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king jong- nam killed the half brother of king- jong un

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A Dallas teacher was arrested after he reportedly threatened to kill the staff if he didn’t get a raise, police said.

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Crocheted octopi comfort preemies in hospital NICU

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preemie babies comforted by crocheted octopi in hospital  - cnn

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Why preemies are cuddling crocheted octopi

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Inside the neonatal intensive care unit at one United Kingdom hospital, premature babies have an unlikely companion -- colorful, crocheted octopi.

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Officer under fire after body slamming girl - CNN Video

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A North Carolina high school is stunned after an 8-second cell phone video showed a school resource officer hoisting a girl into the air and body slamming her onto the floor. CNN's Boris Sanchez reports.

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Shooting spree shakes up South Kansas City neighborhood

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Caitlyn Jenner slams Trump over transgender bathroom stance

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Caitlyn Jenner is not happy with President Donald Trump for his administration's reversal of President Barack Obama's directive on transgender access to public school bathrooms.

Jenner addressed Trump in a video posted Thursday night on Twitter saying, "From one Republican to another, this is a disaster."

The Trump White House has ended a directive that told public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms of their chosen gender.
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Jenner, who came out as a transgender woman in 2015, is particularly critical of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying, "Apparently even becoming attorney general isn't enough to cure some people of their insecurities."

Addressing Trump, the former Olympic champion says: "You made a promise to protect the LGBTQ community. Call me."

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president would be happy to meet with singer Jackie Evancho and her sister, Juliet, who is transgender. Evancho sang the National Anthem at Trump's inauguration, where many other performers declined to participate.
BRADLEY WHITFORD: IVANKA TRUMP IS 'ENABLING HATRED'
"Yeah, I think the president would be welcome to meet with her," Spicer said during a press conference Thursday.

Evancho tweeted Wednesday she was "disappointed" in Trump and asked him to meet with her and her sister to discuss transgender issues.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Caitlyn Jenner slams Trump over transgender bathroom stance; President could meet with Jackie Evancho

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Caitlyn Jenner is not happy with President Donald Trump for his administration's reversal of President Barack Obama's directive on transgender access to public school bathrooms. Jenner addressed Trump in a video posted Thursday night on Twitter saying, "From one Republican to another, this is a disaster."

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utah teen who was reported kidnapped. was not kiddnapped

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Canadians hold a dragon boat race on ice

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Video: Canadians hold dragon boat race on ice

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No water? No problem. Canadians hold an "Ice Dragon Boat Race" on frozen water.

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Near the Yana river basin, in a vast area of permafrost, there is a dramatic tadpole-shaped hole in the ground: the Batagaika crater.

The crater is also known as a "megaslump" and it is the largest of its kind: almost 0.6 miles (1km) long and 282ft (86m) deep. But these figures will soon change, because it is growing quickly.

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Near the Yana river basin, in a vast area of permafrost, there is a dramatic tadpole-shaped hole in the ground: the Batagaika crater.

The crater is also known as a "megaslump" and it is the largest of its kind: almost 0.6 miles (1km) long and 282ft (86m) deep. But these figures will soon change, because it is growing quickly.

Locals in the area avoid it, saying it is a "doorway to the underworld". But for scientists, the site is of great interest.

Looking at the layers exposed by the slump can give indications of how our world once looked - of past climates. At the same time, the acceleration of the growth gives an immediate insight into the impact of climate change on the increasingly fragile permafrost.

There are two types of permafrost. One is from glacier ice, left over from the last Ice Age and now buried underground. The other type, the one present around the Batagaika crater, is ice that has formed in the ground itself. Often, this ice is trapped beneath a layer of sediment and has been frozen for at least two years.

The Batagaika crater opens up a vast area of previously buried permafrost, some of which first formed many thousands of years ago.

During the last 200,000 years, Earth's climate has alternated repeatedly

The trigger that led to the crater started in the 1960s. Rapid deforestation meant that the ground was no longer shaded by trees in the warmer summer months. This incoming sunlight then slowly warmed the ground. This was made worse by the loss of cold "sweat" from trees as they transpire, which would have kept the ground cool.

"This combination of less shading and less vapid transpiration led to warming of the ground surface," says Julian Murton of the University of Sussex in the UK.

As the ground surface warmed up, it caused the layer of soil right above the permafrost to warm. This caused the permafrost itself to thaw. Once this process started and the ice was exposed to warmer temperatures, melting escalated.

For these reasons, scientists are actively monitoring the crater. One study, published in the journal Quaternary Research in February 2017, found that analysing the layers now exposed could reveal 200,000 years of climatic history.

During the last 200,000 years, Earth's climate has alternated repeatedly between relatively warm "interglacial" periods and chilly "glacial" periods in which ice sheets expanded.

The Batagaika sediment layers provide a "continuous record of geological history, which is fairly unusual," he says. "That should allow us to interpret the climate and environmental history there."

The climatic history of a huge part of Northern Siberia is little understood

However, for now the dates are not certain. "We are still working on the chronology," says Murton.

Next, he needs to gather and analyse more sediments. Ideally, these will be collected using a drill in order to get a "continuous sediment series", which will help give more accurate dates. The permafrost record could then be compared with data from other temperature records, such as ice-cores from ice sheets.

"Ultimately, we're trying to see if climate change during the last Ice Age [in Siberia] was characterised by a lot of variability: warming and cooling, warming and cooling as occurred in the North Atlantic region," says Murton.

This is important, because the climatic history of a huge part of northern Siberia is little understood. By reconstructing environmental changes that happened in the past, scientists could help forecast similar changes.

For example, 125,000 years ago, the climate was going through an interglacial period, during which it was several degrees warmer than it is now. "If we can understand what the ecosystem was like then - that might give us some inkling into how the environment may change now if the climate is warming," says Murton.

We now know that this permafrost is changing fast

If the permafrost responds to warming in a similar way as it did after the last Ice Age, we can expect to see many more slumps, big basins and lakes forming.

New land may even start to appear, as thawed ice exposes buried land some 33-66ft (10-20m) below the original surface. "You have this very ice-rich permafrost that starts to thaw from the top downwards as the ice drains and melts, and so we get a new landscape develop," says Murton.

These impacts may not be all that far off. We now know that this permafrost is changing fast.

Frank Günther of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam, Germany, and colleagues have been monitoring the site for the last decade, using satellite images to measure the rate of change.

Continuous growth means that the crater gets deeper and deeper every year

During their study, the head wall of the crater has grown by an average of 33ft (10m) per year. In warmer years, the changes have been even greater, sometimes up to 98ft (30m) per year. Günther announced these findings at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2016.

He also has reason to believe that the side wall of the growing crater will reach a neighbouring eroding valley in the coming summer months. This in turn will "very likely" be a new trigger for more growth.

"On average over many years, we have seen that there's not so much acceleration or deceleration of these rates, it's continuously growing," says Günther. "And continuous growth means that the crater gets deeper and deeper every year."

This has other worrying consequences.

Many of the ice deposits that are now being exposed formed during the last Ice Age. This ground ice contains a lot of organic matter, including plenty of carbon that has been locked away for thousands of years.

"Global estimations of carbon stored in permafrost is [the] same amount as what's in the atmosphere," says Günther.

There is no indication that the erosion of this crater will slow down any time soon

As more permafrost thaws, more and more carbon is exposed to microbes. The microbes consume the carbon, producing methane and carbon dioxide as waste products. These greenhouse gases are then released into the atmosphere, accelerating warming further.

"This is what we call positive feedback," says Günther. "Warming accelerates warming, and these features may develop in other places. It's not only a threat to infrastructure. Nobody can stop this development. There's no engineering solution to stop these craters developing."

There is no indication that the erosion of this crater will slow down any time soon, as it continues to grow year on year.

That makes the future of Siberia's permafrost look very wobbly indeed.
Melissa Hogenboom is BBC Earth's feature writer. She is If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "If You Only Read 6 Things This Week". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. @melissasuzanneh on Twitter.

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In Siberia there is a huge crater and it is getting bigger

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Near the Yana river basin, in a vast area of permafrost, there is a dramatic tadpole-shaped hole in the ground: the Batagaika crater. The crater is also known as a "megaslump" and it is the largest of its kind: almost 0.6 miles (1km) long and 282ft (86m) deep.

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When a couple from Dallas learned they were expecting, they knew they wanted to throw a big, festive gender reveal party for their closest friends and family. They also wanted the occasion to be on the creative side, so their close friend Tiniki took the reins and put a beautiful and heartfelt twist on the traditional gender reveal.

The expecting couple had no idea what color balloons would float out from the wrapped box, but they knew they'd either be blue or pink. They entrusted Tiniki with the card containing their baby's gender.

Imagine their surprise when a trio of white balloons sprang from the box!

In the clip below, mom Angela is initially confused by them... but when her husband begins reading from the note tied to the balloons' string, she realizes what these balloons actually signify.

You see, Angela's family at the time had dealt with three miscarriages. Before conceiving her baby, Angela previously had two miscarriages and her sister had one. "It took a lot to get them where they were that day, so emotions where at an all-time high," Tiniki wrote on YouTube.

The three white balloons let Angela and her family know the other babies had not been forgotten.

After Angela and her husband wipe away their tears, they're finally ready to learn the gender of baby Fleming. But the surprises aren't done yet.

Keep your tissues close for this emotional gender reveal, and please SHARE this with your friends on Facebook.
Credit: Tiniki Thomas / YouTube

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Pregnant Wife Sobs When 3 White Balloons Pop Out To Honor Miscarried Babies Instead

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When a couple from Dallas learned they were expecting, they knew they wanted to throw a big, festive gender reveal party for their closest friends and family. They also wanted the occasion to be on the creative side, so their close friend Tiniki took the reins and put a beautiful and heartfelt twist on the traditional...

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Garmin engineer killed in Olathe shooting remembered for kindness

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The Garmin engineer killed Wednesday in a shooting at Austin's Bar & Grill is being remembered kind, gentle person.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, was one of three men shot. He died at a hospital.

"This world really lost an angel. He was an angel -- a good person you could rely on. (He was) a good brother, a great husband, a responsible, fantastic son," friend Kavipriya Muthuramalingam said.

Kuchibhotla was married. Friends said he loved to smile.

"This comes as a big shock because Srinivas was the most kind and loving, gentle person. He never spoke bad about anyone. He was always there to help everyone out," friend Kranti Shalie said.

Shalie said Kuchibhotla was a like a brother.

"One bullet it takes to just finish an entire life. Having a baby, raising the baby, a mother's dream, a wife's dream is just gone. It takes just one bullet. That's it," Muthuramalingam said.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Kuchibhotla's family to help pay for a funeral and other expenses.

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Garmin engineer killed in Olathe shooting remembered for kindness

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The Garmin engineer killed Wednesday in a shooting at Austin's Bar & Grill is being remembered kind, gentle person. Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, was one of three men shot. He died at a hospital. "This world really lost an angel. He was an angel -- a good person you could rely on.

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JCPenney to close up 140 stores

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JCPenney plans to shutter as many as 140 stores in the coming months, the latest traditional retailer to announce closings.

The department store chain did not disclose how many jobs would be cut, but it said it is also offering early retirement to 6,000 full-time employees.

Because it will hire to fill those buyout positions, the company said it expects a net increase in hiring, even counting the job cuts from closed stores.

The closings should take place by the end of June. The locations will be revealed by mid-March. JCPenney will also close two distribution centers. It had 105,000 employees manning 1,021 stores as of a year ago.

Related: Here's why Amazon might buy a big retailer

JCPenney joins a list of traditional retailers scaling back brick-and-mortar stores. Sears Holdings, which includes the Sears and Kmart brands, announced plans to close 150 stores last month, and Macy's is closing 68 stores and cutting 10,000 jobs.

The Limited closed its remaining stores last month, and American Apparel, which filed for bankruptcy for a second time last year, is expected to close all its stores. Sports Authority went out of business following a bankruptcy filing last year.

Related: Retailers take aim at border adjustment tax proposal

By contrast, Amazon expects to hire 100,000 U.S. workers this year as it continues to expand.

JCPenney will take a $225 million hit to its earnings from the cost of closing the stores. But it expects to save $200 million a year in payroll and other costs. It said the stores to be closed had weaker sales or would have needed expensive upgrades.

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 24, 2017: 8:51 AM ET

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The department store chain did not disclose how many jobs would be cut, but it said it is also offering early retirement to 6,000 full-time employees. Because it will hire to fill those buyout positions, the company said it expects a net increase in hiring, even counting the job cuts from closed stores.

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America’s Aging Dams Are in Need of Repair

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Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

After two weeks that saw evacuations near Oroville, Calif., and flooding in Elko County, Nev., America's dams are showing their age.

Nearly 2,000 state-regulated high-hazard dams in the United States were listed as being in need of repair in 2015, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. A dam is considered "high hazard" based on the potential for the loss of life as a result of failure.

"It's not like an expiration date for your milk, but the components that make up that dam do have a lifespan." said Mark Ogden, a project manager with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers keeps an inventory of 90,000 dams across the country, and more than 8,000 are classified as major dams by height or storage capacity, according to guidelines established by the United States Geological Survey.

Dam failures can have serious consequences.

Stuart Johnson/The Deseret News, via Associated Press

Two weeks ago, heavy rains caused the Twentyone Mile Dam in Nevada to burst, resulting in flooding, damaged property and closed roads throughout the region.

The earthen dam, built in the early 1900s and less than 50 feet tall, is one of more than 60,000 "low hazard" dams, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Typically, failure of a low hazard dam would cause property damage, but it would most likely not kill anyone.

Source: Nevada Division of Water Resources

Last week, 180,000 people downstream from Oroville Dam in California were evacuated after an emergency spillway showed signs of failing.

Built in the 1960s and more than 16 times the height of the Nevada dam, Oroville was listed as a high hazard dam. Had it not been for the speed of the response last week, there could have been severe flooding of the surrounding area.

"The larger dams are being watched very carefully. The smaller dams don't enjoy that level of scrutiny," Mr. Ogden said.

The U.S. would need to spend billions to repair public and private dams.

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

In 2016, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimated that it would cost $60 billion to rehabilitate all the dams that needed to be brought up to safe condition, with nearly $20 billion of that sum going toward repair of dams with a high potential for hazard.

In 2015, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, Democrat of New York, introduced the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act to provide grant assistance to rehabilitate publicly owned dams that fail to meet minimum safety standards. A version of the legislation that covered private dams - which account for more than half of the dams in the United States - was incorporated into a larger water infrastructure bill and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December.

Oroville Dam is owned by the state of California, but the Twentyone Mile Dam is owned by Winecup Gamble Ranch, a cattle operation in northeastern Nevada.

While most legislation involves inspection and rehabilitation, hazardous dams that have outlived their usefulness can also be removed.

"The very fact that you are blocking a river and allowing a reservoir to fill up with millions of gallons of water presents a risk," said Bob Irvin, the president of American Rivers, an environmental conservation and advocacy organization. The group has partnered with the State of Maryland to remove the Bloede Dam, built in 1907, where several people have drowned over the years.

Nationwide, 1,384 dams had been removed from 1912 through 2016, according to the nonprofit American Rivers. A majority of those dams were removed within the last two decades, with 72 removed in 2016.

Note: A copy of the National Inventory of Dams was provided by Investigative Reporters and Editors. This copy was then checked against a list of removed dams provided by American Rivers.

Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Nevada Division of Water Resources, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, American Rivers, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (National Inventory of Dams)

Correction: Feb. 24, 2017

An earlier version of this story misstated the status of proposed dam rehabilitation legislation. The legislation is not pending, but was incorporated into a larger water infrastructure act.

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America's Aging Dams Are in Need of Repair

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Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers After two weeks that saw evacuations near Oroville, Calif., and flooding in Elko County, Nev., America's dams are showing their age. Nearly 2,000 state-regulated high-hazard dams in the United States were listed as being in need of repair in 2015, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.

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Authorities investigating the slayings of two girls in Indiana have received over 1,900 tips since making an impassioned plea on Wednesday for people to come forward with information, a law enforcement source close to the investigation told ABC News today.

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Kim Jong-nam killing: 'VX nerve agent' found on his face
Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent, says Malaysia.

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Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent, says Malaysia.

Mr Kim died last week after two women accosted him briefly in a check-in hall at a Kuala Lumpur airport.

Malaysian toxicology reports indicate he was attacked using VX nerve agent, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.

There is widespread suspicion that North Korea was responsible for the attack, which it fiercely denies.

It responded furiously to Malaysia's insistence on conducting a post-mortem examination and has accused Malaysia of having "sinister" purposes.

What does the toxicology report say?

Malaysia's police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Friday that the presence of the nerve agent had been detected in swabs taken from Mr Kim's eyes and face.

One of the women Mr Kim interacted with at the airport on 13 February had also fallen ill with vomiting afterwards, he added.

Mr Khalid said other exhibits were still under analysis and that police were investigating how the banned substance might have entered Malaysia.

"If the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us to detect," he said.

What is the deadly VX nerve agent?

The most potent of the known chemical warfare agents, it is a clear, amber-coloured, oily liquid which is tasteless and odourless

Works by penetrating the skin and disrupting the transmission of nerve impulses - a drop on the skin can kill in minutes. Lower doses can cause eye pain, blurred vision, drowsiness and vomiting

It can be disseminated in a spray or vapour when used as a chemical weapon, or used to contaminate water, food, and agricultural products

VX can be absorbed into the body by inhalation, ingestion, skin contact, or eye contact

Clothing can carry VX for about 30 minutes after contact with the vapour, which can expose other people

Banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention

Read more about VX Who could be behind the attack?
How could it have killed Mr Kim?

Bruce Bennett, a weapons expert at the research institute the Rand Corporation, told the BBC it would have taken only a tiny amount of the substance to kill Mr Kim.

He suggests a small quantity of VX - just a drop - was likely to have been put on cloths used by the attackers to touch his face. A separate spray may have been used as a diversion.

Mr Khalid has previously said the fact the woman who accosted Mr Kim immediately went to wash her hands showed she was "very aware" that she had been handling a toxin.

It would have begun affecting his nervous system immediately, causing first shaking and then death within minutes.
More from expert Bruce Bennett
Is Kuala Lumpur airport safe?

The authorities say they intend to decontaminate the airport and areas the suspects are known to have visited.

VX is a v-type nerve agent, which means the substance can remain lethal for a long period of time.

"It's as persistent as motor oil. It's going to stay there for a long time... which means anyone coming in contact with this could be intoxicated from it," forensic toxicologist John Trestrail told the Associated Press news agency.

No passengers, airport workers or medical staff who treated Mr Kim were reported to have become ill in the aftermath of the incident, the news agency adds.

Tens of thousands of passengers are believed to have passed through the airport since the attack more than 10 days ago.

Who was Kim Jong-nam?

The well-travelled and multilingual oldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, he was once considered a potential future leader. He has lived abroad for years and was bypassed in favour of his half-brother, Kim Jong-un.

He had been travelling on a passport under the name Kim Chol. North Korea has yet to confirm that the deceased was actually Kim Jong-nam.

For many years, it was believed Kim Jong-nam was being groomed to succeed his father as the next leader.

But that appears to have come to an end in 2001 when Kim was caught sneaking into Japan on a fake passport.

He later became one of the regime's most high-profile critics, openly questioning the Stalinist policies and dynastic succession his grandfather Kim Il-sung began crafting in 1948.
Kim Jong-nam: North Korea's critic in exile
How did he die?

A woman was seen in CCTV footage approaching Mr Kim and wiping something across his face. He sought medical help at the airport, saying someone had splashed or sprayed him with liquid.

He had a seizure and died on the way to hospital.

His body remains in the hospital's mortuary, amid a diplomatic dispute over who should claim it.
Main players in mysterious killing
Who did it?

Malaysia says it was clearly an attack by North Korean agents. Four people are in custody, including one North Korean and the two women he interacted with at the airport. Seven North Koreans are being sought, including a diplomat.

There are a number of North Korean organisations capable of directing such an attack, including the exclusive Guard Command.

The North hit back at Malaysia on Thursday, saying it was responsible for the death of one of its citizens.

In response, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman warned North Korean envoy Kang Chol on Friday that he would be expelled unless he stopped "spewing lies" about the attack.
Who in North Korea could organise a VX murder? North Korea's history of foreign assassinations
Does North Korea have VX?

North Korea is one of just six countries not to have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) arms control treaty banning the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative project, however, North Korea is thought to have the third largest stockpile of chemical weapons, after the US and Russia.

South Korea's defence ministry estimated in 2014 that the North has somewhere between 2,500 and 5,000 tonnes of nerve agents in stock, with VX identified as among them.

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Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent, says Malaysia. Mr Kim died last week after two women accosted him briefly in a check-in hall at a Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysian toxicology reports indicate he was attacked using VX nerve agent, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.

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Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent at a Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia.

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Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent, says Malaysia.

Mr Kim died last week after two women accosted him briefly in a check-in hall at a Kuala Lumpur airport.

Malaysian toxicology reports indicate he was attacked using VX nerve agent, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.

There is widespread suspicion that North Korea was responsible for the attack, which it fiercely denies.

It responded furiously to Malaysia's insistence on conducting a post-mortem examination and has accused Malaysia of having "sinister" purposes.

What does the toxicology report say?

Malaysia's police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Friday that the presence of the nerve agent had been detected in swabs taken from Mr Kim's eyes and face.

One of the women Mr Kim interacted with at the airport on 13 February had also fallen ill with vomiting afterwards, he added.

Mr Khalid said other exhibits were still under analysis and that police were investigating how the banned substance might have entered Malaysia.

"If the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us to detect," he said.

What is the deadly VX nerve agent?

The most potent of the known chemical warfare agents, it is a clear, amber-coloured, oily liquid which is tasteless and odourless

Works by penetrating the skin and disrupting the transmission of nerve impulses - a drop on the skin can kill in minutes. Lower doses can cause eye pain, blurred vision, drowsiness and vomiting

It can be disseminated in a spray or vapour when used as a chemical weapon, or used to contaminate water, food, and agricultural products

VX can be absorbed into the body by inhalation, ingestion, skin contact, or eye contact

Clothing can carry VX for about 30 minutes after contact with the vapour, which can expose other people

Banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention

Read more about VX Who could be behind the attack?
How could it have killed Mr Kim?

Bruce Bennett, a weapons expert at the research institute the Rand Corporation, told the BBC it would have taken only a tiny amount of the substance to kill Mr Kim.

He suggests a small quantity of VX - just a drop - was likely to have been put on cloths used by the attackers to touch his face. A separate spray may have been used as a diversion.

Mr Khalid has previously said the fact the woman who accosted Mr Kim immediately went to wash her hands showed she was "very aware" that she had been handling a toxin.

It would have begun affecting his nervous system immediately, causing first shaking and then death within minutes.
More from expert Bruce Bennett
Is Kuala Lumpur airport safe?

The authorities say they intend to decontaminate the airport and areas the suspects are known to have visited.

VX is a v-type nerve agent, which means the substance can remain lethal for a long period of time.

"It's as persistent as motor oil. It's going to stay there for a long time... which means anyone coming in contact with this could be intoxicated from it," forensic toxicologist John Trestrail told the Associated Press news agency.

No passengers, airport workers or medical staff who treated Mr Kim were reported to have become ill in the aftermath of the incident, the news agency adds.

Tens of thousands of passengers are believed to have passed through the airport since the attack more than 10 days ago.

Who was Kim Jong-nam?

The well-travelled and multilingual oldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, he was once considered a potential future leader. He has lived abroad for years and was bypassed in favour of his half-brother, Kim Jong-un.

He had been travelling on a passport under the name Kim Chol. North Korea has yet to confirm that the deceased was actually Kim Jong-nam.

For many years, it was believed Kim Jong-nam was being groomed to succeed his father as the next leader.

But that appears to have come to an end in 2001 when Kim was caught sneaking into Japan on a fake passport.

He later became one of the regime's most high-profile critics, openly questioning the Stalinist policies and dynastic succession his grandfather Kim Il-sung began crafting in 1948.
Kim Jong-nam: North Korea's critic in exile
How did he die?

A woman was seen in CCTV footage approaching Mr Kim and wiping something across his face. He sought medical help at the airport, saying someone had splashed or sprayed him with liquid.

He had a seizure and died on the way to hospital.

His body remains in the hospital's mortuary, amid a diplomatic dispute over who should claim it.
Main players in mysterious killing
Who did it?

Malaysia says it was clearly an attack by North Korean agents. Four people are in custody, including one North Korean and the two women he interacted with at the airport. Seven North Koreans are being sought, including a diplomat.

There are a number of North Korean organisations capable of directing such an attack, including the exclusive Guard Command.

The North hit back at Malaysia on Thursday, saying it was responsible for the death of one of its citizens.

In response, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman warned North Korean envoy Kang Chol on Friday that he would be expelled unless he stopped "spewing lies" about the attack.
Who in North Korea could organise a VX murder? North Korea's history of foreign assassinations
Does North Korea have VX?

North Korea is one of just six countries not to have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) arms control treaty banning the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative project, however, North Korea is thought to have the third largest stockpile of chemical weapons, after the US and Russia.

South Korea's defence ministry estimated in 2014 that the North has somewhere between 2,500 and 5,000 tonnes of nerve agents in stock, with VX identified as among them.

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Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent, says Malaysia. Mr Kim died last week after two women accosted him briefly in a check-in hall at a Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysian toxicology reports indicate he was attacked using VX nerve agent, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.

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Officer under fire after body slamming girl.

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Officer under fire after body slamming girl - CNN Video

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A North Carolina high school is stunned after an 8-second cell phone video showed a school resource officer hoisting a girl into the air and body slamming her onto the floor. CNN's Boris Sanchez reports.

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Audience to Trump: Lock her up
Crowd chants "lock her up" during President Trump's CPAC speech.

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Audience to Trump: Lock her up - CNN Video

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Crowd chants "lock her up" during President Trump's CPAC speech.

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Authorities investigating the slayings of two girls in Indiana have received over 1,900 tips since making an impassioned plea on Wednesday for people to come forward with information, a law enforcement source close to the investigation told ABC News today.

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Trump promises border wall soon and ahead of schedule.

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A man gets a face transplant after attempting suicide with a bullet to the face

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Man gets face transplant after suicide attempt - CNN Video

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Andy Sandness received a near-full face transplant after shooting himself in the face in a suicide attempt.

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south carolina father of 5 dies when car plows into the side of his house

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A suicide bomber attacked Turkish-backed rebels just outside the Syrian town of Al-Bab Friday, killing 42 people in a major blow just hours after they hailed its capture from the Islamic State group.

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Authorities say four people were injured when a private natural gas well exploded in eastern Oklahoma. Wagoner County Emergency Manager Heath Underwood says the explosion happened Thursday night as contract workers were repairing a gas line near Wagoner, about 125 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

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Mr. Kohl - “La La Land”…as in the musical, where they tap dance and kinda sing their way through an ode to old Hollywood. It picked up 14 noms.

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Mr. Kohl - “La La Land”…as in the musical, where they tap dance and kinda sing their way through an ode to old Hollywood. It picked up 14 noms.

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Brassy love ballads, Technicolor dialogue, and a smattering of soft-shoe- La La Land had all the makings of a blockbuster, in the 1940s at least. Today, the mass market of moviegoers prefer action to romance, aliens to artists, and above all else the blossoming genre of superhero bros in tights.

It's no surprise that La La Land was a hit with critics and remains the heavy favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Picture on Feb. 26. What's improbable, however, is how widely the film has won favor. Of late, the most critically praised films tended to have little clout with consumers: The Hurt Locker, which won Academy bragging rights in 2009, managed just $17 million in domestic theaters, for example. But La La Land is packing them in like an esoteric jazz club that suddenly becomes the "it" spot. Life, it seems, is following the script.

"We all thought it was going to be something very special," Erik Feig, co-president of the motion picture group at Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., said in an interview. "But if you asked any of us if we were going to be approaching $400 million, we would have told you to wake up."

With a win on Sunday and a corresponding bump from Oscar buzz, La La Land will likely become the top-grossing Best Picture since Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2003. Going into this weekend, the paean to the city of angels had garnered $135 million in domestic theaters and an additional $206 million abroad.

And there are a few weeks left in its theater run-possibly more if it wins. On top of that, the film has only been showing in China, the world's No. 2 movie market, since Feb. 14.

This dreamy run, however, is no happy accident. It's the product of a string of savvy, somewhat counter-intuitive decisions. In Hollywood, Lions Gate is best known as a bit of a value investor. It generally backs small- to mid-sized films that have "breakout potential." It also spreads the risk by bringing in financing partners and lowers its costs by occasionally giving major talent a cut of the profits.

Instead of the Marvel comic book catalog, it snapped up the Hunger Games series. Rather than Star Wars, it has Power Rangers. To be sure, Lions Gate has had its flops. Its Divergent series has managed only a shadow of the success of Hunger Games. But over time, Feig said, the company has improved its decision-making to the point that 70 percent of its films are profitable.

In terms of investing, Lions Gate has a few simple rules-rules that apply to any business looking to stand out in a crowd. Work with talented people, protect their vision, and don't try to please everyone.

"Most of our films, in some ways, are contrarian bets," Feig said. "We're programmatically oriented to embrace the fact that something is different because we want to give the audience the pleasure of discovering something new."

As a general proposition, he explained, consumers often have no idea what they really want.

The company's La La Land courtship began at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, when Damien Chazelle premiered Whiplash, his breakout hit about a drumming phenom clashing with a mercurial conductor. Lions Gate tried to buy the distribution rights but lost out to Sony. It did hit it off with Chazelle, however. "We asked him what he wanted to do next and he said, kind of sheepishly 'a musical,'" Feig recalled. "We were like, 'Great!' And he was like, 'Really?'" A musical these days is a seemingly foolish bet, but it does fall squarely in the camp of not trying to please everybody.

Early in production, Lions Gate made a second illogical move: It encouraged Chazelle, the writer and director, to spend more money than he had originally planned-about $30 million. With it, they were able to afford more expensive lead actors in Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, as well as blowing out a few scenes, namely the intro montage, which involved closing a Los Angeles interstate in the middle of the day. "We thought there was a chance we could get a rebate from the city for that, which I should note we didn't," Feig said.

Photographer: Dale Robinette/Lionsgate

The scene did, however, secure financing from Black Label Media. "We just loved what we saw," said Joseph Cohen, whose American Entertainment Investors consulted on the deal. "We figured it could have big commercial appeal, though a musical with a budget over $30 million was not a slam dunk."

Spending big where it matters is another thing Lions Gate has fine-tuned over the years. "You pick your moments," said Basil Iwanyk, whose Thunder Road Pictures produced both John Wick films, Sicario, and a string of other movies distributed by Lions Gate. "When you spend your resources in those certain spots and really deliver, the movie is going to feel a lot bigger than the budget is," he said. 1

Finally, Lions Gate was realistic about its audience. When judging a project's potential, the company tries to picture two consumers: the most likely fan-in this case, Broadway junkies-and a second, wider demographic that might get sucked in. For La La Land, the company was hoping for couples and older women. The film, it turns out, over-performed on all fronts.

Some 36 percent of La La Land viewers are male, according to survey data from comScore and Screen Engine LLC, and the audience is almost perfectly balanced by age, with about a quarter of viewers under 25 and a quarter over 55. Abroad, La La Land has garnered almost twice as much ticket revenue as the next-closest nominee, Hacksaw Ridge. The French, in particular, are gaga over it.

In short, the return on investment on a singing Gosling has been surprisingly good and is getting better by the day. Iwanyk said films that cost from $30 million to $50 million are becoming a sweet spot for the industry. The biggest studios-squarely focused on potential blockbusters-aren't bothering. Yet, as the industry launches one breakout after the next, investors have come clamoring. "Honestly, it's a seller's market," he said. "The upside is ginormous and the downside is relatively light."

Cohen, a former investment banker, agreed. There's more money and more potential buyers in the independent film market than he's ever seen before. "It's the opposite of just doing the next giant shark movie," he said. "Because, at some point, the next shark movie won't work."

For Hollywood, La La Land represents a new script for success, and its legacy will be that precious currency: optimism. Studio executives who spend their days modeling projected cash flows the way junior investment bankers do long into the night will be slightly more inclined to go all gauzy-eyed and think: "Maybe, just maybe, I can make it."

"The only risk you can take these days is not taking a risk," Feig said.

Of course, it doesn't always equal reward, as that old saw can be misleading. But sometimes, if the stars align, it can be commensurate-and then some.

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Why La La Land Worked Better Than Anyone Dreamed

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Brassy love ballads, Technicolor dialogue, and a smattering of soft-shoe- La La Land had all the makings of a blockbuster, in the 1940s at least. Today, the mass market of moviegoers prefer action to romance, aliens to artists, and above all else the blossoming genre of superhero bros in tights.