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Image: Julie Dermansky/Corbis via Getty Images

At the beginning of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made changes to its website pages on fracking. 

A watchdog group known as the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative tracked those changes across the EPA’s site and documenting the group’s findings. The result of the changes has left an official U.S. government website looking more like an extension of the fossil fuel industry than a federal agency with a mission to protect the environment.

The most obvious EPA website change from the report is the very title of the fracking page. Previously called “Natural Gas Extraction – Hydraulic Fracturing,” the EPA webpage on fracking is now titled “Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas Development.” 

One is that the EPA is looking to broaden the scope of the page to include additional methods to extract fossil fuels from within the earth. Another is that it’s an effort to remove “Hydraulic Fracturing” or “fracking” from the lexicon — a term that has an increasingly negative connotation.

Image: Environmental Data & Governance Initiative

The EPA’s website on fracking as a whole now reads as if its intended audience is the fossil fuel industry as opposed to individuals concerned about fracking and its impacts. Other notable changes include a “Convening stakeholders” section emphasizing EPA partnerships with the oil and natural gas industry and the removal of content related to furthering the scientific community’s understanding of fracking’s health and environmental effects. 

Fracking is a method of removing natural gas and oil from shale rock. The process involves drilling into the ground and injecting the embedded rock with a high pressure water mixture in order to extract the gas. Fracking is extremely controversial due to a variety of environmental concerns such as the pollution of groundwater with the chemicals pushed into the earth. The fracking process has also been attributed to the creation of tremors within the earth. 

Environmentalist Josh Fox’s 2010 documentary Gasland highlighting the impact on those who live around fracking sites. The film shows a man lighting his tap water on fire as it pours out of his sink faucet, an apparent result of nearby fracking.

Trump’s first head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, oversaw the agency during the website changes. Pruitt resigned in July following months of ethics scandals. For those hoping a post-Pruitt EPA will once again center science at the core of the organization — and on its website — Andrew Wheeler, who succeeded Pruitt as EPA head, is a former coal industry lobbyist.

Cannons blasted the balmy air of Male with a 21-gun salute on Saturday, just moments after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih finished taking the oath of office as the seventh president of the Maldives.

It was a momentous occasion, one that capped a tense, months-long presidential contest, and a subsequent period of post-election uncertainty following years of political turmoil in the small Indian Ocean island nation.

In a shock result, Solih, a 54-year-old veteran legislator, defeated Abdulla Yameen in the September 23 polls, held against widespread public anger over corruption and rights abuses, including the jailing of nearly all opposition leaders.

In his inaugural address, delivered before thousands of people at the national football stadium in the capital, Solih vowed to establish justice and tackle corruption.

Still, he faces an uphill battle to restore stability and push through democratic and economic reforms.

Here, Al Jazeera takes a look at five of his biggest challenges:

Chinese debt

In his speech, Solih said the Maldives was “in a precarious financial situation” owing to “reckless development projects”, and appealed for help from foreign countries and international organisations to stabilise the economy.

Under Yameen, Beijing had loaned an estimated $1.5bn to the Maldives to fund an upgrade of the country’s main international airport – a bridge linking it to Male – as well as massive housing projects in a new population centre. 

The debt figure is more than a quarter of the country’s annual gross domestic product. 

In March, the US-based Centre for Global Development in March identified the Maldives as one of eight countries subject to high debt distress because of investments from China.

Ibrahim Ameer, Solih’s choice for the crucial post of finance minister, told Al Jazeera on Sunday he was “worried” about the debt and said the country needs up to $300m in budgetary support straightaway. The Maldives was now in talks with India, the United States and Saudi Arabia for assistance, the newly appointed minister said.

Meanwhile, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the 300 foreign dignitaries to attend Solih’s inauguration on his first visit to the country, has already pledged help.

Unwieldy coalition

Solih joined the presidential race at the eleventh hour after receiving the backing of a coalition of four political parties, whose leaders were either in jail or exile. Among them were former presidents, Mohamed Nasheed and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, as well as tourism tycoon Qasim Ibrahim, who unsuccessfully ran for the presidency twice before.

Despite joining forces, the four parties have significant ideological differences and their leaders have clashed fiercely for more than a decade.

In 2008, Nasheed and Qasim formed an alliance to end Gayoom’s 30-year rule in the country’s first multi-party election. Their coalition, however, fell apart less than 100 days into Nasheed’s rule. 

Qasim then teamed up with Gayoom in 2012 to oust Nasheed, in what the latter labelled a coup. 

“You cannot run an executive presidency as a coalition government,” said Ahmed Nihan, an opposition legislator and close aide to Yameen, the former president.

“The ministers will not obey the president, they are likely to follow their leaders,” he said, referring to the division of cabinet posts among the coalition partners.

“This is all going to end in chaos.”

However, describing the new president as “patient” and a “good listener”, Nihan added: “If there is one politician who can hold a coalition together, it is Solih.”

Accountability for corruption and rights abuses

Solih ran for the presidency promising to investigate alleged human rights abuses and corruption under Yameen, including the jailing of dissidents, murders, disappearances, and the theft of at least $79m from tourism revenues, a scam that was the subject of the 2016 Al Jazeera investigation Stealing Paradise.

A money-laundering body meanwhile reported Yameen had received $1.5m in cash ahead of September’s election.

Solih, at his oath-taking ceremony, pledged to disclose the findings from such investigations so that the Maldives could “move ahead as a nation”.

Mariyam Shiuna, executive director at Transparency Maldives, an anti-corruption group, welcomed Solih’s pledges, but said “this will prove to be a huge challenge as a lot of officials accused of corruption and rights abuses continue to be part of the system”.

Politicians from across the spectrum and powerful business leaders had benefitted from alleged corruption under Yameen, she said, including the tourism scam in which dozens of coral islands were leased for tourism development at knock-off prices.

There were worries about “selective justice”, she said, while also acknowledging the investigations could risk instability.

Reforming judiciary

Of the many challenges facing his new administration, Solih in his inaugural address identified reforms to ensure judicial independence as its “highest priority area”.

Judges in the Maldives are widely perceived as corrupt, unqualified and subject to external influence.

That’s because dozens of people – including Nasheed, Gayoom and Qasim, as well as two ex-defence ministers, two Supreme Court judges and a top prosecutor – were jailed under Yameen after trials that were widely condemned as politically motivated.

On the other hand, very few suspects accused of crime, including murders, are successfully prosecuted. Such trials are often held behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, an estimated quarter of the country’s 183 judges have criminal records, according to the US State Department. Many do not hold law degrees and cannot interpret common law or Islamic law because they do not have the required English and Arabic skills.

Shahindha Ismail, executive director of the human rights NGO Maldivian Democracy Network, said reforming the judiciary must be “a top priority” to ensure justice for past corruption and rights abuses. But there were concerns, she warned, of how willing some politicians in the ruling coalition may be to cede control over judges.

Religious violence

The Maldives, a Sunni Muslim state, has witnessed a surge in attacks motivated by religion in the past decade, including the killing of liberal blogger Yameen Rasheed and Afrasheem Ali, a moderate Islamic scholar and member of parliament, as well as the disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan.

Solih has pledged to investigate the cases.

Meanwhile, scores of young Maldivians have left the country to fight with armed groups in the Middle East, including Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).

Mohamed Hameed, a former police intelligence chief, said the flow of Maldivians to the Middle East has abated as ISIL and other groups lost territory in Iraq and Syria, but added that the country was facing the “huge security challenge” of  highly-trained fighters coming back home.

“Even in cases where returnees suspected of violent acts have been arrested, there has been no successful prosecutions, and there are no programmes to counter narratives that promote violence,” said Hameed.

Liberal voices have meanwhile reported receiving death threats for their advocacy for freedom of belief and, under Yameen, they were frequently targeted by the police for their calls for a secular state as well as criticism of religious violence. 

West Indies v England in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 – in-play clips, radio & text – Live – BBC Sport

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Image: Roger Evans/Action Plus via Getty Images

Just in case you had any doubts, darts and farts do not mix well.

In fact, when the two become involved, things can get pretty ugly. Just ask Gary Anderson (Grown Man #1) and Wesley Harms (Grown Man #2,) professional dart players who recently accused each other of farting at the Grand Slam of Darts in England.

As The Guardian reported on Friday, after Anderson of Scotland beat Harms, a Dutch player, 10-2 in a match that earned him a spot in the quarter-finals, some foul-smelling accusations came out.

In a post-match interview, Harms said he wasn’t playing up to his normal caliber because Anderson straight up farted on the stage before him, leaving him to endure a “fragrant smell.”

Harms then reportedly elaborated on the game-changing incident during an interview with Dutch TV station RTL7L, saying, “It’ll take me two nights to lose this smell from my nose.”

Sounds a little dramatic, dude. No?

Anderson, who’s won the title of world champion twice, was quick to refute Harms’ accusations. In fact, he said it was Harms who farted. Hmm…

“It definitely came from table-side and it was eggs, rotten eggs, but not from me. Every time I walked past there was a waft of rotten eggs so that’s why I was thinking it was him. It definitely wasn’t me,” Grown Man #1 — I mean, Anderson — said.

“It was bad. It was a stink, then he started to play better and I thought he must have needed to get some wind out. If somebody has done that they need to see a doctor. Seemingly he says it was me but I would admit it.”

Image: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

And if you guessed Harms would deny he was the one who dealt it, you’re correct! In fact, he swore on the lives of his children he did not. Again with the drama!

“If the boy [Anderson] thinks I’ve farted he’s 1,010% wrong. I swear on my children’s lives that it was not my fault. I had a bad stomach once on stage before and admitted it. So I’m not going to lie about farting on stage.”

According to The Guardian, Anderson has admitted to farting on stage in the past, but it’s been noted he “never used it as an advantage.”

Who knew darts was such a personal, invasive, TMI-filled sport?

Though we may never know which Grown Man, if any, farted at this competition, at least we all got to experience this petty argument together. And hey, maybe Nick Offerman and Rob Delaney will make a film about it.

A car bomb blast has killed at least five civilians and wounded 16 others in northern Iraq‘s city of Tikrit, police and medical sources have said.

The car was parked near a restaurant in Tikrit, about 175km north of the capital, Baghdad. The blast set nearly a dozen vehicles on fire, police sources said on Sunday. 

Three of the dead were women, sources told the AFP news agency. Tikrit’s main hospital said it had received several patients wounded in the attack.

There were no immediate claims for the attack, though the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in Iraq.

Translation: “Now a [car] bombing in Tikrit and the early reports are one martyred and five wounded.”

مقتل شخصين واصابة 17 بجروح اليوم إثر تفجير سيارة مفخخة وسط مدينة تكريت pic.twitter.com/vr7YXJ00wj

— الحرة عراق (@AlhurraIraq) November 18, 2018

This month, there has been a string of bombings around Baghdad and an attack on the house of a security official in western Iraq that killed nine people.

The ISIL was forced from Tikrit in 2015. Late last year, the Iraqi forces said they had removed the armed group from its urban strongholds across the country.

Since then, the ISIL fighters are said to have switched over to bombings and launching attacks on the security forces.

The Iraqi army has said it is keeping a close eye on its border with Syria over worries that ISIL fighters may cross over to the country.

Iraqi officials estimate that at least 2,500 ISIL fighters are active in Deir Az Zor and other Syrian towns close to the Iraqi border.

“We are intensifying our intelligence gathering efforts … We are also conducting strikes and shelling against ISIL pockets,” Brigadier General Yahiyah Rasoul of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command Centre told Al Jazeera earlier this month.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies

For England to come to Sri Lanka and beat them at their own game is a huge achievement.

Winning the first two Tests to seal the series with a game to spare is impressive, especially given their very poor record overseas recently, which included being badly beaten in India and drawing with Bangladesh in similar conditions as well as the Ashes defeat by Australia.

Not many people thought they would win here, but England have done so playing a very exciting, new style of Test cricket.

It almost backfired in the first Test at Galle when they got a bit carried away on the first morning.

But they have toned it down a bit and in Pallekele played in a slightly more controlled way yet still with a very positive approach, particularly in how they batted. That is what has put them 2-0 up.

That and some excellent fielding – there were moments of proper brilliance from Ben Stokes in the first innings and Keaton Jennings in the second.

Flashes like that help you win on the subcontinent, although usually when the game is more attritional and neither of these two Tests have been. They have been full of excitement and you dare not look away for a moment because of the way the batsmen are playing.

This Test showed batsmen play the reverse sweep possibly even more securely and successfully than the traditional sweep – and it leaves the fielding captain two or three fielders short.

If you set a field for the reverse sweep, you open up a gap somewhere else and the batsmen just knock it there.

A reverse sweep in Test cricket used to cause a shock around the ground. Now you are seeing two or three an over and the bowling side simply cannot stop the flow of runs.

It is brilliant cricket and as long as you keep hold of your usual game and do not sell out to a completely reckless approach – as Joe Root did in his tremendous second-innings century – it makes for a very exciting direction that the game is moving in.

England’s attacking approach pays off

Root talked before the series about playing this attacking game and his side went out and did it.

His declaration at Galle was positive, even if his batting was a bit frantic and he was trying too hard to prove the point he wanted to make. But he hit an outstanding ton in Pallekele that underlined the way he wants to play.

He will realise you cannot always play like that and sometimes you will come unstuck, so you have to be flexible at all times.

However, he demonstrated that a positive approach can be successful in this part of the world.

If England’s spinners had bowled the length they did to take the last three wickets on day five throughout the match, the game would have been over earlier.

All three dismissals were on the right length – tossed up and full. That is how Moeen Ali found Niroshan Dickwella’s edge and spun the ball between Suranga Lakmal’s bat and pad and why Malinda Pushpakumara chipped it back to Jack Leach.

We did not see enough bowling like that from both sides. Granted, sweeping on a length makes the bowler think they have to drop it a bit shorter, but it is also very hard to sweep a half-volley and that really full length was the one to bowl on this pitch.

Burns’ technique works for him – and that’s what counts

Rory Burns played really well in making his maiden Test fifty on day three. I have been mildly amused at people talking about the quirky nature of his batting.

You are allowed an unusual backlift if the bat comes down straight, and he gets in a good position when he plays. I do not see any issue at all.

I played with one of the quirkiest batsmen there has ever been in Peter Willey – he was absolutely front on when he took his guard – so I am all for it if it works for Burns.

He concentrated hard and I am pleased to see he put away that little flick towards mid-wicket that he played in Galle again the off-spinner, which was a risk too far. It suggests he has gone away and worked at his game.

Sri Lanka’s batting was a bit frenetic and, with Rangana Herath retiring after the first Test, they miss a steadying influence with the ball.

But they have a stand-out cricketer in Angelo Mathews. I hope the issues between him and the board that saw him sacked as captain and dropped from the one-day squad are laid to rest as quickly as possible.

Sri Lankan cricket needs Mathews. The World Cup needs Mathews. He is a superb cricketer and cannot bowl at the moment, which Sri Lanka are also missing.

The same criticism of England’s spinners is applicable to Sri Lanka’s too. They have got to work hard to prevent England from beating them 3-0 when the final Test starts in Colombo on Friday.

Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport’s Jack Skelton.

Image: Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

YouTube has just rolled out dozens of free-to-watch full-length feature films on its platform. The only catch is that the content is ad-supported.

First noticed by , YouTube began launching ad-supported Hollywood films under a section on its Movies & Shows vertical. Films like Legally Blonde, The Terminator, Rocky, Hackers, and All Dogs Go to Heaven are listed on the page with a “Free with Ads” tag displayed under the title. Users can watch these films at no cost with commercial interruptions and pop-up banner ads like the ones displayed on other YouTube videos.

(The ads appear to go away for YouTube Premium subscribers, based on our testing so far.)

Previously, the Movies & Shows page only listed films and TV programs that you could purchase to watch. The free movie roll out kicked off in October and new content is still being added.

YouTube has been experimenting with various models for the platform, such as its commercial-free subscription service YouTube Premium. However, this development marks the first time the platform offered up ad-supported full-length features in an official capacity. 

While a new feature at YouTube, services like Sony Crackle, Tubi, and Vudu have offered ad-supported on-demand films and TV shows. Earlier in 2018, Roku made its free on-demand movie and TV show platform available for users regardless of whether they owned a Roku or not.

YouTube isn’t breaking new ground here, but its experimentation with free ad-supported movies and shows is certainly noteworthy. As the website in the world, YouTube is the leader in online video content. The site’s move towards ad-supported movies could have ramifications, not only for the tech industry, but for Hollywood as well.

Refugees and migrants refusing to leave a cargo boat in a Libyan port are pleading to be taken to Europe, saying they are prepared to die than be returned to detention in the North African country.

As the standoff with Libyan authorities in Misrata entered its ninth day, two of those on board said on Sunday it was too dangerous to go back to Libyan detention centres, where they risk being abused and sold to people smugglers while having little hope of being evacuated.

“All people are saying now we don’t want to go outside until we die here,” Kai, an 18-year-old from South Sudan, told Al Jazeera on the phone.

The refugees and migrants were brought to Misrata on November 10, four days after setting sail in a rubber boat with the hope of reaching Italy.

Daniel, a 16-year-old from South Sudan, said the rubber boat had travelled almost 200km before the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, The Nivin, crossed its path.

Both Kai and Daniel said the crew on board The Nivin told them they would be taken to Italy, but instead brought them to Misrata.

“We see Malta and they brought us back. All of us we entered into the international waters and they bring us back,” said Kai.

“Why would they bring us back; they know we die here. Why they bring us back here?”

After discussions with humanitarian organisations, some of those on board the docked ship agreed to disembark, including women and an infant child. According to Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity known by its French initials, MSF, there are now 77 people on board, 28 of whom are under 18.

Kai said they come from various countries, including Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Bangladesh. Many are sick and injured, after being burned with oil from the rubber boat they were travelling in, he added.

Paula Barrachina Esteban, spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), said the world body is providing humanitarian aid to those on The Nivin.

“At the moment, we’re just advocating for a solution to be found and discussing with the relevant authorities,” said Esteban.

The refugees and migrants are being given food and water, but Kai said the biggest immediate problem is the ship’s lack of toilets and bathrooms. As a result, Kai said they are forced to urinate in bottles.

Both teenagers on the ship said Libyan authorities have threatened to force them out of the ship.

“They tell us if you don’t want to go outside, we will take you outside by force; they say we will burn the ship,” said Kai.

“The police are outside,” added Daniel. “We are frightened.”

‘People are exhausted’

Kai said he escaped to Libya with his brother after his parents disappeared during South Sudan’s war in 2013. 

In Libya, Kai said his brother was killed by people smugglers in Beni Walid, known as the “ghost city” by refugees and migrants, after not being able to meet their demand for a $1,000 ransom payment.

Kai said this year he spent seven months in Ain Zara detention centre in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, after being caught by the Libyan coastguard attempting to cross into Italy.

He said there was too little food in the detention centre and he had no hopes of being evacuated or resettled. While escaping in July, he said the guards opened fire but he and several other detainees managed to get away safely.

After another attempt to cross the Mediterranean in September, he said was locked in detention in Khoms, where he stayed for a month before escaping again.

“Some people have [spent] nine months, one year inside the jail,” said Kai.

While many on board said they had survived torture by human traffickers in Libya, some also had stories about serious abuses in official detention centres. A third man on board The Nivin told Al Jazeera he had witnessed fellow detainees being shot and killed while escaping an official Libyan detention centre.

Al Jazeera has previously heard reports of deaths in detention centres run by the Libyan Department for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM). 

DCIM has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

In Triq al Sikka, a 28-year-old Somali man burned himself to death in October, after saying to fellow detainees he felt hopeless about his changes of evacuation. In Zintan detention centre, detainees say five people have died since mid-September, most recently a 19-year-old Eritrean.

“We’re very saddened about any death in a detention centre of UNHCR people of concern – reasons why we advocate for alternatives for detention to be found,” said Esteban.

“Sometimes, we provide on a purely humanitarian basis support to deal with the bodies of the deceased, but they’re under the custody of the Libyan authorities.”

Julian Raickman, the head of the MSF mission in Libya, called for those on board the docked ship – and other refugees and migrants – to not be sent to detention.

“People are exhausted, they don’t want to go to those detention centres,” she said.

“I can understand as a human, and we strongly believe that we, as a humanitarian community, should work together in order to find another solution for these people than detention.

“This concerns these people on the boat but also more broadly the situation of all migrants in Libya.”

Watch and listen to Novak Djokovic v Alexander Zverev in ATP World Tour final – BBC Sport

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