A magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck near Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday morning crumbled roads and splintered buildings, sent residents scurrying for cover and triggered a tsunami warning for a time, authorities said.

The booming quake hit about 8:30 a.m. local time some 10 miles northeast of Anchorage, at a depth of 21 miles, according to the US Geological Survey. Aftershocks continued after the tsunami warning was canceled.

"It was very loud when it came," Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said. "It was very clear that this was something bigger than what we normally experience. We live in earthquake country so folks ... but this was a big one."

A stranded vehicle on a collapsed roadway near the Anchorage airport after the 7.0 earthquake.

Social media and television news video depicted scenes of chaos, including students taking shelter under desks while sending texts from their phones, roads buckling under passing cars, grocery store products tumbling from shelves, hospital workers scrambling for cover and panicked attorneys under tables as a courtroom rocked from side to side.

"It was absolutely terrifying," Kristin Dossett, a resident of Palmer, Alaska, told CNN.

It was the most violent quake she felt in her 37 years in a region where temblors are common, Dossett said. One aftershock moved her piano a foot and half from the wall.

"It shook like I have never felt anything shake before," she said.

"It just didn't stop. It kept going and got louder and louder, and things just fell everywhere — everything off my dressers, off my bookcases, my kitchen cupboard. Just broken glass everywhere."

Located roughly 40 miles off the Belize coast, the Blue Hole is thought to have once been a giant cave on dry land, thousands of years ago.

As the ocean rose again, the cave flooded. It's now part of the wider Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Blue Hole has never been fully mapped or plotted -- the idea is this new expedition might answer the question of what lies at the bottom of this enigmatic cavern.

One of the submersibles on the expedition will have additional lighting to allow both the on board team and the viewer at home to see as much as possible.

There are also two support vessels on site, a luxury charter yacht providing accommodation and amenities for the team and a research vessel to support the expedition.

Following the dive on December 2, vessels will continue to monitor and explore the site for two weeks, collecting data that will allow experts to construct real-life models of the Blue Hole's geography.

Former US President George H.W. Bush has died at age 94 in Houston, according to his spokesperson.

Born into privilege and a tradition of service, Bush was a son of a senator, celebrated World War II combat pilot, student athlete, Texas oilman, Republican congressman, national party chairman, pioneering diplomat and spy chief. After his own 1980 presidential campaign came up short, he served two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president before reaching the pinnacle of political power by winning the 1988 presidential election, soundly defeating Democrat Michael Dukakis.

After losing the White House in 1992, Bush became a widely admired political elder who leapt out of airplanes to mark birthday milestones. Emphasizing the generosity of his soul, he forged a close -- and unlikely -- friendship with Democrat Bill Clinton, the man who ended his presidency. When Parkinson's disease mostly silenced him in public, Bush flashed his sense of humor by sporting colorful striped socks.

Bush's death comes after his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, passed away on April 17 at age 92. Before her funeral, Bush was pictured in a wheelchair gazing at his wife's flower-covered casket, in a moment that encapsulated their life-long love affair.

The first sitting vice president to be elected to the presidency since 1836, Bush was also only the second person in US history to see his own son follow in his presidential footsteps when George W. Bush was elected in 2000.

In addition to the 43rd president, Bush is survived by his son Jeb, the former Florida governor and 2016 presidential candidate; sons Neil and Marvin; daughter Dorothy; and 17 grandchildren. His daughter Robin died of leukemia as a child, a tragedy that still moved Bush deeply late in his life. He will be buried alongside her and the former first lady at his presidential library in College Station, Texas.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time, according to the statement released by Bush's spokesman Jim McGrath.

When Bush left office in 1993, he joined the dubious club of presidents rejected by voters after only one term in office. A career filled with top jobs preparing him for the presidency was cut short in its prime.

He lost to Clinton after failing to shake off his image as a starchy Yankee oblivious to the struggles of heartland Americans during an economic downturn.

But as time passed, his foreign policy acumen has come to define his presidency, leaving a legacy of wise and sure-handed management of world affairs.

The first Persian Gulf War

Bush, alongside national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and Secretary of State James Baker, engineered a soft landing for the Cold War as the Soviet empire shattered and Germany unified and then prospered -- despite widespread distrust at the time of its history and motives.

In another dangerous foreign policy test, Bush decided in 1990 to build a diverse international coalition, including more than 400,000 US troops, to eject Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

"This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait," Bush vowed before getting to work on a successful mission that united US allies in Europe and the Middle East in a lightning war.

Later, with Iraqi forces routed, Bush decided not to push on to Baghdad to oust Saddam Hussein. That instinct later came to look prescient, given the blood and resources expended by the United States in his son's own war against Iraq.

The 1990s Gulf War was the first time the world learned of the huge leaps in precision weaponry used by US forces and ushered in a brief era of unchallenged American hegemony after the dented confidence of the post-Vietnam war era.

Earlier, Bush had also ordered US troops to invade Panama after an off-duty Marine was killed by forces loyal to dictator Manuel Noriega. The force quickly overwhelmed Noriega's men and he was overthrown in just four days and was later sentenced to 40 years in US federal prison on drug charges.

Bush also had to walk a fine line with China, imposing sanctions after a 1989 government crackdown on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, but also seeking to prevent a permanent rupture in relations. Also on his watch, Washington backed early diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians, which led to the Oslo accords in the Clinton presidency.

President Ronald Reagan famously called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" -- the Berlin Wall. But the wall actually came down early in the presidency of George H.W. Bush, in November 1989.

During his four years in office, Bush presided over the end of the Cold War: He was president during the reunification of East and West Germany, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact alliance and the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in February 1989, shortly after he took office on January 20, 1989.

On July 31, 1991, weeks before the failed August coup against Gorbachev, Bush signed the START I treaty in Moscow. The agreement introduced major reductions in US and Soviet strategic nuclear arsenals.
The following day, on August 1, 1991, Bush gave a speech in Ukraine, where he warned against "suicidal nationalism." Conservative New York Times columnist William Safire derided it as the "Chicken Kiev" speech, delivered just a few months before Ukraine won independence and the Soviet Union collapsed.
At the time, it would have been difficult to predict that the USSR would collapse so precipitously -- and relatively peacefully. The collapse of Yugoslavia had already begun at that point, and the prospect of a similarly violent breakup of the nuclear-armed Soviet empire worried policymakers.

During the failed August putsch, Bush supported Gorbachev and condemned the coup attempt, which accelerated the collapse of the USSR.

In a statement to the Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday, Gorbachev expressed "deep condolences" to Bush's family and to all Americans following the news of the former President's death.

"I have a lot of memories associated with this man," Gorbachev said. "We had a chance to work together during the years of tremendous changes. It was a dramatic time that demanded great responsibility from everyone. The result was an end to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race."

Bush's presidency saw another symbolic milestone in the end of the Cold War arms race: the end of US nuclear-weapons testing. On September 23, 1992, the United States conducted its last underground nuclear weapon test at the Nevada Test Site.

The end of the Cold War at first seemed to reduce the prospect of nuclear Armageddon. But nuclear dangers persist: Rivals India and Pakistan tested nuclear devices in 1998, provoking global outcry; North Korea also joined the nuclear-armed club.

The leaders of the world's two largest economies, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, met face-to-face Saturday in Argentina for a highly anticipated dinner that many hope will halt, at least temporarily, an escalating tit-for-tat trade war.

The dinner between the two leaders in Buenos Aires over sirloin steak, vegetable salad with a basil mayonnaise, and caramel rolled pancakes lasted for nearly two-and-a-half hours, with immediate results of the talks not known. Earlier in the day, Trump canceled a planned news conference in order to honor the passing of former President George H.W. Bush, who died Friday at 94.

But shortly after the dinner, Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic adviser, told reporters that Trump and Xi's meeting went "very well."

Headed into the dinner, Trump was flanked by members of his Cabinet, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Speaking to reporters, Trump described his relationship with Xi as "incredible," predicting a successful meeting for both trading partners, while hinting there would be further talks in the days ahead.

"The relationship is very special, the relationship I have with President Xi," Trump said. "And I think that is going to be very primary reason why we'll probably end up -- end up getting something that will be good for China and good for the United States."

Xi echoed the President's remarks, saying the meeting is "a manifestation of our personal friendship."

Leading up to the meeting, it was anyone's guess what the ultimate outcome would be.

This week alone the American President has both pledged to press ahead with a plan to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25% from 10%, while also expressing optimism that he could strike a deal with Xi. The mixed signals from the White House, combined with Trump's mercurial personality, have rattled Wall Street and risk both jeopardizing the economies of the two countries, but also globally.

"Where we are right now is in a place of considerable uncertainty," said Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council. "Clearly, there's a lot of jockeying going on within the administration with pretty sharp contrasts between the positions that people are taking. That's what makes this so unpredictable. We don't know where it will end up."

Surrogates from the both the United States and China, in the days leading up to the dinner being held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, have each conveyed optimism over a potential breakthrough, though Trump has made clear he's only willing to play ball if necessary concessions are made by Beijing. One possible way out for both sides could be a suspension of new tariffs while negotiations proceed in a timely manner after months of deadlock.

But lurking underneath such hopeful assuredness have been strong signals the Trump administration may be gearing up to fulfill the President's threat of a third round of tariffs on $267 billion in Chinese goods, if talks fail.

In the last two weeks, Trump's top trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, has said Beijing had done little to fix top US concerns tied to technology transfers, intellectual property and innovation in his updated report of the US government's investigation of China's unfair trade practices. He also announced a week later he had been directed by the President to "examine all tools" available to address significantly higher tariffs imposed by the Chinese government on US car makers.

Trump also added another layer of ambiguity this week when he told reporters on the South Lawn at the White House as he departed for Buenos Aires that the United States and China were "very close" to striking a deal, while quickly adding he was willing to stick with the status quo of billions of dollars of tariffs on Chinese goods since they were helping to fill the US government's coffers.

"But I don't know if I want to do it, because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes," said Trump Thursday morning. "Frankly, I like the deal we have right now."

Experts saw the President's remarks as yet another attempt by the Trump administration to create an even bigger advantage over China to force them to "take a couple of other steps" in the lead up to talks. Earlier this month, Trump described an initial offer by Beijing negotiators as "not acceptable," claiming "we'll probably get them, too," following calls between the two presidents as well as between Mnuchin and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He.

"That's a good thing," said Allen. "We want the best deal we can get. This deal has to address the structural issues -- and it's very difficult."

In a blow to moderate advisers like Mnuchin and National Economic Director Larry Kudlow, Trump asked Peter Navarro, his White House trade adviser and a renowned China hawk, to travel with him to Buenos Aires in yet another show of force. The invitation came after the White House had said he wouldn't join the President's delegation. The move was seen by experts as a way for hardliners like Navarro and Lighthizer, the US trade representative, to amplify their messaging to the President.

This week's mixed messages from Washington to some extent reflects deep divisions in Trump's own West Wing between free traders -- including those with Wall Street backgrounds like Mnuchin and Kudlow -- and trade hawks like Lighthizer and Navarro.

For now, Trump and his surrogates, including Lighthizer, have each hinted since their arrival in Argentina that "success" could be on the horizon when the two leaders meet tonight. A similar sentiment was echoed just a few days earlier by Kudlow, who told reporters Tuesday, "I'm sure they'll be very respectful of each other."

"It's a question of what is in Trump's mind at this point," said Robert Khun, a long-time adviser to Chinese leaders and host of CTGN's Closer to China with R.L. Kuhn. "The best bluff is the one when you're not bluffing. I do not think it's entirely a bluff, I think he's prepared to do much more aggressive things. He thinks in his heart of hearts that his threats will be believed and people will work harder to obviate that threat from being actualized. He's using his tough guys to bring that home. I think that's clear."

While close observers noted the usual bluster from both sides as they sent signals they were inching toward some kind of deal this week, there's still wide agreement over a change in the rhetoric from the two countries, especially after months of silence.

"There's been a noticeable change over the last month," said Jeremie Waterman, president of the China Center for the US Chamber of Commerce. "It's been fairly clear that the two presidents would like to have a positive meeting with some kind of positive, forward-looking outcome that hopefully de-escalates."

The high-stakes tete-a-tete in Argentina is the only formally scheduled meeting on the books between Trump and Xi, and comes weeks ahead of a January 1 deadline set by Trump to raise tariffs on $200 billion in goods to 25% from 10%. On Friday, Trump said he sees "some good signs" as negotiators for both sides are "working very hard." He also noted Kudlow and his staff have been "dealing with them on a constant basis" referring to negotiators from Beijing. "I think they want to and I think we'd like to so we'll see," said Trump.

Long-time US-Sino relations experts say that not since President Richard Nixon's seven-day official visit to China in 1972 has a meeting between two countries been so critical. The trip, which Nixon dubbed "the week that changed the world," ended a 25-year diplomatic stalemate between the two nations.

"There is an incentive to compromise," said Cheng Le, director of the John L. Thornton Center at the Brookings Institution. "If you do not reach a positive result that will embarrass both leaders, that risk caring about the relationship. We are entering a very, very troubling period in US-China relations."

Still, experts cast doubt over how much detailed agreement would be ironed out at the leaders' dinner, suggesting any agreement will likely set off a heavy to-do list for Cabinet officials to work out very quickly.

"I don't think it's our expectation that the two presidents are going to get into a lot of detail, and of course, they are going to have other issues to talk about beyond just trade," said Waterman. "Not every problem is going to be solved overnight."

While the Andaman Coast is most closely associated with Thailand's southwest shore, it actually elongates all the way from southern Myanmar to northern Malaysia.

Along the way are popular beach resorts like Phuket, Krabi and Langkawi, legendary dive spots like the Similan Islands, as well as under the radar treasures such as Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago.

In his public writings, Jamal Khashoggi's criticism of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was measured. In private, the Washington Post columnist didn't hold back.

In more than 400 WhatsApp messages sent to a fellow Saudi exile in the year before he was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Khashoggi describes bin Salman -- often referred to as MBS -- as a "beast," a "pac-man" who would devour all in his path, even his supporters.
CNN has been granted exclusive access to the correspondence between Khashoggi and Montreal-based activist Omar Abdulaziz. The messages shared by Abdulaziz, which include voice recordings, photos and videos, paint a picture of a man deeply troubled by what he regarded as the petulance of his kingdom's powerful young prince.
"The more victims he eats, the more he wants," says Khashoggi in one message sent in May, just after a group of Saudi activists had been rounded up. "I will not be surprised if the oppression will reach even those who are cheering him on."

An injured woman sits on the ground as police officers spray yellow vest protesters with tear gas during a protest in Paris.

A burned car is left in the street a day after Saturday's yellow vests demonstration against rising oil prices and living costs in Paris.

Riot police officers stand in position during clashes with demonstrators.

A demonstrator treats a wounded man during a protest where police and demonstrators clashed, injuring dozens.

Demonstrators destroy cars.

The head of Britain's foreign spy service, Alex Younger, spoke out Monday against adversaries planning to threaten British law and values.

Younger, head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) -- better known as MI6 -- addressed students at St. Andrews University, in a speech that mentioned enemies who believe in a "state of perpetual confrontation" with the UK.

He spoke about the Salisbury chemical weapons attack, for which two Russian nationals were charged, and the work of MI6 in disrupting planned ISIS terror attacks, before urging "Russia or any other state intent on subverting our way of life not to underestimate our determination and our capabilities, or those of our allies."

Younger's comments follow recent statements from top British security officials condemning Moscow.

Britain's new army chief last month called Russia a "far greater threat" than ISIS. Gen. Mark Carleton-Smith, Chief of the General Staff, told The Telegraph that Britain "cannot be complacent about the threat Russia poses."

"The Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it," he added.

The MI6 headquarters in London

Younger also emphasized the commitment of MI6 to UK law and values, as well as the evolution of intelligence work as new technologies make for a "blurred line between the cyber and physical worlds."

"The era of the fourth industrial revolution calls for a fourth-generation espionage: fusing our traditional human skills with accelerated innovation, new partnerships and a mindset that mobilizes diversity and empowers the young," he said.

He mentioned the importance of strategic alliances in disrupting terrorist threats and underlined the commitment of MI6 to strengthening security ties in Europe, before encouraging young people from diverse backgrounds to join the service.

"I want to speak to young people who have never seen themselves in MI6 ... it doesn't matter where you are from," he said.

"If you want to make a difference and you think you might have what it takes, then the chances are that you do have what it takes, and we hope you will step forward."

Younger, who is known as C, has only made one other public speech in his four years as head of the SIS.

In December 2016, he spoke out on Russia's role in the Syrian conflict, which he called an "unfolding tragedy."

"I believe the Russian conduct in Syria, allied with that of (Bashar al-Assad's) discredited regime, will, if they do not change course, provide a tragic example of the perils of forfeiting legitimacy," he said.

America may get its most intimate look yet inside Robert Mueller's secretive Russia investigation in the next four days, with a series of disclosures that have the potential to be greatly damaging for President Donald Trump.

Court filings focusing on Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, on Tuesday and his ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Friday could offer tantalizing new details of Mueller's deep dive into the 2016 campaign.

If the special counsel lives up to his reputation, his filings will feature surprising revelations and rich texture to color the picture he has already painted in indictments and witness testimony of a culture of endemic dishonesty in Trump's orbit about multiple, so far unexplainable, ties with Russians.

He may also begin to add context and answers to some of the intriguing clues he has dropped in a probe that has so far seen three people sentenced, one convicted at trial and seven guilty pleas and has charged 36 people and entities with a total of 192 criminal counts.

With each twist of the investigation, a fascinating trove is building of hints and implied connections, odd coincidences and apparent shady links between key players that is crying out for explanation. 

It is now clear that Mueller is building a layered narrative, starting at the edge of the drama, by first exposing Russian election interference and fingering the culprits in Moscow's spy agencies. He has bolstered his story with successful swoops against former Trump aides like Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, showing their ties to pro-Russian figures in Ukrainian politics, in a case ostensibly about financial fraud in the dubious trade of international lobbying.

There has been speculation that he is trying to leave a detailed paper trail in public in case Trump manages to fire him in a power play or he is somehow constrained in his writing of a final report.

The continuum running through the investigation showing links between Trump's associates and businesses and Russia has been often subtle.

But it's increasingly hard to miss as Mueller plows into a new phase, one that is making it increasingly difficult for the President's defenders to claim that wrongdoing he has discovered unfolded far from the President's oblivious gaze.

Stepping up the pace of his probe since the midterm elections, Mueller has moved in a direction that appears increasingly threatening to the President, including his crossing of Trump's red line by showing interest in his family real estate empire.

Yes, you read that correctly -- subterranean. While the idea of a semi-underwater hotel isn't novel -- the recent underwater suite at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island being a notable example -- InterContinental Shanghai Wonderlandis a new concept.

Built into the side of a quarry in the Sheshan Mountain Range, the hotel has 336 rooms on 18 floors.

Shimao Wonderland InterContinental was built inside a quarry.

Sixteen of the floors are underground, with the lowest two submerged inside a 33-foot-deep aquarium.

Guests in those rooms can watch fish swim by -- and they also get 24/7 personal butler service while they do it.

The hotel has been nicknamed the "earthscraper," as it's the opposite of a skyscraper.

A natural wonder

Built by Studio JADE+QA in association with British firm Atkins, behind the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, the "pit hotel" required innovative engineering solutions and more than 5,000 people to complete.

Guests who don't get the aquarium views will all have a room balcony with views of purpose-built waterfalls spilling down the quarry walls. There's also a glass-bottomed walkway for exploring the area further.

For thrillseekers, the hotel makes use of its position inside a craggy pit to provide bungee jumping and rock climbing opportunities.

And if you just need to unwind after all that adventure? There's a bar -- appropriately called The Quarry.

Living landscapes

Set near the Sheshan Mountain Range, Sheshan National Forest Park and Chenshan Botanic Gardens, the 61,000-square-meter resort aims to be a home base for environmentally minded travelers.

The architectural plan was designed to reduce impact on the environment by keeping the majority of construction within the disused pit.

"This is such a unique opportunity that gives me some really interesting ideas of reshaping the relationship between city and nature," the hotel's architect, Martin Jochman, says of the property.

In addition, the hotel plans to generate its own geothermal and solar energy to power everyday functions.

On site, there's also a green rooftop that disappears into the surrounding landscape and doubles as a place where travelers can relax and explore.

An old-fashioned girl-and-her-giant-robot story, "Bumblebee" is unexpectedly appealing, a "Transformers" prequel played at a much more modest pitch. Cleverly set in 1987 (when, incidentally, the toy-driven original animated series ended), this well-tuned vehicle leverages that nostalgia factor for all It's worth, especially in its pop-culture touchstones.

Hailee Steinfeld stars in "Bumblebee."

The film opens on the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron, where they're promptly forced to retreat. One of the soldiers, B-127, is dispatched to Earth, hoping to prepare it for his brethren -- and not incidentally, thwart any evil Decepticons that might follow him there.

In the movie's clunkiest twist, the yellow fellow initially crashes among a group of government operatives, led by the hard-charging Agent Jack Burns (John Cena). It's mostly an excuse for a big action sequence before the movie segues into a lower-key mode, after the Autobot soon to be christened Bumblebee is taken in by Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), a just-turned-18-year-old desperate for a car, even if it's a beat-up Volkswagen Beetle.

Still grieving over her father's death, Charlie is very much in need of a pal to shake her out of her funk. Like Elliott in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," she must conceal Bumblebee from her mom (Pamela Adlon, odd casting that), while learning to communicate with her new ride, who uses song snippets to respond.

The "E.T." reference is perhaps too charitable, since "Bumblebee" is just as much a mechanized "Mighty Joe Young." The net effect, though, is to set up an us-against-the-world dynamic, creating an excuse for Charlie to bond with the nerdy neighbor (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), who, until this new development, struggles to muster the courage to speak to her.

Notably, director Travis Knight is an animation veteran, whose credits include "Kubo and the Two Strings" and (as a producer) "The Boxtrolls." "Bumblebee" definitely has a more family-friendly feel, which doesn't mean there's not plenty of action involving giant mechanized warriors beating the oil out of each other.

Most happily, the movie (written by Christina Hodson) proves disarmingly witty, working "The Breakfast Club" into its shtick, referencing the Cold War not long before the Berlin Wall comes tumbling down and indulging in teen hijinks -- like toilet-papering a house -- that Bumblebee embraces with a little too much gusto.

Admittedly, some of this praise comes from a place of utter skepticism with a five-film franchise that -- under the stewardship of director Michael Bay -- is a sort-of poster child for empty-headed blockbusters that play well internationally because explosions are a universal language and the dialogue's mostly irrelevant anyway.

The production notes refer to this as a "kinder, gentler" take on "Transformers," which sounds better than a "quieter, less irritating" one.

Even grading on a curve, though, this is a solidly executed story, tapping the familiar theme of a troubled kid whose life is changed by an extraordinary visitor. And it's grounded in reality thanks to Steinfeld, a budding star basically reprising the character she played in the indie film, "The Edge of Seventeen," only with a lot more destruction of property.

Joining a movie series that has consistently added up to less, creatively speaking, than the sum of its parts, for once there really is more to "Bumblebee" than meets the eye.

Meng Wanzhou, also known as Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng, was apprehended in Vancouver on December 1, according to Canadian Justice Department spokesman Ian McLeod. In addition to her role as CFO, Meng serves as deputy chairwoman of Huawei's board. She's the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.

Meng "is sought for extradition by the United States, and a bail hearing has been set for Friday," McLeod said in a statement, which was first reported by The Globe and Mail.

McLeod said the Canadian Justice Department can't share details of the case. Meng was granted a publication ban after a judge agreed to bar both police and prosecutors from releasing information about the case.

Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei

A Huawei spokesperson said Meng was detained by Canadian Authorities on behalf of the United States when she was transferring flights in Canada. Huawei said she faces unspecified charges in the Eastern District of New York. The Wall Street Journal reported in April that the US Justice Department was investigating whether Huawei violated US sanctions on Iran.

"The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng," the spokesperson said. "The company believes the Canadian and US legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion. Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU."

The Chinese company, which sells smartphones and telecommunications equipment around the world, has been facing increased scrutiny in the United States and other countries, where officials have warned of potential national security risks from using Huawei products. The United States is concerned that the Chinese government could be using Huawei's networking technology to spy on Americans.

Huawei told CNN Business last month that its equipment is trusted by customers in 170 countries and by 46 of the world's 50 largest telecommunications companies.

An F/A-18E and An F/A-18F (front) Super Hornet stand ready on the US navy's super carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Mediterranean Sea on July 7, 2016. (Photo credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

It is believed five individuals were on board a KC-130 and two individuals were in a F/A-18, two US defense officials told CNN. At least one Marine had been rescued just before 6 p.m. ET, according to a Marine Corps spokesman.

"Search and rescue operations continue for US Marine Corps aircraft that were involved in a mishap off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 am Dec. 6," local time, a statement by the US Marine Corps reads.

The planes "had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred," according to the statement.

The crashes happened approximately 200 miles off the coast of Iwakuni, Japan, a US Marine Corps official tells CNN.

The primary mission of a KC-130 is airborne refueling. It is not known at this time if the aircraft was refueling at the time of the crash.

"The circumstances of the mishap are currently under investigation," the statement said..

"Japanese search and rescue aircraft immediately responded to aid in recovery," according to the statement.

Wednesday's incident comes on the same day that the Marines released a report on a crash in July 2017, also involving a KC-130 variant that killed 15 Marines and one sailor.

That KC-130T crash took place in Leflore County, Mississippi, and the "investigation determined that the aircraft's propeller did not receive proper depot-level maintenance during its last overhaul ... in September 2011, which missed corrosion that may have contributed to the propeller blade" coming loose during the flight and going into the aircraft's fuselage, according to a Marine Corps statement on the investigation.

A new study shows that Greenland's ice sheet is melting at an "unprecedented" rate.

Greenland's massive ice sheets contain enough water to raise global sea levels by 23 feet, and a new study shows that they are melting at a rate "unprecedented" over centuries -- and likely thousands of years.

The study, published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, found that Greenland's ice loss accelerated rapidly in the past two decades after remaining relatively stable since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s.
Today, Greenland's ice sheets are melting at a rate 50% higher than pre-industrial levels and 33% above 20th-century levels, the scientists found.

In the wake of October's dire report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that civilization has just more than a decade to stave off climate catastrophe, Thursday's report spells more bad news for the planet, especially the millions of people living near the world's oceans.
Melting from Greenland's ice sheet is the largest single driver of global sea level rise, which scientists predict could swamp coastal cities and settlements in the coming decades.
Eight of the 10 largest cities in the world are near coasts, and 40% to 50% of the global population lives in coastal areas vulnerable to rising seas.

The study also found that Greenland's ice loss is driven primarily by warmer summer air and that even small rises in temperature can trigger exponential increases in the ice's melt rate.

"As the atmosphere continues to warm, melting will outpace that warming and continue to accelerate," said Luke Trusel, an assistant professor at Rowan University and study co-author.

According to Trusel, the current thought in the scientific community is that there is a temperature threshold that could trigger a point of no return for the eventual melting of Greenland and Antarctica's ice sheets. And though we don't know exactly what that temperature tipping point is, "what's clear is that the more we warm, the more ice melts."

"Once the ice sheets reach these tipping points, it's thought that they'll go into a state of irreversible retreat, so they'll be responding to what we do now for centuries and milliennia into the future," Trusel said.

The arrest of a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei at the request of the US government has angered Beijing, alarmed investors and raised new doubts about the fragile truce that the leaders of the world's top two economies reached just days ago.

"You have to see this as a significant escalation in the trade war," said Christopher Balding, a China expert at the Fulbright University Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City.

Viewed by US intelligence agencies as a national security threat, Huawei is one of China's most prominent tech companies. It sells more smartphones than Apple (AAPL) and builds telecommunications networks in countries around the world.

Canadian authorities said late Wednesday that Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, had been arrested in Vancouver and that the United States is seeking her extradition.

The US and Canadian governments haven't specified what charges Meng faces, but her arrest follows reports this year that the US Justice Department was investigating whether Huawei violated American sanctions on Iran.

"Under the Obama administration, the US indicted Chinese personnel on similar charges, but was reluctant to take more drastic action such as arresting the individuals in third countries, over fear that Beijing would retaliate against US interests in China or in other countries," Eurasia Group political risk analysts wrote in a note.

Meng's arrest "suggests that the gloves are now fully off in this arena," the analysts said.

What happens next to Meng, the daughter of Huawei's reclusive founder, could have huge repercussions for the US-China relationship and Huawei's business.

What does it mean for the trade war?

The arrest comes as the US and Chinese governments are discussing ways to tackle problems that led to their trade conflict, which has resulted in new tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods.

"This type of action will affect the atmosphere around the negotiations — making them less likely to bring a sustainable settlement," the Eurasia Group analysts said.

China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday it was confident a trade agreement with the United States could still be reached in time to hit a 90-day deadline set by President Donald Trump.

But the Chinese government is clearly angry about Meng's arrest. The Foreign Ministry called on the United States and Canada to "immediately correct the wrongdoing" and restore her "personal freedom."

The big question is what Beijing and Washington do now. Analysts suggest China could retaliate, and the Trump administration may be preparing other moves against Chinese interests.

The stakes are extremely high.

"This case is like a sharp tug on a loose thread that could be part of an unraveling of the relationship," said Scott Kennedy, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. "Both sides need to proceed with abundant caution and a clear sense of their long term interests."

Technology is at the heart of the trade war. The Trump administration says the huge waves of tariffs it has slapped on Chinese goods are part of an effort to stop China from getting its hands on American technology unfairly through practices like cybertheft and forcing companies to hand over trade secrets.

The return to the negotiating table follows a ceasefire reached at a dinner between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Saturday.

Balding pointed out that the deal was reached the same day that Meng was arrested in Canada.

"That is very politically embarrassing to Xi," he said. "It has to be considered an escalation."

What does it mean for Huawei?

The arrest is one of the strongest moves yet against Huawei by US authorities.

The company is largely shut out of supplying telecommunications equipment to US carriers. American officials have repeatedly alleged that the Chinese government could use Huawei products for espionage — claims the company denies.

Meng's case "could be a prelude to further action against the firm and its senior officials," Eurasia Group analysts said.

Huawei's smaller rival, ZTE (ZTCOF), provides an example of how the US government could go further. The Chinese company was crippled for months after the US Commerce Department blocked it from buying vital parts from American companies.

The ban threatened to put ZTE out of business and highlighted China's continued reliance on American technology, a vulnerability Beijing is eager to reduce. ZTE eventually got a reprieve after Xi personally asked Trump for help. But the crisis caused disruption for telecommunications carriers ZTE supplies around the world.

A similar ban on Huawei would have a bigger impact because its equipment is more widely used.

A Huawei stand at an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai. The company is one of China's leading tech businesses, filing huge numbers of patents.

Huawei said in a statement about Meng's arrest that it "has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng."

"Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU," it added.

The next moves in Meng's case are key.

"There is a lot of legal and diplomatic wrangling ahead," Balding said. "The US and Canada would not have taken this move lightly and it puts everything in a brand new light."

Rare JRR Tolkien poem The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun to be republished

Early version of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings can be seen in this take on a medieval Breton ballad, out of print for 70 years

Santa Claus sits in his chamber at the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, the provincial capital of Finnish Lapland and situated on the Arctic Circle.

1. Malta

Visiting presepju, or nativity scenes, is an integral part of Christmas in Malta. Every year, residents proudly open their shutters, and sometimes even their garage doors, to display their holy crib confections to the public.

On a grander scale, the Bethlehem f'Ghajnsielem is a life-size nativity spread over 20,0000 square meters of formerly abandoned fields.

Inhabited and animated by more than 150 actors, including entire families, the village takes visitors back in time to Judea of 2,000 years ago, complete with oil lamps, turn mills, grazing animals, crafts areas teaching traditional skills and folklore, a tavern and, of course, a grotto housing baby Jesus.

Downtown Valletta is also home to a lively Christmas spirit, with carolers singing outside the Baroque St. John's Co-Cathedral during Advent, and a dizzying display of Christmas lights on Republic Street.

The Manoel Theater is well known for its annual Christmas pantomime. (Old Theatre Street, Il-Belt Valletta, Malta; +356 2124 6389)

A visit to the privately owned Malta Toy Museum, featuring dolls, soldiers, train sets, and clockwork tin trinkets dating as far back as the 1790s, is a heartwarming homage to childhood. (222 Republic St, Valletta, Malta; +356 2125 1652)

Downtown Valletta, Malta, is filled with Christmas spirit. Visitors can check out carolers singing outside the Baroque St. John's Co-Cathedral during Advent and a dizzying display of Christmas lights on Republic Street. Click through the gallery for 14 more great Christmas vacation destinations

2. Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona's Copa Nadal is a 200-meter swimming competition across the harbor on Christmas Day.

Anyone who can manage to extend their Christmas holiday until Three King's Day (January 6 in 2019), can catch up with Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar in Barcelona.

On the evening of January 5, they arrive at the city's port on the Santa Eulalia -- their very own ship -- in bearded and velvet-robed splendor. Cannons are fired, fireworks are set off, and as the mayor hands them the keys to the city, the magic of the Magi officially commences.

They parade through the streets in a magnificent cavalcade of floats that includes camels, elephants, giraffes and dazzling costumes.

3. Salzburg and Oberndorf, Austria

Is this Christmas or Halloween in Salzburg? You'll have to go there to find out.

Birthplace of Mozart and filming location for "The Sound of Music," Salzburg is chocolate-box perfect. Think snow-capped mountains, Baroque architecture and traditional Christmas markets.

It's even the home of "Silent Night." The popular hymn was performed for the first time in nearby Oberndorf on Christmas Eve 1918.

The town also plays host to a more unusual Yuletide tradition. Across Austria and Bavaria, in December people dress up as terrifying Alpine beasts known as krampuses and rampage through the streets in search of naughty children in need of punishment.

The Krampus Runs in Salzburg are held on various dates in December.

A poem “from the darker side of JRR Tolkien’s imagination”, which hints at an early version of the elf queen Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings, is due to be published for the first time in more than 70 years this November.

Tolkien’s The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, which was published in 1945 in literary journal The Welsh Review and has been out of print ever since, is a lengthy poem in the tradition of the medieval lay, inspired by the Celtic legends of Brittany. It tells of a couple who are desperate for a child. Aotrou visits a witch “who span dark spells with spider-craft, / and as she span she softly laughed”. She gives him a potion and his wife bears twins. But riding through the forest, he meets the witch again. Now transformed from a “crone” into a beautiful woman, the Corrigan – a generic Breton term for a person of fairy race – says he must marry her or die.

From the darker side ... Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel and James Loye as Frodo in the 2007 adaptation of The Lord Of The Rings at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

He refuses and dies three days later. His wife then dies of grief. “And if their children lived yet long, / or played in garden hale and strong, / they saw it not, nor found it sweet / their heart’s desire at last to meet.”

HarperCollins, which will publish the poem along with Tolkien’s other poems about the Corrigan on 3 November, called it “an important non Middle-earth work to set alongside his other retellings of existing myth and legend”. These include The Story of Kullervo, a teenage Tolkien’s retelling of a Finnish epic poem, and his 200-page poem The Fall of Arthur.

According to Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of the author, the earliest manuscript for The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (Breton for “lord and lady”, explains Carpenter) is dated September 1930.

HarperCollins said: “The sequence shows the Corrigan’s increasingly powerful presence, as she takes an ever more active role in the lives of Aotrou and Itroun … She would finally emerge, changed in motive and character but still recognisable, in The Lord of the Rings as the beautiful and terrible Lady of the Golden Wood, the Elven queen Galadriel.” It added that the poem comes “from the darker side” of Tolkien’s imagination.

In the poem, the Corrigan’s voice is described as “cold / as echo from the world of old, / ere fire was found or iron hewn, / when young was mountain under moon”, echoing the cold beauty of Galadriel.

Tolkien annotated map of Middle-earth acquired by Bodleian library

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Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger, a professor emerita at the University of Maryland, is editing and introducing the new edition, which also includes a new preface from Christopher Tolkien. Flieger called it “dark, powerful, compelling, a significant departure from the Tolkien we think we know”.

It is derived, said Flieger, “from a well-known folkloric tale-type of the human who strays into the Faerie world and who pays the price, such as the ballads of Tam Lin and Thomas Rhymer”. Although there are Irish and Welsh versions of the story, she says that Tolkien’s version is closest in subject matter to the Breton ballad Lord Nann and the Corrigan, which the author owned a copy of.

With a flurry of “new” works by Tolkien released over the last decade, from 2007’s Middle-earth story The Children of Hurin, to the 2014 release of his translation of Beowulf, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun “is worthy of publication now for several reasons”, said Flieger. “First, it is a fine example of Tolkien’s poetic power and his ability to handle different verse forms – in this case the octosyllabic rhyming couplets of French romance, which he also used for The Lay of Leithian from his own legendarium.” The Lay of Leithian is a long poem telling the story of Tolkien’s Middle-earth characters Beren and Lúthien.

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, said Flieger, vividly shows the author’s interest “in paganism and in the dark side of what he called Faerie, the perilous realm or Otherworld of enchantment.” She said it will also give Tolkien’s readers “his most developed example of a folklore archetype I will call The Dark Lady, the beautiful but malevolent fay or fairy who preys upon humans, and thus foreshadows his Guinevere, described as ‘fair as fay-woman in the world walking for the woe of men’.”

In his JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century, Tom Shippey writes that the poem is animated by the question of how far a believing Christian could go “in dealings with pre- or non-Christians”. While the poem is derived from a late Breton ballad, he writes, “what seems original to Tolkien is the poem’s stern morality”, because in Tolkien’s version the death of Aotrou “is deserved, or at least prompted by [his] attempt to sway Providence by supernatural forces”.

“Aotrou’s sin lay not in submitting to the Corrigan,” he writes. “It lay in having any dealings with her at all.”

Over 40s 'have more babies' than under 20s

Women over 40 are having more babies than the under 20s for the first time in nearly 70 years, official figures for England and Wales show.

The Office for National Statistics data showed there were 697,852 live births in 2015.

There were 15.2 births per 1,000 women aged over 40, compared with just 14.5 per 1,000 women in their teens.

The last time the over 40s had the higher fertility rate was in 1947, in the wake of WWII.

The figures show two key trends in who is having children and when in England and Wales.