#BREAKING: The body of woman has been found at supermodel Gemma Ward’s home

#BREAKING: The body of woman has been found at supermodel Gemma Ward’s home http://bit.ly/2ftUW5I

Business execs shunned Trump advisory panels BEFORE he disbanded them

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump had pushed many of America’s top corporate leaders to the breaking point with his inability to decisively condemn white supremacists — so they huddled on an 11:30 a.m. conference call Wednesday.

The frustrated members of the White House policy forum — which included executives from General Electric, Wal-Mart, General Motors, Boeing, IBM and JPMorgan Chase — chose to dissolve their advisory panel. The White House was then phoned and Trump agreed that it was the right course of action, according to four people familiar with the talks who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.

It was a shocking setback for Trump. The president had reveled in his ability to draw billionaires and corporate titans into the Oval Office, where he touted deals to invest in factories and add factory jobs. But by equating the white supremacists whose actions led to deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia to a group of counter-protesters, Trump had already inflicted damage on his manufacturing jobs council — which had seven departures by Wednesday morning.

So after learning about this latest loss of confidence by his former strategic and policy forum, Trump tried to put a more favorable spin on the defections.

He fired off a tweet Wednesday saying that he chose to disband his strategy forum and manufacturing jobs panel, “rather than putting pressure” on CEOs to stay. “Thank you all!” the president wrote.

The alliance with the White House forged in hopes of overhauling the tax code, cutting regulations and jumpstarting new infrastructure investments had turned into a risk for corporate leaders. For those CEOs with shared policy aims, Trump’s recent statements were distractions that risked alienating employees and customers in an increasingly diverse United States.

“It is a leader’s role, in business or government, to bring people together, not tear them apart,” said Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, in a statement. Dimon also chairs the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs, that recently launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign in support of Trump’s calls to cut corporate and personal tax rates.

GE’s chairman Jeffrey Immelt called the president’s remarks “deeply troubling.” The “ongoing tone” had made it difficult to foster policies that help economic growth, he said.

Companies were facing pressure on social media to denounce the president and resign from the White House advisory boards, while companies that had already cut ties were facing possible boycotts from Trump supporters. Only by acting together and having those panels disbanded would they be able to avoid harsher scrutiny not just from the public but also from a president with a track record of blasting individual companies that cross him on Twitter.

“The problem was it was quickly becoming a litmus test for companies, CEOs and brands,” said Timothy Calkins, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University. “This move takes away that issue — because it allows everyone to back away without being seen as backing away.”

After Trump’s initial equivocating on Saturday about protests that stemmed from a planned removal of a Confederate statute, executives began to leave his manufacturing and jobs council. First was Merck, then Under Armour and Intel, followed by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the AFL-CIO…

Source: Business execs shunned Trump panels before he disbanded them

Floods/strong winds: #Perth prepares for season’s roughest storm, 60mm of rain is expected

Pakistan village council orders ‘revenge rape’ of girl after her brother was accused of rape

A teenager in Multan is raped by order of a village council after her brother was accused of rape.

Some 20 people from Multan, Pakistan, have been arrested for ordering the rape of a teenage girl, in revenge for a rape her brother allegedly committed.

Police said the families of the two girls are related.

Members of both had joined forces to decide what should be done.

“A jirga [village council] had ordered the rape of a 16-year-old girl as punishment, as her brother had raped a 12-year-old,” police official Allah Baksh told AFP.

He said the village council was approached earlier this month by a man who said his 12-year-old sister had been raped by their cousin.

The council then ordered the complainant to rape the sister of the accused in return – which police say he did.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that the girl was forced to appear before the group and raped in front of them and her parents.

The mothers of the two girls later filed complaints at the local police station.

Medical examinations have confirmed rape in both cases.

Source: Pakistan village council orders ‘revenge rape’ of girl – BBC News

Senate Republican plan to repeal/replace Obamacare fails to get votes needed for approval

Nuclear weapons in Australia: Canberra’s secret quest to build a bomb

LAST week’s successful test of a North Korean missile raised fresh fears Australia is now potentially within range of one of the rogue nation’s nukes.

Yet despite being the world’s third largest producer of uranium — the key ingredient in a nuclear bomb — Australia has no similar weapon to chuck back should Kim Jong-un press the big red button.

But, were it not for the rolling of Australian Prime Minister John Gorton in 1971, in a Liberal Party coup, Australia could easily have developed its own true blue, and massively deadly, nuke.

A military expert has told news.com.au, that top secret plans were so advanced Australia was considered “top of the pile” of countries expected to acquire its own nuclear arsenal…

Source: Nuclear weapons in Australia: Canberra’s secret quest to build a bomb

REPORT #F1 #AzerbaijanGP: Lewis Hamilton snatches pole from Valtteri Bottas in Baku

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a remarkable last-minute lap that put him 0.434s clear of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in second.

Hamilton’s advantage was all about the second and third sectors where he lit up the timing screens as he nailed apex after apex in the tighter sections of the street circuit. The pressure was on after a mistake at Turn 16 on his first attempt left him second to Bottas and it was amplified when the session was suspended to allow marshals to clear Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull, which had hit the barriers at Turn 6 with 3:33 left on the clock. When Q3 restarted Bottas was able to lower his benchmark, but it was no match for Hamilton’s 1:40.593 that smashed the circuit record by over a second and secured the the Mercedes driver’s 66th career pole.

Both Ferraris were a second adrift of Mercedes and it was Kimi Raikkonen, not championship-leader Sebastian Vettel, who joined the Mercedes drivers in the top three. Vettel had missed out on practice time due to a hydraulics issue in FP3, which also required an engine change that put Ferrari on the back foot ahead of qualifying. However, it was very nearly worse for Vettel as he only had a 0.038s margin over Max Verstappen in fifth when the chequered flag fell at the end of the session…

MORE: Lewis Hamilton snatches pole from Valtteri Bottas in Baku

Newest personal jet. It costs $2 million, parachute included

Netflix bows teaser for Bloodline’s third and final season

Tense BBC psycho-drama The Replacement keeps us guessing

The Replacement is BBC1’s gripping psychological thriller starring Morven Christie as highly strung architect Ellen and Vicky McClure as Paula, the temp who is covering her maternity leave and seems intent on stealing Ellen’s whole life.

From the start, when Ellen discovers she is pregnant, she is a brittle, hyper-sensitive woman with a history of psychiatric disorders, a controlling personality both at home and in the office. It takes the smallest thing to set her off.

But, as the old joke goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean there’s no one out to get you. And every move Paula has made seems calculated to destroy Ellen’s career, her reputation and her family.

Is Paula insanely jealous? Is Ellen dangerously deluded? Here, before tomorrow’s climactic episode, we examine the clues and the crises . . .

MORE: Tense BBC psycho-drama The Replacement keeps us guessing | Daily Mail Online

Meghan’s protective arm and her $10,000 bracelet that declares their love to the world

With her hand protectively around Prince Harry’s back, there could be no mistaking the message Meghan Markle was sending out to the world.

The couple were inseparable as they attended the wedding of one of Harry’s closest friends in Jamaica.

And to cement the image, the Suits actress was wearing what appeared to be a £5,000 gold Cartier Love Bracelet, believed to be a romantic token from her Royal lover.

The besotted pair were pictured in Montego Bay, where they are celebrating the marriage of Harry’s Eton pal Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip to heiress Laura Hughes-Young at Hopewell Baptist Church.

Pastor Conrad Thomas, who conducted the ceremony told The Mail on Sunday that Meghan, 35, and Harry, 32, ‘are head over heels in love’.

Source: Meghan Markle shows off Cartier love bracelet in Jamaica | Daily Mail Online