Bernie Sanders: The Billionaires May Just Win

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., says he would face an enormous funding disadvantage 

if he were to run for president in 2016.

No one ever mistakes Bernie Sanders for Mr. Sunshine.

The longest-serving independent member in congressional history and self-avowed socialist sees America on the brink of oligarchy – and he's testing whether such a bleak message of alarm warrants the necessity of a presidential campaign.

In a funereal speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday, the junior senator from Vermont warned about a middle class in decline, a "grotesque" wage gap and a government of, by and for the billionaire class. He argued the actual unemployment rate is twice the size of the 5.7 percent plastered prominently in newspapers. He claimed the U.S. boasts the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth. He noted a boiling resentment bubbling through the veins of the country and spanning the full political spectrum, from progressives to tea party conservatives.

"They have every right in the world to be angry," he said.  

Sanders is angry, too – and if he were to run for the White House, likely as a Democrat, he would attempt to channel that populist acrimony into a movement that could become an uncomfortable agitator for Hillary Clinton, the party's indisputable and inherently centrist front-runner.

But the 73-year-old Sanders isn't even sure if it can be done, or if he'll try.

In a candid answer to a question about his political viability Monday, he lamented the "absurd" amount of resources he would need to mount a serious campaign, both in the primary and general elections. 

Even if he raised $100 from 2 million people – for a total of $200 million – he worried it wouldn't be enough.     

"That is 20 percent of what the Koch brothers themselves are prepared to spend. Can you take that on? I don't know the answer. Maybe the game is over. Maybe they have bought the United States government. Maybe there is no turning back. Maybe we've gone over the edge. I don't know. I surely hope not. But we have to look at that reality."

David and Charles Koch – the libertarian billionaires commonly referred to as the Koch brothers – reportedly have earmarked nearly $900 million of their personal fortune for the 2016 campaign, on behalf of one or more Republican candidates.

The average contribution to Sanders' last Senate campaign was $45, he claimed.

"The gut feeling … that I'm going to have to reach is whether there is that willingness to stand up and fight back. And if there's not, I don't want to run a futile campaign," he said.

The tactical admission from Sanders about his own odds must come as a disheartening reality for progressives, who are yearning for a voice in the 2016 process and have spent months attempting todraft Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., into the race. (She has repeatedly and emphatically demurred.)

Even if the left expects Sanders to lose – he trails Clinton by 48 points in the latest New Hampshire primary poll – they still figure he'd fight.

Who else is there to advocate for a $1 trillion stimulus, a $15-an-hour minimum wage and universal health care?

Sanders said if he did run against Clinton, he'd wage a clean campaign that was laser-focused on issues of the middle class, climate change, trade policy, Wall Street and the wisdom of war. 

On Monday, he called Clinton an intelligent, serious political figure who cares about issues as deeply as he does. 

"It is not my style to trash people. It is not my style to run ugly, negative ads. Never have. Never will," he said.

But as he inches toward decision time – he has said he'd make up his mind in March – Sanders is clearly burdened by the system he's spent an entire career railing against.  

"I am not Mr. Bloomberg of New York and I don't have billions of dollars," he said toward the end of his talk, referring to the former New York City mayor.

But if Sanders – the most ideologically pure liberal in the Senate – determines a campaign for the cause is too arduous, too futile and just not worth it, he'll only hand liberals more reason to be angry.

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Paddington deaths: Rapist Ashraf Amrani "murdered parents"

Police have been standing guard outside the property on Westbourne Park Road, Paddington

A convicted rapist who was recently released from prison is believed to have killed his parents in a double murder in west London.

Ashraf Amrani, 30, was found dead on the roof of a property on Westbourne Park Road, Paddington, on Friday.

When police went to inform his family, the bodies of his parents Hassan and Zohra Amrani were found at their home in Landor House on the same street.

A court official revealed Ashraf Amrani had been jailed for rape in 2010.

At Southwark Crown Court he was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison.

The bodies of a man and a woman were found on Saturday afternoon

Days before his body was discovered, Amrani had been arrested on suspicion of affray, police said.

His death is being treated as unexplained.

His parents' deaths are being investigated as a double murder, although police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the killings, Scotland Yard confirmed.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said police had been called to Landor House on Thursday, and a man, believed to be the couple's son, had tried to block them from entering.

She said: "The last time I saw the wife was on Thursday and she didn't look happy. She looked a bit fed up and sad.

"She said her husband had called her and said there was some trouble in the house.

"On that same night when I went home my brother told me that police had been round. He got the impression he [the son] was in there and not letting them in.

"I'm just so shocked."

Scotland Yard said the case had been reported to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Post-mortem examinations are due to take place later.

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Bali Nine: Indonesia has death penalty double standard, says brother of spared maid

Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad is on death row for killing her employer in Saudi Arabia. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

‘Indonesia is begging for its citizens to escape the death penalty, meanwhile Indonesia’s firing squad executes inmates, it’s not fair,’ says brother of domestic worker saved from death penalty in Saudi Arabia

The family of an Indonesian domestic worker on death row in Saudi Arabia has criticised the perceived hypocrisy of the Indonesian government, which has paid “blood money” to save her but which refuses to countenance stopping the execution of two Australians in Bali.

In the case of Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad, 41 – an Indonesian domestic worker sentenced to death by beheading for robbing and murdering her employer’s wife – the Indonesian government has been lobbying hard for her life to be spared.

Last year the government, together with contributions from business, paid 7m riyal (US$1.9m) in legally recognised “blood money” requested by the victim’s family. According to sharia law in the kingdom, the family of a victim can accept this instead of an execution.

The Indonesian government also lodged a formal appeal to Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah to pardon Ahmad.

Paeri al-Feri, 44, said he was grateful the government was working so hard to save his sister, but considered the government’s actions a double standard.

“On the one hand, Indonesia is begging for its citizens to escape the death penalty, meanwhile Indonesia’s firing squad executes inmates, it’s not fair,” said al-Feri. “How can you plead for a lighter sentence or even freedom from other countries if the death penalty still exists in Indonesia?”

As Indonesia prepares to execute drug traffickers Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, has vowed to fight for 229 Indonesian nationals on death row abroad.

The ministry has pledged that Indonesian nationals facing capital punishment overseas will be provided with full legal and consular assistance.

Al-Feri, who runs a recycling service in Semarang, Central Java, said: “Other countries might think: ‘Look at Indonesia still executing people while they ask for freedom for their own citizens.’ ”

“I think there should be a better solution.”

The Indonesian foreign ministry has defended its position, describing the use of capital punishment as within the bounds of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“The way we see [it] is that the issue of capital punishment is still part of our law and this is still in line with the context of international law … where capital punishment can be used in the more serious of crimes,” a foreign ministry spokesperson, Armantha Nasir, told Guardian Australia.

Consecutive legal attempts to have the death penalty for Chan and Sukumaran – who were charged for their part in a plot to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia – commuted to life have failed.

In an apparent effort to appear tough on what he has described as a “drug emergency”, the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has ignored calls from the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, the Australian government and human rights activists to cancel the executions.

Widodo has repeatedly stated there will be no clemency granted to drug offenders. 

In an 11th-hour plea, the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, refused to rule out withdrawing the Indonesian ambassador to express Australia’s anger over the planned executions.

After a decade in Bali’s Kerobokan prison, official preparations are underway to transfer the two Australians to Nusakambangan island where they will be executed by firing squad alongside other criminals, including foreigners.

The date of the executions is yet to be determined but the attorney general’s office has asked they be conducted “as soon as possible”.

Under Indonesian law, Chan and Sukumaran will be given 72 hours’ notice before they are killed.

Al-Feri only recently learned of the death penalty facing the two Australians, but empathised immediately with their families.

“It breaks your heart, crying inside, constantly and desperately figuring out how to help her out. And the two [Australians] must have families, and their families must feel the same,” he said. “We should ask ourselves if we have a family member facing the death penalty, how would you feel? It’s hard.”

Ahmad left her small home town in Central Java for Saudi Arabia 12 years ago to take a job that would allow her to send more money back home. She was arrested just three months after arriving.

Ahmad has claimed she killed her employer’s wife in self-defence after sustained physical and emotional abuse.

In February last year, just months before the blood money was submitted, the Indonesian government paid for Ahmad’s only child, daughter Nur Afriana, 21, and al-Feri and his wife to travel to Saudi Arabia.

For 10 days they stayed at the embassy and were able to visit Ahmad in prison once.

“We hadn’t seen her for a long time, we cried, we talked about our families, friends, what’s going on at home,” recalled her brother. “She told Nur to take care of herself, she’s a big girl now.”

Since that visit the only contact Afriana has with her mother is via long-distance phone calls.

“She usually says to me to be brave and be patient. She says that I should not miss five times daily [Islamic] prayers and to pray for her release,” Afriana told Guardian Australia.

Afriana hoped her mother, who has not been home since she was nine years old, would one day be released from prison.

“Why is life in prison not enough?” asks Afriana. “Don’t the people who execute inmates also commit sin?”

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic tattooed names of 50 starving people on his body to show support

Ibrahimovic removed his shirt to reveal the 50 names after scoring after just 72 seconds of the match

Ibrahimovic took off his shirt in celebration after scoring on Saturday.He had 50 names tattooed to his upper body.Each represents a hungry person somewhere in the world being helped by the United Nations World Food Programme.They also symbolise some of the most impoverished parts of the globe.Sweden striker scored after just 72 seconds of match with Caen.But PSG had to settle for 2-2 draw amid injury crisis 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed why he stripped off his shirt after scoring just two minutes into Paris Saint-Germain's draw with Caen on Saturday afternoon.

The Sweden striker was showing his support for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) by tattooing the names of 50 hungry people helped by the charity onto his body.

The WFP has helped 805 million hungry people all around the world and the 50 chosen by Ibrahimovic symbolically represented some of the worst humanitarian crises ongoing today.

The Sweden striker urged those watching the match not to forget the plight of the world's 805m starving people

'Wherever I go people recognize me, call my name, cheer for me,' said the PSG striker, who found the net after just 72 seconds in the Ligue 1 encounter at the Parc des Princes.

'But there are names no one cares to remember. That no one cheers for: the 805m people suffering from hunger in the world today.

'I have the supporters all over the world. From now on I want this support to go to the people who suffer from hunger, they are the real champions.

'So whenever you hear my name, you will think of their names.'

Ibrahimovic had the temporary tattoos - of names such as Carmen, Mariko, Antoine, Lida, Rahma and Yaae - applied to his torso ahead of the Caen match.

Ibrahimovic turns to celebrate after seeing his shot hit the back of the net in only the second minute

When he scored in the second minute - extending a leg to direct Serge Aurier's cross into the bottom corner - he removed his shirt in the middle of the field to show off the tapestry of tattoos.

Ibrahimovic received a yellow card for his troubles, as the rules dictate, but wasn't overly concerned having got his message across to the world.

'Each one of the 805m people suffering from hunger in the world has a name, a voice, a story to share,' said WFP director for France Marina Catena.

'Zlatan accepted the challenge and wished to carry their stories on his own skin so that the world does not forget them.'

His goal represented the perfect start to the afternoon for the Parisian side but it ended in a nightmare for Laurent Blanc and his team.

The 50 names were applied as temporary tattoos around Ibrahimovic's existing tattoos

Although Ezequiel Lavezzi doubled their lead shortly before half-time, they suffered four injuries and ended the match with just nine-men after two players went off after the final substitution had been made.

Yohan Cabaye, Marquinhos, Serge Aurier and Lucas Moura are definitely out of PSG's Champions League last 16, first leg tie with Chelsea on Tuesday night, while Blaise Matuidi is rated 50-50.

And, to add insult to injury, Caen fought back in the final few minutes to claim a 2-2 draw and stop PSG going top of the table.

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Celebrity culture could haunt Real Madrid yet again

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his birthday just hours after losing to Atletico Madrid. 

Should he have postponed?

Madrid - The timing could not have been worse. Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 30th birthday with an extravagant party along with coaches, staff and players on Saturday just hours after Real Madrid's humiliating derby defeat at Atletico Madrid.

The event was pre-planned, with friends of the three-time Ballon d'Or winner traveling from overseas to join him in the Spanish capital. But after a woeful performance both collectively and individually against Atleti in the 4-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderon, the party proved a PR disaster for both Madrid and Ronaldo.

Images were leaked to the press and on social media of Cristiano and Colombian singer Kevin Roldan, who also published pictures on Twitter, and the party was reminiscent of the 2003 celebration of Brazilian striker Ronaldo which also caused controversy for Real.

Back then, Claude Makelele and coach Vicente del Bosque had just left the club and celebrity culture was spinning out of control in the first Florentino Perez project. Ronaldo's 27th birthday bash at his home in La Moraleja was attended by most of Madrid's squad at the time including David Beckham, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo and even Zinedine Zidane, along with a string of models, while the picture of a tearful Vania Millan (a former Miss Spain and now wife of Sergio Ramos' brother Rene) found its way into the media just like the images of Cristiano singing on Saturday.

The departure of Makelele and Del Bosque meant indiscipline had set in. And although Real started the season strongly, it was the beginning of the end for the first Galactico project as Madrid ended up without a trophy that year and Perez ultimately left the club following a barren spell which ran until 2006.

"It wasn't only due to Makelele leaving," Zidane told Goal. "There were several, one per line: [Fernando] Hierro, Makelele, [Fernando] Morientes and Del Bosque as well. Four at the same time."

"Makelele leaving was one of the reasons, but it wasn't only him. And when you change a winning team, it's never good. You have to leave a winning team alone, let it confirm itself. What happened at the time is that four or five players and the coach left. It went wrong after that."

Discipline was lost, the balance was upset, the party was over. And just over a decade later, another Ronaldo fiesta threatens to destabilize a successful side once again.

Madrid ended 2014 with a record 22 straight victories in all competitions and Cristiano celebrated his third Ballon d'Or win in January, but double defeat to Atletico in Copa and Liga and a loss at Valencia straight after the winter break have seen Real ruffled in 2015. Fans were left frustrated but, while they reflected on a painful derby day, the Portuguese partied on Saturday night.

A banner reading "your laughter, our shame" was unfurled by two supporters outside the club's training ground earlier this week, while another fan shouted "more balls and less parties" to the former Manchester United man as he drove out of Wednesday's session.

Ronaldo's Birthday party

Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes and former Madrid winger Figo both defended the forward this week. Meanwhile, coach Carlo Ancelotti stressed in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's game against Deportivo that he had no problem with Ronaldo's party.

"The party is not an issue for me. I have never judged the private lives of players and will not begin now," he told the media.

"I have no doubts about the professionalism of the players. They can do what they want out of work as long as it doesn't affect their professional work."

However, the party set a tone that is far removed from the image of discipline and professionalism needed at one of the world's greatest clubs and Ancelotti will now need to manage the situation behind closed doors or face a Galactico meltdown similar to the one which rocked the team in 2003.

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Samuel L. Jackson Says Marvel Has Figured Out Something DC Hasn't With Movies

Kingsman: The Secret Service is in theaters now. Jackson's next Marvel movie will be 

Avengers: Age of Ultron in May.

Samuel L. Jackson, looking to get some ink for his appearance in the new comic book adaptation Kingsman: The Secret Service, has taken a fairly safe route: Pitting Marvel and DC against one another and then sitting back to listen to the collective shrieking of fans online.

During an interview with MTV, he said, "The Marvel Universe is huge. There's I don't know how many thousands of characters there are in the Marvel Universe, that they have access to use," he said. "I think Marvel has figured out a way to make those movies accessible to the public that DC hasn't. I don't know what that is. I don't know why you can't get Batman and Superman, people as juiced up to be a part of that."

You can check out the full interview below.

Get More: Movie Trailers, Celebrity News

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Rio carnival downsizing and another cancelled as Brazil feels the pinch

There will be no parade in Brazil's capital city this year

Brazil is tightening its purse strings ahead of the 2016 Olympics and carnivals across the country are downsizing or have been cancelled.

It seems that not even Rio’s sacred tradition of carnival can escape the clutches of the financial crisis this year. The city’s flagship annual event is a dazzling spectacle that suspends reality for two days from sundown to sunrise in a blur of thundering music and sublime choreography. This year, however, with recession looming in Brazil, austerity and financial scandal look like being something of a running theme.

The country’s most powerful broadcaster, TV Globo, had already pulled out of its regular transmission of the final Parade of Champions when it announced further cuts to its normal carnival schedule. Without the usually clamorous media partners on board, broadcasting the full two days of parading and the grand finale has been deemed financially unviable. As a result, Globo won’t be showing the first schools’ parades on the 15 and 16 February, one of whom is the 2003 and 2007 winner São Clemente.

With the state governor juggling Olympic preparations with the unedifying combination of a looming recession, severe water shortages and the knock-on effects of state oil company Petrobras’ corruption scandal, carnival has been forced down the list of priorities. While Petrobras has assured the top twelve samba schools that they will receive the same R$1 million (£250,000) funding as last year, the state has yet to confirm whether their own grants will indeed be paid out.

Elsewhere in Brazil, it isn’t simply a question of finances that looks like dampening the party. In the states of São Paulo and neighbouring Minas Gerais, the drought that has caused severe water shortages and power outages across forced local councils to cancel official carnival events in twenty cities. Several rounds of council meetings have resisted plans to cancel São Paulo’s official parade, one of the biggest in the country, but Brasilia didn’t escape the cutbacks - there will be no parade in Brazil’s capital city this year.

Financial woes are even casting a shadow over the famously democratic free-for-all that is Rio’s street carnival. In the last decade, the weeks of events either side of the main parade have become just as big a part of the celebrations. This year, however, several of the long-running blocos, the musical collectives the biggest of which can attract more than 100,000 people at a time, have been forced to cancel their events. Citing a lack of support from sponsors unwilling to do more than provide the basic infrastructure, the popular, 50,000-strong Bloco Cru is among those taking a year out, while others have been forced to downsize.

The cost of putting on such a bloco is estimated at around £5,000, and Lu Baratz, one of the organisers of Bloco Cru, can no longer support the show with her own money. “We didn’t achieve sufficient sponsorship to guarantee the party’s infrastructure,” she told the O Globo newspaper. “It is important that the sponsors and council do more than pay for chemical toilets, they need to support the local spirit of carnival.”

Cometh the hour, however, it is precisely these battles and stories that make the party tick and provide carnival with its annual narrative. In the wake of the Petrobras scandal, shops have been selling out of masks featuring the ex-chief executive Maria das Graças Foster, while one of her former directors, Nestor Cerveró, has threatened legal action against any company making cardboard likenesses of his face destined for the partying hoards.

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Apple bans 'bonded servitude' for factory workers

Apple has banned the practice of bonded labour - where new recruits are charged a fee - from its factories.

In its latest audit of factory conditions, the iPhone maker said that any such fee must be paid by its supplier and not the employee.

Apple began the audits following criticism of the working conditions in some of its factories.

It comes as a report from labour rights group China Labor Watch questioned the low wages earned by some Apple workers.

Working conditions at factories such as Foxconn are now closely monitored by Apple

Its 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress report said it had told its suppliers in October that it was outlawing bonded servitude from the beginning of this year.

"That fee needs to be paid by the supplier, and Apple ultimately bears that fee when we pay the supplier, and we're OK doing that," said Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice-president of operations.

Bonded servitude or labour sees new workers charged a fee - sometimes equivalent to a month's salary or more - for being introduced to a factory, typically by third-party recruiters.

It means many employees will begin work in debt. Some have their passports confiscated.

A BBC Panorama programme investigation last year highlighted the poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories.

Undercover filming at one of Apple's factories - Pegatron - showed new recruits handing over ID cards, in breach of Apple's standards.

Apple, which declined to be interviewed for the programme, denied the allegations of poor working conditions and long hours and said it was deeply offended by the allegations.

On the same day that Apple published its audit, labour rights group China Labor Watch (CLW) released a report saying the company was unable to effectively monitor standards in some of its supply chain, allowing companies such as Pegatron to keep base wages below local living expenses.

CLW based its findings on 96 pay stubs submitted by an unknown number of employees. It suggested that low pay compelled workers to put in more hours.

Conditions in Chinese factories were first highlighted in 2010 after 14 workers killed themselves at a factory run by Apple's biggest supplier, Foxconn.

Long hours, harsh working conditions and low wages were said to be partly to blame.

In February 2012 the hardware giant announced that its factories would be inspected by the Fair Labour Association (FLA).

This is its ninth annual audit, and Apple was keen to show off the progress it has made in improving conditions.

It said that it had tracked more than 1.1 million workers on average per week in 2014 and that suppliers had achieved 92% compliance with its 60-hour maximum working week.

"We consistently report suppliers' violations of our standards," Mr Williams wrote in Apple's report. "People sometimes point to the discovery of problems as evidence that our process isn't working. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Apple has previously cracked down on excessive recruitment fees that foreign contract workers pay to labour brokers. It ruled that anything more than one month's wages had to be repaid.

Last year suppliers repaid $3.96m (£2.57m) in excess fees to more than 4,500 foreign contractors, according to the audit.

It also said that it continued to take steps to stop the use of minerals from mines in conflict regions such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company said it had more than doubled the number of verified conflict-free smelts to 135 last year. Another 64 were in the process of being verified.

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Wimbledon: LTA changes wildcard policy for British players

A world ranking inside the top 250 will no longer be enough to earn British players a wildcard at Wimbledon.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) previously advised the All England Club of the wildcard entries, with a policy to select top-250 players.

But an LTA spokesperson says it now plans to nominate those who "have the best chance of performing well".

Of the eight players given wildcards in the 2014 singles main draw, only Naomi Broady won her first-round match.

LTA chief executive Michael Downey and director of player development Bob Brett, both of whom joined the governing body in the past two years, were known not to be fans of the previous criteria.

"This revised approach will enable the LTA to give consideration to attributes in addition to rankings," an LTA spokesperson added.

"These additional attributes will include attitude, professionalism, game development and recent form."

Improved prize money at the Grand Slams has made wildcards increasingly valuable, with last year's first-round losers taking home £27,000.

The new policy is likely to favour younger players, while those who have received a number of wildcards in the past will have to do a lot to prove they deserve one.

British singles wildcard entries at Wimbledon 2014 and current world rankings

Men	Women
James Ward - 106	Naomi Broady - 177
Kyle Edmund - 144	Tara Moore - 358
Daniel Cox - 245	Samantha Murray - 446
Daniel Smethurst - 296
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Lafazanis: “The Greek government fully supports the TAP pipeline”

Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister Mr. Panagiotis Lafazanis during his visit to Azerbaijan participated in the first meeting of the advisory council for the Southern Gas Corridor.

Mr. Lafazanis stressed the full support of the Greek Government on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and its readiness to work for its earliest possible construction.

The Greek Minister was welcomed at the Presidential Palace by the President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, with whom he discussed the broader context of cooperation between the two countries, expressed the mutual belief of good relations between them and the need for further development which will be of particular importance not only for both countries but for the wider region as well.

Mr. Lafazanis also met with European Commission’s Vice President Maros Sefcovic, in charge of Energy Union, with whom he discussed southeast European energy matters, including the TAP project.

Greece seeking compensatory measures - meetings arranged with senior officials in Azerbaijan

The Minister of Productive Reconstruction met with Bulgarian Energy Minister Mrs.Temenuzhka Petkova, reaffirming the support of the two countries for a fast completion of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline and stressed the need to further examine the project’s progress in the near future.

Mr. Lafazanis also held a meeting with Energy Minister of Azerbaijan Mr. Natiq Aliyev, stressing the need for compensatory measures accruing from the construction of the TAP pipeline for Greece, which would be fair for the country and beneficial for the pipeline and all the involved sides. This issue was also raised during the Minister’s meeting with the TAP CEO Mr. Ian Bradshaw. The request of the Greek side was carefully considered by both its interlocutors.

Lastly, the minister met with BP regional president for Turkey-Azerbaijan-Georgia, Mr. Gordon Birrell. Mr. Lafazanis presented Mr. Birrell with the request of the Greek side for compensatory measures from the TAP pipeline. Mr. Birrell, said he is willing to discuss these issues offsets and specific Greek proposals toward this direction.

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Colombia: FARC bans recruitment of child soldiers

Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, vowed on Thursday to immediately and indefinitely ban the recruitment of child soldiers.

Until now, the FARC have formally only allowed the incorporation of recruits who are 15 and older. However, international humanitarian law dictates that no minor can take part in military activity.

To comply with international humanitarian law, the FARC announced to “no longer incorporate, from today on, minors of 17 [and younger] in the guerrilla ranks.”

The presumably ongoing recruitment of minors was a thorn in the flesh of human rights organizations and critics of the peace talks, who have been demanding the FARC to expand an earlier imposed unilateral ceasefire with abandoning the use of child soldiers and land mines.

In its announcement, the guerrillas called on the armed forces to also stop the use of children for intelligence work, and to end the illegal forced recruitment of young men in street raids.

The FARC has been engaged in peace talks with the government since November 2012 and are currently negotiating the last two of five points. If successful, a peace deal would end 50 years of violence between the FARC, the state and state-aligned paramilitary groups that formally disbanded between 2003 and 2006.

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Will Smith: 'After Earth' Was the "Most Painful Failure in My Career"

Over the span of Will Smith's 25-year career, there's one film in particular that has taught the actor a "valuable lesson."

In a recent interview with Esquire, Smith revealed that when 2013's sci-fi film After Earth, in which he starred alongside son Jaden Smith, bombed at the box office (grossing a total of $60.5 million domestically), he realized he had been seeking success in all of the wrong places.

"That was the most painful failure in my career. Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earthbecause my son was involved in After Earth and I led him into it. That was excruciating," Smith admitted. "What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of After Earth. I stopped working for a year and a half. I had to dive into why it was so important for me to have number-one movies. And I never would have looked at myself in that way."

But upon hearing the news that the father-son project he'd worked so hard for had unexpectedly tanked, Smith only had about half an hour to let it all sink in.

"I get the box-office numbers on Monday and I was devastated for about twenty-four minutes, and then my phone rang and I found out my father had cancer. That put it in perspective —viciously," he recalled.

As a young teen, it was a failed relationship that sparked the actor's desire to be the best, which later translated to box-office domination. "I was a guy who, when I was fifteen my girlfriend cheated on me, and I decided that if I was number one, no woman would ever cheat on me," he said. "All I have to do is make sure that no one’s ever better than me and I’ll have the love that my heart yearns for."

Smith added, "That Monday [following the opening weekend of After Earth] started the new phase of my life, a new concept: Only love is going to fill that hole. You can’t win enough, you can’t have enough money, you can’t succeed enough. There is not enough. The only thing that will ever satiate that existential thirst is love. And I just remember that day I made the shift from wanting to be a winner to wanting to have the most powerful, deep, and beautiful relationships I could possibly have."

Smith will appear next opposite Margot Robbie in Focus, Warner Bros.' comedy-crime film set for a Feb. 27 release.

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