea has entered a more violent stage which has seen larger amounts of molten rock oozing from the ground and traveling a further distance. Its most recent eruption took place at around 6pm local time on Monday.

Lava began hitting the Pacific Ocean over the weekend, creating yet another hazard for the Big Island’s residents. That hazard is known as ‘laze,’ a mix of hydrochloric acid, steam, and fine glass particles which is created when hot lava hits the cooler sea water. It can cause lung, eye, and skin irritation, and even death.

At least 44 homes and other structures have been destroyed as a result of Kilauea, and 2,000 people have been ordered out of their homes. A man was also seriously injured on Saturday, after a plate-sized chunk of molten rock shot out of a fissure and struck him on the leg.

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From over-excitedly tackling a small Japanese boy during a rugby game to unwisely singing Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Road to Mandalay’ colonial-era poem, while visiting one of Myanmar’s holiest site, the UK’s top diplomat has form when it comes to undiplomatic relations.

But the opening leg of his five-day Latin American trip, which marked the first time a British foreign secretary has visited Peru in over 50 years, has gone almost surprisingly, gaffe-free.

The stop-over is part of a drive by the Foreign Office to forge closer trade and cultural links with South American states, including Peru, following Brexit.

Visiting a school in the village of Santa Marta, on the banks of the Amazon, where a UK-funded solar power scheme has provided it with electricity, Paddington Boris avoided any references to the literary bear’s dimly-lit homeland.

Instead, he got involved in a spot of slightly awkward dancing with a teacher during a performance led by the students of the school. He also discussed Harry Potter and Peru’s chances at this year’s World Cup with the students, which kicks off next month in Russia.

Johnson came close to a gaffe, when he told them: “England is in the World Cup too. We’re not so… I’d better be careful what I say.”

He also visited a stadium in the Peruvian capital Lima, as well as the Amazon Rescue Center, joking that a slow-moving manatee reminded him of an unnamed MP.

His next stop Argentina, and the first foreign secretary to visit since 1993, saw meetings with the President Mauricio Macri and the laying of a wreath in Buenos Aires to commemorate those who died in the 1982 Falklands conflict.

His final stop, Chile, will see Johnson continue his enthusiasm for boosting British trade with South America.

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According to WSB-TV Atlanta, one of the lawsuits filed against Dr. Windell Davis Boutte accuses her of causing her patient permanent brain damage after performing a liposuction in 2016. The 26-year-old son of the patient said his mother, Icilma Cornelius, underwent the procedure ahead of her upcoming wedding, but never got a chance to wear a wedding dress.

The plaintiff claimed that during the procedure, Cornelius was neither intubated nor put under general anaesthesia. Instead, she was allegedly given drugs such as propofol and fentanyl, and was left un-monitored throughout the liposuction. Following the eight-hour liposuction, the patient went into cardiac arrest and consequently suffered permanent brain damage.

Another former patient, Mitzi McFarland lamented that a newly advanced technique proposed by doctor Boutte to remove fat had actually left her looking “like something out of [a] Frankenstein horror movie.”

The patient had also been shocked to wake from the lengthy procedure in a hotel room with a sandwich in her hand. “I was put to sleep, and then I woke up some 18 hours later in the hotel bedroom with a McDonald’s sandwich in my hand, one bite out of it,” McFarland said.

Footage of Boutte dancing over patients as they lay unconscious on the operating table draw a backlash online. The lawsuits accusing her of malpractice found some supporters on social media in the wake of the YouTube videos, who thought Boutte’s operating room conduct was “appalling.”

Some Twitter users defended Boutte, as they confessed that they too listened to music while patients lay before them. Other commenters thought the accusations stemmed for the most part from racial prejudices, suggesting that had her skin color been different, none of her singing and dancing around her unconscious patients would matter.

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Characterizing U.S. national security adviser John Bolton as a human “landmine,” a South Korean lawmaker has reportedly joined others who have made clear their belief that Bolton is the true culprit behind faltering diplomatic efforts ahead of a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next month.

“There are several land mines on the way to the summit between North Korea and the U.S. One of those land mines just exploded: John Bolton.”
—Chung Dong-young, South Korean lawmaker

“There are several landmines on the way to the summit between North Korea and the U.S.,” South Korean lawmaker Chung Dong-young told a Seoul-based radio show, according to the Washington Post. “One of those landmines just exploded: John Bolton.”

In a Facebook post last week, Woo Sang-ho—a lawmaker in South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party—expressed a similar view, highlighting Bolton’s “preposterous” invocation of the “Libya model” as a possible guide for America’s approach to nuclear talks with North Korea.

The South Korean lawmakers’ comments on Bolton come as Moon is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to help “shore up plans for a U.S.-North Korea summit that seem to be on shaky ground.”

As Common Dreams reported, North Korea has condemned Bolton and his “Libya model” remarks last week as a “sinister” regime change threat in a statement last week.

“We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him,” said Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s vice minister of foreign affairs. “We are no longer interested in a negotiation that will be all about driving us into a corner and making a one-sided demand for us to give up our nukes and this would force us to reconsider whether we would accept the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting.”

Bolton has a long history of calling for both regime change and a U.S. first strike on North Korea, warmongering that led Pyongyang to call him a “bloodsucker” when he was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

As the Washington Post‘s Anna Fifield notes, South Korean lawmakers and officials also “know the current American national security adviser’s background all too well.”

“Many served under pro-engagement president Roh Moo-hyun, at a time when Bolton was a strong proponent inside the George W. Bush administration of the invasion of Iraq and of regime change in North Korea,” Fifield adds. “After meetings with top officials [in Seoul] last week, one American analyst remarked—only half in jest—that the South Koreans detested Bolton as much as the North Koreans.”

Under its first nuclear review in a decade, the National Audit Office’s (NAO) Defence Nuclear Enterprise report identified a hole of £6 billion for the program, which includes the procurement of new nuclear submarines, propulsion systems, missiles, and warheads.

In the 10 years up to 2028, the NAO says the Ministry of Defence faces a £2.9 billion “affordability gap” in its spending plans, on top of a further £3 billion in savings that the MoD has already said it needs to make in its nuclear domain.

The report said that it hopes a MoD mini-defense review, due to report in July, will suggest ways to make up for the shortfall.

Figures provided by the NAO in its report put the UK’s nuclear spending over the next decade at £22.9 billion for the Astute-class, Vanguard-class, and Dreadnought-class submarines; £13.4 billion for weapons and warheads; £6.9 billion for propulsion; and £6.7 billion on costs associated with decommissioning old nuclear boats, and other liabilities.

All of the MoD’s nuclear assets over the next 10 years are expected to cost a total of $50.9 billion.

Development of four Dreadnought-class subs – the vessels that will eventually carry the UK’s Trident II D5 nuclear missiles – is expected to cost the exchequer a total of £31 billion, with BAE Systems and Rolls Royce the lead contractors on the project.

The report also found that construction of two Astute-class submarines, the subs that will protect the four-strong nuclear-armed fleet, had been delayed by two years in an effort to cut costs.

It is understood, according to The Times, that such delays, while saving money in the short term, increase the total purchase price of a piece of equipment.

READ MORE: More F-35s vs the Eurofighter: MoD decisions as funding gap row grows

Funding for the seventh and final Astute-class submarine, to be named HMS Agincourt, was announced by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson last week.

A £10-billion contingency fund has also been set up, but any withdrawals from the fund need to be approved by the treasury.

That contingency well was tapped for the first time during this financial year, with £600 million being approved by Chancellor Mark Hammond.

The report also highlighted a lack of qualified personnel for the program, with the NAO identifying hundreds of staff shortages in areas including finance, commercial, and nuclear marine engineering.

Among the positions needed are 56 posts within the new Defence Nuclear Organisation, which oversees the UK’s nuclear enterprise, as well as 337 specialized jobs across “across seven military nuclear specialisms.”

READ MORE: SNP MPs blast Trident nuclear program ‘white elephant’ after warning on MoD funding gap

Commenting on the report, the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said the government’s Trident renewal program was “in a state of chaos,” charging the MoD with “significantly downplaying the true cost & time needed to finalise it.”

Meg Hillier MP, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The budget pressures on the MoD’s nuclear programme are significant.”

“The department will need to make some critical decisions to get the programme on track financially,” she added.

However, the MoD assured The Independent that: “Not only is the nuclear deterrent our ultimate defence from the world’s most extreme threats, but it is a true national endeavour which supports thousands of British jobs.”

“The Dreadnought programme is one of the most complex engineering programmes ever undertaken by the UK and the NAO’s report highlights our position that it is on track to be delivered on schedule and within the original estimated cost.”

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Suspect Jonathan Oddi, 42, reportedly entered the lobby of the hotel and began shouting anti-Trump remarks before opening fire. Terrified patrons and employees of the hotel fled immediately.

Officers from the City of Doral and Miami-Dade Police Departments responded to multiple 911 calls of shots fired in the area. As footage from the scene shows, the officers entered the hotel and quickly engaged the suspect in a firefight.

Oddi was shot in the exchange and subsequently disarmed before being taken to Kendall Regional Trauma Center. Once treated, he was transferred to Miami-Dade’s homicide bureau for interrogation after which he was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to a police statement.  

Oddi appeared in court Monday and faces five charges of attempted second degree murder on a law enforcement officer, armed criminal mischief, aggravated assault with a firearm, armed burglary with assault and grand theft. He is being held without bond.  

One officer sustained a possible wrist fracture in the incident. No hotel employees or patrons were injured in the attack.

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The man, understood to be aged in his 20s, was stabbed in Islington on Monday. Emergency crews were called to the scene at Upper Street, but the stab victim died at the scene, Scotland Yard confirmed.

Three other men, aged 20, 24, and 28, were also stabbed in London in the past week. The London murder toll is now more than 65, putting the death rate on track to hit its highest annual total since 2003.

Figures published in April showed a 22-percent annual rise in knife crimes in England and Wales. Robbery rose by 33 percent and gun crime rose by 11 percent, while and murder increased by nine percent.

One of the victims of London’s five-day stabbing spree died on Friday, three days after he was attacked in West London. Osman Shidane, 20, was described by his family as a selfless and caring man.

Shidane, born in Denmark but had lived in Britain for 15 years, was the eldest of seven siblings of Somali origin. He was stabbed in the neck and armpit as he walked along an alleyway next to a church. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with his murder.

“He was a family man, he was caring and compassionate,” 17-year-old Nasteho, one of Shidane’s five sisters, told the Evening Standard. “He was very outgoing and naturally got along with everyone.”

Arunesh Thangarajah, 28, was stabbed to death in the early hours of Sunday morning, just before 3:30am in Mitcham. Police said that Manimaran Selliah, 44, a Mitcham resident, was charged with Thangarajah’s murder.

READ MORE: One killed, another injured in north London shooting, bringing murder death toll to 63

Abrahaman Juma, a 24-year-old man was stabbed to death by a gang of youths on Thursday night in Barking. His uncle, Haroub, said: “He was a nice guy, a good person. I cannot put how I feel into words.”

Juma’s neighbours said that the pack of youths chased their victim Juma through the estate where he lived and attacked him.

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Packer, who is leading the inquiry into Juma’s murder, said: “I know there were people out and about in [the area] at the time of the murder. I need to speak with these people as soon as possible as they may have vital evidence.”

Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said last week that among the complex problems driving youth violence, there was also a reduction in the number of police officers. Home Secretary Sajid Javid is expected to address the issue at the Police Federation conference on Wednesday.

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A bomb squad arrived at the scene of the backpack, using a string to place it in a cordoned-off location before slowly backing away. It was normal safety protocol, but the cyclist was anything but impressed.
He decided to “diffuse the situation” himself, the man who called in the suspicious bag, Robert Harris, told local NBC affiliate TMJ-4.

That involved breezing past police tape and opening the bag, throwing its contents onto the wet pavement before slamming the bag on the ground and dramatically throwing his arms up in the air.

“I thought for a moment there, he was going to get blown up,” Harris said. “Some water bottles came out and they were aluminum or stainless steel. You don’t know they were just water bottles. It could have been a bomb device there.”

The cyclist’s efforts didn’t land him a metal of bravery or a pat on the back. Instead, it landed him a football style tackle by three officers who ultimately arrested him. There’s been no word from the man himself, but it’s a safe bet that he’ll keep cycling past the next police investigation he stumbles upon.

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Some MPs have spoken to their local party associations, asking to be taken in again as prospective parliamentary candidates in anticipation of an election as early as this autumn.

One Tory Brexiteer told The Times that he could not see how the government could “square the circle” and come up with a solution on Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU that would keep both sides of the warring party happy.

“It’s becoming clear there’s no compromise that will keep Remainers such as Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve happy as well as the likes of myself and Jacob Rees-Mogg,” the MP said.

“The numbers are against us and if we face repeated defeats when the withdrawal bill returns to the Commons, the only alternative will be to kick over the table and trigger a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, which will likely lead to another general election.

READ MORE: Hard Brexit warning from Ireland as UK agrees ‘fallback option’ on Customs Union

“After speaking with like-minded colleagues, I have raised this with my association chairman and asked them to get on with re-adopting me as the candidate in my seat in anticipation that we could go to the polls as early as the autumn. I am even preparing my first leaflet drop for the summer.”

Labour MPs are also discussing the prospect of an October poll after a Labour insider said that they have heard “two separate reports from MPs who said they had heard Conservative MPs planning for an early election.”

May is already under pressure, facing a backlash over her plans to keep the UK tied to a customs union with the EU bloc after 2021, or until an alternative resolution to a hard border in Ireland can be found.

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Houston’s police chief and mayor, in cap and brown shirt, join the March For Our Lives. Photo by David Phillip/AP. On front, Santa Fe student Dakota Shrader and her mother Susan Davidson. Photo by Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily/AP

Another goddamn massacre in the only country that has them. The bloodshed in Santa Fe prompted the usual praying, spineless, noticeably wacko pols blathering the issue isn’t guns but doors and Ritalin, but also some uncommon responses. As the first victim was honored at a local mosque, both Houston’s police chief and mayor called bullshit, making it clear they’ve had enough. “These are our children,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “These are our children and they are demanding that we do more than we have always done, and that’s nothing.” Echoing him, Chief Art Acevedo likewise said that after dealing with too many dead children he’d “hit rock bottom.” “This isn’t a time for prayers, and study and inaction,” he wrote in an impassioned Facebook post that went viral. “It’s a time for prayers, action and the asking of God’s forgiveness for our inaction (especially the elected officials that ran to the cameras today, acted in a solemn manner, called for prayers, and will once again do absolutely nothing.” Teen organizers also announced a National Die-In for June 12, the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, to protest and “be there for those that can’t.” It will include actions in D.C., Orlando, and “anywhere with lethal legislative inaction.”

Most searingly, kids are contributing to the fierce tragic hashtag #IfIdieInASchoolShooting. Some are sorrowfully quotidian: “#IfIdieInASchoolShooting i will never get married/ have children/ buy a car/ live…my dog will always wonder where i went…I’ll never finally learn how to ride a bike…I will never become an EMT, Wife, Mother. Slowly my presence would fade away.” There is talk of statistics, hashtags, heartbroken parents, impossibly poignant scenarios: “I will be a human shield over my students before I see (them) not get a chance to live past 8 years old.” Mostly, there is rage. “#IfIDieInASchoolShooting put my body in the parking lot of the NRA,” writes one; others suggest their corpses be sent to the White House or Marco Rubio “with a bow on it.” “Deliver my heart to Dana Loesch on a silver platter because she’s a heartless woman and clearly needs a new one.” Repeatedly, they urge, “Politicize the fuck out of my death.” They urge, “Make sure every person who supports the NRA knows  they’re responsible…Please use my pictures, life, and story. Please use my stolen voice.” And: “Pass some legislation for me. Waste no time. Do not cry but sing, sing songs of liberty. Songs of revolution and peace.” Because this is America.

The move comes in response to the reelection of President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday, which official Washington has dismissed as a “sham” and refused to recognize.

“We call for the Maduro regime to restore democracy, hold free and fair elections, release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, and end the repression and economic deprivation of the Venezuelan people,” Trump said in a statement.

President Donald Trump’s executive order covers all transactions on debts owed to the Venezuelan government or its state-owned companies, including oil company Petroleos de Venezuela. The order also prevents the Venezuelan government from liquidating assets where it has a majority ownership. However, it stopped short of imposing sanctions on oil sales, which would have crippled the country’s economy.

“Today’s executive order closes another avenue for corruption that we have observed being used,” one senior US official told reporters on Monday.

US Vice President Mike Pence dismissed the Venezuelan election as “neither free nor fair” and said the “fake process” was a blow to the “proud democratic tradition” of Venezuela.

“America stands against dictatorship and with the people of Venezuela,” Pence said.

In the run-up to the election, however, Washington sought to interfere and meddle in the vote by repeatedly attempting to tarnish the reputation of Maduro and his ruling Socialist Party, even going so far as to link him to drug trade.

Last week, the US Treasury announced sanctions against Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, along with his wife and brother, accusing them of being involved in the drug trade and dividing the proceeds among themselves and Maduro.

When those sanctions were imposed, Cabello’s brother Jose accused the US of trying to “divert the attention of the world” from the strong support the Socialist Party enjoyed in advance of the election. He added that new sanctions from the US would hurt ordinary Venezuelan people. Earlier in the month, the US also sanctions 20 Venezuelan companies with alleged ties to Maduro.

US sanctions have nothing to do with democracy or drug trafficking and Washington is simply intent on overthrowing his government in another regime change operation, says Maduro, who was reelected with 68 percent of the votes cast.

Last year, then-CIA director Mike Pompeo said that he was “hopeful” there could be a “transition” of government in Venezuela and said that the CIA is “doing its best” to “understand the dynamic” in the country. Pompeo is now the US secretary of state.

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The inquiry  which will last many months, aims to establish the causes of the fatal fire, using eye-witness accounts, videos, photos, evidence from experts, and the paper trail of the tower’s history since it was built in the 1970s.

Survivors wept on the first day as they listened to a bereaved father pay tribute to his baby son and heard a recording of another victim making his last phone call from the burning building.

Before the investigation can begin, the inquiry wants to give those still mourning those lost in the disaster an chance to pay tribute by speaking publicly about those they lost, or by showing photos or videos of deceased loved ones.

Marcio Gomes, an IT worker who fled from the 21st floor through thick, poisonous fumes with his heavily pregnant wife Andreia and their two daughters, went first with an emotional tribute to his son Logan, who was stillborn in hospital hours after the escape.

“I held my son in my arms, hoping it was all a bad dream, wishing, praying for a miracle, that he would open his eyes, move, make a sound,” Gomes said, crying, his wife by his side.

The oral hearings into the circumstances of the fire will commence on June 4.

Separately from the public inquiry, police are also conducting an investigation into the blaze. The police probe could result in criminal charges laid against individuals or organizations involved in the construction, maintenance or refurbishment of the tower.

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The Trump administration will not fall for the same trap with North Korea as its predecessors did, Pence said, hinting that the much-hyped summit between US and North Korean leaders might be off the cards if Trump feels he is being ‘played.’

“The Clinton administration, even the Bush administration got played in the past. We offered concessions to the North Korean regime in exchange to the promises to end up the nuclear weapons program only to see them break those promises and abandon them,” Pence said in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on Monday.

“It would be a great mistake for Kim Jong-un to think he could play Donald Trump,” Pence said.

Asked if that means Trump might still walk away from the hugely anticipated meeting in Singapore on June 12, Pence did not rule it out.

“There’s no question, but we hope for better. We really hope that Kim Jong-un will seize the opportunity to dismantle his nuclear weapons and do so by peaceful means,” Pence said.

He went to dismiss the notion that Trump will not let the meeting to be derailed to avoid hurting his image. “I don’t think President Trump is thinking about public relations, he’s thinking about peace,” Pence said.

The fate of the Trump-Kim summit has been hanging in the balance in light of the ongoing US-South Korean ‘Max Thunder’ air force drills and a recent remark by US National Security Adviser John Bolton that suggested that North Korea should strike a deal similar to that Libya made in 2003. Eight years after Libya turned over its nuclear weapons, its leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and brutally murdered in NATO-backed unrest.

Faced with outrage from Pyongyang and a possibility of a diplomatic fiasco, Trump then was forced to contradict his own national security adviser, denying that Washington was considering to apply a “Libyan model” to North Korea.

Pence, however, rekindled the issue and the North’s concerns, hinting that the Libyan scenario can be still implemented if the countries fail to reach the deal ensuring nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

“You know, there was some talk of the Libyan model last week. And as the president made clear, this will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn’t make a deal,” Pence said, noting that his stark warning is “more of a fact” than a threat.

Asked if a military option comes back on the table if the negotiations do not bear fruit, Pence said “it never came off.”

With Pyongyang threatening to call off the summit, Trump on Monday discussed the upcoming meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in ahead of their own meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

It comes after last week North Korea reignited the war of words with Washington and Seoul and pulled out of high-level talks with South Korea citing the two allies’ provocative drills at its doorstep.

Tyler Dooley, a 25-year-old cannabis farmer, was not invited to the wedding. Dooley is related to Markle as his mother is the ex-wife of her half-brother, Thomas. He was instead in Windsor to cash in on his link to the new duchess by appearing on television as a pundit.

According to reports in the Sun, Dooley went to the Bacchus nightclub in Kingston with mum Tracy and his older brother TJ, 26. It was then that the Oregon cannabis farmer realized the 4in blade would be discovered, and decided to tell the bouncers at the door that he was carrying the weapon.

“I just bought it because Donald Trump said London was like a warzone,” he reportedly told another partygoer. “I had it for protection.”

A source told the Sun that “they were all obviously a bit tipsy from celebrating the wedding, but not in bad spirits. As Tyler came up to the bouncer, he said, ‘I have a knife on me.’ He pulled it out and handed it to the staff.

“All he was going on about was how he’d brought it from America because Donald Trump had said London wasn’t safe. They acted very calmly and dialed 999 and that’s when some local guys told him he’d get arrested. At that point he ran off.”

Trump made the remarks on May 4, trying to defend America’s lax gun laws. “Yes, that’s right, they don’t have guns, they have knives, and instead there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital,” Trump said at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association. “They say it’s as bad as a military war zone hospital. Knives, knives, knives… London hasn’t been used to that, they’re getting used to it, pretty tough.”

READ MORE: Cheap shot? BBC takes aim at Trump with royal wedding crowd-size tweet

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that it had received a call in relation to the incident. “The suspect had left the scene prior to police being called,” a spokesman said. “Officers attended the club at around 01:55hrs and recovered the knife. There has been no arrest.”

The Dooleys chose the classy option befitting a relative of a royal when confronted by the media about the incident, reportedly choosing to hide “inside a bin cupboard at the Hilton DoubleTree hotel.”

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Representative Lee Zeldin (R-New York) and 16 of his colleagues have authored the 12-page House Resolution, to be released on Tuesday. Zeldin says it details misconduct at the highest levels of the DOJ and the FBI on FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) abuse, how and why the Hillary Clinton email probe ended, and how the Trump/Russia collusion probe began.

Representative Lee Zeldin (R-New York) and 16 of his colleagues have authored the 12-page House Resolution, to be released on Tuesday. Zeldin says it details misconduct at the highest levels of the DOJ and the FBI on FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) abuse, how and why the Hillary Clinton email probe ended, and how the Trump/Russia collusion probe began.

The resolution will call for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the misconduct.

Zeldin’s resolution comes less than a day after the Justice Department announced its request that Inspector General Michael Horowitz expand his review of the FBI’s “Russian collusion” investigation to include possible abuses of the surveillance application process and political motivation. The department has asked the IG to bring charges against any FBI personnel found guilty of criminal conduct during the Trump/Russia investigation.

“The Department has asked the Inspector General to expand the ongoing review of the FISA application process to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election,” said a statement from DOJ spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores.

“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement.

Hours beforehand, Trump took to Twitter to demand such an investigation. The President has previously accused the Obama administration of orchestrating a surveillance campaign against him in the run-up to the 2016 election. Trump claims that the FISA act was used to monitor his campaign, under the pretext of looking out for “Russian” meddling.

Trump also lashed out at former CIA Director John Brennan in a flurry of tweets Monday morning, accusing Brennan of leading an effort to frame him for colluding with Russian actors, and knowingly using the unverified and suspect contents of the infamous ‘Steele Dossier’ to kick-start the FBI’s investigation.

Last week, the New York Times and the Washington Post revealed that a secretive operation, codenamed Crossfire Hurricane, was conducted by the FBI from the summer of 2016.

As part of the operation, an agent was tasked with extracting potentially compromising information from George Papadopoulos, Sam Clovis, Carter Page and other members of the Trump campaign. Papadopoulos later pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Though neither paper has named the spy, the Daily Caller has identified him as veteran CIA agent and academic Stefan Halper.

Responding to Trump’s earlier claims that the Obama administration could have been spying on his campaign, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the president’s claim was “hyperbole” but added that if the US intelligence had been spying on his campaign, it would be a “good thing.”

Two years into the Russiagate probe, and with Special Counsel Robert Mueller still digging, no decisive evidence of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia has been found, and no individuals have been indicted on collusion or obstruction charges.

President Trump has called the FBI’s alleged use of Halper as an informant “bigger than Watergate,” and the entire investigation “the greatest Witch Hunt in American History.”

Progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups are sounding alarm on Monday ahead of the U.S. House’s vote on a financial deregulatory bill dubbed the “Bank Lobbyist Act.”

Declaring her opposition, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) tweeted, “We need to #ProtectConsumers, not big banks.”

The legislation is S. 2155, officially titled the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.” It already passed the Senate in March with the help of 16 Democrats and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), and praise from big banks. The House is expected to vote on it Tuesday.

Summing up the dangers of the legislation, Public Citizen tweeted:

The advocacy group also joined dozens of organizations including the National Consumer Law Center and the NAACP on Friday in sending a letter (pdf) to representatives urging them to “not roll back consumer protections under the Dodd-Frank Act that have helped and continue to help millions of people across the country.” That letter came less than a month after scores of other groups called on representatives to oppose the bill, noting that it also would enable racially discriminatory lending practices by weakening reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

Recognizing such threats, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have been taking to social media to announce their opposition to the bill they say sets the stage for another financial crisis.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), for example, tweeted that the bill would “roll back some of the protections against Wall Street greed that we put in place after the financial crash. I will do everything I can to see this #BankLobbyistAct defeated.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also assured constituents of her opposition, stating: “Our last financial crisis was triggered by Wall Street fraud, and Congress must not put taxpayers at risk of bailing out megabanks yet again, nor allow banks to hide evidence of racial discrimination.”

With the House voting on an unchanged version of the Senate bill, passage in the lower chamber means there will be no extra step before it heads to President Donald Trump, who’s indicated (pdf) his support. With the hourglass then running out before the bill could become law, Indivisible’s Chad Bold urged constituents to take to the phones to pressure representatives to vote no.

The cross-party report titled ‘Behind Closed Doors’ found that classified sites such as Vivastreet and AdultWork were being used by traffickers to control the profiles of sex workers, while also fueling a new wave of short-let brothels allowing women to be trafficked around the country for sex by criminal gangs.

It follows a six-month inquiry into gangs establishing brothels at temporary residential addresses.

Gavin Shuker, Labour MP for Luton South and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on prostitution and the global sex trade, which produced the report, told the Sunday Times: “The scale on which organized sexual exploitation is taking place in this country is a national scandal. It can – and must – be stopped.”

According to the inquiry, one man being investigated for sex trafficking spent over £20,000 ($26,830) placing adverts for women on one commercial website.

The report found that the majority of the women found to have been exploited were from eastern Europe. Figures were provided by Leicestershire Police, who visited 156 brothels, encountering 421 women in the two years to December 2017 – 86 percent of whom were Romanian.

Northumbria Police visited 81 brothels containing 259 women in the two years to April 2018, three quarters of whom were from Romania; while Greater Manchester Police identified 324 potential new brothel addresses since March 2015.

The sites in questions have hit back at the claims. AdultWork said it took every possible precaution to “ensure our advertisers are both who they say they are and are doing so willingly and without intimidation.”

Vivastreet, meanwhile, said it was in contact with the Home Office to develop an industry-wide approach to identify and prevent online trafficking, urging all similar sites to “engage with this process.”

The study found that one website alone has posted more than 18,000 escort profiles in the last three months, while in the last month alone, there were at least 212 ongoing police operations into sex slavery, and last year there were 1,185 referrals for potential victims.

READ MORE:Oops! Sex workers not found: New Zealand removes prostitution from skills list for visa hopefuls

However, authorities fear that these numbers are just a fraction of the actual number.

The National Crime Agency, whose national strategic assessment was published earlier this month, told MPs that adult services websites “represent the most significant enabler of sexual exploitation in the UK.”

The all-parliamentary group has suggested criminalizing paying for sex and decriminalizing selling sex in order to tackle prostitution. Such laws are already in place in Norway, Sweden, France, Iceland, and both Northern and the Republic of Ireland, and is often referred to as the ‘Nordic Model.’

Other measures aimed at curbing the trade include establishing a national register of landlords and issuing guidance for the short-term letting sector on preventing sexual exploitation, as well as removing the criminal offence of soliciting in a street or public space for the purpose of “selling” sex.

READ MORE: ‘Let us dance in peace’: Israeli strippers outraged by new bill equating them to prostitutes

Not everyone is behind the measures proposed by the committee, however, as some argue that imposing the Nordic model does more to stigmatize those working in the sex trade.

The English Collective of Prostitutes, which campaigns for the decriminalization of prostitution and greater safety for sex workers, said the investigation failed to speak to sex workers or reflect “our evidence in their report” because it wanted to skew findings in order to propose the model.

Speaking to Sky News, Cari Mitchell of the ECP said that it’s “not true that most sex workers are dependent on these gangs,” adding that the commotion over pop-up brothels is not only “due to an increase in prostitution in general because of austerity cuts but it’s due to the police raiding and closing regular premises and women being forced to move on.”

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The accusations came as part of Pompeo’s 12-point ultimatum to the Islamic Republic delivered on Monday, in which the newly-appointed official slammed its “financing of terror” and “destabilizing activities.” But does Washington have the moral authority to accuse Tehran of malign meddling, and has its own influence brought more peace? Syria is a good test case.

Who has a better excuse to be in Syria?

Iran has been a long-time ally of Damascus and is in Syria legally at the behest of President Bashar Assad, who – whatever the opinion of his time in office – is the internationally recognized leader of his country. By itself, Tehran’s involvement in Syria is on the right side of international law.