| Israel attacks Syrian base hours after hitting other targets Posted: 02 Jun 2019 02:41 PM PDT ![Israel attacks Syrian base hours after hitting other targets]( "Israel attacks Syrian base hours after hitting other targets") BEIRUT (AP) — Israel fired missiles onto a Syrian military air base in the country's center late Sunday, killing a soldier and wounding two others hours after other Israeli attacks in southern Syria killed three soldiers and wounded seven, Syria's state-run media said.
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| China vice minister says U.S. overestimates trade deficit Posted: 01 Jun 2019 08:11 PM PDT ![China vice minister says U.S. overestimates trade deficit]( "China vice minister says U.S. overestimates trade deficit") Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said on Sunday the United States overestimates the trade deficit between the two countries and China should not be blamed for job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Wang told a news conference the U.S. goods and services deficit with China is actually closer to $150 billion and not the $410 billion quoted by U.S. officials. China's processing trade with the United States should not be included in trade deficit calculations, he added.
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| At least 12 killed in Virginia Beach mass shooting: What we know Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:11 PM PDT  A shooter opened fire workers at a municipal center in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding others. Here's what we know so far.
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| Collision sparks fresh debate over cruise ships in Venice Posted: 02 Jun 2019 12:32 PM PDT  A massive cruise ship lost control in Venice Sunday, crashing into a wharf and sparking a fresh controversy over the damage the mammoth vessels cause to one of the world's most famous cities. Footage posted to social media showed people on the harbour fleeing as the 13-deck MSC Opera, which suffered an engine failure, scraped along the dockside before knocking into a luxury tourist boat. "When we saw the ship bearing down on us, everyone began shouting and running," a sailor who was on the River Countess tourist boat was quoted as saying by Italian media.
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| Against the Mexico Tariffs Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:03 PM PDT  President Trump believes, not without good reason, that the Mexican government is not doing its utmost to stop the illegal flow of Central Americans crossing the U.S. border. And so he has responded with . . . a $17 billion–a–year–and–rising sales tax on Americans.The president loves tariffs. He believes that they are an effective means of protecting American firms from unfair overseas competition and a good negotiating tool as he works to reform trade agreements that he believes are disadvantageous to Americans. But the question of who ends up actually paying any given tax is complicated. The price of those tariffs, and the retaliatory tariffs they have provoked, is very high for American companies: For example, the tariffs Beijing imposed in response to Trump's have cost American farmers an enormous part of their export market (half of exported U.S. soybeans used to go to China; the tariffs have been a gift to Brazilian producers), but the U.S. tariffs themselves are an enormous problem, too. Many American manufacturers import raw materials and components from abroad, and complex products such as automobiles and electronics may cross the border several times in the course of production.A 5 percent tariff on Mexican goods would notionally amount to about $17 billion on U.S. imports from Mexico, touching everything from industrial components to fruit and crude oil. In reality, it is difficult to say how much money would be raised, because buyers respond to tariffs in unpredictable ways. In any case, many of those costs will be borne by American consumers and — this cannot be emphasized enough — American businesses that rely in some part on imported inputs. More important, it would cause uncertainty around a North American supply chain that has evolved organically over many years as the result of enormous investment by American companies and their business partners.President Trump envisions a tariff that will potentially ratchet up to 25 percent.The president here is unnecessarily complicating his own life. He has just overseen the successful renegotiation of NAFTA, which will be reconstituted as the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). But that agreement has not yet been ratified — not by the United States, and not by Mexico. Imposing punitive tariffs over a policy dispute unrelated to trade five minutes after negotiating a new trade pact makes the Trump administration — and the United States — look like an unreliable negotiating partner. Mexico is not wrong to resent it, and even Trump allies such as Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) are against him on this.Also, it's a good rule of thumb to fight one trade war at a time. If the administration, correctly, wants to focus on China's malign trade practices — and not just during the current dispute but over the long term — it needs good trading relationships with its allies, especially here in North America.Illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America is a significant problem, and President Trump did well to put it at the center of his agenda. Many of the policies he has proposed — walls, increased enforcement, changes in asylum policy — are worthwhile and would likely prove effective if implemented. But Congress isn't interested in passing them, which has left the president to grasp for unilateral ways to solve the border crisis. Some of these are politically unsustainable or of dubious legality, e.g. the zero-tolerance policy and the unilateral spending under the emergency declaration.Mexico has played ball with Trump on immigration policy more than anyone would have expected at the outset of his presidency, but there are limits to the Mexican government's effectiveness and its willingness to subordinate its interests to ours. Ideally, we'd get Mexico to sign a "safe third country" agreement. That would allow us to exclude asylum-seekers who transit through Mexico on the basis that they should be applying in Mexico instead. Of course, Mexico has no incentive to make it possible for asylum-seekers to stay there instead of enabling them to quickly move on to the United States.If Trump's tariff threat gets Mexico to sign such an agreement, we will be the first to congratulate him on his successful brinkmanship. But it is more likely that Mexico will make some assurances that will be enough to get Trump to relent, while not changing anything fundamental on immigration.The worst-case scenario is getting no action from Mexico whatsoever and the imposition of spiraling, disruptive tariffs, whose costs will in fact fall, to a great extent, on Americans.
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| William Barr Laughs at Homer—but He Doesn’t Get the Joke Posted: 31 May 2019 06:47 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/GettyIt was surprising on Friday to hear Attorney General William Barr use the heroic ethos to explain his decision to spend the twilight of his career obstructing justice. Asked in a CBS interview if he minded very much that a lot of people have come to think a lot less of him, Barr noted philosophically:I am at the end of my career. Everyone dies, and I am not, you know, I don't believe in the Homeric idea that, you know, immortality comes by, you know, having odes sung about you over the centuries.William Barr Delivers Chilling Message to FBI for TrumpBarr was laughing by the time he got to the part about Homer—genuinely mirthful, unselfconscious laughter, the sort you expect other people to join in with because they're in on the joke. Up to that point, though, his demeanor had been somber if not downright grave, sitting there up in Alaska, where he was being filmed before a crackling fire in his plaid dress shirt and fleecy vest (the thinking-person's Christmas catalogue model) and speaking in hushed tones carefully laced with vocal fry. Observing that at his time of life and in this partisan climate he didn't care what people thought, he seemed almost sad, or like a man trying to appear almost sad. The subtext, anyway, was that he was taking one for the team. He said he had known all along that he would be criticized for his stance on the Mueller Report and for what he was doing now in terms of launching a series of investigations into the former investigators and their bad-faith efforts to bring this President down. It sounded, oddly, as though Barr was admitting that all along he'd been following a pre-determined script rather than responding dynamically to an evolving situation as it unfolded.It's not clear to me what Barr finds so uproarious about Homeric values. (I thought right-wingers were supposed to set a great store by "the Western canon.") But the dismissiveness and the laughter are on-brand for him. Barr gave exactly the same sort of patronizing laugh during his Senate testimony following the release of the Mueller Report, when Kamala Harris confronted him over whether or not Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein had ever actually been cleared to supervise the Mueller investigation and make charging decisions, given that he was himself a witness in the obstruction probe owing to his role in the firing of James Comey. Barr hedged and evaded and tried to filibuster, and had finally resorted to laughter, saying that that was the acting AG's job. "To be a witness and make the decision on being a prosecutor," Harris had pressed, and Barr had gone back to being flustered.You might say that dismissive mirth (whether voiced or not) is the ruling ethos of the Trump administration. It informs the logic of everything they do: lie, evade, and speechify until, realizing that you just don't care, you say what you really think in a manner that reveals at once how corrupt and dishonest you are and, at the same time, that there isn't a thing anyone can do about it. Which is the whole point: how powerful you are.But to get back to the code of the Homeric hero, Barr has it a little backward. Starting out with the notion that one does something heroic with a view to being granted everlasting fame, Barr notes that he doesn't care about that sort of fame. Ergo, he has no incentive to do the right thing. Barr's value-system though is purely transactional.It's true that the epic hero's fame, his kleos, is what will make him immortal. But that's not his motivation; that's his consolation prize. You don't do what's right or just or courageous so people will sing about you. You do it—despite the risk, although you might not win or survive, even when you know without doubt that you will fall or fail--because it's the right thing to do and because that's who you are. Because doing that thing defines everything that you or your party or the caucus or agency you represent stands for. It's something that perhaps Nancy Pelosi and Bob Mueller would do well to remember, the Speaker of the House who doesn't want to embark on an impeachment inquiry and the former Special Counsel who doesn't want to testify before Congress. You do the right thing not so that people will sing about you but so they may have something to sing about. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Leadsom Unveils Brexit Plan in Bid for Tory Leadership: Sun Posted: 01 Jun 2019 04:35 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Andrea Leadsom, a prominent Leave campaigner who has thrown her hat in the ring to replace Theresa May as U.K. Prime Minister, has finally unveiled her three-step plan to leave the European Union, according to her commentary in the Sun newspaper.Says its vital to leave the EU by Oct. 31 without any further extension to that deadlineFirst step is to introduce two bills to protect U.K. citizens and enshrine agreed-upon measures between U.K. and EUFirst bill is a citizen rights bill for EU citizens living in the U. ...
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| We Can Tell You All of the Ways to Kill a Hypersonic Missile Posted: 01 Jun 2019 11:00 PM PDT  At a time when existing missile defenses can't guarantee success against the ballistic missiles, a whole new challenge has been posed by hypersonic vehicles. Many people believe that after a certain time period the effectiveness of ballistic missile defenses will grow. In that situation, hypersonic weapons' deployment is important. However, as of now, the Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCMs) are solutions looking for a problem.What's New in Hypersonic WeaponsSpeed, maneuverability, and low-altitude travel are major traits of hypersonic weapons which are not comparable to the existing ballistic or cruise missiles. Cruise missiles lack speed while the ballistic missiles can't maneuver. Hypersonic weapons travel normally at speeds greater than Mach 5 at lower altitudes with maneuverability making them harder to detect and kill than the legacy ballistic and cruise missiles.Major global powers are engaged in building, testing and deploying hypersonic weapons. Among them are the United States, Russia, and China. India and France are also working on hypersonic research and development. Russian's demonstration of "Avangard" in 2018 added urgency to the U.S. plans to expedite hypersonic developments. The United States is also looking at various options to defend against Russian and Chinese hypersonic threats with parallel developments of its own weapons. Russia and China would also be considering options of defensive capabilities after the United States has rushed to develop this capability.
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| EXPLAINER-The Fed wants ideas on how to target inflation Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:00 PM PDT ![EXPLAINER-The Fed wants ideas on how to target inflation]( "EXPLAINER-The Fed wants ideas on how to target inflation") The Federal Reserve is convening experts to discuss overhauling how the world's most powerful central bank manages the U.S. economy. Fed policymakers and economists meeting in Chicago for a June 4-5 research conference will weigh options on how to best target inflation, part of a year-long review of the central bank's policy framework. The Fed announced a 2% inflation target in January 2012 but since then inflation has almost always been lower.
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| Photos of the Cadillac CT5-V and CT4-V Prototypes Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:03 PM PDT |
| Honduran protesters set fire at entrance to US embassy Posted: 31 May 2019 05:35 PM PDT  TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Masked men set fire to a pile of tires placed at the front door of the U.S. Embassy in the Honduran capital on Friday amid three weeks of street protests.
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| Virginia Beach gunman gave 2 weeks notice Friday but was in 'good standing' in his job Posted: 02 Jun 2019 01:16 PM PDT  The longtime Virginia Beach public works employee behind the nation's latest mass shooting put in his two-weeks notice Friday, hours ore his rampage.
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| Impeachment hangs over Trump, top Dems want public support Posted: 02 Jun 2019 11:23 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The threat of impeachment hangs over the White House, but it also vexes House Democrats wary of taking next steps against President Donald Trump without broader public support.
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| How Monsanto manipulates journalists and academics Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:00 PM PDT  Monsanto's own emails and documents reveal a disinformation campaign to hide its weedkiller's possible links to cancer Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup, one of the world's most popular herbicides, may cause cancer. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters Over the past year, evidence of Monsanto's deceptive efforts to defend the safety of its top-selling Roundup herbicide have been laid bare for all to see. Through three civil trials, the public release of internal corporate communications has revealed conduct that all three juries have found so unethical as to warrant punishing punitive damage awards. Much attention has been paid to Monsanto conversations in which company scientists casually discuss ghostwriting scientific papers and suppressing science that conflicts with corporate assertions of Roundup's safety. There has also been public outrage over internal records illustrating cozy relationships with friendly regulators which border on – and possibly cross into – collusion. But these once-confidential Monsanto documents demonstrate that the deception has gone much deeper. In addition to the manipulation of science and of regulators, the company's most insidious deceit may be its strategic manipulation of the media, according to the records. We recently learned that a young woman falsely posing as a freelance BBC reporter at one of the Roundup cancer trials was in fact a "reputation management" consultant for FTI Consulting, whose clients include Monsanto. The woman spent time with journalists who were covering the Hardeman v Monsanto trial in San Francisco, pretending to do reporting while also suggesting to the real reporters certain storylines or points that favored Monsanto. Lawyer Tim Litzenburg, who represents several plaintiffs suing Monsanto over claims Roundup causes cancer, told me that he has traced what he calls a "dark money project" by Monsanto aimed at winning favorable public opinion. The project includes planting helpful news articles in traditional news outlets; discrediting and harassing journalists who refused to parrot the company's propaganda; and secretly funding front groups to amplify pro-Monsanto messaging across social media platforms. "We now know they had pet journalists who pushed Monsanto propaganda under the guise of 'objective reporting,'" Litzenburg, a partner with the firm Kincheloe, Litzenburg & Pendleton, told me. "At the same time, the chemical company sought to amass dossiers to discredit those journalists who were brave enough to speak out against them." According to the internal Monsanto documents Litzenburg has received through discovery, pro-Monsanto narratives are disseminated by individuals and groups that promote the work of journalists who follow Monsanto's desired storylines while seeking to smear and discredit journalists whose work threatens Monsanto. For me, a career journalist who spent 17 years covering Monsanto for the international news agency Reuters, the revelations are not surprising. In 2014, an organization called Academics Review published two scathing articles about my work at Reuters writing about Monsanto's genetically engineered crops and its Roundup herbicide business. Monsanto had been unhappy with some of my stories, complaining that I should not be including the views of company critics. Academics Review amplified those complaints under the guise of being an independent association. Internal Monsanto documents have revealed, however, that Academics Review was and is anything but independent. The organization was the brainchild of Monsanto, designed as a vehicle for responding to "scientific concerns and allegations" while "keeping Monsanto in the background so as not to harm the credibility of the information," as one November 2010 email from Monsanto executive Eric Sachs stated. According to a March 11, 2010 email chain, Academics Review was established with the help of a former director of corporate communications at Monsanto who set up his own public relations shop and a former vice president of a biotech industry trade association of which Monsanto was a member. Other internal documents show Monsanto's money and marching orders behind the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), an organization that purports to be independent of industry while publishing articles attacking journalists and scientists whose work contradicts Monsanto's agenda. Articles written by ACSH associates have appeared in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. ACSH has published several articles aimed at discrediting not just me but also Pulitzer-prize-winning New York Times reporter Eric Lipton, who ACSH calls a "science birther", and former New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom, who ACSH accused of "irresponsible journalism" shortly before she left the paper. Both reporters had written articles exposing concerns about Monsanto. The New York Times' Danny Hakim has also been targeted by ACSH for writing about Monsanto. "Danny Hakim Is Lying To You," reads one of several posts by ACSH about Hakim. Internal Monsanto emails show ACSH seeking and receiving financial commitments from Monsanto. One email string from 2015 between the company and ACSH details the "unrestricted" financial support ACSH desires while laying out the "impacts" across social media ACSH is achieving. "Each and every day we work hard to prove our worth to companies like Monsanto…" the ACSH email states. A separate email chain among Monsanto executives states "You WILL NOT GET A BETTER VALUE FOR YOUR DOLLAR than ACSH." Tom Philpott, a longtime journalist with Mother Jones magazine who has written critically about genetically modified crops for several years, has also felt the sting of industry harassment. "These are vicious and utterly unfounded attacks on a journalist's credibility, well designed to undercut him with his employer," he told me. While harassing reporters whose coverage it deems negative, Monsanto has also found ways to cultivate certain journalists to carry its messaging. Monsanto's internal documents show that when the company wanted to discredit the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) after the group classified Monsanto's glyphosate weed killer as a probable carcinogen, Monsanto turned to a London-based Reuters reporter with specific story suggestions. The emails show that a controversial story published in June 2017 by Reuters, raising questions about the integrity of the IARC's review of glyphosate, was secretly fed to the news agency by Monsanto executive Sam Murphey. Murphey gave the reporter documents that had not yet been filed publicly in court along with a desired story narrative and a slide deck of suggested points to make in the story. The story, which did not disclose Monsanto as the initial source, closely followed Monsanto's suggestions, the emails show. Another newly released email details how Monsanto's fingerprints were on at least two other Reuters stories about the IARC. A 1 March 2016 email speaks of the involvement of Monsanto's "Red Flag" campaign in a Reuters story critical of IARC and Monsanto's desire to influence a second, similar story Reuters was planning. Red Flag is a Dublin-based PR and lobbying firm. According to the email, "following engagement by Red Flag a number of months ago, the first piece was quite critical of IARC." The email goes on: "You may also be aware that Red Flag is in touch with Reuters regarding the second report in the series…" A little over a month later, Reuters published a story headlined "Special Report: How the World Health Organization's cancer agency confuses consumers." The stories in question were shared by ACSH, the American Chemistry Council, Monsanto and others In Europe, French prosecutors are now probing Monsanto's campaign to manipulate journalists and others, including secret files on influential individuals compiled by Monsanto public relations firm FleishmanHillard. Bayer AG, the German company that acquired Monsanto last June, has admitted that FleishmanHillard created lists of people in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom on behalf of Monsanto. The company has apologized for the secret files and said it is hiring an external law firm to investigate the matter. In the United States, Raymond Kerins, Bayer's head of communications, told me that the company "stands for openness and fair dealings, with all of our audiences, including the news media." The comment rings hollow as the character attack pieces on me and other journalists continue to circulate and Monsanto's history of harassment and media manipulation seems to be growing – just as the number of plaintiffs alleging Roundup causes cancer also grows. It's time for the dishonesty to end. Carey Gillam is a journalist and author, and a public interest researcher for US Right to Know, a not-for-profit food industry research group
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| Meet the veterans who walked out of a meeting with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Posted: 02 Jun 2019 05:47 AM PDT  Meet the veterans who walked out of a meeting with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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| Cruise ship collides with Venice tourist boat, injuring four people Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:36 AM PDT  A towering cruise ship collided with a dock and a tourist boat in Venice on Sunday, injuring four people and reigniting calls for large vessels to be banned from the lagoon city. MSC Cruises said the 2,679-passenger Opera, a 54-metre high and 275-metre long liner which dwarfed the Venice skyline, was approaching a passenger terminal on the Giudecca canal when it hit the dock and a nearby ferry after a technical problem. "I thought the ship was going to crash into my house," a resident living nearby told Italy's state television.
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| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bartends in Queens to push for higher minimum wage Posted: 01 Jun 2019 04:53 PM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York returned to her roots to push for a higher minimum wage.
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| Israel strikes Syria after rockets fired at Golan Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:31 PM PDT  BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military said its aircraft struck Syrian army targets on Sunday after rockets were fired at the Golan Heights, and Syria's state media said three soldiers were killed in the second such flare-up in a week. Syrian television reported big explosions near Damascus before dawn and said air defences had "confronted the enemy". The Israeli military said it struck Syrian artillery and aerial defence batteries in retaliation for Saturday's firing of two rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
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| What we know about the suspect in the Virginia Beach shooting that killed 12 Posted: 01 Jun 2019 05:11 PM PDT  Virginia Beach Police identified DeWayne Craddock, a public utilities engineer, as the the suspect in a shooting in Virginia Beach that killed 12.
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| The Latest: UK intercepts 74 migrants crossing the Channel Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:45 PM PDT ![The Latest: UK intercepts 74 migrants crossing the Channel]( "The Latest: UK intercepts 74 migrants crossing the Channel") LONDON (AP) — The Latest on migrants crossing the Channel into Britain (all times local):
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| DR Congo's Tshisekedi laid to rest as his son looks on Posted: 01 Jun 2019 01:23 PM PDT  Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi was laid to rest Saturday as his son, the president, looked on, following three days of ceremonies honouring his memory. President Felix Tshisekedi was visibly moved as he watched the final ceremony for his father, who died in February 2017 in Brussels at the age of 84. The former prime minister turned opposition leader was buried in a private plot at Nsele, on the outskirts of the capital Kinshasa.
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| Leader of Merkel’s SPD Coalition Ally Faces Pressure to Resign Posted: 01 Jun 2019 05:20 AM PDT  After losses in the May European election that shrunk the SPD to Germany's third-biggest party behind Merkel's Christian Democrat-led block and the Greens, lawmakers from Hesse state said they won't back their caucus chief in the surprise vote of confidence called by Nahles for Tuesday, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said. "I like Andrea, but we need a new solution," the newspaper quoted Ulli Nissen, an SPD lawmaker from Frankfurt, as saying.
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| U.S. regulators say some Boeing 737 MAX planes may have faulty parts Posted: 02 Jun 2019 12:20 PM PDT  The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday disclosed a new problem involving Boeing Co's grounded 737 MAX, saying that more than 300 of that troubled plane and the prior generation 737 may contain improperly manufactured parts and that the agency will require these parts to be quickly replaced. The FAA said up to 148 of the part known as a leading-edge slat track that were manufactured by a Boeing supplier are affected, covering 179 MAX and 133 NG aircraft worldwide. The 737 MAX, Chicago-based Boeing's best-selling jet, was grounded globally in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash after a similar Lion Air disaster in Indonesia in October.
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| NASA spots explosion of X-rays glowing in the universe Posted: 01 Jun 2019 07:37 AM PDT  NASA peers deep into the cosmos at the bright, leftover cinders of exploded stars, called pulsars. Now, the space agency has released a map-like image showing loops and arcs of X-ray energy — invisible to the naked eye — radiating from these dense cores of once massive stars. The most radiant spots are the suspected pulsars, repeatedly blasting X-ray energy into space. These trails of energy, or electromagnetic radiation, reveal the powerful sources of these X-rays. "Even with minimal processing, this image reveals the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant about 90 light-years across and thought to be 5,000 to 8,000 years old," said NASA's Keith Gendreau, who leads the imaging mission called NICER, in a statement. "We're gradually building up a new X-ray image of the whole sky, and it's possible NICER's nighttime sweeps will uncover previously unknown sources." Locations of pulsars. Image: nasa / nicer NICER, short for Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, is a cube-shaped instrument attached to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA focuses on specific pulsar targets, so NICER repeatedly follows similar tracks through the sky, ultimately creating prominent arcs of X-ray radiation on this sky map. In total, this image is an X-ray map showing 22 months of radiation traveling through space. SEE ALSO: The secretive lab that built 'the bomb' now scours Mars for signs of life NICER will continue to scan the cosmos for blasts of X-rays so they can better understand the sources of this energy — pulsars. Astronomers suspect these stars act like lighthouse beacons in the universe, regularly emanating or "pulsing" blasts of X-ray light as they spin. Grasping how different pulsars "pulse" may serve quite useful for future deep space travel through the solar system. NASA plans for a coherent map of pulsars to essentially act like a "GPS system in space." "When mature, this technology will enable spacecraft to navigate themselves throughout the solar system — and beyond," NASA said. WATCH: Meet Katie Bouman, one of the scientists who helped capture the first black hole image
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| This 1994 Toyota Has Been Turned Into Thunderbird 2 Posted: 01 Jun 2019 02:50 PM PDT  It's not often that Thunderbird 2 comes up for sale at £35k ($45k). Well, it's sort of Thunderbird 2...
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| U.S. defense chief says no need to restore suspended US-S.Korea military drills Posted: 02 Jun 2019 02:59 AM PDT ![U.S. defense chief says no need to restore suspended US-S.Korea military drills]( "U.S. defense chief says no need to restore suspended US-S.Korea military drills") Acting U.S. Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Sunday that it was not necessary to resume major joint military exercises with South Korea that were suspended in the last year to support diplomatic efforts with North Korea. The United States and South Korea have suspended a number of combined military exercises in the past year after talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
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| Captain charged over Budapest boat tragedy Posted: 01 Jun 2019 02:23 PM PDT  The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over the accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 missing. The Mermaid carrying mainly South Korean tourists overturned and sank late Wednesday, seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn cruise ship on a busy stretch of the Danube in the heart of Budapest. Strong currents have hampered the search for those missing -- 19 South Koreans and two Hungarians -- preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.
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| Gun Owners Are Passionate About Glock: 3 Ways to Make Them Better Posted: 01 Jun 2019 06:00 PM PDT  A better Glock trigger will take a seasoned shooter and do a few things for you. Someone who's mastered the stock Glock trigger knows they are only chasing fractions of an inch and fractions of a second. First it will make you shrink your groups, you'll gain that fraction of an inch through a better trigger.Since then the Glock has gone on to become an insanely popular handgun. Part of that popularity is modularity. Glock pistols in general have three different frame sizes, the standard, the larger, and the single stack. By frame size I don't mean length and width, I mean compatibility.For example, the Glock 26 and Glock 17 are the same standard frame. There are differences in overall size, but they can accept the same magazines and the same internals. This makes it very easy to find upgradeable parts for any Glock.Today, we are looking and talking about the most popular Glock upgrade out there, the trigger. The compatibility we mentioned is important, because you have to be selective about your trigger, and ensure it fits your Glock frame.HOW THE GLOCK TRIGGER WORKS
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| 8 Portable Camping Kitchens for the Wilderness or the Tailgate Party Posted: 02 Jun 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| China announces South China Sea military training exercises Posted: 02 Jun 2019 12:48 AM PDT  BEIJING (AP) — China began two days of military training in the South China Sea Sunday, as its defense minister warned that China's armed forces would "resolutely take action" to defend Beijing's claims over the area.
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| More part-time, small business workers could build retirement savings accounts under bill Posted: 02 Jun 2019 10:45 AM PDT ![More part-time, small business workers could build retirement savings accounts under bill]( "More part-time, small business workers could build retirement savings accounts under bill") The legislation would let more small employers to band together to create collective 401(k)s. Part-timers also would get more access to plans.
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| Here’s a state-by-state look at the fastest mobile network speeds in the US Posted: 02 Jun 2019 06:02 AM PDT  Opensignal has released a new report today about mobile network speeds in the US, offering an overview of how smartphone download speeds haven't improved all that much from this time last year. The report goes into greater detail about that, in addition to ranking each state and the top 50 US cities with the fastest speeds.Among the key findings of the report, tech hub cities surprisingly don't excel when compared to the 50 largest cities. For example, San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin are all ranked in the bottom half of that list of 50 when measuring download and upload speeds, plus overall video experience.Across all 50 states, the report continues, smartphone users experienced download speeds that range from 12.1 Mbps in Mississippi to 32.9 Mbps in New Jersey. States with the fastest speeds are mostly concentrated in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions, while the two fastest cities are Cleveland and Minneapolis, according to the report. There's also a wide divergence in speeds between the top and bottom of that list of 50 cities, with the fastest cities offering speeds that are almost twice as fast as Oklahoma City, which ranks at the bottom.High upload speeds in New York and Salt Lake City mean you'll have the best experience there when sharing smartphone photos and videos. Interestingly, Los Angeles (the home of Hollywood) comes in at a middling 30th place when ranked for mobile video experience.5G offers significant promise in these areas, but, of course, it will still be a while longer before most ordinary customers get to experience that level of connectivity. "In even the lowest-scoring US city for 4G availability," Opensignal notes in the report, "smartphone users spend 94.7% of the time connected to 4G rather than older technologies such as 3G. Opensignal expects it will be years before smartphone users spend as much time connected to 5G networks as they do 4G networks and hence measures of 4G mobile experience such as 4G availability will continue to be important."
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| Martian clouds sail above NASA's Curiosity rover Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:42 AM PDT  While traversing across rocky plains in the shadow of Mount Sharp, the Mars Curiosity rover captured wispy clouds hovering in the sky. The car-sized robot — which landed on Mars in 2012 — captured these lofty clouds on May 17, 2019, which translates to the 2410th sol, or Martian day, of its mission. From millions of miles away, NASA scientists suspect these clouds hovered some 19-miles above the red Martian surface. NASA also notes the clouds are "noctilucent," meaning they're high enough for sunlight to pass through the floating mass of water and ice. Wispy Martian clouds. Image: nasa Earlier in May, the rover captured other high-altitude clouds, too, sailing over the nuclear-powered, six-wheeled rover. High Martian clouds. Image: nasa When the rover isn't gazing up at the Martian atmosphere, it's primarily interested in the ground. In May, the rover spent time drilling into soil of particular interest, because it's rich in clay minerals — and clay forms in water-rich environments. NASA scientists suspect this area (on the lower slope of Mt. Sharp) once supported a watery, Earth-like environment. SEE ALSO: The Trump admin really, really doesn't want you to see this climate science There's still zero evidence that primitive life ever existed on Mars, or anywhere other than Earth. But life — as we know it, anyway — needs water to survive. But Mars certainly has an abundance of Earth-like clouds, sailing high overhead. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| Scouted: Take Up to 75% Off Hundreds of Kate Spade Styles and Dive Into Summer With a New Bag Posted: 01 Jun 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Bags, like shoes, are seasonal. There's no need to carry a heavy, black leather bag in the summer the same way that you wouldn't wear a pair of shearling-lined boots to the beach. Sometimes, you just need to change it up. Thankfully, Kate Spade is here to help out with a massive Summer Splash Surprise Sale. Like the previous Surprise Sales, for the next few days, you can get up to 75% off over 400 styles. But wait, there's more. Use the code EXTRAEXTRA and get an additional 10% off any order of $150 or more. That means the Sam Large Pocket Satchel and the Reiley Straw Large Dome Satchel are each down to $143. Want to try something a bit different this time around? The California Dreaming Cloud Dot Midi Dress is $129 and has an adorable collar and a breezy silhouette. Or go for the Down Breezy Floral Laptop Sleeve that will protect a 15" laptop. The Summer Splash Sample Sale from Kate Spade is your accessories oyster.Scouted is internet shopping with a pulse. Follow us on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter for even more recommendations and exclusive content. Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts, The Daily Beast may collect a share of sales.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Trump says lawyer Emmet Flood leaving in June Posted: 01 Jun 2019 01:50 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that a member of his legal team, Emmet Flood, will leave his post later this month after helping him handle the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign. "Emmet Flood, who came to the White House to help me with the Mueller Report, will be leaving service on June 14th. Trump has been restructuring his legal team as he shifts from dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe to battling Democratic-led investigations in the U.S. Congress.
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| Ten killed in Israeli attack in Syria following rocket fire Posted: 02 Jun 2019 02:53 AM PDT  Israel carried out air strikes in Syria on Sunday in response to rare rocket fire from the neighbouring country, its military said, with a war monitor reporting 10 killed including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters. In response, the army attacked "two Syrian artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights, and an SA-2 aerial defence battery," its statement said.
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| Breast cancer drug gives new hope to young women with disease by improving survival by 50 per cent Posted: 01 Jun 2019 04:30 AM PDT  Young women with incurable breast cancer have been offered new hope after a "fantastic" drug combination was found to boost survival by more than 50 per cent. Charities said the breakthrough is one of the greatest advances in treatment of the disease for decades - giving precious time to thousands of women with few treatment options. They said the results, announced at the world's largest cancer conference, in Chicago, were "indescribably good news" for patients and their families. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with 55,000 diagnoses annually. Advanced breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in young women, with cases often more aggressive and more likely to be diagnosed in their later stages. Medics said the trial of 672 women is the first to show improvements in survival for targeted therapies for such patients. Researchers found that 70 per cent of women given the drug ribociclib, in combination with hormone therapy, were still alive three and a half years later. This compared with survival rates of just 46 per cent among those given hormone therapy only. On average, those given the new treatment lived an average of two years without disease progressing - 11 months longer than those given a placebo. The results were announced at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now, said: "This is indescribably good news for patients and their families. We have known for some time that giving ribociclib with an aromatase inhibitor can slow the spread of incurable breast cancer, but to now know that it can also extend life for premenopausal patients is the new hope that so many families have been waiting for." Researchers found that 70 per cent of women given the drug ribociclib, in combination with hormone therapy, were still alive three and a half years later Credit: Agnieszka Wozniak/Caiaimage She added: "It is now absolutely fantastic to see the very first evidence that ribociclib can give thousands of younger women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer more time to live. We cannot put into words what it will mean for so many women to be able to spend precious extra time with their families and create memories that will last a lifetime." She said the new class of drugs was "one of the greatest advances in breast cancer research in recent decades". "it's vital we ensure that all patients who could benefit are able to access it," she said. Up to 1,500 pre-menopausal women a year with advanced cancer could benefit from the treatment. Since last year, the NHS has recommended the drug for such cases. But experts claim only around half currently receive it. The drug would normally cost £35,000 a year per patient. However, the NHS has negotiated an undisclosed, lower price for treatment. Taken as a daily pill, ribociclib stops cancer cells dividing and spreading by blocking the action of two key proteins. The trials involved those with advanced HR-positive/HER2-negative disease - the most common type of incurable breast cancer. They were also given injections to suppress their oestrogen levels. Lead study author Dr Sara A. Hurvitz, from UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center in California, said: "This is the first study to show improved survival for any targeted therapy when used with endocrine therapy as a firstline treatment for advanced breast cancer. "The use of ribociclib as a front-line therapy significantly prolonged overall survival, which is good news for women with this terrible disease." Dr Jason Carroll, breast cancer expert at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: "This is the first time we've seen how giving new types of drugs called CDK4/6 inhibitors, alongside standard treatment, can improve overall survival for pre-menopausal women with breast cancer. This is an excellent example of how understanding the underlying biology of cancer can make a big difference for patients." Dr Harold J. Burstein, from ASCO, said: "Advanced breast cancer in pre-menopausal women can be very aggressive. It is important and encouraging to see a targeted therapy that significantly increases survival for younger women with this disease."
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| Thirty years after Tiananmen, protesters' goals further away than ever Posted: 01 Jun 2019 05:08 PM PDT  Three decades after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, increased government suppression of rights activism has pushed the demonstrators' original goals further away than ever.
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| Clearing up confusion on payments: If a retailer takes Apple Pay, it also takes Google Pay Posted: 02 Jun 2019 10:04 AM PDT  As New York City's MTA adopts contactless payments on some transit lines, people are still confused about who takes Apple, Google and Samsung Pay.
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| iPhone Killer?: Is Samsung's Galaxy Fold Smartphone the Future? Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Imagine the day when you'll unroll or unfold your smartphone to answer it. If things go to plan, this day may be sooner than you think.And we're not just talking flip-phones here, but smartphones where the actual screens are flexible, not just the handset.Okay, so Samsung's plans to launch its Galaxy Fold phone might be on hold after a few early reviews reported cracks in the screen, but 2019 is said to be a year when many of the major mobile phone manufacturers aim to release their new foldable phones.The promise of technology as intelligent as our smartphones that can simply be folded up like a piece of paper sounds amazing. So what are the challenges in making flexible technology?How flexible?To answer this we need to understand what is meant by flexible.Do we need something that can be deformed without breaking (so it's okay if you sit on your phone, as it will only bend and not break)? Maybe we want to roll it up into a cylinder with the ease of rolling a piece of paper? Or even to fold it like the Galaxy Fold?These are very different scenarios, with each putting a greater performance requirement on the device and the materials within.
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| This $90 stand mixer on Amazon is just as good as a $300 KitchenAid mixer Posted: 02 Jun 2019 07:34 AM PDT ![This $90 stand mixer on Amazon is just as good as a $300 KitchenAid mixer]( "This $90 stand mixer on Amazon is just as good as a $300 KitchenAid mixer") KitchenAid stand mixers are great, don't get us wrong. They do a fine job and they're well-built, so they last a long time. If we're being honest, though, everything good about a KitchenAid can also be said about other popular stand mixers, but rival models often cost far less than the pricey KitchenAid mixers that have become so trendy. If you're looking for a good alternative, definitely check out the Hamilton Beach 63390 Stand Mixer. It's well-made, it's well-built, and it costs a fraction of what you would pay for a comparable KitchenAid mixer.Here are the bullet points from the product page: * Same mixing action as Kitchen Aid stand mixers * Powerful 300 Watt motor * Mixing action gives complete bowl coverage * Better mixing than 2-beater stand mixers * 3 attachments offer mixing versatility
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| In a time when life seems to be going off the rails, remember modern life is extraordinary Posted: 02 Jun 2019 04:45 AM PDT  In 2019, the news can be depressing, but the small and ordinary miracles of the modern world should prompt us to pause and be grateful.
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| Woman dies while taking photos near Lake Tahoe waterfall, firefighters say Posted: 01 Jun 2019 01:47 PM PDT  A woman has died after she fell while taking photos near a waterfall at Lake Tahoe, firefighters said.
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| Japan PM to meet Iran's Khamenei to mediate with US: report Posted: 01 Jun 2019 10:06 PM PDT  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later this month with Tokyo hoping to mediate between Washington and Tehran, a report said Sunday. As tensions intensify between Iran and Japan's key ally the United States, Abe has reportedly proposed serving as a go-between and is said to be weighing up a state visit to Iran.
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| Virginia Beach shooting: Booker and Warren seek focus on all gun violence Posted: 02 Jun 2019 10:59 AM PDT  Democratic candidates make case for gun control reform in terms of reducing overall death toll Democratic presidential candidate Senator Cory Booker devoted his speech at the Democratic state convention in San Francisco on reducing gun violence. Photograph: Jeff Chiu/AP After 12 people were shot dead at a government building in Virginia Beach on Friday, some contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination sought to present the case for gun control reform in terms of tackling everyday gun violence, rather than stopping mass shootings. At a Democratic state convention in San Francisco on Saturday, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren was asked about Virginia Beach. "It's not just mass shootings," she said, adding that each day in America, gun violence occurs "on sidewalks and playgrounds and people's backyards. It's happening family by family across the country. And it doesn't get the same headlines. And that is wrong." The answer reflected a shift in progressive priorities that has influenced candidates in the crowded primary field. The New Jersey senator Cory Booker, who has already presented a plan for gun control reform, devoted his speech in San Francisco to the question. Speaking to CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Booker said Virginia Beach was "a tragedy today but every day in the aggregate we have mass shootings that go on in neighbourhoods like mine … an inner-city black and brown community. "We are not helpless to stop this. This is a uniquely American problem. We have carnage in our country that no other nation sees." Many would argue the US is in fact helpless to stop mass shootings and gun violence in general, given political stasis under the crushing influence of the National Rifle Association, a rightward tilt on the supreme court and the Republican grip on the White House, Senate and many state governments. In February, the Democrat-held US House passed a gun control reform bill that included federal background checks for all gun sales. It has not been taken up by the Senate. The Colorado senator Michael Bennet, another of the nearly two dozen Democrats vying for the presidential nomination, told ABC's This Week: "We should pass those background checks. Ninety percent of the American people support it. "But we know what's going to happen, which is the House has passed it, Mitch McConnell will not allow it to come to a vote in the Senate, and we will not have national background checks." Bennet said he hoped "that if McConnell does not take this on the floor, that the America people, and the people of Kentucky, will hold him accountable for that and that we can actually put leadership in the Senate and the White House that will do something about this." In Virginia Beach, however, police said the gunman used two handguns and owned another weapon that were all purchased legally. He gained entry to the building where he killed 12 co-workers, they said, simply by using his security pass. Booker's 14-point plan includes licensing reform and a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Speaking to CNN, he presented gun control as a public health issue, citing reform at state and city levels that has had measurable effect. Booker insisted: "This idea that we are helpless to stop this, evidence points differently. We know that … licensing like Connecticut did, dropped gun violence in their state by 40%, suicides by 15%." He did not directly answer the question of how his plan might make mass shootings like that in Virginia Beach less likely. It would, he stressed, "drop the level of violence overall". "We've allowed the debate to be framed by the corporate gun lobby," he said, "which has … eroded common sense … enough is enough. We can do things about this problem. We know it. The only thing lacking seems to be a sense of moral urgency. But unfortunately after what happened in Virginia Beach you see that growing." Many proponents of gun control were pitched into despair by Barack Obama's failure to get even modest reform through Congress in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre of December 2012, in which 20 young children and six teachers were killed. Asked how he would succeed as president where his Democratic predecessor so painfully failed, Booker said the cause of gun reform echoed "the civil rights movement" and the long time it took for landmark legislation to succeed in Congress. "People said it couldn't be done and there were states that were standing against it," he said. "But you know what happened is that we had leaders who called to the moral imagination of our country, who called to the conscience of our nation, who built the kind of coalitions necessary to tear down segregation." Another contender, California senator Kamala Harris, said on Saturday she would use executive action to remove such a block from Congress. "We must do all we can to keep our communities and safe," she tweeted on Saturday. "If Congress will not act, I will. Too many lives have been lost." Booker concurred. "Here," he said, "we have a nation that has untold levels of carnage, and violence and shootings every single day, of suicides, 90 to 100 people dying every single day. I believe that just because we've failed in the past doesn't mean we will fail in the future."
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