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George Bush Sr calls Trump a 'blowhard' and voted for Clinton

Former US Republican President George Bush Sr has confirmed he voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, labelling Donald Trump a "blowhard".

His son, George W Bush, said he worries that "I will be the last Republican president", even though President Trump is a Republican.

"This guy doesn't know what it means to be president," the younger man said.

The pair's comments come from a new book, titled The Last Republicans.

Preview excerpts from the book were published by US media outlets.

"Blowhard" is a casual term for a person who is boastful or blustering, the Oxford English Dictionary says, and it is usually meant as an insult.

"I don't like him. I don't know much about him, but I know he's a blowhard. And I'm not too excited about him being a leader," said George Bush Sr, who was president between 1989 and 1993.

He also told the author of the book, Mark Updegrove, that he felt Mr Trump ran for the presidency because he had "a certain ego", in remarks reported by US media outlets including CNN and the New York Times.

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George W Bush, adding to his remarks that Mr Trump "doesn't know what it means to be president," said "you can either exploit the anger, incite it, or you can come up with ideas to deal with it."

The younger Bush's comments are in keeping with a speech he gave in late October widely seen as a critique of the new president, though it did not name him.

Voting for Clinton

During the 2016 presidential campaign, neither former president endorsed Donald Trump.

But in the new book, George Bush Sr confirmed that he voted for the rival party's candidate in Hillary Clinton.

George W Bush, however, said he simply left his presidential ballot blank.

The book's title, Mr Updegrove told CNN, came from a remark made by George W Bush during the presidential election.

As the previous Republican president before Barack Obama took office, he told the author: "You know, I fear that I will be the last Republican president."

"And it wasn't just about Hillary Clinton becoming president, as the Republican Party was having a difficult time finding itself. It was because Donald Trump represented everything that the Bushes abhorred," Mr Updegrove told CNN.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders hit back at the former presidents in a statement.

"The American people voted to elect an outsider who is capable of implementing real, positive, and needed change – instead of a lifelong politician beholden to special interests," she said.

"If they were interested in continuing decades of costly mistakes, another establishment politician more concerned with putting politics over people would have won."

Meanwhile, former head of the Democratic National Committee, Donna Brazile, has claimed she seriously considered replacing Hillary Clinton with Vice-President Joe Biden as the party's presidential candidate during the campaign.

In extracts from her own book published by the Washington Post, she said Mrs Clinton's campaign had "the odour of failure" and alleges a huge array of failures and incidents of mismanagement within the party.

Ms Brazile was herself at the centre of a controversy when she fed the Clinton campaign a question in advance of a debate against Bernie Sanders during the race for the Democratic nomination.

Source – bbc.com

AP finds hackers hijacked at least 195 Trump web addresses

Four years ago, well before the furor over allegations Moscow meddled in the 2016 election that put Donald Trump in the White House, at least 195 web addresses belonging to Trump, his family or his business empire were hijacked by hackers possibly operating out of Russia, The Associated Press has learned.

The Trump Organization denied the domain names were ever compromised. But a review of internet records by the AP and cybersecurity experts shows otherwise. And it was not until this past week, after the Trump camp was asked about it by the AP, that the last of the tampered-with addresses were repaired.

After the hack, computer users who visited the Trump-related addresses were unwittingly redirected to servers in St. Petersburg, Russia, that cybersecurity experts said contained malicious software commonly used to steal passwords or hold files for ransom. Whether anyone fell victim to such tactics is unclear.

A further mystery is who the hackers were and why they did it.

The discovery represents a new twist in the Russian hacking story, which up to now has focused mostly on what U.S. intelligence officials say was a campaign by the Kremlin to try to undermine Democrat Hillary Clinton's candidacy and benefit Trump's.

It is not known whether the hackers who tampered with the Trump addresses are the same ones who stole Democratic officials' emails and embarrassed the party in the heat of the campaign last year. Nor is it clear whether the hackers were acting on behalf of the Russian government.

The affected addresses, or domain names, included donaldtrump.org, donaldtrumpexecutiveoffice.com, donaldtrumprealty.com and barrontrump.com. They were compromised in two waves of attacks in August and September 2013, according to the review of internet records.

The attacks took place as Trump was preparing to travel to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant, which was held on Nov. 9, 2013, at a property owned by a wealthy Russian real estate developer.

Many of the addresses were not being used by Trump. Businesses and public figures commonly buy addresses for possible future use or to prevent them from falling into the hands of rivals or enemies. The Trump Organization and its affiliates own at least 3,300 in all.

According to security experts, the hackers hijacked the addresses by penetrating and altering the domain registration records housed at GoDaddy.com, a seller of web addresses.

Accounts at GoDaddy, like at any site that requires a user name and password, are often subject to malicious messages known as phishing attacks, which are designed to trick people to reveal that personal information to hackers.

Computer users who entered or clicked on one of those Trump addresses probably would have had no idea they were redirected to servers in Russia.

Within days after the AP asked the Trump Organization about the tampering, the affected web addresses were all corrected.

The White House referred questions to the Trump Organization. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

GoDaddy spokesman Nick Fuller said the company had no breaches of its system in 2013 and has measures in place to monitor for malicious activity. Fuller would not discuss any customers in particular.

Some cybersecurity experts said there is an outside chance the tampering was a probe — an attempt to test security for an eventual effort to gather information on Trump or his business dealings. But those experts were only guessing.

There was no evidence the hackers ultimately broke into server computers at the Trump Organization or other Trump interests.

"This is beyond me," said Paul Vixie, CEO of the San Mateo, California-based internet security company Farsight Security Inc. "I have simply never seen a benefit accrue from an attack of this kind. I'm at loss, unless it's a demonstration of capabilities."

Vixie said the Trump Organization's apparent failure to detect what was happening probably suggests inadequate cybersecurity at the company.

"There's no way something like this could go by in the Bloomberg empire without this being seen," Vixie said.

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Follow Tami Abdollah on Twitter at https://twitter.com/latams

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Source – abcnews.go.com

'Andi Mack' stars weigh in on the show's historic 'coming out' episode

WATCH 'Andi Mack' stars discuss season two

Last month, "Andi Mack" became the first series on The Disney Channel to depict a character coming out as gay, when Joshua Rush's character, Cyrus, told his friend Buffy, played by Sofia Wylie, that he had feelings for a male classmate.

Buffy, a representative for Disney said last month, "makes for positive role models for kid and adult viewers."

In a new interview, Rush said that he hopes that the moment helps give viewers a sense of self-confidence.

"I hope people, out of Cyrus' storyline, got this feeling like, you can be who you are," he said. "If there's something you're thinking about, you should talk about it."

Disney Channel to feature its 1st coming-out story, on 'Andi Mack'

The episode, the first of season 2, was screened in advance for organizations such as Common Sense Media, GLAAD and PFLAG, and according to Disney, had ratings that surged over the series launch this past April. Actress Lauren Tom, who plays Andi Mack's grandmother in the series, hopes that it helps create opportunities for families to have open conversations with each other.

"It's beautiful when issues that are difficult to talk about in real life, you can see play out on screen in such a wonderful example like, 'Oh, this is how you do it!'" she said. "Sometimes it's hard to imagine something you've never done before."

Her onscreen husband, played by Stoney Westmoreland, agreed.

"We live in a world where hopefully the younger generation, and hopefully the show, can help people be less afraid of being who they are," he said.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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US senator Rand Paul assaulted at home in Kentucky

US Senator Rand Paul has been assaulted at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, police and his office say.

The Republican "was blindsided and the victim of an assault" on Friday, a spokeswoman for him was quoted by US media as saying.

The alleged assailant was arrested and "Senator Paul is fine", Kelsey Cooper said, according to The Hill news website.

Rene Boucher, 59, has been charged with assault, police say.

They said the senator suffered a minor injury. It is unclear why he was assaulted.

• Rand Paul's elusive 'libertarian moment'
• Could Rand Paul inspire the UK government?

Mr Paul, seen as representing the Libertarian wing of the Republicans, ran for the party's presidential nomination in the 2016 election but dropped out after a fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

An ophthalmologist, he represents Kentucky in the US Senate and is the son of former Congressman Ron Paul, who ran for president several times.

Source – bbc.com

Russia struggles with legacy of 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

They played key roles in Russia's 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which triggered a civil war that killed millions, devastated the country and redrew its borders. A century later, their descendants say these historic wounds have not healed.

As Russia approaches the centennial of the uprising, it has struggled to come to terms with the legacy of those who remade the nation. The Kremlin is avoiding any official commemoration of the anniversary on Tuesday, tip-toeing around the event that remains polarizing for many.

Alexis Rodzianko, whose great-grandfather was speaker of the pre-revolutionary Russian parliament and pushed Czar Nicholas II to abdicate but later regretted it, sees the revolution as a calamity that threw the country backward.

"Any evolutionary development would have been better than what happened," Rodzianko, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, told The Associated Press. "The main lesson I certainly would hope is that Russia never tries that again."

Rodzianko said the revolution and the civil war, combined with the devastation of World War II and the overall legacy of the Soviet system, eroded Russia's potential and left its economy a fraction of what it could have been.

A similar view is held by Vyacheslav Nikonov, a Kremlin-connected lawmaker whose grandfather, Vyacheslav Molotov, played an important role in staging the Bolshevik power grab and served as a member of the Communist leadership for four decades.

Nikonov describes the 1917 revolution as "one of the greatest tragedies of Russian history."

The anniversary is a tricky moment for President Vladimir Putin.

While he has been critical of revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, Putin can't denounce the event that gave birth to the Soviet Union and is still revered by many of his supporters. But the KGB veteran disdains any popular uprisings, and he certainly wouldn't praise the revolution, which destroyed the Russian empire.

Rodzianko believes the befuddled attitude to the anniversary reflects a national trauma that still hurts.

"It's a sign that people aren't quite over it. For Russia, it's a wound that is far from healed," he said, adding that his great-grandfather, Mikhail Rodzianko, quickly regretted pushing the czar to abdicate.

The government's low-key treatment of the centennial reflects deep divisions in Russia over the revolution, said Nikonov. A nationwide poll last month by the research company VTsIOM showed opinions over the revolution split almost evenly.

During Soviet times, Nov. 7 was known as Revolution Day and featured grand military parades in Red Square. After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia stopped commemorating it, although the Communists still marked it.

"There is no way you can celebrate the revolution so that the majority of the public would support that," Nikonov said. "I think the best way for the government in that situation is just keep a low profile."

Vyacheslav Molotov remained a steadfast believer in the Communist cause until his 1986 death in Moscow at age 96. Nikonov, his grandson, believes the revolution denied Russia a victory in World War I.

"At the beginning of the year (1917), Russia was one of the great powers with perfect chances of winning the war in a matter of months," he said. "By the end of the year, Russia wasn't a power. It was incapable of anything."

Putin has famously described the Soviet collapse as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century," but he also has deplored the revolution — the ambivalence rooted in his desire to tap the achievements of both the czarist and the Soviet empires as part of restoring Russia's international clout.

"He will not celebrate this event," said Andrei Kolesnikov, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center. "For him, Lenin disrupted a great empire."

Putin has used the symbols of various Russian eras to burnish national glory, restoring the Soviet-style national anthem while keeping the imperial tricolor flag and double-headed eagle coat-of-arms. He has ignored demands to remove Lenin's embalmed body from its Red Square mausoleum for burial. But he also has encouraged the steady growth of power of the Russian Orthodox Church and conservative elements.

Dima Litvinov, great-grandson of Molotov's predecessor as Soviet foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov, said his ancestor "would be horrified by the extreme nationalism and religious intolerance that is going up in Russia."

"I think he would want to challenge and oppose all of these things," he said.

Dima Litvinov says Russia still faces some of the same problems that led to the 1917 revolution.

"Russia, in a way, hasn't moved on," he said. "People feel detached from the ability to affect their fate and the government, the authorities like it that way."

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Associated Press writers David Keyton in Stockholm and Kate de Pury in Moscow contributed.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

American charged with subversion in Zimbabwe goes to court

An American woman charged with subversion in Zimbabwe for allegedly insulting the president on Twitter as a "sick man" made her first court appearance on Saturday as her lawyers disputed the charges that carry up to 20 years in prison.

A lawyer for 25-year-old Martha O'Donovan, Rose Hanzi, told the court that the subversion charge was illegal because police did not inform O'Donovan of it when she was taken from her home in the capital, Harare, on Friday morning.

The court disagreed, and O'Donovan will remain in custody over the weekend. Hanzi said they will approach the High Court for bail on Monday. O'Donovan, who grew up in New Jersey, made no statement in court and showed no emotion as the request was dismissed. She waved to a small crowd of supporters as she was escorted into a prison truck.

O'Donovan is accused of calling 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe a "sick man" in a Twitter post that included a photo illustration of the president with a catheter.

The charge of subversion carries up to 20 years in prison. O'Donovan also is charged with undermining the authority of or insulting the president

O'Donovan has denied the allegations as "baseless and malicious."

It was the first arrest since Mugabe last month appointed a cybersecurity minister, a move criticized by activists as targeting social media. Zimbabwe was shaken last year by the biggest anti-government protests in a decade. Frustration is growing in the once-prosperous southern African nation as the economy collapses and the president, in power since 1980, is already running for next year's elections.

O'Donovan had been working with local social media outlet Magamba TV, which describes itself as producing "satirical comedy sensations." O'Donovan, a graduate of New York University, has called herself a manager for Magamba TV and a "media activist." Earlier this year, she presented a talk at a re:publica digital culture conference on "How Zimbabweans Rebel Online."

O'Donovan's family could not immediately be reached for comment. The State Department said that "we are aware of reports that a U.S. citizen was detained in Zimbabwe. We stand ready to provide appropriate consular assistance for U.S. citizens. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.?"

The group representing O'Donovan, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says it has represented nearly 200 people charged for allegedly insulting Mugabe, the world's oldest head of state, in recent years.

"This arrest marks the start of a sinister new chapter in the Zimbabwean government's clampdown on freedom of speech, and the new battleground is social media," said Amnesty International's deputy regional director, Muleya Mwananyanda. The statement said Zimbabwe authorities tracked tweets to O'Donovan's IP address.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Have you noticed the white lines on your skin which usually appear in abdominal wall, upper arms, over thighs, buttocks and breasts? Well these are called stretch marks! This problem can cover over large areas of your body. There are three main layers of skin: Epidermis which is the outermost layer, Dermis which forms the middle layer and Hypodermic which is the deepest layer. Stretch marks though forms in the Dermis layer when the connective tissue is stretched beyond its flexibility. As the consequence, the collagen becomes week and it’s production is hindered or damaged. There are many culprits of stretch marks, mainly found due to pregnancy, sudden gain or loss in weight, fast growth or stress. Luckily, there are many natural remedies to reduce the appearance of these stretch marks.

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Image credits: shutterstock.com

1. Aspirin

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Using aspirin for skin remedies may sound strange and unbelievable but it has been proved that it is extremely effective. It is one of the best options to adopt in order to reduce the stretch marks on your skin. It has and effective ingredient which has similar properties to salicylic acid which helps exfoliate skin, removes the marks on skin and decrease the size of keloids. In order to apply aspirin on your stretch marks, you need to crush 3 aspirin tablets and make a fine powder, then add some water and make a thick paste. Apply it on the affected area and let it dry for 15-20 minutes and then wash it with water gently. About 10% of people are quite sensitive to aspirin and products that have salicylic acid. These percentages have increased in asthmatics, those who suffer from sinus problems. Non asthmatic patients can also suffer sensitivity to aspirin, people who suffer from ulcers and conditions involving bleeding. Always consult your doctor before using such medications if have developed some allergy towards it.

2. Lemon Juice

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Due to its acidic properties, lemon juice is effective and natural remedy to reduce stretch marks. Along with stretch marks it can also reduce the appearance of acne marks. In order to apply this remedy you need to cut the lemon in two and rub it gently on the area of stretch marks in a circular motion. Leave it on the skin for 10 minutes and wash it with lukewarm water.

3. Olive Oil

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Using olive oil on stretch marks, it is another powerful remedy as it contains a lot of nutrients and antioxidants, which are a great help in the reduction of stretch marks. Warm some extra virgin olive oil and massage on the affected area and leave it for 30 minutes until the oil gets absorbed in the skin.

4. Egg Whites

Image credits: shutterstock.com

Image credits: shutterstock.com

The egg whites contain amino acids and proteins which makes them a great and powerful remedy against stretch marks. Whip two egg whites in a bowl with a fork and apply the egg whites with a make up brush on the affected area. Let it dry fully and then wash it with cold water. At the end finish it while applying olive oil. Repeat this process daily for at least two weeks and you will clearly see the results.

Ocean acidification could threaten Alaska crab populations

Alaska researchers warn that the changing levels of ocean acidity could have grave consequences for red king crab populations in the Bering Sea.

The acidity of waters off Alaska could change dramatically over the next 50 years, leading to possible crab stock failure in about 100 years, said Robert Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Kodiak Laboratory.

A change in pH, the scale of acidity, is occurring as more carbon dioxide is dissolved in the water, Alaska's Energy Desk reported . Researchers expect ocean acidification to occur faster at locations in high latitudes like Alaska.

Through long-term experiments at the lab, Foy has been studying the effects of ocean acidification caused by climate change for about a decade. On tests with red king crabs, Foy said most of the crabs don't make it past early life stages under water conditions similar to what researchers predict for Alaska.

"If the results in the laboratory are accurate, and there's no acclimation, you would see stock failure about 100 years from now," Foy said.

In more acidic water, crabs have a harder time to make and maintain their shells. While some of the crabs survived, indicating there could be the potential to acclimate and adapt, Foy said there might not be enough time for those survival traits to be passed on.

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Information from: KTOO-FM, http://www.ktoo.org

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Event tackles child malnutrition as economic imperative

The only woman to have been the first lady of two countries said Saturday during an international nutrition summit held in Italy that a major challenge in making the eradication of malnutrition a global priority is that the problem "is a hidden pandemic."

"It is not visible in daily life," Graca Machel, a campaigner for the rights of women and girls and the widow of both Mozambican President Samora Machel and South African President Nelson Mandela, said at the meeting in Milan.

Organizers of the summit announced $640 million in new commitments to tackle global malnutrition, bringing pledges over the next decade to $3.4 billion. The meeting brought together national government representatives, foundations and non-governmental agencies.

The funds go toward a range of programs that support the United Nations' goals of zero hunger and malnutrition by 2030 and targets the World Health Organization has set for 2025 — reducing stunted growth in children under the age of 5 by 40 percent and reducing anemia in women of childbearing age by 50 percent.

Still, the sum collected under the summit auspices can be seen as just a down payment on the $3.7 billion a year the World Bank says is needed to make progress toward the global targets.

Malnutrition is an underlying cause of half of child deaths worldwide, according to a report commissioned for the meeting and based on data from UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank. Some 155 million children globally suffer physical and cognitive impairments from being malnourished, the report said,

Still, Machel says progress is being made.

"For many years, nutrition was seen as something which belonged to health. Now, it is being viewed at the center of development" and moving up as a governmental priority, she said.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan concurred.

"Governments are realizing that malnutrition affects the economic bottom line," Annan said in an interview. "They are realizing it pushes up health bills. "

Annan's own foundation is trying to tackle malnutrition in his native Ghana by working with small-scale farmers and promoting orange flesh sweet potatoes as a source of Vitamin A to prevent stunted growth.

"If we tackle malnutrition effectively, we will be improving the general health of the population," he said. "We will be preparing young kids who are able to take advantage of the education."

Machel also has a foundation that focuses on Pan-African advocacy, especially in the areas of child health, nutrition, and the economic empowerment of women. Progress on reducing malnutrition has been made in such countries as Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania and Rwanda, where governments are funding nutrition programs, she said.

Presenting governments with research demonstrating the importance of nutrition to children's mental and physical development, particularly in the first 1,000 days of life, but also during other critical stages such as adolescence and pregnancy, has proven an effective tool, Machel said.

"It is not that governments are insensitive," she said. "Once this is clear to them, they will understand that as much as it is important to have resources for education, if we have not tackled nutrition, particularly in the first 1,000 days, it is a bit late because this child will never reach the full potential."

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Sprint, T-Mobile end merger talks

Wireless carriers Sprint and T-Mobile called off a potential merger, saying the companies couldn't come to an agreement that would benefit customers and shareholders.

The two companies have been dancing around a possible merger for years, and were again in the news in recent weeks with talks of the two companies coming together after all. But in a joint statement Saturday, Sprint and T-Mobile said they are calling off merger negotiations for the foreseeable future.

"The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior long-term value for T-Mobile's shareholders compared to our outstanding stand-alone performance and track record," said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile US, in a prepared statement.

T-Mobile and Sprint are the U.S.' third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, respectively, but they are significantly smaller than AT&T and Verizon, who effectively have a duopoly over U.S. wireless service. The two companies have said they hoped to find a way of merging to make the wireless market more competitive.

Sprint and its owner, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, have long been looking for a deal as the company has struggled to compete on its own. But Washington regulators have frowned on a possible merger. D.C. spiked AT&T's offer to buy T-Mobile in 2011 and signaled in 2014 they would have been against Sprint doing the same thing. But with the new Trump administration, it was thought regulators might be more relaxed about a merger.

Sprint has a lot of debt and has posted a string of annual losses. The company has cut costs and made itself more attractive to customers, BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk says, but it hasn't invested enough in its network and doesn't have enough airwave rights for quality service in rural areas.

T-Mobile, meanwhile, has been on a yearslong streak adding customers. After the government nixed AT&T's attempt to buy it in 2011, T-Mobile led the way in many consumer-friendly changes, such as ditching two-year contracts and bringing back unlimited data plans. Consumers are paying less for cellphone service, thanks to T-Mobile's influence on the industry and the resultant price wars.

"T-Mobile does not need a merger with Sprint to succeed, but Sprint might need one to survive," Piecyk wrote in an October research note.

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Source – abcnews.go.com