Trump launches new military strike against Syria

The united states released a navy strike Thursday on a Syrian authorities airbase in response to a chemical guns assault that killed dozens of civilians in advance of the week.

On President Donald Trump's orders, US warships released fifty-nine Tomahawk cruise missiles on the airbase that turned into domestic to the warplanes that achieved the chemical assaults, US officials stated.

The strike is the primary direct military action taken by using America towards the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad within the country's six-12 months civil battle. It represents a substantial escalation of the USA army marketing campaign in the region, and could be interpreted by the Syrian authorities as an act of struggle.
Trump on Syria's Assad: 'something must happen'
Trump on Syria's Assad: 'some thing need to manifest'
Six people were killed in the airstrike, in keeping with a televised assertion by the Syrian's armed forces preferred Command. Russia condemned the strike as an "act of aggression," and Assad's workplace Friday called it "a disgraceful act" that "can best be defined as brief-sighted."
"this night, I ordered a focused navy strike at the air area in Syria from in which the chemical attack become launched," Trump stated throughout short remarks to newshounds at Mar-a-Lago, in which he ordered the strike simply hours in advance. "it's miles on this crucial country wide security of the united states to save you and deter the spread and use of lethal chemical guns."
He introduced: "There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical guns, violated its obligations under the Chemical guns conference and left out the urging of the UN protection Council. Years of previous attempts at converting Assad's behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically."


Shift in coverage
Trump's selection marked a dramatic shift in his role on whether or not the USA must take military motion towards the Syrian President's regime -- which Trump adverse all through his campaign for president -- and came after the President become visibly and publicly moved by the pics of this week's chemical guns assault.
US warships launch cruise missiles at Syria 00:33
The strike happened at 8:40 p.M. ET (3:40 a.M. Neighborhood time), whilst there might be minimal pastime at the base. It targeted aircraft, plane shelters, petroleum and logistical garage, ammunition delivers bunkers, air defense structures, and "the matters that make the airfield operate," Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis instructed journalists. The missiles had been launched from warships within the gap Mediterranean.
Oil fees soar after US missile strike on Syria
"initial indicators are that this strike has seriously broken or destroyed Syrian plane and help infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat Airfield, lowering the Syrian authorities' capacity to supply chemical guns," the Pentagon stated in a declaration.
A US protection legit instructed CNN Friday morning that an initial struggle harm evaluation from the strike become that 58 of the fifty-nine missiles "significantly degraded or destroyed" their intended target. The reliable cautioned that that is simply the earliest assessment the use of radar and that more study assessments using satellites and different surveillance continue to be pending.
Thirty-six of the Tomahawks have been fired from the americaRoss and the other 23 had been released from the americaPorter, the authentic introduced.
Briefing journalists late Thursday night time, Secretary of country Rex Tillerson stated that the strike did not constitute an "exchange in our policy or our posture in Syria," although it marked the first time America had decided to take army movement against the Syrian authorities.

Malia Obama Vs. Ivanka Trump: Which Presidential Daughter’s Style Is Your Fave?

Both Malia Obama and Ivanka Trump have such unique but incredible personal style. So which presidential daughter is your favorite fashionista? Check out our photo gallery of the chic ladies and take our poll as to who is the bigger clothing icon!
Our nation has two incredibly fashionable first daughters, as Ivanka Trump wows with her professional style as she helps advise her father Donald Trump with his presidential duties. Meanwhile Malia Obama has made the streets of New York City her own personal runway as she arrives at her New York City internship with the Weinstein Company and she never fails to disappoint us with her cool street chic outfits. We’ve got an amazing photo gallery for you to check out and tell us which presidential daughter has your favorite personal style! Click to see pics.


Ivanka is a working mother of three, so her outfits range from casual when she’s tending to her children’s needs to high style with her professional duties. She tends to favor smart dresses over pantsuits when it comes to her work wear, and loves to show off her gorgeous toned legs with high heels.

The 35-year-old has rocked expensive designer looks on a number of occasions, but also shows she has a thrifty side to go with lower budget looks. On the campaign trail she often wore dresses from her own brand (the one that Nordstrom’s dropped) which ran between $100-$300 an outfit. She also recycled a $113 pink velvet pleated number for a birthday party on Mar. 30.

Malia Obama’s Internship Outfits — See Pics
Malia, 18, showed off her keen sense of fashion while her father was still in White House, as the teen rocked simple yet bright dresses on a number of occasions. Now that she’s got an office job, she’s stepped up her fashion game yet still has such a great, youthful flair. The 6’1″ beauty’s casual flair tends towards black leggings and jeans and she absolutely loves wearing black ankle boots. She has a collection of cool jackets that range from a tan shearling number to a burgundy parka. Malia even slays when she keeps things super simple with a pair of Converse sneakers!

HollywoodLifers, which presidential daughter’s style do you prefer, is it Ivanka’s polished glam looks or Malia’s youthful chic outfits? Take our poll and VOTE!

Congress Faces a Ticking Clock as Recess Looms

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter

Tick-tock, tick-tock: So much to do, so little time
As House Freedom Caucus members try to resuscitate last month's failed health-care effort, here's an important reminder: Per NBC's Alex Moe, Congress goes on recess starting Friday, and it doesn't return until April 25 — three days before government funding expires on April 28. So not only does Congress have to cram to keep the government open later this month, this also means that ANY window to make another health-care push is very small this month, especially if Republicans want to minimize the noise they get from their constituents back home.

Still, if the GOP is going to try to get a deal, doing it now — as the political world is focused on the Supreme Court fight and Russia — is probably as good as any time. And we have to say, this activity from the House Freedom Caucus and the Trump White House, even if it's all for naught, appears to be a recognition of the fear of not trying health care one more time.

Trump thinks he can get a health-care deal
NBC's Kristen Welker on her impromptu Oval Office meeting with Trump yesterday: "President Trump told me he is serious about working on health care reform. He said his conversation with Sen. Rand Paul on the golf course went very well and they did discuss specifics although no details given. The president said the notion that he has given up on health care is false, noting that he is still negotiating. When I asked if he is currently eyeing Democrats to build a coalition, the president said not at this time. The president said he is talking to moderate and conservative Republicans and thinks he can get a deal."

Boy, that escalated quickly — Russia edition
The leaks and counter-leaks are something else right now. Consider these three stories in the past 24 hours:

Blackwater founder, the Seychelles, and Russia: "The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials," the Washington Post reports. "The meeting took place around Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump's inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions." The Trump White House has said that it wasn't aware of Prince's meetings, and that he had no role in the transition.
Carter Page is back in the news: "A former campaign adviser for Donald Trump met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013," per Buzzfeed. "The adviser, Carter Page, met with a Russian intelligence operative named Victor Podobnyy, who was later charged by the US government alongside two others for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government. The charges, filed in January 2015, came after federal investigators busted a Russian spy ring that was seeking information on US sanctions as well as efforts to develop alternative energy. Page is an energy consultant." Per NBC's Kristen Welker, Page released this statement: "Consistent with the politically motivated unmasking standards seen in the Obama administration which have recently been exposed, my personal identity and earlier assistance of federal authorities in the 2015 case of USA vs. BURYAKOV, SPORYSHEV and PODOBNYY was framed in an easily identifiable way that amplified the reputational damage against me."

Susan Rice is back in the news, too: "White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign," Bloomberg's Eli Lake reported. "The pattern of Rice's requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government's policy on 'unmasking' the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like 'U.S. Person One.'"

Unmasking isn't leaking — and it certainly isn't wiretapping
The New York Times: Trump's "broadside against his predecessor coincided with a string of reports in conservative news media outlets that Susan E. Rice, Mr. Obama's national security adviser, requested the identities of Americans who were cited in intelligence reports about surveillance of foreign officials, and who were connected with Mr. Trump's campaign or transition. Former national security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the requests as normal and said they were justified by the need for the president's top security adviser to understand the context of reports sent to her by the nation's intelligence agencies. The process of 'unmasking' Americans whose names are redacted in intelligence reports, they said, is not the same thing as leaking them publicly."

Still at DEFCON 1: Democrats now have enough votes to filibuster Gorsuch
With yesterday's Senate announcements, NBC's Capitol Hill team can now count 42 Democratic senators saying they will vote to filibuster Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court — enough to filibuster Gorsuch's nomination. If Senate Democrats filibuster his nomination we will likely see Republicans use the so-called "nuclear option" to lower the threshold to invoke cloture, something Senate Democrats did in 2013 for all nominees other than Supreme Court nominees. That would likely happen on Thursday, setting up a final confirmation vote on Friday.

Democrats who support Gorsuch and cloture (3)

Joe Manchin
Heidi Heitkamp
Joe Donnelly
Democrats who support cloture but are undecided on Gorsuch (1)

Michael Bennet
Democrats against Gorsuch and cloture (42)

Chuck Schumer
Bob Casey
Bernie Sanders
Tammy Baldwin
Tom Carper
Jeff Merkley
Ron Wyden
Elizabeth Warren
Ed Markey
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kamala Harris
Patty Murray
Tom Udall
Sherrod Brown
Sheldon Whitehouse
Jack Reed
Al Franken
Bill Nelson
Mazie Hirono
Debbie Stabenow
Gary Peters
Dick Durbin
Cory Booker
Chris Van Hollen
Chris Murphy
Jeanne Shaheen
Amy Klobuchar
Maggie Hassan
Tim Kaine
Martin Heinrich
Maria Cantwell
Catherine Cortez Masto
Tammy Duckworth
Richard Blumenthal
Brian Schatz
Claire McCaskill
Jon Tester
Dianne Feinstein
Mark Warner
Pat Leahy
Chris Coons
Ben Cardin
Democrats who are undecided/unannounced (2)

Angus King
Bob Menendez
Trump's Day

At 10:45 am ET, President Trump hosts a town-hall meeting with CEOs… And at 12:30 pm ET, he makes remarks at the American Building Trades Unions National Legislative Conference.

Blatant Backfires in Sponsored

Two years have passed since The Atlantic’s spectacular Church of Scientology native content fail. While much time has passed, the incident remains a critical case study for any company dipping its toes into sponsored content waters. Of course, if you’re advertising in The Atlantic, you’re covered: the publication acted swiftly and with certainty to salvage its previously impeccable reputation by pulling the piece and creating new editorial guidelines.

Most sponsored content doesn’t appear in such weighty publications, so you may well find yourself on your own when it comes to creating native content that is truly native. In our next post, we’ll look at an example of effective, well-integrated native content (also from The Atlantic) but first, a cautionary tale.

In January of 2013, The Atlantic published a piece entitled “David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year”. The content was marked as sponsored content, but formatted and placed like an article.

That, of course, is the nature of native content.

However, unlike the many pieces of effective sponsored content we’ve discussed in this series, the Scientology “article” read like a press release designed to inflate Miscavige. Or, as Gawker reported in the moment, the piece felt like “bizarre, blatant Scientology propaganda”.

Both the publication and the Church of Scientology got plenty of attention, but not the type either had wanted. Major news outlets like Poynter and Bloomberg reported on the 157-year-old magazine’s fall from grace, and the scab was torn off of the already controversial issue of respected publications accepting sponsored content.

Where Did The Atlantic’s Native Advertising Go Wrong?

Although the magazine quickly took down the offending content, you can still take a look at the original. It’s worth perusing as a solid lesson on what not to do when you’re creating sponsored content.

At the time, the magazine had already run several other pieces of sponsored content. In fact, The Washington Post suggested that by that point, native advertising was a critical element in the publication’s monetization. Reportedly, none of those previous pieces had triggered backlash—certainly none of the level with the Scientology advertorial, which garnered national attention.

Aside from the clearly promotional nature of the content, there are several key reasons the advertisement failed on such a spectacular level:

    The tone of the article was not consistent with the publication’s usual journalistic standards, instead presenting as promotional material.
    The content didn’t offer anything of significant value or interest to readers.
    Both the magazine and the Church of Scientology failed to take The Atlantic’s readership into account, which was all the more surprising given that the publication had run pieces critical of the organization in the past.
    Commentators suggested that the magazine was moderating comments and deleting those unfavorable to the advertiser.

What Does this Mean for Companies Creating Sponsored Content?

If you’re going to create native content, make it truly native. That means making the investment in learning the publication and its audience. It’s important that the content is formatted like the surrounding content and blends visually, but that’s only the beginning.

Successful native content will read like the editorial content on the site; ideally, the “sponsored content” label on the article or post will be the only thing that sets your advertisement apart from all the other content on the site. Sponsored content should also be something the site visitor or reader flipping through the publication wants to read, not just something you want him to read.

In our next post, we’ll look at a later sponsored content package run by The Atlantic and how the lessons from this catastrophe have informed more effective use of native advertising for the publication and its sponsors.

Creating effective sponsored content requires expertise–the type of expertise you can count on when you work with ContentWriters. If you’re ready to step into the world of native advertising with confidence, get started right now!

Motivate Your Market

Stats from native content platforms and publishers sound great, and it’s no surprise that they want to give you the best spin possible. In 2012, BIA/Kelsey predicted that revenue from native advertising could reach $9.6 billion by 2016. Data does suggest that the click-through rate on native ads is generally considerably higher than the rates for banner ads.

Then again…so what?

In part, I ask that question because the click-through rates for banner ads are abysmal. “Better than banner ads” isn’t a stellar recommendation. On the other hand, most advertisers were resorting to banner ads before the native content boom, simply because options were limited.

The other reason I ask is far more significant: click-throughs in the world of native content can be pretty meaningless.
The Downside to Great Native Content

When you’ve come up with some great piece of sponsored content—content that looks and feels just like the other content on the publisher’s site and holds the reader’s attention even if he’s not interested in your brand—you’re likely to attract some attention. But, is that attention helping to build your brand or sell your products?

The answer is “it depends on how well you’ve integrated your brand, your product and your call to action.”

The problem isn’t that native content doesn’t convert well. In fact, as Jeff Wayne at AdsNative has concluded, native advertising “can be used to accomplish just about any goal that exists.” The problem is that when the imperative to create high quality, editorial style content intersects with the environment in which publishers and marketers alike are conditioned to think in terms of clicks, it’s easy to lose sight of the ball.
Making Sure Your Sponsored Content Pays Off

No brand wants to invest in great content and generate thousands, or tens of thousands, of clicks and shares only to find itself without any real benefit. To ensure that you make the most of your investment:

    Clearly determine your goals before creating and placing your content. That means deciding whether you’re promoting your brand generally, promoting a product or trying to draw readers to your website, blog or some other opportunity for further engagement.
    Make your content relevant. You already know that the most effective native advertising is relevant to the readers of the site and fits well with the editorial content. However, if you want to convert, that’s only the beginning. It’s also important to make your content relevant to the market for your product or service.
    Invite the reader to act. Of course what this invitation looks like depends on your goal.
    If you’re building brand awareness/image, then a simple tie-in with your product, your company’s past contributions or current efforts may suffice (IBM has some very powerful brand-building campaigns).
    If you’re attempting to encourage further engagement, consider hosting similar content or even a continuation of the story on your own site, blog, YouTube channel or wherever you’d like to direct readers (Captain Morgan is doing a great job with this).
    Finally, if you’re selling a product, sell the product. In some cases this is best done subtly, while in others you may simply include a clear call to action for your product at an appropriate place within the content.

If this seems like a lot to think about, don’t worry! ContentWriters has experienced native content creators who can help you find the right balance to achieve your goals. Sign up today!

Find Your Niche: Targeting Your Lifestyle

The beauty of running a lifestyle blog is the plethora of topics available to you. To get the most out of your efforts, it is best to select a niche and focus your content around this highly specific area.

Writing for a core audience allows you to develop your content around one central focus, rather than trying to create multiple forms of content for a wide, generic market.

If you don’t know the perfect niche for your lifestyle blog just yet, don’t worry! Use these tips from the team at ContentWriters to get started.
Consider What You Are Passionate About

Do you absolutely love to bake? Perhaps you’re a fitness junkie. Maybe you are a DIY fashion expert. Consider the activities and areas of your life that you are truly passionate about, and how you could create several topics around those areas.

Also, think about the knowledge you could share with others within this particular niche. Let’s say you plan to start a baking blog. What tips, tricks, and advice could you provide to others using your weekly content?

Keep in mind, it’s one thing to be interested in an activity. It’s another to be passionate and knowledgeable about it.
What Content or Knowledge Do You Want to Share with Others?

You don’t have to be an expert in any particular field to have informative knowledge to share. Personal and professional experiences can lead to a large amount of content ideas. When looking for a particular niche for your lifestyle blog, think about all the lessons you’ve learned in life.

These lessons can be translated into captivating content topics related to the niche market you plan to target online. For example, if you run a lifestyle blog related to food and have previous experience working in a restaurant, you can use the lessons you learned, and the experiences you had, as inspiration for your blog posts.
Research the Niche Market

Lifestyle blogs are no longer a unique opportunity online. Bloggers now have to be hyper-specific when selecting their content topics and niche audiences. One cannot have a generic blog about fashion. Instead, you need to focus on a particular area of that industry and laser in on it.

To determine this niche area, you need to research your market and answer the following questions:

    Is the market saturated with similar content?
    What new opportunities are available in this market?
    Is there a need for my content?
    Is there a specific content angle I can leverage in the market?

If you discover that your market is saturated with content, other blogs, and influencers, you need to find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. Otherwise, your content will only add to the noise and clutter already within the market. Finding an angle related to your passion, experience, and chosen audience will help you become successful in an already competitive space.

On the other hand, if you find that your niche market has low competition and little to no content being distributed, you’ve hit the jackpot! Start creating authentic content and distributing it accordingly.

No matter what niche you choose to pursue and write about on your lifestyle blog, ContentWriters can help you create original, powerful content. Try it out today by ordering your first piece of content.

3 Lessons from the Beauty Blogging Pros

Do you regularly check out the top fashion, lifestyle, and beauty-related blogs? If so, you can learn some important and lasting lessons from their blogging styles and strategies. Implement these three tactics into your blog to draw in more readers and facilitate website growth.
Use Stunning Visuals

In the fashion and beauty world, jaw-dropping visuals are central to almost every aspect of the business — from marketing campaigns to runway shows and more. Without visuals and imagery, customers wouldn’t know much about the latest trends and styles. Imagery allows fashion and beauty professionals, as well as writers, to convey a story that words alone cannot do justice to.

Your blog, no matter what the topic, needs to use and maximize top-quality imagery. Take a look at the imagery used by Beauty is Boring, for example. The second the homepage loads, you are presented with a large and bright image of a model wearing the latest in makeup products and style.

Be warned though, you cannot rely on pictures from a smartphone or lifted from other blogs. Not only are these images not enough for your needs, but you’ll be violating intellectual property laws. You need to generate your own eye-popping, high-quality, original images. To achieve this end, consider investing in the following:

    Proper lighting equipment
    A solid black or white backdrop
    A quality camera
    Photo editing software

Video is considered visual content too! Use stunning video to deliver tutorials, product reviews, and other forms of content for your beauty blog.
Be Descriptive

No matter if you choose to shoot a video or use a written blog to make your point, your content needs to be descriptive and provide unparalleled value to followers.

Your readers are coming to your beauty blog for advice and answers to their fashion, makeup, and style questions. While you can be to the point, you still need to explain your reasoning and provide readers with thorough answers to their questions. Check out the blog posts by The Beauty Look Book for examples of detailed, descriptive blog posts that provide a high level of value to readers.

Even in posts about specific brand or product reviews, the writers of this blog go into great detail describing the product quality and experience, as well as giving their opinions. Visitors to this beauty blog can take away the realization that they have the information they need for their next purchase or style experiment.

When writing for your beauty blog, remember to provide readers with detail, specific information, and thorough explanations of your opinions, reviews, and advice.
Leverage Categories

Just like any other industry, the beauty world is made up of numerous segments — from fashion to makeup to hair, and more. While your beauty blog can cover all of these areas, you need to make it easy for readers to access and organize content within specific topics. Providing readers with specific categories is a simple way to organize content while writing about multiple topics on one blog.

Categories on a beauty blog can include:

    Hair Styles
    Products
    Reviews
    Tutorials
    Makeup Trends
    Lifestyle Topics
    Tips and Advice
    And more

“She’s in The Glow” does an excellent job of dividing their blog content into categories. This blog has even created categories branded for their website, such as “The Fragrance” and “The Glow Girl”.

Apply these three blogging lessons to your beauty content today and watch your website grow! Of course, you’ll need content in order to get started. Let the fashion and lifestyle blogging experts at ContentWriters give you a hand.