WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on government negotiations over border security (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

Negotiators in Congress say they have reached an agreement in principle to fund the government and avoid another partial government shutdown.

The emerging agreement was announced by a group of lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Richard Shelby and Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, after a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill.

The talks had cratered over the weekend because of Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but lawmakers apparently broke through that impasse Monday evening.

Now they will need the support of President Donald Trump, whose signature will be needed ahead of the deadline at midnight Friday.

If lawmakers don’t act, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed for a second time this year.

Congressional negotiators say politically freighted talks on border security are back on track as they speed to avert a new federal shutdown this weekend.

Officials say an agreement could be in sight as early as Monday night. The talks had cratered over the weekend because of Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but that impasse seems to be loosening.

A Friday midnight deadline is looming as negotiators strain to prevent a second partial government shutdown, for which there is virtually no support from lawmakers of either party.

If bargainers don’t reach an agreement and get President Donald Trump’s signature by then, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed for a second time this year.

President Donald Trump is assailing Democrats over faltering border security negotiations.

Trump spoke to reporters Monday at the White House at an event attended by local sheriffs. He says construction on a border barrier is already underway, but he says of Democrats: “We’re up against people who want to allow criminals in our society.”

Border security negotiations stalled over the weekend over Democratic demands to limit the number of migrants whom federal authorities can detain. The two sides also remain separated over how much to spend on Trump’s border wall.

Republicans say Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions are a deal breaker, eclipsing the border wall issue for now.

Trump is holding a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night and says he’s going there “to keep our country safe.”

___

3:55 p.m.

The top Republican negotiator for the House says talks on nettlesome border security issues are in “better shape today” and she’s optimistic that negotiations can produce a deal in time to meet a deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Texas Rep. Kay Granger gave the optimistic assessment on her way into a meeting of other top negotiators that was convened after talks collapsed over the weekend over a Democratic demand to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities.

She says the battle over capping detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as demanded by top Democrats was one of those issues that “pop up” in negotiations.

She says there are several remaining outstanding issues.

The deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown is midnight Friday.

Ahead of a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas, President Donald Trump’s campaign has issued a new video calling for a border wall.

The video posted Monday offers testimonials from residents of the city advocating for the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. They say the wall is needed for public safety, arguing that El Paso’s border fence has helped the city.

The video concludes with the slogan “Finish the Wall,” an update on the “Build the Wall” chants that defined Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump’s Monday night rally is to take place just a few hundred yards from El Paso’s border fence. Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the impact of El Paso’s fencing on the city’s crime rate, as well as statistics about crime committed by people who have entered the U.S. illegally.

NEW DELHI — The government is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal, which has generated a massive political controversy, in Parliament Tuesday, sources said.

The government’s decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault has become a controversial political issue, with the main opposition party Congress levelling allegations of corruption and impropriety, and the ruling dispensation defending the move.

The CAG report will be tabled on Tuesday, a day before the end of the present Lok Sabha session. This is the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha as the general elections are due in April-May.

Former minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday alleged conflict of interest and asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, however, rebutted the claims of Sibal saying that the Congress was casting aspersions on the institution of CAG based on “falsehood”.

“Another attack on the institution of CAG by the ‘Institution wreckers’ based on falsehood. After ten years in Government former UPA ministers still don’t know that Finance Secretary is only a designation given to the senior most secretary in the finance ministry,” Jaitley said a series of tweets Sunday.

Sibal said Mehrishi was the finance secretary from October 24, 2014 to August 30, 2015 and in between Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paris on April 10, 2015 and announced the signing of the Rafale deal.

″...Finance Ministry plays an important role in these negotiations...Now it is clear that the Rafale deal happened under Rajiv Mehrishi. Now he is CAG. We met him twice on September 19 and October 4, 2018. We told him about the scam. We told him that the deal should be probed because it is corrupt. But how can he initiate a probe against himself,” Sibal had said.

The Rafale issue was even raised before the Supreme Court, which did not find any substance in the allegations.

However, the issue has continued to rock Parliament with Congress President Rahul Gandhi directly accusing the Prime Minister of benefiting industrialist Anil Ambani.

NEW DELHI — The chief ministers of two northeast states, Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu and Manipur’s N Biren Singh, Monday voiced their opposition to the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill and urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to ensure it was not passed in Rajya Sabha, officials said.

During a 30-minute meeting, the two BJP CMs apprised the home minister about the prevailing situation in the Northeast, which has been witnessing continuous protests against the Bill, that seeks to provide Indian nationality to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The two chief minister requested the home minister not to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill before convincing the people of the Northeast and sought protection of their cultural and linguistic identity, an official said.

The home minister asked the chief ministers not to worry and assured that the rights of the indigenous people of the Northeast would not be diluted, the official said.

The bill provides for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.

The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session on January 8 and has been awaiting Rajya Sabha nod.

There has been strong opposition in Assam and other Northeastern states against the bill.

Political parties have been protesting on the grounds that the bill seeks to grant nationality to non-Muslims who have come up to December 31, 2014, thereby, increasing the deadline from 1971 as per the Assam Accord.

Also, according to the Assam Accord, all illegal immigrants who have come after 1971, irrespective of their religion, have to be deported and this bill violates that.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the bill is an “atonement of the wrong that was done during India’s Partition. India will safeguard all who had been victims of the Partition”.

On Saturday, addressing a rally in Assam, Modi said the citizenship bill won’t harm the interests of the people of the region but will provide succour to those who have “embraced the idea and ethos of Mother India”.

NEW DELHI — M Nageswara Rao Monday admitted that as an interim chief of the CBI he committed “mistake” in transferring former joint director A K Sharma and apologised to the Supreme Court, saying he had no intention to circumvent its orders.

Rao, who filed an affidavit in response to a contempt notice issued to him on February 7, said he was praying for an unconditional and unqualified apology by the apex court.

“I sincerely realise my mistake and while tendering my unqualified and unconditional apology, I specially state I have not wilfully violated the order of this court as I cannot even dream of violating or circumventing order of this court,” Rao said in the affidavit.

He admitted that in view of the Supreme Court orders dated October 31 and November 28, 2018 “I ought not have agreed with the legal advice for relieving A K Sharma even in his promotion without prior approval of this court”.

The Supreme Court on February 7 came down heavily on the CBI for transferring Sharma, who was probing Bihar’s shelter home cases, out of the agency in violation of the court’s order and had directed Rao to personally appear before it on February 12.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took serious note of the violation of the two earlier orders and issued contempt notice to Rao for transferring Sharma to the CRPF on January 17 without taking prior permission from the court. 

“I unhesitatingly accept my mistake and tender my unconditional and unequivocal apology to this court. I most respectfully pray that this court may be graciously pleased to accept the same,” Rao said.

He also submitted that the officer was transferred “not with any deliberate or disobedient intent and it is humbly submitted that it was never my intention to undermine the majesty of this court or flout or circumvent any direction of this court.”

The IPS officer, who is additional director in the CBI, said he has highest respect for the apex court and prayed “most humbly and respectfully” that his apology be accepted.

In his affidavit, Rao narrated his achievements in 32 years as an IPS officer.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has drawn a line in the sand with other presidential hopefuls: a green one.

On Monday, Harris told the hosts of the New York City radio show “The Breakfast Club” that rumors that she didn’t support legalisation were completely false.

“That’s not true,” she told the show’s host Charlamagne Tha God. “Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?”

Harris later added: “I think it gives a lot of people joy, We need more joy in the world.”

The Democratic senator also admitted to smoking a joint in college and made a subtle dig at President Bill Clinton by adding, “and I inhaled” ― a reference to a comment Clinton made during the 1992 campaign when he said he tried cannabis, but “didn’t inhale it.”

Harris wasn’t always so high on pot legalisation.

BuzzFeed notes that when Harris was district attorney of San Francisco in 2010, she opposed Proposition 19, which would have made California the first state to legalise marijuana.

Harris also opposed recreational legalisation in 2015, but supports a proposed bill to decriminalise the drug by fellow senator and 2020 candidate Cory Booker (D-N.J.), according to The Hill.

An October poll by the Pew Research Center suggests that 62 percent of Americans favor legalisation of cannabis.

You can see Harris discuss pot in the clip below.

To be honest, I was never proud of my hair. It wasn’t thick, shiny and luscious like my sister’s. Since middle school, I’ve dyed my hair hues of blue, pink, silver and green, once even bleaching it entirely. It has always been a damaged poofy mess, but it was my damaged poofy mess.

I didn’t realise what it meant to me and my identity until I started losing it in handfuls, which forced me to rethink the way I moved in the world.

Last February, my sister and I had just landed in Austin, Texas, from New York for what was supposed to be a relaxing long weekend full of barbecue and laughs. When we arrived at our hotel room, my sister called dibs on the shower. To kill time, I idly ran my fingers through my hair. That’s when I felt it — something smooth and fleshy. That doesn’t feel right. Taken aback, I asked my sister to check it out. She gasped.

It was a dollar-coin-size bald spot on the back of my head. I, of course, freaked out, cried and called my dad in California, who had a suspicion it was alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease in which your body attacks your hair follicles. It’s believed to be triggered by stress, which is nothing new to someone who lives with anxiety.

At the time, I was living in New York and working in media, although I had lost interest in both the industry and the city. (I grew up in Hawaii, and each winter became tougher to push through.) I felt uneasy and anxious regarding my friendships, living situation and love life. I put myself under extreme pressure to land a dream job — which I ultimately didn’t get — on the West Coast, having gotten far enough in the interview process to fly out to California to meet in person.

I remember mulling over the interviews for days, as if the job would be my golden ticket out of whatever I was feeling. (I also remember combing my wet hair before the interview and noticing how a bunch strands were caught in the teeth of the comb. I shrugged it off because balding wasn’t on my radar.)

I suppose we could say I was pretty stressed, because that one spot quickly multiplied into 13 scattered around my head. The days that followed can only be described as an emotional roller coaster. I spent most of my 24th birthday crying. 

My daily routine became doctor visits, tediously applying creams and foams to each spot nightly and every morning, constantly checking my scalp for baby bald spots and making sure my hair never shifted enough to reveal a spot to someone else. I tried acupuncture, different kinds of oils, supplements and spices. I feared the wind, my pillowcase in the morning, dating and washing my hair. I grew jealous of my friends who didn’t have to deal with it and could tie their hair up without worry. It was draining and time-consuming. As the spots grew, so did my anxiety. “Why me?” I constantly asked.

As this all happened, I heard back from a job in Hawaii I had given up on. Turns out, I got it, and I was asked to start in a few weeks. I contemplated whether taking it was a good idea. I was becoming dependent on my family for support to make it through each day, which led me to think that going to California and taking time off from life until I felt ready to get back on track was the best decision. The easy choice was to live with my dad. “There will be other opportunities to move to Hawaii,” I thought. “Right?”

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that by passing on the opportunity, I was letting alopecia hold me back from chasing my dreams. After stressing over it for days, I came to the conclusion maybe there is no right decision; there’s just the choice you make at the moment. If it doesn’t work, you change it up. That’s life, with or without something like alopecia.

So I accepted the job and took the risk to move out to Hawaii on my own.

As my friends and I gathered around one last pizza on the floor in my Brooklyn apartment, I lamented about how my big move could make my alopecia worse. “What if I’m making the wrong decision? What if I lose all my hair? How will I go to the beach with a wig? That sounds so hot.”One friend turned to me and said, “Try to see alopecia as a good thing. It forces you to stop and choose to not stress the little things.”

Maybe she was onto something. Maybe it was time that I stopped letting certain things take up my energy, lest I lose my hair. My anxiety now had a very real, very tangible consequence. If anything was a bright red stop sign telling me to cut out spiraling thoughts, this was it.

Obviously, her advice was easier said than done. The thing about alopecia — other than the fact that it’s unpredictable — is that it’s a condition that takes a long time to treat and see results. Hair can fall out in a second, but it can take months to see regrowth (and even then, that can fall out).

Shifting my mindset was a slow and sometimes incredibly painful process. When I had regrowth in some spots, I had new spots appear elsewhere. Maybe regrowth somewhere wasn’t very dense. Maybe hair still shed everywhere.

“Stay positive,” my dad would repeat. “Focus on the positive.” At that point, it was all I could do. I started a gratitude journal to remind myself of the tiny glimmers of good even when the entire situation felt bad. I consciously stopped myself when I noticed my mind spiraling.

And when I did spiral about my hair, I turned to Instagram and stumbled across some seriously beautiful bald chicks who looked happy, which was something I couldn’t imagine for myself. Seeing all those confident women defying what society says makes a woman beautiful was uplifting and gave me hope that I could also live a life doing all the things I wanted to do — hair or no hair.

As time went on, dealing with my alopecia got easier. My spirals lessened, and so did my shedding. About seven months later, every single one of my 13 bald spots grew back hair.

Since life is stressful and unpredictable, I don’t know whether I’ll have another episode of alopecia again. But one thing I do know is that if I do, I won’t stop living and chasing after what I want.

Do you have a personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch!

There have been warning signsfor years about plummeting insect populations worldwide, but the extent of the potentially “catastrophic” crisis had not been well-understood — until now. 

The first global scientific review of insect population decline was published this week in the journal Biological Conservation and the findings are “shocking,” its authors said.

More than 40 percent of insect species are dwindling globally and a third of species are endangered, concluded the peer-reviewed study, which analyzed 73 historical reports on insect population declines.

Chillingly, the total mass of insects is falling by 2.5 percent annually, the review’s authors said. If the decline continues at this rate, insects could be wiped off the face of the Earth within a century.

“It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none,” study co-author Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, an environmental biologist at the University of Sydney, Australia, told The Guardian.

“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” Sánchez-Bayo added.

Scientists have warned that a human-caused sixth mass extinction is now underway on Earth. Vertebrate species, both on land and under the sea, are threatened at a global scale because of human activities.

But according to the new review, the proportion of insects in decline is currently twice as high as that of vertebrates and the insect extinction rate is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles.

Insects play a profoundly important role in Earth’s ecosystems. They are a food source for many animals, are critical pollinators and recycle nutrients back into the soil.

In a November New York Times report about a possible “insect apocalypse,” scientists were asked to imagine a world with no insects. 

They found “words like chaos, collapse, Armageddon,” the Times wrote. ”[One entomologist] describes a flowerless world with silent forests, a world of dung and old leaves and rotting carcasses accumulating in cities and roadsides, a world of ‘collapse or decay and erosion and loss that would spread through ecosystems.’”

According to the new scientific review, habitat loss because of intensive agriculture is the top driver of insect population declines. The heavy use of pesticides, climate change and invasive species were also pinpointed as significant causes.

“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” the review’s co-authors wrote. “The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least.”

New Delhi — A massive fire broke out at a central Delhi hotel Tuesday morning, killing nine people, fire officials said. Nine others were injured, they said.

The fire broke out at Hotel Arpit Palace on the Gurudwara road in Karol Bagh at 4:35 AM.

Thirty fire tenders rushed to the spot and doused the fire, officials said.

“There was wooden paneling on corridor because of which people couldn’t use corridors to evacuate, 2 people had jumped off the building,” fire officer Vipin Kental told ANI.

The hotel has been completely booked by a family which was in Delhi for a function, Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg told The Indian Express.

Fire officials rescued 35 people. The injured were taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, NDTV reported.

The cause of the fire is not known yet.

In what critics are calling major disrespect to filmmakers, Academy Awards officials announced Monday that four award categories ― cinematography, makeup and hairstyling, film editing and live action short ― will be presented during the Oscars’ commercial breaks. 

While news broke last August of the plan to present some awards during breaks and then air them after the show wraps, this is the first time the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is revealing which categories will be affected. 

The switch-up ― one of several the academy has attempted this year to the chagrin of many viewers ― riled critics who said the decision discredits the work of people behind the camera and will give less attention to some underrepresented voices, especially in the female-dominated category of makeup and hairstyling. 

The awards that will air after the main broadcast will cut out the winners’ walks to the stage and possibly part of their speeches, those familiar with the situation told The Hollywood Reporter. 

As entertainment reporter Rhett Bartlett pointed out, the snubbed categories were the source of some of the awards’ shows most touching and important moments last year. When Roger Deakins won for cinematography after 13 losses, he received a standing ovation. When actress and screenwriter Rachel Shenton won the live-action short award for “The Silent Child,” she gave her speech in sign language so that the 6-year-old deaf actress who co-starred with her could understand it. 

The academy has caught flak for a number of other ideas it had this year. It’s forgoing a host for the first time in 30 years, several of the musical acts reportedly may be cut from the telecast and it axed the not-so-popular “popular movie” category it had planned to introduce this year. 

Tripura BJP minister Manoj Kanti Deb has been seen groping a woman cabinet colleague, Santana Chakma, in a video of an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present. 

While Deb has given different reactions to this to different news outlets, the video which has gone viral, shows him touching Chakma inappropriately on stage before she brushes away his hand. 

The incident took place during a rally in Agartala, but it is not clear exactly when it was held. 

Deb’s reactions to the video varied across portals. To one, he claimed it may have happened by mistake, while he alleged ‘doctoring’ to another.

“These are all false propaganda being propagated against me. As in the video footage anyone can clearly see that she (Santana Chakma) came in front of me while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inaugurating the function. By mistake I might have touched her but I had no wrong intentions, I was only trying to move her away as she came in front of me,” Deb told The Northeast Today. 

Meanwhile, he told The Times of India, “How can this be possible and, that too, in the presence of the Prime Minister and a large crowd? Someone has to be of very dirty mentality to doctor the video of a programme. I was trying to come forward.”

Chakma is the social welfare and social education minister of the state.

The opposition in the state demanded action against Deb.

NDTV quoted Left Front convener Bijan Dhar as saying, “Manoj Kanti Deb must be sacked and be arrested for touching the woman minister in an extremely indecent manner on the stage from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and others addressed the public gathering.”

However, Deb’s party colleagues have backed him, denying any misdemeanour on his part. 

Victor Shom, BJP’s Tripura unite media incharge, told The Times of India that it was an effort of the opposition to malign the minister. 

NDTV reported BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee as saying that the woman minister had not made a complaint about it and that the Left was playing “dirty politics”. 

US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed he’s burning the candle at both ends more than any past president did, setting Twitter ablaze with defiant responses.

“No president ever worked harder than me” the president tweeted, adding that he’s “cleaning up” the so-called “mess” he inherited.

Leaked documents obtained by Axios showed Trump has used 60 percent of working hours dedicated to unstructured “executive time,” which the outlet described as a catch-all term for hanging out in his residence watching TV, tweeting, making phone calls and holding impromptu meetings.

Trump on Sunday claimed his use of “executive time” shouldn’t be viewed in a negative light and denied using the bulk of his open hours to relax.

But Twitter users were ready to pounce Monday over Trump’s eyebrow-raising claim about his work ethic.

“Sitting on the couch tweeting and watching TV is not ‘working,’” one Twitter user replied.

In what is being called a consequence of climate change, more than 50 polar bears have invaded a Russian settlement in the Arctic, forcing terrified residents to stay in their homes, according to news reports.

The settlement, Belushya Guba, is on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago off Russia’s northeast coast and has a population of about 2,500.

Officials declared a state of emergency on Saturday after reports of bears attacking people and entering homes, CNN said.

“People are scared,” local administrator Alexander Minayev told CNN. “They are frightened to leave homes, and their daily routines are broken. Parents are afraid to let the children go to school or kindergarten.”

Because polar bears are protected in Russia, residents are prohibited from killing the hungry intruders, The New York Times said. The settlement has put up additional fences in an effort to control the bears.

Generally, polar bears are born on land but spend most of their time on ice sheets and in the water, where they hunt and feed on seals, The Washington Post said. The World Wildlife Fund says that climate change has been shrinking their sea ice habitat.

Local administrator Zhigansha Musin was quoted by Russia’s state news agency as saying, “I have been in Novaya Zemlya since 1983, but there have never been so many polar bears in the vicinity.”

Pregnancy cravings are a myth, or so I thought until I found myself 13 weeks pregnant and ravenously scarfing down nachos for the second time that day.

I went from regularly eating salads to demanding tortilla chips piled high with beans, queso dip, salsa and extra sour cream (emphasis on extra). It was literally all I could think about when the hunger pangs kicked in.

We’ve all heard about pregnant women and their wacky appetite for things like ice cream with pickles or Beyonce’s need to dip bananas in ketchup. While weird cravings do happen, pregnant women are more likely to hunger for comfort foods — and that’s because of biology.

Lauren Hayes, a Wisconsin mother, discovered she had an insatiable craving for ice cream when she was expecting her second child. It wasn’t just any ice cream, though. She only wanted smooth and creamy soft-serve vanilla ice cream with mix-ins from chains like Dairy Queen and Culver’s. Recalling one dire incident, she told HuffPost, “I had to take my 1-year-old daughter out in the rain just to go get it, because I had to have it. It was just so crazy. I didn’t have anything like that when I was pregnant with her, but I could not stop thinking about that ice cream [during my second pregnancy].”

Several studies show that pregnant women tend to crave foods that are rich in calories and fat, both of which are also traits of comfort foods.

While the exact reason for cravings like that is unknown, there appears to be a hormonal link. Dr. Jolene Brighten, a naturopathic doctor and author of the book Healing Your Body Naturally After Childbirth, explained that women’s sex hormones shift during pregnancy. As a result, she said, “Sometimes we can see lower dopamine levels, which will cause you to crave everything.”

Dopamine is a “feel good” chemical. When we even think about eating foods that are high in fat and calories ― often our comfort foods ― it raises our dopamine level and therefore makes us feel good.

When that level drops during pregnancy, women may be inclined to seek out foods that will raise it again. Suddenly, foods you haven’t thought about in years may dominate your lunchtime fantasies.

There’s also a theory that expectant mothers hunger for foods that supply them with nutrients they’re missing. According to Alisa Vitti, a functional nutritionist and founder of Flo Living Hormone Center, food cravings generally signal that your body is calling out for specific micronutrients.

Vitti links particular cravings to particular deficiencies: “Salt cravings can indicate a magnesium deficiency, dairy cravings a calcium deficiency, sweet cravings a carbohydrate and calorie deficiency, fat cravings an essential fatty acid deficiency.” 

Salt, dairy, sweet, fat ― those are all key aspects of comfort foods. So craving for such foods, Vitti said, is the pregnant body’s way to get the kinds of food “that a woman who has a history of dieting might not typically include in her diet.”

Indeed, other pregnant women I’ve encountered have said they craved things they would never normally eat ― like Hawaiian pizza with hot sauce or chocolate and sweets for someone who usually prefers savory snacks.

Expectant mom Allison Doyle Brackley of Texas said she was on a steady diet of macaroni and cheese until her third trimester. She told HuffPost, “I’m not sure whether it’s the flavors, memories associated with eating it in my childhood, or that it is simple to prepare, but I cannot get enough home-style macaroni and cheese. In the first and second trimester, there were times macaroni and cheese made it onto my plate, not only multiple times each week, but sometimes multiple times a day.”

It may be hard to believe in the fat-fearing world we live in, but these comfort food cravings could be an indication that we need fat. “In the third trimester our brain starts shrinking and baby’s brain is expanding,” Brighten said, and the human brain is 60 percent fat. So hunger for foods like mac and cheese could also be “about getting higher amounts of fat.”

Sure, one could get that fat from more nutritious sources like salmon, but good luck getting most women in the throes of first-trimester nausea to cook fish.

In general, comfort food cravings during pregnancy are nothing to worry about. (Contrast that with a condition called pica, which can also arise in pregnant women. It’s a craving for something you really shouldn’t be eating, such as paper or dirt.)

Brighten does warn, though, not to let your diet to be taken over by soft-serve ice cream and mac and cheese. She suggests breaking meals into smaller portions and eating them throughout the day, as a way to help you keep healthier foods in your meal plan as well.

Of course, if you had told me that during my second trimester, I would have likely replied, “So six small servings of nachos? You got it!”

Our toughest critic is often the one staring back at us in the mirror. We’re quick to shame ourselves for a mistake that we made or for not meeting the expectations we — or others — had for our lives.

Research shows self-acceptance is the key to a happier life, but it’s also the habit many people practice the least. So how can we start? What are the secrets to showing ourselves love and kindness? HuffPost spoke with experts to find practical ways to help you start feeling good ― really, truly good ― in your own skin.

Aim for eight hours of sleep

Sleep is one of the most basic human needs. Yet more than one-third of American adults are not getting enough, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sleep deficiency is linked to a number of health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, obesity and depression.

The amount of sleep we need changes as we age, with adults ages 18 to 64 requiring seven to nine hours of sleep and those older than 65 requiring seven to eight hours, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

“Carving out enough time for sleep can be the greatest act of self-love,” said Heidi Kristoffer, a wellness expert and creator of CrossFlowX, a yoga and cardio-based workout program.

As a mom to three children ages 3 and younger — including twin girls — Kristoffer understands the sleep struggle for parents in particular. But she’s found a few hacks that have worked for her: “Eat dinner with the kids at 5 [p.m.],” she advised. “Yes, 5. If you eat early, you can sleep early, and you will get good sleep since you won’t be digesting a meal you just ate.”

Recognize your negative thoughts — and replace them

There’s a roommate inside your head who weighs in on your every move. They might catch a glimpse of your reflection in the mirror and make a snide remark about an ill-fitting shirt. Or, when someone doesn’t respond to your text right away, they lead you to believe you said the wrong thing — again.  

“The way that we would talk to our worst enemy is the way that we talk to ourselves when we’re stuck in this toxic cycle,” said Rachel Wright, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in New York.

Wright, who co-owns Wright Wellness Center with her husband, Kyle Wright, added that one of the most common issues she help clients work through is negative self-talk, which sometimes develops due to a number of influencers, including our parents, gender, culture and even our socioeconomic status.

Negative words that your parents used toward you growing up can often resurface as the things you tell yourself, she continued. However, with practice, you can learn to recognize these toxic thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

The first step is to identify the toxic thought (“OK, I’m thinking this thought”), Wright explained. Second, acknowledge and validate the thought (“OK, this is a terrible thought. I don’t want to be mean to myself”). Third, replace the thought with the new one. For example, if you struggle with feelings of inadequacy, Wright said, you could set an alarm to go off on your phone every day that reads, “I am enough.”

Start journaling every morning

Seeing your thoughts on paper is a great way to help you become more aware of them. It’s also a great way to look inward when you likely spend so much of your day pouring energy out. If you haven’t kept a journal since, say, your Lisa Frank diary in the third grade, start out with something simple. Write down what you’re grateful for each day.

Research shows that “practicing gratitude for a few minutes each day can boost people’s well-being — and even their experience of their physical health,” said Alison Ledgerwood, social psychologist and professor at the University of California, Davis.

It only takes about five minutes each morning or night, she added, and you can write about anything — big or small — that you appreciate. It’s like a rehearsal session for your mind to focus on the positive.

“You start thinking that way a little bit more spontaneously through the rest of the day as well,” Ledgerwood said. “It gets easier. The first time you sit down to write it, you’re like, ‘I’m grateful for my dog. And uh, my dog. I guess it was sunny today.’ The second day it’s a little easier and the third day, you’re writing about a lot more stuff.”  

Fill your plate with foods that nourish your body and mind

After a bad day, have you ever cleared through a can of cheddar cheese Pringles? (No judgment.)

It’s widely known that emotional eating can be used to suppress or soothe feelings, including stress, anger and loneliness. However, in recent years, health experts have made the case that we don’t just turn to food in response to our emotional state — food might actually be the catalyst.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that helps regulate sleep and appetite, manage your mood and prevent pain, according to Harvard Health. Nearly 95 percent of your serotonin is produced in your gastrointestinal tract. As a result, your digestive system doesn’t just help your body break down food, it helps guide your emotions.

Rachel Hollis, author of Girl, Wash Your Face, has also noticed a connection between her wellness routine — including diet — and her mindset.

“I’m actually much better able to control my thinking when I control my daily habits and routine: working out, eating well, staying hydrated all work as a physical practice that reinforces the mental practice I want to have,” Hollis said.

To get more from your meals, consider a balanced diet of foods that provide premium fuel to your body and brain. What’s that look like? A plant-based diet rich in fruits and vegetables, especially green, leafy vegetables and berries, is associated with better brain health, according to research. You might also consider fish and other types of seafood, which have been tied to improved cognitive function.

Make your world smaller

We spend much of our day seeking affirmation from others, especially through social media. On average, more than 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram every day, with posts garnering 4.2 billion “likes” each day.

Each “like” on our posts or photos gives us a boost of dopamine, a chemical in our brain that plays a role in our reward system. However, that satisfactory feeling is fleeting. 

That’s why Wright and her husband periodically take breaks from social media — to be more present in the moment but also to spend more time with their own thoughts. “We automatically go external instead of turning internal, which is really where most of our answers live,” Wright said.

Take the social media apps off your phone for a period of time or only use your phone as a camera on vacation to quiet the external chatter and refill your cup.

Find physical movement that feels like a reward, not a punishment

Data show a good chunk of people ditch their New Year’s resolutions ― like hitting the gym ― pretty early in the year.Reasons for ditching a fitness goal may vary, but there’s likely one commonality: They signed up for something they never really wanted to do in the first place.

The physical and mental health benefits of exercise are well-known, but it can be hard to reap the rewards if you’re forcing yourself to do something you dislike.Choose physical movement that feels good for you, not like a punishment, Kristoffer said.

“You need to find your version of physical movement that makes you come alive, and feel amazing, and that you look forward to,” she added.

Stop “shoulding” on yourself

In our society, there’s this concept of where we “should” be, based on expectations set by our parents, our peers or ourselves, Wright said. If you’ve ever broken into an emergency bottle of wine after a family gathering filled with questions about why you’re single, haven’t had kids yet or aren’t in a higher position at work, you already know the impact “should” can have on your self-worth.

Renowned psychologist Albert Ellisused the term “shoulding” to emphasize the destructive power of made-up milestones, Wright said. People worry that they’re not “where they’re supposed to be” by a certain age, thinking to themselves, “I should be married by now” or “I should be making more money,” for example.

To stop “shoulding” on yourself, Wright suggested listening for the phrase “I should be” in your internal chatter and external conversations and ask yourself, “How can I say this differently?”

Spend five minutes a day meditating

Do you spend most of your days jumping from one task to another? In the pursuit of what’s next, we often miss out on the beauty of what’s happening right now.   

Meditation helps to refocus your attention on the present moment. It can also help to gain perspective during a stressful situation, increase self-awareness, reduce negative feelings and increase creativity, according to the Mayo Clinic.

There are a number of ways to meditate but most involve a quiet setting, a comfortable position and deep, relaxed breathing. For a little guidance, consider downloading a meditation app, such as Insight Timer.  

“Just five minutes of seated meditation a day will change everything,” Kristoffer said. “If you can focus on loving yourself in that meditation, even better.”

NEW DELHI — A fire swept through a hotel in New Delhi early on Tuesday, killing 17 people, authorities in the Indian capital said, raising fresh questions about safety standards in poorly regulated budget hotels.

Frequent raids by civic authorities to enforce building codes, fire safety measures and evacuation procedures have failed to curb violations in a rapidly expanding city of more than 18 million people.

“Seventeen people are no more, they died because of suffocation, not fire,” said deputy fire chief Virendra Singh, adding that 35 people had been rescued.

Most of the victims were sleeping when the fire broke out, believed to have been caused by a short circuit, media said.

The dead included a woman and a child who had tried to escape by jumping from a fifth-floor window of the 65-room hotel in the shopping district of Karol Bagh, some of which had been booked by a wedding party.

Television showed pictures of flames leaping from the top floor. Those staying in the hotel included a group of tourists from Myanmar, broadcaster NDTV said, adding that authorities were trying to ascertain their whereabouts.

Authorities appeared to have been negligent in enforcing building laws in the surrounding area, Delhi’s urban development minister Satyendar Jain said.

“There is a clear case of negligence here,” he added.

Even though the law limits construction only to four floors, the hotel had a fifth floor, like some other nearby structures, Jain said, adding that a kitchen and dining area on its top floor constituted another violation.

Reuters could not immediately reach hotel officials to seek comment.

Jain said hotel guests tried to flee through the hotel’s narrow corridors, panelled in wood. Some were unable to break through the windows of their rooms. 

Comedian Hasan Minhaj opened the season premiere of his Netflix show “Patriot Act” by directly addressing how the streaming service gave into demands from Saudi Arabia’s government last month to remove an episode critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“This is ‘Patriot Act’ — or as it’s known in Saudi Arabia, ‘Error 404, not found,’” Minhaj said at the start of the first episode of the show’s second season, which premiered Sunday. 

“I still can’t believe it. We got Saudi Arabia to issue its very own Muslim ban,” he joked later, before recapping “how I became an Internet bad boy.”

Minhaj confirmed reports that the Saudi government requested that Netflix take down an episode from October, in which Minhaj criticized bin Salman for reported involvement in the slaying of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“A request? Does MBS think Netflix is a wedding DJ?” Minhaj joked Sunday. ”‘I have a quick request. Just take down that one episode that’s criticizing me, and just play Usher’s ‘Yeah.’” 

While the episode is no longer available for Netflix customers in Saudi Arabia, it is still accessible on YouTube. As the comedian pointed out, the controversy has generated publicity for his show, backfiring for Saudi Arabia.

“For the first time in my life, I was a bipartisan icon,” Minhaj said. “Yes! Liberals and conservatives, they both embraced me like I was money from Big Pharma.”

In demanding Netflix pull the episode, the Saudi government cited the country’s “anti-cybercrime” law, which prohibits Internet content that violates “public order, religious values or public morals.”

“You’re telling me, even in Saudi prison, I’ll be associated with the IT department?” Minhaj joked.

“Of all the Netflix originals, the only show that Saudi Arabia thinks violates ‘Muslim values’ is the one hosted by a Muslim,” he continued, citing examples of other Netflix shows still available in Saudi Arabia that would likely violate the law.

″‘Sabrina,’ still up. It has literal devil worship and a lot of premarital witch sex. ‘BoJack Horseman’: There’s an alcoholic horse-man who snorts cocaine. And let’s not forget those evil cooking shows,” Minhaj said, showing multiple clips of people preparing and eating pork. “Not eating pork is the one rule every Muslim agrees on!”

Despite his swipes at Saudi Arabia, “this is no joke for many Saudi activists,” Minhaj noted. The same “anti-cybercrime” law used to ban his episode has been used to imprison and execute activists and dissidents, according to humanitarian organizations like Amnesty International.

The comedian also addressed the larger issue of censorship laws in authoritarian regimes, and suggested Netflix and other companies will have to contend with more censorship threats.

“This isn’t about just censoring one episode of a TV show. It’s about the precedent, because as tech companies keep expanding, they’re going to keep running into more vague censorship laws — laws that can allow governments to pull any content at any time,” he said. “Ultimately, Saudi doesn’t care about ‘immoral content’ that ‘impinges on religious values.’ They’re mad that a Muslim is airing out their dirty laundry.”

It was a fitting segue into the episode’s main segment: censorship and surveillance in China, with Minhaj assuring viewers that the episode would not be banned in China because “Netflix isn’t in China,” he said. “The only thing they binge watch is their own people.”

New Delhi — Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting as a middleman of Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal, as he cited an e-mail to claim the businessman was aware of the MoU before India and France signed it.

Ambani’s knowledge of a defence deal under preparation, which even the then defence minister had said he was not aware of, is in violation of the Official Secrets Act, Gandhi alleged at a press conference, and said this “puts Modi in jail”.

Only Modi could have told Ambani about the deal in advance, he alleged.

“This is treason. He (Modi) is doing what spies do,” Gandhi said.

Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi’s visit to France in 2015, Gandhi said, quoting from an e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official.

The Congress president also rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the Rafale deal, and dubbed it “Chowkidar Auditor General” report.

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Tuesday convicted and punished then acting CBI Director M Nageswara Rao and agency’s legal advisor S Bhasuram by imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh each and sentenced them to sit in the courtroom till the rising of the court for committing contempt of its orders.

The apex court held them guilty of its contempt for wilfully disobeying its order by transferring CBI Joint Director AK Sharma, who was probing the Bihar shelter home sexual assault cases, as additional director general of CRPF on 17 January.

“In our considered view, it is a case where contempt has been committed by both the then acting CBI Director, MN Rao, and the director prosecution (of the agency)” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said.

Holding them guilty of contempt of court, the bench, comprising justices LN Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said, “We could not have done anything else.”

It said, “We have heard Rao and Bhasuram for commission of contempt of court and we impose one lakh fine and sentence them till the rising of the court”.

“Go to one corner of the court and sit down till the rising of this court,” the CJI said.

Before passing the order, the bench told Rao and Bhasuram that they have been held guilty of contempt of court and it was not accepting the unconditional and unqualified apology tendered by them.

It also gave option to Rao and Bhasuram to say something as the sentence for them could be 30 days in jail.

“Do you have to say something,” the bench asked them.

At this point, Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for CBI and its officers, requested the court to look into other options as per the law and sought leniency for them.

“To err is human, to forgive is divine,” Venugopal said.

Rejecting the defence of the two officers, the bench said though they have tendered an unconditional and unqualified apology, “we don’t agree with the contentions raised by them”.

During the hearing, the bench observed that Rao was aware of the apex court direction that the CBI officer probing the shelter home sexual assault cases cannot be transferred without its consent.

However, his “attitude is ‘I have done what I thought was required’,” the bench said.

“This is a blatant contempt of court. If this is not contempt of court then what is,” asked the bench.

The court had on 7 February come down heavily on the CBI for transferring Sharma out of the agency in violation of the court’s order.

It had also taken note of the violation of two earlier orders and issued contempt notice to Rao.

NEW DELHI — Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to the next of kin of those killed in a massive fire that swept through a hotel in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday.

At least 17 people, including a child, were killed in the fire that broke out in the Arpit Palace Hotel on Gurudwara Road in Karol Bagh.

Kejriwal announced the compensation after visiting the spot.

The city government has ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy.

Tuomas Muraja’s life took an unexpected turn at the end of 2016. He received a letter telling him that he would be getting a monthly sum of €560 ($640) from the Finnish government, no strings attached, for two years.

“It was actually like winning the lottery,” said Muraja, who was one of 2,000 people randomly selected from a pool of 175,000 unemployed Finns, aged 25 to 58, to take part in one of the most prominent universal basic income trials in the world.

Since losing his staff job as a journalist in 2013, Muraja has struggled to find permanent work. Every month he was trying to scramble together money for his rent of about $2,270 from freelance writing gigs, which came sporadically and often paid late. The government’s basic income scheme gave him freedom. He could keep the cash, even if he found work, and he wouldn’t have to contend with the constrictive bureaucracy of Finland’s complex welfare system.

“When you feel free you are creative, and when you are creative you are productive, and that helps the whole of society,” said Muraja, who has written a book about his experiences with the trial.

Finland’s universal basic income test, which cost the government about $22.7 million, was designed and administered by the country’s social insurance agency, Kela. The experiment aimed to help the country assess how to respond to the changing nature of work and ― given its 8-percent unemployment rate at the time ― how to get people back into the labor market.

The trial ended in December. While final results won’t be available until 2020, preliminary results were revealed on Friday.

On employment, the country’s income register showed no significant effects for 2017, the first year of the trial.

The real benefits so far have come in terms of health and well being. The 2,000 participants were surveyed, along with a control group of 5,000. Compared with the control group, those taking part had “clearly fewer problems related to health, stress, mood and concentration,” said Minna Ylikännö, senior researcher at Kela. Results also showed people had more trust in their future and their ability to influence it. 

“Constant stress and financial stress for the long term – it’s unbearable. And when we give money to people once a month they know what they are going to get,” said Ylikännö. “It was just €560 a month, but it gives you certainty, and certainty about the future is always a fundamental thing about well being.”

Aware that Finland’s trial is under an international spotlight, Olli Kangas, scientific leader of the scheme and professor at the University of Turku, expressed hope that the experiment not be written off on the basis of preliminary employment results. “The whole truth is much more complex, we need many more studies and research to find out,” said Kangas.   

Universal basic income is an idea that’s been swirling around for centuries and has been tried across the world. While it has come to mean many different things, in its purest definition, a universal basic income is granted to everyone, regardless of wealth, income or employment status, on an unconditional basis. 

The policy has supporters on both sides of the political spectrum. Those on the left say it will help tackle poverty, reduce yawning inequality and help people fend off the threat of their job being automated. For advocates on the right, UBI is seen as an attractive way to simplify complex systems of welfare payment and reduce the size of government.

Tech billionaires, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have thrown support behind the idea amid anger over their own extreme wealth. It’s also caught the attention of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D.-N.Y.) who has floated UBI as part of a Green New Deal – the umbrella name for a host of policies to tackle climate change and reduce inequality.

But it’s controversial, too. First, there’s the cost. One estimation by journalist Annie Lowrey, who has written a book on UBI, says a $1,000 monthly payment would cost around $3.9 trillion a year. Other critics see UBI as an expensive, free handout that will discourage work and encourage laziness.

These longstanding tropes of the “lazy” poor hold no water for 31-year-old Tanja Kauhanen, another participant in Finland’s scheme. While the results so far may have shown no improvement in employment, she believes UBI helps people who are struggling. “Think about it. It’s such a carrot to get a job immediately, even if it’s low paid.” 

Kauhanen used the money ― and the time freed by no longer having to apply to multiple agencies for welfare benefits ― to take a telemarketing job. Pay was low, but topped up with the basic income, it dramatically changed her quality of life. It helped her finally sort out finances, after years of scouring grocery stores for the cheapest bread, milk and cheese. “I could go to a restaurant and have a normal dinner without thinking that, OK, I am going to have to eat noodles for the rest of the month,” she said.

The end of the scheme was a shock, she said, for everyone who participated in the trial. “We all are in big trouble now to be honest, because what would happen to you if your income decreased by €600?”

She’s still working at her job, but is already running up debt and desperately searching for better-paying work. 

The end of Finland’s scheme was also a blow to those who had hoped the trial would be expanded and extended. Politicians “wasted the opportunity of a lifetime to conduct the kind of trial that Finnish social policy experts had done preliminary research for for decades,” said Antti Jauhiainen, a director of the think tank Parecon Finland.

He said the government was never really behind the experiment, because it was “simultaneously pushing for cutting the existing benefits and adding surveillance and control of the unemployed.” The Finnish government has now introduced an “activation model,” which requires unemployed people to complete a minimum of training or work to receive full benefits. 

The announcement that Finland had no plans for more UBI schemes followed the cancellation of another UBI trial in Ontario, Canada. That test, launched in April 2017, involved 4,000 people on low incomes who received up to $13,000 a year for individuals, and up to $18,000 for couples, although payments were reduced by 50 cents for every dollar they earned. 

The program was axed in 2018, following the election of right-wing politician Doug Ford. The government cited the “extraordinary cost for Ontario taxpayers.” All payments will cease by March. 

But there are experiments that are still going. A program in Kenya, for example, run by the charity GiveDirectly, has been giving out unconditional money since 2016 to more than 21,000 people in villages across the country in a trial set to last 12 years. Initial results show a boost to the well being of participants. 

And there are others on the horizon. In the U.S., a trial is about to kick off in Stockton, California, that will give $500 a month to 100 low-income families. And in Oakland, the tech incubator Y Combinator intends to start a UBI trial this year that would hand $1,000 a month with no strings attached to 1,000 people across two U.S. states for three years. In India, the main opposition party is running on a pledge to introduce a guaranteed minimum income for the country’s poor.

As a policy idea, UBI is certainly not dead yet. “Whether UBI is considered workable will of course depend on the results of these kinds of experiments and the political situation,” said Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project. “It’s important to remember that there is a basic income program in the United States already that has been running for around 40 years: the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. So it’s not as hypothetical as some people seem to think.” Alaska hands residents annual, unconditional checks of $1,000 to $3,000.

Finland is readying itself for elections in two months, and some hope that UBI could be back on the table. Kauhanen is among them. “I loved the basic income experience,” she said, “and I wish that it would be for all people in Finland. I know it’s expensive, but on a smaller scale, I think it would be just what we need because right now in Finland, the poor people are the ones who are getting cut off.”

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