| Key moments surrounding Iran's now-threatened nuclear deal Posted: 08 May 2019 03:21 AM PDT  Iran threatened Wednesday to resume higher enrichment of uranium in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms for its 2015 nuclear deal, an agreement that capped over a decade of hostility between Tehran and the West over its atomic program.
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| Grieving Students Walk Out of Colorado School Shooting Vigil: ‘This Was Not About Us’ Posted: 08 May 2019 09:50 PM PDT  Rick Wilking/ReutersHIGHLANDS RANCH, Colorado—A day after two students shot up a school, survivors walked out of a vigil organized by gun control advocates, saying they felt excluded from what should have been an opportunity to grieve.Team Enough and Moms Demand Action helped promote the Wednesday evening gathering, and more than 100 students and several hundred parents from the STEM School packed into the gymnasium bleachers, hoping to find community and catharsis.But after sitting through remarks by Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and realizing the program was centered around changing gun laws, students who had hoped to speak lost patience and walked out en masse."This was not about us. We can do our own vigil," one STEM student remarked.Students from Team Enough said the event was organized on such short notice they were unable to find a way to include STEM students in the program."I feel terrible. They did not feel represented. I get it," said Laura Reeves, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action who spoke at the vigil."This was put together in such a short time. I know they did their best. Emotions are raw and sad. They are grieving. They need to express their feelings. They need to be together. I am hoping their school can help facilitate that conversation beyond this week."Police have said two STEM students opened fire at the school on Tuesday, killing one and wounding eight before they were arrested. Any motive for the attack—20 years after the Columbine High School massacre just seven miles away—has not been disclosed.Heavy rain had kept surviving students cooped up at home, and many of them were looking forward to the vigil at a neighboring school. Things began to fall apart an hour in when organizers suggested any STEM students who wanted to speak gather in the hall outside the gym.A few rose to speak, but soon the crowd filed out and left. Standing outside the building in the freezing rain, some began chanting. But they quickly dispersed as Douglas County Sheriff's vehicles began arriving at the school.One mom of a STEM student said it was a case of good intentions gone wrong."I really appreciate what they tried to do here tonight, but our kids didn't want to be talked at," she said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Mueller’s Preposterous Rationale for Tainting the President with ‘Obstruction’ Allegations Posted: 08 May 2019 07:51 AM PDT  In gross violation of Justice Department policy and constitutional norms, a prosecutor neither charges nor recommends charges against a suspect, but proceeds to smear him by publishing 200 pages of obstruction allegations. Asked to explain why he did it, the prosecutor says he was just trying to protect the suspect from being smeared.This is the upshot of the Mueller report's Volume II. It might be thought campy if the suspect weren't the president of the United States and the stakes weren't so high.The smear-but-don't-charge outcome is the result of two wrongs: (1) Mueller's dizzying application of Justice Department guidance, written by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), holding that a president may not be indicted while he is in office; and (2) the media-Democrat complex's demand that only laws they like -- those that serve their anti-Trump political purposes -- be enforced.On the matter of the OLC guidance, the Mueller report exhibits the same sleight-of-hand that I detailed in Monday's column regarding its account of the George Papadopoulos saga -- in which Mueller obscures the fact that the FBI's counterintelligence investigation ("Crossfire Hurricane") was opened on the false pretense that a Russian agent named Joseph Mifsud confided to Trump adviser Papadopoulos that Russia had thousands of Clinton emails, which Papadopoulos told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer the Kremlin planned to publish in a manner timed to damage Clinton for Trump's benefit. To the contrary, if you wade through the fine print of Mueller's report, you learn that Mifsud was not a Russian agent; there's a good chance he did not tell Papadopoulos anything about emails; in relating to Downer that Russia might have damaging information on Clinton, Papadopoulos said nothing about emails or about Russia trying to help Trump; but, two months after they spoke and the hacked DNC emails were published, Downer (in consultation with the Obama State Department) leapt to the overwrought conclusions that Papadopoulos must have been referring to those emails (he wasn't) and that Russia and the Trump campaign must be collaborating to undermine the election (they weren't).The narrative head fakes and legal mumbo-jumbo make you wonder what's going on here. Who is running this show, Mueller -- or some of his notoriously aggressive staffers, recruited from the Obama Justice Department and private practice stints representing the Clintons?On the matter of the OLC guidance, if you can follow his reasoning, the special counsel twists himself into the position that it would have been unfairly prejudicial to Trump to recommend charges when the president would not have been able to defend himself in a judicial proceeding -- but, somehow, it was perfectly fair to Trump for Mueller to publish his evidence in a document manifestly written for exploitation by congressional Democrats and the media.Flaws in the OLC Guidance For what it's worth, I have always thought the OLC guidance is wrong. I do not believe the Framers intended to insulate a sitting president from indictment.The Constitution presumes that the check on a rogue president will be impeachment. It elaborates, however, that impeachment is no impediment to indictment. Further, the Constitution does not say that indictment must await either impeachment or other departure from office. (Article I, Section 3, says a "party convicted" of impeachment is liable to court prosecution, but this does not necessarily mean prosecution may occur only after a president either has been convicted in a Senate impeachment trial, or his term otherwise ends.)While there was significant discussion of impeachment when the Constitution was being drafted in 1787 (I outlined much of it in Faithless Execution), I doubt the Framers gave much thought to the timing of a president's indictment. There were no federal prosecutors to speak of at the time (there was no Justice Department until 1870 and no FBI until 1908), and the federal Constitution would not have barred action by state prosecutors. The Constitution presumes it is Congress's job to check a wayward president -- and not a job to be delegated to a prosecutor.More to the point, it makes no sense that a president should be spared indictment under seal. This is how the Justice Department routinely deals with cases in which (a) a crime must be charged to prevent the statute of limitations from lapsing, but (b) the indictment should not be publicized for some good policy reason (usually, because the accused is at large and, if put on notice, could flee and destroy evidence). The OLC guidance's objective is simply to delay prosecution in deference to the chief executive's weighty responsibilities; it is not supposed to put the president above the law by giving him a statute-of-limitations defense that would not be available to the rest of us.Consequently, if there is a truly serious offense and enough evidence to support prosecution, a president should be indicted under seal (i.e., under court-supervised secrecy). Then the indictment could be unsealed once a president is out of office, and the criminal case could proceed in the normal course.Whether I am right or wrong about this, it is indisputable that we are talking only about timing. The OLC guidance does not say a president may never be indicted; just that he can't be indicted while serving.Indefensible Decision Not to Decide That means the OLC guidance should be irrelevant to the prosecutor investigating the case. Even if we stipulate, for argument's sake, that a president may not be indicted in the here and now, he may still be prosecuted for any indictable offense at some future point. Therefore, someone must decide if there is a crime worth charging. That someone, obviously, is the prosecutor assigned to investigate the case. Since there is no bar on investigating a sitting president, it makes no sense to refrain from making the prosecution judgment -- to charge or not to charge -- until later (potentially, years later) when witnesses' memories have faded and evidence has gone stale or missing.If there is sufficient evidence, then it is the prosecutor's job to recommend indictment. The question of whether the OLC guidance should then be invoked to delay indictment should then be up to the attorney general. The guidance should not burden the prosecutor's analysis of whether there is an indictable case.Yet Mueller chose not to see it that way. His thinking on the matter, it appears, was muddled, evolving over a few weeks' time as he groped for a way to rationalize his failure to make a decision about whether obstruction should be charged.In recent Senate testimony, Attorney General Bill Barr related that he and his staff met with the Mueller team a couple of weeks before the report was completed. Mueller surprised them with the news that he would not be resolving the obstruction question. When asked to explain, Mueller said his rationale for this non-decision was not yet fully developed -- such temporizing, of course, is often the sign of handwringing as one tries to rationalize a determination one knows is wrong. Nevertheless, Barr reports that Mueller was emphatic that the OLC guidance was not what drove his decision to abdicate.Yet when we finally saw the Mueller report, we found that the obstruction volume begins with a discussion of the OLC guidance. It is, by turns, vaporous and preposterous. It is no wonder Barr has said he does not know exactly what Mueller was thinking.Here's my take.Mueller deduces that the guidance (a) prohibits indictment in order to avoid a public charge that would undermine the capacity of a president to govern, but (b) permits investigation with an eye toward post-presidency prosecution. The special counsel pretends that this gives him "fairness concerns" over the president's due-process rights: If, after a thorough investigation, a prosecutor made a judgment that the president had committed a crime but did not charge him, Mueller reasons that the poor president would bear all the stigma of a criminal accusation but would have no opportunity to clear his name in formal court proceedings. That is, the OLC guidance denies him his day in court.Mind you: Mueller says this as a précis to pouring out over 200 pages' worth of obstruction evidence -- and, implying that this evidence is quite serious indeed, he is at pains to tell you he will not "exonerate" the president, even though he hasn't charged him. That is, Mueller's report is designed to taint the president when he does not have the constitutional protections of a criminal defendant -- exactly the thing Mueller claimed to be avoiding by not making a decision on obstruction.Of course, there would be no such danger if the report had been kept confidential, as federal regulations require. There would be no such danger if Mueller had simply done his job, made the required binary decision about whether or not the evidence supported indictment, and left the application of the OLC guidance to the attorney general. And there would be no such danger if the OLC guidance provided for a sealed indictment, such that the question of whether prosecution is warranted could be resolved now, and the timing of prosecution could be tabled -- for the president sake, and the country's -- until the end of Trump's term (or terms).This would have had no bearing on Congress's ability to consider impeachment.It would also have allowed for internal Justice Department deliberation over the law of obstruction. Right now, the report has been publicized when it should not have been. Moreover, Attorney General Barr had to know that if he had tinkered with the report's legal analysis, this would have resulted in cries that he was protecting the president, so he had to stay his hand. As a result, the Mueller report's construction of federal obstruction law appears to stand as a definitive Justice Department position, even though Mueller's interpretation is controversial -- the attorney general has indicated that he and the deputy attorney general have disagreements with it; I suspect OLC would have qualms, too.A live debate over the correct construction of unsettled law, or its novel application, is something the Justice Department is supposed to sort out internally before publicizing a voluminous set of allegations. Here, the special counsel's legal argument almost surely does not reflect the Justice Department's position.But the politics have landed us in the place, not the law. Democrats and their echo chamber have insisted that Mueller must write a report because the special-counsel regulations require one. Yet the same regulations require the report to be confidential: just between the special counsel and the attorney general, to resemble how charging decisions are always made in the Justice Department -- non-publicly, by prosecutors and their supervisors. If Barr had followed those supposedly binding federal regulations, House Democrats would already have impeached him -- just as they now ridiculously propose to hold him in contempt for redacting from Mueller's report grand-jury information he is legally obligated by congressional statute to withhold.The closer you look at this fiasco, the worse it seems.
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| South Africa's ANC Projected to Lose Ground in National Vote Posted: 09 May 2019 04:14 AM PDT  The ANC is also in danger of losing its majority in the Gauteng province, the nation's richest province, according to the projections from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the public broadcaster. The results threaten to dent President Cyril Ramaphosa's ability to quell opposition in the faction-riven ANC and push through reforms needed to spur growth in Africa's most-industrialized economy. The estimates, which are based on results released by the Independent Electoral Commission from 31.9% of voting districts, show the main opposition Democratic Alliance securing 22.7% support nationally, and the populist Economic Freedom Fighters 10.3%.
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| U.S. House panel accuses Barr of contempt as Trump invokes executive privilege Posted: 08 May 2019 04:55 PM PDT  Throwing down another challenge to Trump, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to recommend that the full House cite Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official and a Trump appointee, for contempt of Congress after he defied its subpoena for the complete report and underlying evidence. "We are now in a constitutional crisis," Jerrold Nadler, the committee's Democratic chairman, told reporters after the panel approved the contempt resolution on a party-line 24-16 vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. The vote came hours after the White House took its own provocative step, asserting executive privilege to block the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on Russian actions to boost Trump's candidacy in the 2016 U.S. election and related evidence such as investigative interviews.
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| Pope changes Church law to make reporting sex abuse obligatory Posted: 09 May 2019 10:49 AM PDT  Pope Francis on Thursday passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light. Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law published by the Vatican following a global clerical paedophilia scandal. It is time to learn from the "bitter lessons of the past", Francis said in the text of the legal decree, which comes into effect on June 1.
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| Sean Spicer: Democrats should accept the conclusions of the Mueller report Posted: 09 May 2019 04:53 PM PDT  On Donald Trump's presidency, stop trying to breathe life into a scandal that simply doesn't exist, writes former White House spokesman Sean M. Spicer
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| 5 Takes on Porsche's 911 Speedster, Designed by Our Staff Posted: 09 May 2019 08:31 AM PDT |
| Health funding gap means 1,700 in Gaza may face amputations: U.N. Posted: 08 May 2019 04:22 PM PDT  A lack of health funding in Gaza means 1,700 people shot by Israeli security forces may have to have amputations in the next two years, Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for occupied Palestinian territory, told reporters on Wednesday. McGoldrick said 29,000 Palestinians had been wounded in protests in the past year, and 7,000 of them had gunshot wounds, mostly in the lower legs. "You've got 1,700 people who are in need of serious, complicated surgeries for them to be able to walk again," McGoldrick said.
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| Prankster poses as Walmart manager and fires employees Posted: 09 May 2019 10:31 AM PDT  "YOU'RE FIRED": A Richmond Walmart employee was brought to tears after a prankster posed as an executive and fired her.
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| Secretary of State Pompeo makes unannounced stop in Iraq amid increased tensions in region Posted: 07 May 2019 06:19 PM PDT  Pompeo met with Iraq's defense and intelligence chiefs, as well as the country's foreign minister and several other officials.
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| The Latest: Colorado school closes for week after shooting Posted: 07 May 2019 09:55 PM PDT  HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on a school shooting in suburban Denver (all times local):
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| North Korea Tests Two Short-Range Missiles Posted: 09 May 2019 09:55 AM PDT  North Korea launched "two short-range missiles" early Thursday morning, conducting its second weapons test in less than a week, South Korea's military said.The missiles, which had a range of approximately 420 kilometers and 270 kilometers, were fired at 4:29 p.m. and 4:49 p.m. local time, a statement from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said."The US and South Korean intelligence authority is conducting analysis for additional information," the JCS said. "Our military has currently heightened its surveillance and alertness against possible additional launches, whilst maintaining combat readiness in close coordination with the US.The missiles had an altitude of about 50 kilometers and landed in the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea's Ministry of National Defense.The two recent launches were the first the North has ventured since November 2017. They have further complicated denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea, after President Trump's February summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was cut short when negotiations reached a stalemate.The North's tests have also strained relations with South Korea, with whom they agreed a year ago at a highly anticipated summit to "make joint efforts to alleviate the acute military tension and practically eliminate the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula."North Korea's missile tests tapered off after the initial summit between Trump and Kim in June of last year, the first between a U.S. president and a North Korean leader, but have become more frequent as the U.S. has rejected the regime's demands, including the removal of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a complete lifting of U.S. sanctions on the country.
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| Twitter suspended 166,153 accounts for terrorism content in second half 2018 Posted: 09 May 2019 06:36 AM PDT  Twitter is making headway in tackling online terrorism content on its platform as it suspended over 166,000 accounts in the second half of last year, about a fifth less than in the previous period, the social media company said on Thursday. Together with Facebook and Google, Twitter is under pressure from regulators and governments worldwide to remove extremist content more rapidly or face more heavy-handed legislation. Announcing its latest transparency report, the company said its technical tools were producing results, with 91 percent of accounts promoting terrorism content proactively suspended by its internal technology, the majority of which happened before their first tweet because the data used to set them up raised red flags.
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| Venezuela to prosecute lawmakers who backed failed uprising Posted: 07 May 2019 09:57 PM PDT  Venezuela will prosecute seven lawmakers who backed last week's failed uprising orchestrated by opposition leader Juan Guaido, the country's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, as Washington removed sanctions against Caracas' sacked spy chief for backing the revolt. Soon after the announcement, the Constituent Assembly -- which effectively acts as a regime rubber stamp -- stripped the seven lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity.
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| T-Mobile is the exclusive carrier of the OnePlus 7 Pro in the US Posted: 09 May 2019 12:34 PM PDT  Now that the Pixel 3a announcement has come and gone, OnePlus is next up to the plate with a phone reveal. But before the Chinese company takes the stage next week in New York City to formally unveil the OnePlus 7 series, T-Mobile has jumped the gun with an announcement of its own. According to a press release on Thursday, the OnePlus 7 Pro will be exclusive to T-Mobile in the United States. Launch events will be held in NYC on May 14th, with general availability set to follow at T-Mobile stores and on T-Mobile's website on May 17th.T-Mobile's launch events will begin on May 14th at the T-Mobile Signature Store in Times Square, beginning right after the OnePlus reveal event at Pier 94. On May 15th, OnePlus 7 Pro sales will open at all the Signature Stores in Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco and Santa Monica. The first 200 customers at all of these launch events will receive a OnePlus gift with purchase, as well as drinks, snacks, and limited-edition swag.Here's the full schedule for T-Mobile's OnePlus 7 Pro launch events next week in cities all across the US:> May 14th from 2pm-10pm ET> > * NYC T-Mobile Signature Store: 1535 Broadway St. Ste 161A New York, NY, 10036> > > May 15th, starting at 2pm local time> > * Chicago T-Mobile Signature Store: 700 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, 60611> * Las Vegas T-Mobile Signature Store: 3791 S Las Vegas Blvd S. Ste 1300, Las Vegas, NV 89109> * Miami T-Mobile Signature Store: 738 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139> * San Francisco T-Mobile Signature Store: 1 Stockton St. San Francisco, CA 94108> * Santa Monica T-Mobile Signature Store: 1410 3rd St Promenade. Santa Monica, CA 90401> > > May 17th> > * OnePlus 7 Pro is available to pick up at any T-Mobile store and on T-Mobile.com> OnePlus will reveal the full details and pricing of its OnePlus 7 lineup at 11 a.m. ET on May 14th. You can head to this link on OnePlus's website to follow along live, and we'll have all the information here as well.
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| The Latest: Pope makes reporting child sex crimes mandatory Posted: 09 May 2019 12:41 PM PDT  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Latest on new church laws regarding sex abuse reporting issued Thursday by Pope Francis (all times local):
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| House Speaker Pelosi: Trump making impeachment case by ignoring subpoenas Posted: 08 May 2019 07:59 AM PDT ![House Speaker Pelosi: Trump making impeachment case by ignoring subpoenas]( "House Speaker Pelosi: Trump making impeachment case by ignoring subpoenas") U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday President Donald Trump was moving closer to impeachment with his effort to thwart congressional subpoenas and obstruct lawmakers' efforts to oversee his administration. "Every single day the president is making the case" and "he's becoming self-impeachable," Pelosi said in an interview with the Washington Post, when asked about the possibility of the Republican president being impeached by the House. Trump on Wednesday asserted executive privilege over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and its underlying investigative materials, escalating the battle with the Democrats on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
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| California Police Release Body Camera Footage of Officer Body Slamming Woman Posted: 07 May 2019 08:31 PM PDT  Eight videos were released by the Rio Vista Police Department from a traffic stop that resulted in an officer body slamming a woman over the weekend.
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| Get Ready, Iran: B-52 Bombers Are Headed to the Middle East Posted: 08 May 2019 03:11 AM PDT  Here come the bombers. Four US B-52 bombers have been deployed to the Middle East in response to threats of a possible attack by Iran against local American troops in the region, according to U.S. officials.The bombers, which made up the bulk of the aerial nuclear response fleet during the Cold War and have been serving ever since were deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Tuesday.In addition to the bombers, the U.S. deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which will be heading into the US Central Command region in case immediate strikes are needed.According to CBS News, White House national security adviser John Bolton insisted that while the US isn't looking for a war, it is more than willing to finish one."The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces," he said.It is unknown what kind of payload the bombers were carrying.This first appeared in WarISBoring here.
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| The Latest: Hundreds gather for school shooting vigil Posted: 08 May 2019 09:43 PM PDT  HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on the school shooting in Colorado that killed one student and injured eight (all times local):
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| Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail Posted: 08 May 2019 04:35 PM PDT ![Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail]( "Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail") Dear reader: Our top story today looks at how some of the Democratic presidential candidates are trying to reclaim religion from the far right, by openly discussing their faith on the campaign trail. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been at the forefront of this trend. At a forum last month, the openly gay mayor took on the religious right's opposition to gay marriage, saying he wishes the "Mike Pences of the world" would understand "that if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me – your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Yet some of Mr. ...
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| The 2020 BMW M8 Will Have Adjustable Brake-Pedal Feel Posted: 09 May 2019 10:20 AM PDT  The brakes are just one of the M8's long list of configurable settings and features.
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| Google bucks soaring smartphone prices with new Pixel Posted: 07 May 2019 07:46 PM PDT  Google bucked the soaring smartphone price trend Tuesday, unveiling a high-performance Pixel handset aimed at the middle of the market as part of a wide-ranging pitch to developers of its new hardware, software and privacy efforts. The Pixel 3a phone, which includes many of the artificial intelligence features of its flagship devices, is priced from $399, executives said as Google opened its annual I/O developers conference near its headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View. "There has been a troubling trend of high-end phones getting more expensive," Google head of hardware Rick Osterloh said.
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| Today’s top deals: $25 true wireless earbuds, $20 Wi-Fi cameras, $79 sous vide, SanDisk microSD sale, more Posted: 09 May 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Thursday's roundup of the best daily deals we can find is a good one, and includes very popular true wireless earbuds for just $25.49 when you use the coupon code FSOVHC7U at checkout on Amazon. Among the other highlights from today's list, you'll find $50 off half a dozen different Apple Watch Series 4 models, the lowest price of 2019 on the most popular Instant Pot in the world, a Wi-Fi home security camera that's somehow on sale for $19.99, Anova's newest sous vide cooker for just $79, $29.99 for the Roku Premiere with 4K and HDR support, all-time low prices on SanDisk microSD cards starting at just $7, a free Echo Dot when you buy a Ring Video Doorbell 2 for $80 off or a Ring Video Doorbell Pro for $100 off, Bose's excellent compact sound bar for just $199, and more. See all of today's best bargains below.
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| Trump 'happy' to keep tariffs on Chinese goods; Beijing prepares retaliation Posted: 08 May 2019 03:12 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be happy to keep tariffs on Chinese imports as the two countries prepare for new talks to try to rescue a faltering trade deal amid a sharp increase in U.S. duties. The U.S. Trade Representative's office announced that tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would increase to 25 percent from 10 percent at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401) GMT on Friday, right in the middle of two days of meetings between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Trump's top trade officials in Washington. Beijing announced it would retaliate if tariffs rise.
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| Solar Drones Are Filling the Skies, But There's Still No Clear Winner Posted: 09 May 2019 10:32 AM PDT |
| China holds appeal hearing for Canadian sentenced to death Posted: 09 May 2019 12:18 AM PDT  BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court held an appeal hearing Thursday for a Canadian who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling in a case that has deepened a diplomatic rift between the two countries.
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| Russia's Su-35 Fighter: So Good No Stealth Fighter Needed? Posted: 08 May 2019 06:30 PM PDT  As it currently stands, there is even a chance that the two fighters may use the same AL-41F1 engine.(This first appeared earlier this year.)"A unique machine, a deadly aerial fist," is how the official television channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense introduced the Su-35S superiority fighter earlier this week.TV Zvezda's three-minute clip of a recent Su-35S training sortie over Syria provides close-up shots of the fighter jet being prepped for flight, taking off, cruising over the Syrian coast, and firing flares. On their youtube account, they published slightly extended footage of the same exercise.The first Su-35S fighters arrived at Russia's Khmeimim Air Base in 2016, relatively late into the Syrian Civil War. They performed well in their role of covering for Russian ground-strike aircraft during bombing missions against Syrian opposition targets, but then again-- there were no immediate airspace threats facing the Russia's Syrian forces in early 2016. The Su-35S was therefore limited to an air deterrence role amid an ongoing diplomatic row between Moscow and Ankara that wound down only in the latter half of 2016.
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| Volkswagen's New EVs Will Officially Wear ID Names, Starting with the ID.3 Posted: 08 May 2019 07:16 AM PDT  This ID.3 electric hatch will launch in Europe first, while other ID models are coming to the U.S. starting next year.
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| Best Gas Grills to Buy at Lowe's Posted: 09 May 2019 12:55 PM PDT  Walk into any home improvement center and you'll see an armada of grills—a sure sign of spring. Home Depot and Lowe's alone account for more than 50 percent of gas grills sold in the U.S. Consume...
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| Clinton: GOP must choose 'rule of law' or 'rule of Trump' Posted: 08 May 2019 06:05 PM PDT  HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the struggles between President Donald Trump's administration and the U.S. House will show "whether it's the rule of law or the rule of Trump" that the courts and Republicans obey.
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| Lawsuit: Ford hid Focus, Fiesta transmission problems — then blamed customers Posted: 09 May 2019 04:49 AM PDT ![Lawsuit: Ford hid Focus, Fiesta transmission problems — then blamed customers]( "Lawsuit: Ford hid Focus, Fiesta transmission problems — then blamed customers") A class-action lawsuit representing 1.9 million Ford Fiesta and Focus owners has Ford on the hook for tens of millions if not billions in penalties.
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| Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse Posted: 09 May 2019 02:37 PM PDT ![Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse]( "Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse") Protests were sparsely attended in London, New York and California, and rides appeared easily available in some cities where strikes were called. Drivers and regulators around the world have long criticized the business tactics of Uber Technologies Inc . The Uber app indicated fares were higher in London during a rainy morning rush hour due to increased demand.
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| How UN scrutinises Iran's nuclear programme Posted: 08 May 2019 03:05 AM PDT  Iran's announcement on Wednesday that it would no longer respect limits on nuclear activities under a landmark 2015 deal have raised fresh fears over whether the painstakingly negotiated accord can survive. Tehran's move comes a year to the day since US President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew from the agreement and proceeded to re-introduce sanctions which have hit the Iranian economy hard. The UN's Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has had the delicate task of verifying the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through regular inspections of Iranian facilities.
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| New York prosecutors allege sex cult leader was 'predator' Posted: 07 May 2019 07:06 PM PDT  "The defendant took advantage of them emotionally and sexually," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar said in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. ... He compared himself to Einstein and to Gandhi." But defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told jurors that all the women joined Nxivm voluntarily and that Raniere was merely a tough taskmaster, not an abusive criminal mastermind. Control can make gold medal winners." Raniere, 58, is accused of recruiting women to join his group, Nxivm, and then exercising total dominion over them - forcing them to have sex with him, restricting their diets and branding them with his initials.
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| Nine-Year-Old Boy in Michigan Accused of Killing His Mother Posted: 08 May 2019 07:32 PM PDT  A nine-year-old boy in St. Joseph County is facing murder charges, accused of killing his mother.
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| Alabama postpones draconian abortion law after 'fight breaks out' in assembly chamber Posted: 09 May 2019 03:42 AM PDT  Alabama politicians have postponed efforts to pass a draconian abortion measure after shouting and chaos erupted in the legislative chamber.Legislators were poised to pass what would have been the toughest restrictions in the United States and would have placed Alabama residents on a par with those in many parts of the developing world in terms of access to abortion.The measure already passed by the state's lower chamber only permitted abortion in cases where proceeding with a pregnancy seriously risked harming the health of the mother. The legislation would also make it a felony offence for doctors to carry out the procedure, with a maximum punishment of 99 years in jail.This week, an amendment was added that would have also permitted access to abortion in cases of rape and incest.Reports suggest that shouting and arguing broke out in the legislative chamber, located in the city of Montgomery, after Republicans sought to have those exemptions removed.The move shocked senate minority leader Bobby Singleton, a Democrat, who could be seen on video taken inside the chamber, calling for a roll call on every measure concerning the bill. "At least treat us fairly and do it the right way," said another Democrat, Vivian Davis, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. "That's all I ask….that's all women in this state ask, both Democratic and Republican."Feeling emboldened by Donald Trump's appointment to the US Supreme Court two conservative justices who may be open to challenges to Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guarantees a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion, anti-abortion activists have helped push restrictions in more than two dozen states this year. > Here are the minutes following complete chaos on the Senate floor on abortion ban bill: pic.twitter.com/sr0zhfWl2Z> > — Lauren Walsh (@LaurenWalshTV) > > May 9, 2019On Tuesday, Georgia became the latest of a succession of states to impose an abortion ban after the sixth week of pregnancy – the so-called "heartbeat ban"."I realise that some may challenge it in a court of law but our job is to do what is right not what is easy," Georgia governor Brian Kemp, a conservative Republican said as he signed the bill into law.The push in Alabama has been led by state senator Terri Collins, who has said she hopes the legislation would trigger a legal battle that could force the Supreme Court in Washington DC reconsider the Roe ruling.She told local reporters this week, she opposed the amendments that would allow abortion in cases of rape or incest. "To accept another amendment that weakens the argument, or diverts the message of the argument, which is the baby in the womb is a person, dilutes the whole message," she said.The Associated Press said Thursday's hearing was brought to a halt by Republican Del Marsh, the second highest ranking member of the senate. He said legislators should go home for the weekend and resume debate on Tuesday. Mr Marsh is among those Republicans who support the additional exemptions for cases of rape and incestGovernor Ivey has not commented on the legislation as it made its way through the two chambers of legislature.She does, however, consider herself "pro-life", and supporters of the bill, which was approved by the lower chamber last week 74-3 last week, are confident she will sign it.Last week, the debate in the lower chamber became highly controversial and was seized on by conservatives across the country, after an opponent of the bill, used startling language as he spoke of his support for a woman's right to choose.Democrat John Rogers said he was not "about to be the male tell a woman what to do with her body"."Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or kill them later," he said. "You bring them into the world unwanted, unloved, then you send them to the electric chair. So you kill them now or you kill them later. But the bottom line is that I think we shouldn't be making this decision."
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| Older Americans are relying too much on Social Security as a main source of income Posted: 08 May 2019 06:03 AM PDT ![Older Americans are relying too much on Social Security as a main source of income]( "Older Americans are relying too much on Social Security as a main source of income") Older Americans are relying too heavily on Social Security as their main income source. Many are claiming benefits at age 62, lowering monthly payouts
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| Google’s new accessibility features might be the most exciting highlight of I/O 2019 Posted: 08 May 2019 10:21 AM PDT  The main I/O 2019 keynote was filled with announcements and demos, but it was pretty dull. Google unveiled Android Q's main features as well as the mid-range Pixel 3a phone and the Nest hardware rebrand, and it explained the various innovations it's packing into Google Assistant. The company also talked at length about machine learning and artificial intelligence, giving practical examples of what it all means. On top of all that, Google made clear to everyone in the audience that privacy is now a core focus at Google HQ. One other theme that was pretty clear during the conference was Google's renewed focus on making technology accessible to everyone, and the related announcement from the keynote might be the most exciting stuff we saw at I/O 2019.Google came up with a few new accessibility features that should make smartphones and Google services even easier to use -- so here they are: Google Lens text-to-speechWhile demoing Google Lens for Google Go, the search app for entry-level devices, Google revealed that the app will be able to read any text aloud and even translate it into the user's native language. The code needed for the feature supposedly measures 100KB, so the feature can be included in very cheap smartphones. Google gave a practical example of what that might mean for people who struggle to read:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePwKgKp69GE* * * Live TranscribeLive Transcribe is easily one of the greatest features Google, or anyone else could spend money developing. The feature will help people who are deaf "hear" what someone else is saying in real time. The app will transcribe everything it hears, so anyone hard of hearing can follow the conversation and reply. Live Transcribe is coming soon in beta version, first on Pixel 3 and then on other devices.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLCwjIaPXwA* * * Sound AmplifierSound Amplifier is also meant to help people with hearing disabilities. The feature lets you adjust the sound settings of the phone to make it easier to hear. The feature only works on devices running Android 9 Pie or higher.* * * Live Caption and Live RelayLive Caption is like Live Transcribe, but for videos -- any video -- and phone calls. With Live Caption enabled, anyone will be able to understand what's happening in a video, from the web or a phone, without turning on the sound. That's because subtitles will appear in real-time on top of the video that's currently playing. The feature is meant to help people who are hard of hearing first and foremost. Similarly, Live Relay will work during calls, if that's something you want to do, turning the whole conversation into a chat-like experience. Live Caption doesn't need the internet to work, but you'll need an Android Q device.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL-8Xfx6S5o* * * Project EuphoniaMaybe one of the boldest accessibility announcements from Google I/O, Project Euphonia is meant to help people suffering from ALS, people who had a stroke, and people with other speech impediments speak. Google is using machine learning to turn hard-to-understand speech and facial expressions into text so that people can have conversations.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAdegPmkK-
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| The Latest: US ready to shift military assets in Middle East Posted: 08 May 2019 04:06 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the United States and Iran (all times local):
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| Berkshire takes $377 million charge tied to solar company that U.S. linked to fraud Posted: 08 May 2019 07:07 PM PDT  Berkshire said in its first-quarter report on Saturday it had invested $340 million in various tax equity investment funds from 2015 to 2018, before learning that federal authorities had alleged "fraudulent income conduct" by the funds' sponsor. "We now believe that it is more likely than not that the income tax benefits that we recognized are not valid," and took the charge for "uncertain tax positions" related to its investments, Berkshire said. Buffett's assistant Debbie Bosanek confirmed that the charge related to DC Solar.
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| This Pool Float Looks Like A Giant Bag Of Chips, And You Need It This Summer Posted: 08 May 2019 08:55 AM PDT |
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