| Kremlin, after summit, says no offensive planned in Syria's Idlib Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:08 AM PST  Putin, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest allies, was speaking after hosting a summit in southern Russia to weigh the future of Syria with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. All three countries have forces on the ground in Syria, where they have coordinated their efforts despite sometimes differing priorities and interests. Before the summit, the Kremlin had made clear it wanted a green light for action in Idlib where it says Islamist militants have made significant inroads despite the area's technical status as a Moscow- and Ankara-backed demilitarized zone.
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| More rain, snow expected in storm-battered California, following days of mudslides and floods Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:47 AM PST  Californians were in clean-up mode Friday as the state slowly recovers from an onslaught of rain, wind and snow, which brought widespread flooding and mudslides.
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| New York law gives child sex abuse victims more time to sue Posted: 14 Feb 2019 02:50 PM PST  The governor of New York state on Thursday signed a law extending the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sex abuse, a move that could trigger a torrent of new complaints. The law known as the Child Victims Act -- which the Catholic Church fought against for years -- will allow alleged victims until age 55 to file civil cases and 28 for criminal suits, compared to a limit of 23 under the old rule. The new law, which will go into effect in six months, also establishes a one-year litigation window for any victim, regardless of age, to take civil action.
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| William Barr: Senate confirms Trump pick as new attorney general Posted: 14 Feb 2019 12:36 PM PST  Three months following the ousting of Jeff Sessions, the Senate voted to confirm William Barr for his second stint as attorney general. The Senate confirmation on Thursday will grant Mr Barr, a hardline Republican, the power to supervise the Department of Justice's ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia and its interference with the 2016 presidential election. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 54-45 in favour of President Donald Trump's nominee for the post.
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| Photos of the New 2019 Subaru Ascent Touring Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:09 AM PST |
| Gay couples in Japan join together on Valentine's Day to sue government over same-sex marriage ban Posted: 14 Feb 2019 04:00 AM PST  Thirteen gay couples filed Japan's first lawsuit challenging the country's rejection of same-sex marriage on Valentine's Day, arguing the denial violates their constitutional right to equality. Six couples holding banners saying "Marriage For All Japan" walked into Tokyo District Court to file their cases against the government, with similar cases filed by three couples in Osaka, one couple in Nagoya and three couples in Sapporo. Plaintiff Kenji Aiba, standing next to his partner Ken Kozumi, told reporters he would "fight this war together with sexual minorities all around Japan." Mr Aiba and Mr Kozumi have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalise same-sex unions. That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. So they decided to act rather than waiting. "Right now we are both in good health and able to work, but what if either of us has an accident or becomes ill? We are not allowed to be each other's guarantors for medical treatment, or to be each other's heir," Mr Kozumi, a 45-year-old office worker, said in a recent interview with his partner Mr Aiba, 40. "Progress in Japan has been too slow." Politician Mizuho Fukushima has spoken out in favour of gay rights in Japan Credit: AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi Ten Japanese municipalities have enacted "partnership" ordinances for same-sex couples to make it easier for them to rent apartments together, among other things, but they are not legally binding. Japanese laws are currently interpreted as allowing marriage only between a man and a woman. In a society where pressure for conformity is strong, many gay people hide their sexuality, fearing prejudice at home, school or work. The obstacles are even higher for transgender people in the highly gender-specific society. The Supreme Court last month upheld a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents. The LGBT equal rights movement has lagged behind in Japan because people who are silently not conforming to conventional notions of sexuality have been so marginalized that the issue hasn't been considered a human rights problem, experts say. "Many people don't even think of a possibility that their neighbors, colleagues or classmates may be sexual minorities," said Mizuho Fukushima, a lawyer-turned-politician and an expert on gender and human rights issues. "And the pressure to follow a conservative family model, in which heterosexual couples are supposed to marry and have children, is still strong." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ultra-conservative supporters have campaigned to restore a paternalistic society based on heterosexual marriages. The government has restarted moral education class at schools to teach children family values and good deeds. "Whether to allow same-sex marriage is an issue that affects the foundation of how families should be in Japan, which requires an extremely careful examination," Mr Abe said in a statement last year.
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| Club: Mardi Gras tradition is not the same as blackface Posted: 13 Feb 2019 06:04 PM PST  NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans' widely recognized Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club says its tradition of using black makeup for its Mardi Gras float riders is not the same as "blackface," a controversy that has embroiled officials nationwide.
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| May Scrambles for Brexit Compromise With Two Weeks to Save Deal Posted: 15 Feb 2019 12:47 AM PST  British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to compromise with the European Union over the future of Ireland's border, with just two weeks left to save her Brexit deal. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay privately told the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Monday the U.K. doesn't need to reopen the divorce agreement and would accept other ways to address British concerns, a person familiar with the talks said. On Thursday, members of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservatives inflicted another embarrassing parliamentary defeat on the premier after they refused to endorse her approach to resolving the deadlock.
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| 5 Delta passengers injured in severe turbulence, flight made emergency landing in Reno Posted: 14 Feb 2019 07:59 AM PST  Three of the five injured passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight were taken to a local hospital.
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| British schoolgirl Shamima Begum who joined Isil found in Syria and 'wants to come home' Posted: 14 Feb 2019 12:18 AM PST  A British schoolgirl who fled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has said she does not regret it, but wants to return to the UK to give birth. Shamima Begum, 19, vanished from her home in Bethnal Green in London four years ago, along with two other teenage girls, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. A girl who identified herself as Shamima Begum, was found in a refugee camp in Syria as the Isil caliphate collapsed, the Times reported. In an interview with the newspaper she described how she had been living in the caliphate and had married an Isil fighter from the Netherlands called Yago Riedijk. She was heavily pregnant and due to give birth any day. Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase, and Shamima Begum Credit: PA The girl is living in the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria along with 39,000 other refugees. She described having seen a severed head in a bin during her time with Isil, and escaping bombs dropping, the Times reported. The teenager also said she had already given birth to two children, both of whom died in infancy. She told the Times: "I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don't regret coming here." She added: "I am scared this baby is going to get sick in this camp, that's why I want to get back to Britain, because I know my baby will be looked after." The three girls had joined another London teenager, Sharmeena Begum, in Syria. All were married off to jihadists. Shamima Begum said at least one of her friends, Kadiza Sultana, had been killed when a bomb hit a house in Raqqa. Renu, eldest sister of Shamima Begum, 15, holds her sister's photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard, central London Credit: PA The other two girls reportedly stayed on to fight in Baghuz in eastern Syria, along with a few hundred Isil fighters, as the caliphate came to an end. Shamima Begum and her husband fled instead, and the husband surrendered to Kurdish forces. The girl told the Times she had spoken to her mother in the UK and asked for her support when she goes home. She had also read what had been written about her online by people back in the UK. "The caliphate is over," she told the Times. "There was so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory. I know what everyone at home thinks of me. But I just want to come home to have my child. All I want to do is come home to Britain." British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum passing through security barriers at Gatwick Airport, en route to Syria in 2015 Credit: AFP The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place. Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger. "Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security. "There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas and we can also use Temporary Exclusion Orders to control an individuals' return to the UK." A displaced Syrian woman and a child walk toward tents at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria Credit: AFP Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls' families after they ran away, said he was "glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe". He told the Press Association the authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time of their disappearance. "The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offences while they are out there," he said. Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls' families, who had "expressed the position that they want time and space to process what's happened". The Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are expected to announce the territorial defeat of Isil in the coming days. Around 2,000 US special forces are expected to be brought home by April. Giving evidence to MPs in the wake of the British schoolgirls's disappearance, in 2015, senior police officers said they would not be treated as criminals if they returned home. They said there was a "difference between the person running around with a Kalishnikov" and three schoolgirls who had been duped into travelling to Syria. The girls funded their travel to Syria by stealing jewellery from relatives, paying more than £1,000 in cash to a local travel agent for their flights to Turkey. Donald Trump has said Isil is "defeated"and that an announcement is imminent on "100 percent of the caliphate" having been retaken. The war to push Isil out of its so-called caliphate had lasted more than four-and-a-half years. The area once covered part of Syria and Iraq that was around the size of Britain. Pentagon officials have warned that Isil remains an "active insurgent group in both Iraq and Syria". Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.
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| Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India Posted: 15 Feb 2019 04:43 AM PST ![Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India]( "Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India") India says the group and its leader, Masood Azhar, enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demands that Pakistan acts to stop militant groups operating from its soil. Pakistan condemned the Thursday bomb attack that killed 44 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity. India has blamed Jaish for a series of attacks including a 2001 raid on its parliament in New Delhi that led to India mobilizing its military on the border, bringing the foes to the brink of a fourth war.
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| Airbus A380, the Concorde: technical feats, commercial flops Posted: 14 Feb 2019 02:45 AM PST  The scratching of the superjumbo jet Airbus A380 echoes the sad fate of the supersonic Concorde, another feat of aviation technology that turned out to be a commercial flop. The inaugural commercial flight on January 21, 1976 of Concorde, the world's first supersonic passenger plane, promised a revolution in aviation. It was the first computer-controlled commercial aircraft in history and also innovated with a weight-saving aluminium body and triangular delta wings.
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| Sources: Police investigating whether Jussie Smollett staged attack with help of others; 2 possible suspects in custody Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:04 AM PST  Chicago police confirmed Thursday that detectives are talking to two possible suspects in connection with the alleged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett.
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| Ilhan Omar Clashed With Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams Over Washington's Role in Latin America. Here's the History Behind Her Claims Posted: 14 Feb 2019 10:34 AM PST  The Iran-Contra Affair and the El Mozote massacre were among the darkest chapters of U.S. intervention in the region
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| FBI releases 16 drawings prolific serial killer Samuel Little made of his victims Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:07 AM PST  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released more than a dozen drawingsmade by a prolific serial killer in hopes the public may be able to identifysome of his victims
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| There’s Not Much Performance in Denver Schools’ ‘Pay for Performance’ System Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:30 AM PST  On Monday, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) went on strike, the latest in a series of teacher strikes that have erupted across the country over the past year. While Denver teachers have voiced concerns about class sizes, support staff, and starting salaries, the consensus is that the issue at the heart of the strike is teacher frustration with Denver's once-celebrated ProComp pay system, which was jointly developed by the DCTA and Denver Public Schools in 2005.Back then, ProComp was heralded as a pioneering step forward on pay-for-performance/merit pay, and that framing has colored coverage of the strike. Even before the strike started, education outlet Chalkbeat ran an explainer headlined, "How a once-promising merit pay system led Denver teachers to the brink of a strike." This week, the Washington Post reported "Denver teachers strike in bid to dismantle pay-for-performance system." The New York Times account was headlined, "Denver Teachers' Strike Puts Performance-Based Pay to the Test."The only problem? This narrative is bunk. For all the talk about "merit" and "performance," ProComp is almost wholly devoid of any links between pay and teacher performance.As Denver Public Schools' compensation chart illustrates, ProComp allows teachers to earn an annual $3,851 pay bump for obtaining an advanced degree or license; a $2,738 boost for working in a "hard to staff" field or a "hard to serve" school; $1,540 for working in a "ProComp Title I" school, which is different than a "hard to serve" school; $855 for completing the requisite "professional development units"; and between $800 and $5,000 for filling designated leadership roles. There is also a yearly bonus for teachers based on students' state-wide-exam results.None of these bonuses, save perhaps for the last one, are performance-based. The only other component of ProComp resembling anything even remotely close to a performance-based incentive for individual teachers is the $855 they can receive for a satisfactory evaluation on a paper-driven performance rubric — and that figure falls by half for longtime educators. (Just how modest is such a sum in context? Average teacher pay in Denver before incentives is about $51,000, and the district has already offered teachers a 10 percent raise.)A couple points here merit note. First, contra the coverage of the strike, the Denver pay system which has sparked so much backlash is not actually rewarding performance. Rather, ProComp is mostly designed to reward the usual credentialism and to steer teachers to work in certain schools or fields. That's all fine, and some of it makes good sense, but it's a misnomer to characterize it as constituting a "pay-for-performance" scheme.Second, to the extent that ProComp seeks to reward performance in any fashion, it has opted for school-wide bonuses to schools that make large gains on math and reading scores (what the district euphemistically terms "top performing-high growth" schools). Reading and math scores matter, a lot. But education reform's fascination with paying for test points is troubling on several counts. It is bizarrely detached from the instruction that most teachers (including those who teach science, foreign languages, music, or history) are asked to focus on and has encouraged corner-cutting and outright cheating. It also has parents concerned about narrow curricula and soulless instruction, and teachers feeling like insurance salesmen.Performance pay is always tricky, but a raft of for-profit and non-profit organizers have muddled through in pretty sensible ways — tapping human judgment, seeking to assess the full contribution that an employee makes, and relying more upon promotions and raises than one-time bonuses.Denver's situation is so noteworthy because Denver is no laggard. Indeed, for many years, it has been celebrated as a "model" district by reformers. So it's disheartening how little progress the city has actually made. Reformers wound up being so focused on finding ways to pay teachers to switch schools or raise test scores that they missed what might have been a larger opportunity to reshape the teaching profession by reimagining how teachers' job descriptions, pay structures, and responsibilities could work. Indeed, given the limited dollar amounts involved (a 1–2 percent bonus if a teacher aces his personal evaluation), it's hard to imagine why anyone ever expected ProComp to be a game-changer.As teacher strikes continue apace and efforts to improve schooling move on from the enthusiasm of the Bush and Obama years, there may emerge new opportunities to rethink teacher pay. If they do, reformers should seize them by focusing more intently on how well teachers do their jobs, and less on where they work or how many boxes they check.Frederick M. Hess is the director of education-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Brendan Bell is the education-program manager at AEI.
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| Thai party that nominated princess faces court decision Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:40 AM PST  BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court said Thursday that it will decide whether to dissolve a political party that broke tradition by nominating a member of the royal family as its candidate for prime minister in next month's general election.
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| During a school lockdown, 7-year-old writes note on her arm in case she dies Posted: 15 Feb 2019 10:11 AM PST  A second-grader wrote a chilling note to her parents on her arm during school lockdown.
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| February's Nintendo Direct touches on 31 upcoming and updated games Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:50 AM PST  As with several of the Nintendo Switch's successes, "Super Mario Maker 2" brings one of its predecessor's best games to a bigger and more enthusiastic audience. "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," "Splatoon 2" and "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze" are all related to earlier Wii U games and in this respect "Super Mario Maker 2" is no different. Like 2015's "Super Mario Maker," June 2019 release "Super Mario Maker 2" allows players to create 2D Mario game levels, play them, and share them.
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| Mike Pence attacks UK for 'breaking US sanctions against Iran' Posted: 14 Feb 2019 10:44 AM PST  Mike Pence, the US vice president, has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to sabotage American sanctions against Iran and called on the European states to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. In an unusually blunt attack on America's traditional European allies, Mr Pence told a summit in Warsaw that the three countries were leading "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime". He focused his criticism on a financial mechanism created by the three states and the EU to allow European firms to continue trading with Iran in a way that skirts punishing US sanctions. "It's an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," Mr Pence said. He said the British, French, and German governments had "not been nearly as cooperative" in backing America's anti-Iran policy as Israel and the Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Mr Pence said for the first time that the three countries should pull out of the nuclear agreement, which was signed in 2015 by Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, the US and Iran. "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal." Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the summit for bringing Israel together with the Arab states Credit: AP Photo/Michael Sohn Other US officials, including Donald Trump, have harshly criticised the deal but never before called for the European states to leave it. There was no immediate response from the Foreign Office to Mr Pence's criticism. The US-hosted conference in Poland was enthusiastically attended by Israel and the Gulf states but the European governments which continue to support the Iran deal largely stayed away. Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, attended the opening dinner of the summit on Wednesday night but left before the main meetings on Thursday. Germany sent a junior minister and France was represented by a foreign ministry official. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, hailed the summit for bringing Israel together with its Arab neighbours "against the common threat of the Iranian regime". Mr Netanyahu sat next to the foreign minister of Yemen at the conference, an image that would have once been unthinkable in the Middle East. Here is @IsraeliPM Netanyahu sitting next to Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled Hussein Alyemany, at the WarsawSummitpic.twitter.com/d7c5jRwKXp— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) February 14, 2019 However, there still appears to be a ceiling on how far the Arab states will go in befriending Israel without a solution to the Palestinian issue. While the Israeli leader sat in the same room as ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, none of them were prepared to hold a formal meeting with Mr Netanyahu or publicly shake his hand. Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's former spy chief, granted an unprecedented interview to Israeli television where he warned that there would not be peace between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia until there was a deal on the Palestinians. "From the Israeli point of view, Mr. Netanyahu would like us to have a relationship, and then we can fix the Palestinian issue. From the Saudi point of view, it's the other way around," he said. Donald Trump has tasked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with brokering a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. Mr Kushner told the conference the deal would not be released until after the Israeli elections in April and said that both sides would have to make compromises. However, he declined to give even basic details of his plan. The US said that the Palestinians had been invited to the summit and refused to come. Palestinian officials said an invitation had only been issued five days before the start of conference, long after other governments were formally invited. "This is not serious," a Palestinian official said. "This is just part of the blame game of the Trump Administration in cooperation with their Polish friends." An FCO spokesperson said: "The UK Government regards the JCPoA as a crucial agreement that makes the world a safer place by neutralising the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. We remain committed to preserving the JCPoA, which is why we are establishing a European Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the E3 that aims to deliver the sanctions relief we committed to as part of the agreement. "The UK is not and has never been naïve about Iran and its nuclear intentions and while we share US concerns about Iranian regional activities and its missile programme, we believe the best way to address these wider concerns is while the nuclear deal remains in place."
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| Weakest U.S. retail sales since 2009 cast pall over economy Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:17 AM PST  The shockingly weak report from the Commerce Department on Thursday led to growth estimates for the fourth-quarter being cut to below a 2.0 percent annualized rate. December's collapse in retail sales and other data showing an unexpected increase in the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week and a second straight monthly decline in producer prices in January support the Federal Reserve's pledge to be "patient" before raising interest rates further this year. "The decline in retail sales calls into question the domestic growth assumption." Retail sales tumbled 1.2 percent, the largest decline since September 2009 when the economy was emerging from recession.
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| Amazon invests in electric vehicle startup Rivian Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:45 AM PST  Electric vehicle startup Rivian on Friday announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon, which recently pumped money into a young self-driving car technology firm. Details of Amazon's stake in US-based Rivian were not disclosed, but the company said it will remain independent. The potential Tesla rival late last year unveiled an electric pickup truck and an electric sport utility vehicle at an auto show in Los Angeles.
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| Donald Trump's emergency declaration is an attack on democracy Posted: 15 Feb 2019 09:21 AM PST  Invoking a bogus emergency to build a wall Congress rejected will have long-term impacts on the rule of law.
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| At least five dead in Aurora, Illinois, workplace shooting: Here's what we know now Posted: 15 Feb 2019 04:21 PM PST  Five people are dead including a gunman after a shooting at an industrial plant in Aurora, Illinois, authorities said. Here's what we know now.
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| It Looks Like the Land Rover Discovery SVX Is Dead Posted: 15 Feb 2019 02:54 PM PST  This looks like another miss from Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations.
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| U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:00 AM PST ![U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse]( "U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse") "We are not triumphant because I think from triumphant you get to hubris," MI6 Chief Alex Younger told reporters in Munich on Friday. Younger said Islamic States's so-called caliphate was now in its "end game," with the extremist militants clinging to the last square mile of land they hold in the village of Baghuz in eastern Syria. Meanwhile the U.K. is debating the case of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old from east London who wants to come home despite expressing no regrets over becoming a so-called jihadi bride with Islamic State in Syria at the age of 15.
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| Students track fatal child shootings since Parkland killings Posted: 14 Feb 2019 01:59 PM PST  PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — A student journalism project has concluded that at least 1,149 children and teenagers died from a shooting in the year since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
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| Nasa's Mars rover is officially dead, space agency says Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:20 AM PST  Nasa's Opportunity rover is officially dead, the space agency has said, after it disappeared in a dust storm on Mars. Clearly emotional Nasa staff, standing in front of a life-sized replica of the rover, said they had not heard back from the rover and that the mission would come to an end. "I am standing here with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude," said Nasa associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen, before he announced that the Opportunity mission is now considered complete.
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| Senator Bob Menendez reportedly threatens to call police on Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers about the Green New Deal Posted: 14 Feb 2019 05:16 AM PST  Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reportedly threatens to call police on Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers who asked the Senator about the Green New Deal.
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| Kashmir car bomb kills 44; India demands Pakistan act against militants Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:46 PM PST  The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Indian government accused Pakistan of letting militant groups operate from its soil and called on it to take action. Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan.
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| Amazon drops New York headquarters plan amid protests Posted: 14 Feb 2019 01:38 PM PST  Amazon abandoned plans for a new headquarters in New York City on Thursday, blaming opposition from community leaders angry at the huge subsidies being offered to one of the world's most successful companies. The online retail giant had promised the sprawling complex in the borough of Queens would create 25,000 jobs in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives -- which had riled some New Yorkers. "While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project," Amazon said in a statement.
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| Our Favorite Eco-friendly Finds Put Sustainable Materials to Stylish Use Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| Trump is ready to declare national emergency to get border wall money Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:28 AM PST  The president's decision to declare a national emergency sets the stage for a court battle and puts him at odds with some members of his own party.
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| Catholic dioceses in New Jersey release names of accused priests Posted: 13 Feb 2019 07:14 PM PST  The disclosure was the result of an internal investigation of archdiocese records and all of the priests and deacons listed have previously been reported to law enforcement and none remain in the ministry, Newark Archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin said in a statement. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed a task force in September to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy in his state, along with any efforts to cover up such abuse. "I am pleased to see that our task force's grand jury investigation has prompted the dioceses to finally take some measures to hold predator priests accountable," Grewal said in a statement on Wednesday.
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| Senate Confirms Bill Barr as Attorney General Posted: 14 Feb 2019 10:48 AM PST  The Senate voted Thursday to confirm William Barr as attorney general.Barr, who previously served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, was confirmed 51–45 largely along party lines, with Republicans backing the president's nominee and Democrats opposing.Democratic senators Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona defected, backing Barr's nomination, while Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the lone Republican who voted against him.Barr will be sworn in Thursday afternoon at the White House, the Department of Justice announced shortly after his confirmation. Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office.Acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker, who was appointed by the president in November to assume ousted AG Jeff Session's post, will now be relieved of his duties, which include overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Democrats opposed to Barr's confirmation cited his prior criticisms of the investigation, articulated in an unsolicited 20-page memo he sent to DOJ officials in June, to make the case that he would inhibit Mueller's progress or force a premature conclusion to the probe.In the memo, Barr argued that Mueller's reported interest in whether Trump obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey was misguided."As I understand it, his theory is premised on a novel and legally insupportable reading of the law," Barr wrote. "Moreover, in my view, if credited by the Justice Department, it would have grave consequences far beyond the immediate confines of this case and would do lasting damage to the Presidency and to the administration of law within the Executive branch."During his confirmation hearing, Barr told lawmakers that DOJ ethics officials found that his prior commentary on Mueller's investigation did not constitute a justification for his recusal from overseeing the probe.Asked during the hearing to commit to making the entirety of Mueller's findings public when his investigation eventually concluded, Barr told lawmakers he would make public as much as possible but did not make any specific commitments."I am not going to do anything that I think is wrong, and I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong," Barr said. "By anybody -- whether it be editorial boards, or Congress, or the President. I'm going to do what I think is right."
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| PR push for white officer accused of killing armed black man Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:59 PM PST ![PR push for white officer accused of killing armed black man]( "PR push for white officer accused of killing armed black man") NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The attorney for a white police officer charged with fatally shooting an armed black man in Tennessee is calling for legal discovery documents to be sealed from members of the public.
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| Monster mudslides ravage California Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:51 AM PST  Parts of California are bracing for yet more flooding after a powerful storm unleashed historic levels of rainfall earlier this week. Floods and mudslides across the state have triggered evacuations and sent homes tumbling down hillsides. Linda So reports.
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| The 2019 Bentley Bentayga Speed Is Faster but Cannot Crush the Lamborghini Urus Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:20 AM PST  Still, it's the fastest 12-cylinder SUV anywhere.
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| Parkland shooting: How the NRA is more vulnerable than ever after a year of protests and a wave election Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:56 AM PST  One year after gunfire began in the freshman building of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the movement those bullets sparked has swept through the US and opened a new chapter on guns in America. Guns have come to dominate political debate this past year in way unseen previously in the US, with massive protests from March for Our Lives attracting headlines and major news coverage — and virtually all Democrat presidential candidates supporting stricter gun control. Meanwhile, dozens of states have moved to pass new gun control laws in an historic effort, as communities across America continue to be scarred by gun violence.
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| Post-box love for lonely Britons on Valentine's Day Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:59 AM PST  Big-hearted Britons have penned thousands of uplifting messages to be delivered to single seniors on Valentine's Day in a project aimed at alleviating loneliness. The letters and cards were written in recent weeks and left in ten models of old-fashioned red post-boxes set up in locations across London and several other cities. Red Letter Days, a gift experience company which came up with the idea, will dispatch the messages to needy elderly recipients in selected care homes during Thursday.
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| BofA Says a ‘Real’ Trade Deal Could Vault S&P 500 to Record High Posted: 15 Feb 2019 10:23 AM PST  The firm's model on corporate earnings and equity valuations suggests that the market has priced in "a partial deal," one where only some of the issues get resolved in favor of corporate America, according to strategists led by Savita Subramanian. In a best-case scenario, the S&P 500 could climb 5 percent to 10 percent when a "real deal" is struck. Companies from 3M Co. to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. have slashed their guidance this year, citing either trade tensions or weakening demand in China.
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| The 20 Most Powerful Crossovers and SUVs You Can Buy in 2019 Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:35 AM PST |
| Cuba says U.S. moving special forces, preparing Venezuelan intervention Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:49 AM PST  Cuba said on Thursday the United States was moving special forces closer to Venezuela as part of a covert plan to intervene in the chaotic South American country using the pretext of a humanitarian crisis. A "Declaration of the Revolutionary Government" alleged that recent events in Venezuela amounted to an attempted coup that had so far failed. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down and hand over power to Juan Guaido, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly.
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| Airlines to begin adding new gender option for 'non-binary' flyers Posted: 15 Feb 2019 01:03 PM PST ![Airlines to begin adding new gender option for 'non-binary' flyers]( "Airlines to begin adding new gender option for 'non-binary' flyers") Some U.S. airlines are on track to add a new gender option for "non-binary" passengers amid evolving best-practices suggestions for the industry.
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| Los Angeles police fatally shoot man at busy train station Posted: 14 Feb 2019 12:25 PM PST ![Los Angeles police fatally shoot man at busy train station]( "Los Angeles police fatally shoot man at busy train station") LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man armed with a knife was shot and killed by police at a downtown train station during the morning rush hour Thursday, Los Angeles police said.
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| Trump will sign spending bill but end-run Congress to build wall Posted: 14 Feb 2019 01:38 PM PST  President Trump will sign the bipartisan funding bill pending in Congress and then declare a national emergency to build the border wall, the White House announced Thursday afternoon.
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| Polestar teases next-gen electric car again ahead of Geneva launch Posted: 15 Feb 2019 07:39 AM PST  Just two weeks before the official online reveal on February 27, Volvo's Polestar gave us another glimpse of the Polestar 2 just a couple of weeks after the first announcement. While the latest official teaser of the Polestar 2 isn't nearly as informational as the first announcement made a few weeks ago, we have still been graced by another image of a discernible part of the exterior body: the top, left-hand side of the rear end. The white Polestar logo blends into the white body to avoid distracting onlookers from the snappy and chic design.
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| Isil bride Shamima Begum has a legal right to return to the UK, head of MI6 says Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:45 AM PST  The British Islamic State (Isil) bride Shamima Begum has a legal right to return to the UK the Head of MI6 has said. The Director General of MI6 has said that British citizens have a right to return home from Syria, even though they may still present a threat to national security. Alex Younger, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service - better known as MI6 - said he was "very concerned" about returning British nationals that had fought for or supported the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Speaking ahead of the Munich Security Conference which started on Friday, Mr Younger said: "All experience tells us that once someone's put themselves in that sort of position they are likely to have acquired both the skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous. "Anyone who has put themselves in this situation can expect to be questioned and investigated and potentially prosecuted if they return to our jurisdiction." When asked about the case of Ms Begum, the heavily pregnant 19-year-old Londoner who travelled to Syria four years ago to become an Isil bride and who now wants to return to the UK to have her baby, Mr Younger said: "British nationals have a right to come to the UK." Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport Credit: Metropolitan Police Britain's intelligence chief cautioned about showing triumphalism at the demise of Isil, saying such an approach led to hubris. "The military defeat of the caliphate does not represent the end of the terrorist threat that we face," he said. "You can't use military force to kill and idea." Mr Younger warned that Isil was already in the process of trying to grow elsewhere around the world, even as its fighters are defeated in Syria, and that the threat from al-Qaeda had not been completely extinguished. He said: "Daesh [Isil] is a resilient organisation and it is reorganising, returning to its natural state as an asymmetric transnational terrorist organisation. We see it morphing, spreading out. "Al-Qaeda...has undergone a certain resurgence as a result of the degradation of Daesh and it is a force that should also be taken seriously. It is definitely not done out, and is something we should remain focused on." Mr Younger was keen to stress the "strength and unconditional nature of the UK security offer" and said Brexit would not harm enduring partnerships. "Britain's commitment to the security of the European continent is unconditional," he said. "Our aim is to strengthen our security partnerships in Europe, alongside our other intelligence partnerships across the globe, because that is the inescapable logic of a world of increasingly international hybrid threats." The ability to "operationalise" partnerships with other intelligence organisations was critical in preserving our way of life, he said, and was used to great effect after the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury last year. Referring to the intelligence sharing relationships with France and Germany he said: "There are people alive in our three countries today because of terrorist attack plans that we have successfully disrupted, showing the value and importance of cooperation to all sides. This is not a one-way street." "Even in the past year...people's lives have been saved in all of our countries as a result of this cooperation. The counter terrorist machine is working as it should. Bombs haven't gone off as a result of our capacity to exchange data with each other. "Brexit doesn't fundamentally alter those relationships."
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| Jaish al-Adl: shadowy Sunni extremists on Iran-Pakistan border Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:05 AM PST  A suicide attack that killed 27 troops in Iran's restive southeast on Wednesday was claimed by Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that only emerged seven years ago. Jaish al-Adl -- Army of Justice in Arabic -- is seen as the incarnation of Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which began a bloody rebellion against the Islamic republic in 2000. For a decade, Jundallah waged a deadly insurgency on civilians and officials in the restive southeast.
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| Watch a space harpoon impale a piece of space debris Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:52 AM PST  The U.S. government tracks 500,000 chunks and bits of space junk as they hurtle around Earth. Some 20,000 of these objects are larger than a softball.To clean up the growing mess, scientists at the University of Surrey have previously tested a net to catch chunks of debris. Now, they've successfully tested out a harpoon.The video below, released Friday by the university's space center, shows a test of the experimental RemoveDEBRIS satellite as it unleashes a harpoon at a piece of solar panel, held out on a 1.5-meter boom.The harpoon clearly impales its target. "This is RemoveDEBRIS' most demanding experiment and the fact that it was a success is testament to all involved," Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, said in a statement. Next, the RemoveDEBRIS team -- made up of a group of international collaborators -- is planning its final experiment: responsibly destroying the satellite.In March, the RemoveDEBRIS satellite will "inflate a sail that will drag the satellite into Earth's atmosphere where it will be destroyed," the university said a statement. This is how the group intends to vaporize the future dangerous debris it catches. SEE ALSO: Trump fails to block NASA's carbon sleuth from going to spaceHuman space debris hurtles around Earth faster than a speeding bullet, with debris often traveling at 17,500 mph, or faster. The threat of collisions is always present, though in some orbits the odds of an impact are significantly lower than others. The International Space Station, for instance, is in a relatively debris-free orbit, but even here there is the threat of "natural debris" -- micrometeors -- pummeling the space station.Other orbits have considerably more debris spinning around Earth. In 2009, a derelict Russian satellite slammed into a functional Iridium telecommunication satellite at 26,000 mph, resulting in an estimated 200,000 bits of debris. In 2007, the Chinese launched a missile at an old weather satellite, spraying shrapnel into Earth's orbit.This risk amplifies as more satellites are rocketed into space. SpaceX now has government-approved plans to launch thousands of its Starlink satellites into orbit -- perhaps by the mid-2020's, should they amass money for the pricey program. This would double or triple the number of satellites in orbit."It is unprecedented," said Kessler, NASA's former senior scientist for orbital debris research told Mashable. "The sheer number, that's the problem."Kessler has long warned about the potential of catastrophic chain reactions in Earth's orbit, wherein one collision creates enough weaponized debris to create a cycle of destruction. Designs to harpoon dangerous chunks of debris are just being tested in space today, but the technology could prove critical as Earth's orbit grows increasingly trafficked with large, metallic satellites. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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