| Florida man attacked and killed by his cassowary, the ‘world’s most dangerous bird’ Posted: 14 Apr 2019 10:04 AM PDT ![Florida man attacked and killed by his cassowary, the 'world's most dangerous bird']( "Florida man attacked and killed by his cassowary, the 'world's most dangerous bird'") A 75-year-old man in Florida was killed by a cassowary, a large, flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea.
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| Assange's father calls on Australia to bring him home Posted: 13 Apr 2019 10:15 PM PDT  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's father on Sunday called on Australia to bring his son home, saying he was shocked to see his son's condition after his arrest in London last week. John Shipton -- who was secretary of the Wikileaks Party when his son tried to run for a senate seat in 2013 national elections -- reportedly visited Assange every Christmas at the Ecuadore embassy in London after he sought refuge there in 2012. "DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs) and the prime minister should in a nuanced way do something," Shipton told Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun.
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| This Country Has a Choice to Make: F-35s, F/A-18 Super Hornets or a European Fighter Posted: 14 Apr 2019 10:57 AM PDT  The Swiss air force is beginning to test foreign warplane designs as part of a lengthy and much-delayed, $8-billion effort finally to replace the air arm's old Northrop Grumman F-5E/F Tiger fighters.On April 12, 2019, two Eurofighter Typhoons -- an FGR4 single-seat, multi-role variant and a T3 two-seat trainer, both operated by British Aerospace -- reportedly flew missions from Payerne."A Swiss evaluator was noted flying in the two-seater," Scramble magazine reported.Switzerland is testing five different aircraft. Beside the Typhoon, the candidates including Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault's Rafale, Lockheed Martin's F-35A Lightning II and Saab's JAS-39E/F Gripen."Between April and July 2019, the five candidates will be in Switzerland for aerial and ground tests for a period of two weeks each, with public viewing opportunities," according to Scramble.> These tests will complete the same program with the objective to check the capacities of the aircraft and the data of the offers submitted by the different manufacturers. Each candidate will perform eight missions with specific tasks.
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| Kim Jong-un gives Donald Trump until end of year to change attitude to North Korea nuclear talks Posted: 12 Apr 2019 07:25 PM PDT  Kim Jong-un said the US must change its attitude to talks by the end of this year if there was to be a third summit with Donald Trump. The North Korean leader made the comments during a speech on Friday at a session of North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, which made a slew of personnel changes that bolstered his diplomatic lineup amid deadlocked negotiations with the United States. His speech came hours after Mr Trump and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in Washington and agreed on the importance of nuclear talks with North Korea. "We of course place importance on resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations. But US-style dialogue of unilaterally pushing its demands doesn't fit us, and we have no interest in it," Kim said during the speech. According to the Korean Central News Agency, he blamed the collapse of his summit with Trump in February on what he described as unilateral demands by the United States, which he said raised questions over whether Washington has genuine willingness to improve relations. But Kim said his personal relationship with the American president remains good and that they could exchange letters at "any time." Kim repeated earlier claims that North Korea's crippled economy would persevere through heavy international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programme and that he wouldn't "obsess over summitry with the United States out of thirst for sanctions relief." The United States has said the summit in Vietnam broke down because of the North's excessive demands for sanctions relief in return for limited disarmament measures. In their first summit last June in Singapore, Mr Trump and Kim issued a vague statement calling for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur. Kim said the United States has been refusing to withdraw what the North perceives as "hostile policies" while sticking to "mistaken judgment that we would succumb to maximum pressure." He said the North would not compromise on the "fundamental interests of our country and people, even by a speck," and blamed the United States for arriving in Hanoi with "completely unrealisable plans." "If the United States approaches us with the right manner and offers to hold a third North Korea-U.S. leaders' summit on the condition of finding solutions we could mutually accept, then we do have a willingness to give it one more try," he added. "We will wait with patience until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a courageous decision. But it will clearly be difficult for a good opportunity like last time to come up." Kim Jong-un poses in a photo with newly-elected members of the leadership bodies of the state at the headquarters building of the Party Central Committee in Pyongyang Credit: AFP Kim also during the speech made a nationalistic call for South Korea to support the North's positions more strongly and criticised Seoul for acting like an "overstepping mediator" between Washington and Pyongyang. Kim held three summits last year with Moon, who lobbied hard to revive the nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea. Following collapse of the Trump-Kim summit, the North had been urging the South to break away from Washington and proceed with inter-Korean economic projects that are currently held back by U.S.-led sanctions against the North. "The South should not act as an 'overstepping mediator' or a 'facilitator' and should rather get its mind straight as a member of the (Korean) nation and boldly speak up for the interest of the nation," Kim said. When asked about Kim's comments, South Korea's presidential office said Seoul is committed toward keeping the atmosphere of dialogue alive and helping negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang resume at an early date.
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| American Airlines extends cancellations through Aug. 19 Posted: 14 Apr 2019 09:14 AM PDT  American Airlines Group Inc said on Sunday it is extending Boeing Co 737 MAX cancellations through Aug. 19, leading to about 115 daily canceled flights
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| New ruling Sudan military council promises civilian Cabinet Posted: 14 Apr 2019 02:14 PM PDT  Sudan's new ruling military council announced Sunday that it will name a civilian prime minister and Cabinet but not a president to help govern the country following the coup that removed longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. An army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Shamseldin Kibashi, also said in televised remarks that the military had begun to overhaul security organizations and would not break up demonstrations that have continued outside the military headquarters since Thursday's coup. The announcement was unlikely to satisfy protesters, who have demanded full civilian rule.
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| World's largest plane makes first test flight Posted: 14 Apr 2019 02:10 AM PDT  The world's largest airplane -- a Stratolaunch behemoth with two fuselages and six Boeing 747 engines -- made its first test flight on Saturday in California. The mega jet carried out its maiden voyage over the Mojave desert. It is designed to carry into space, and drop, a rocket that would in turn ignite to deploy satellites.
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| Brazil’s Economy Minister Says He Can ‘Fix’ Petrobras Situation Posted: 13 Apr 2019 03:00 PM PDT  When asked about Bolsonaro's meddling in state-controlled Petrobras' pricing policy this week, Guedes said he'd get more information when he returns home from Washington, where he's been attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund. Petrobras shares plunged more than 8 percent on Friday after Bolsonaro called the energy producer's Chief Executive Officer Roberto Castello Branco and ordered him to cancel a planned increase in diesel prices.
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| La. church fires: Documents claim suspect bought gas can before crimes Posted: 14 Apr 2019 10:50 AM PDT  Authorities used surveillance video, debit card purchases and cell phone data to tie Holden Matthews to three church fires, according to court records.
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| Ecuador president defends Assange asylum withdrawal Posted: 14 Apr 2019 05:00 PM PDT  Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno on Sunday defended his decision to overturn Julian Assange's asylum status, claiming in an interview with the Guardian newspaper that the WikiLeaks founder had tried to set up a "centre for spying" in Ecuador's London embassy. "It is unfortunate that, from our territory and with the permission of authorities of the previous government, facilities have been provided within the Ecuadoran embassy in London to interfere in processes of other states," Moreno said. "We cannot allow our house, the house that opened its doors, to become a centre for spying," added Moreno, who was elected in 2017.
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| An F-35 Will Never be Alone: Russia Seems to Warn America's Stealth Fighter Posted: 14 Apr 2019 08:00 AM PDT  This is perhaps the most aggressive illustration of a new Russian rhetorical approach. In a move that would raise eyebrows even by Cold War standards of political saber-rattling, the Russian Embassy in Washington seemed to threaten America's F-35 fighter with Vietnam-era propaganda footage.(This first appeared earlier in the year.)Last month, the official handle of the Russian Embassy in the US tweeted the following update:> 'If a Russia... ever was to see an F-35 inside its airspace', we would love to send Chief of Staff of the @usairforce Gen. David L. Goldfein 'message with two words' — 'remember Vietnam' > 'An F-35 will never be alone'As observed by Foxtrot Alpha, the tweet is a direct reference to a recent Brookings Institution lecture given by Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein. During his talk, General Goldfein gave this assessment of the F-35's capabilities:"If a China or a Russia or another adversary on the globe ever were to see an F-35 inside their airspace," Goldfein said. "I would love to send them all messages with two words — 'we're here. "It's not 'I'm here,'" he said. "An F-35 will never be alone."
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| Sarah Sanders claims Congress ‘not smart enough’ to understand Trump’s tax returns Posted: 14 Apr 2019 11:01 AM PDT  White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has claimed members of Congress are not "smart enough" to understand Donald Trump's finances after Democrats formally requested the president's tax returns.When Fox News host Chris Wallace asked whether Mr Trump will order the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to defy Congress's request, Ms Sanders refused to give a clear answer.She instead went on to criticise congressional Democrats."This is all about political partisanship," Ms Sanders said."This is a dangerous, dangerous road and frankly Chris, I don't think Congress, particularly not this group of Congressman and woman, is smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume president Trump's taxes will be.""My guess is most of them don't do their own taxes and I certainly don't trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything," she added.House Democrats have set a deadline of 23 April for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to turn over several years of Mr Trump's personal and business tax documents.Mr Trump broke from political convention during the 2016 presidential campaign by refusing to release his tax returns.In contrast, Hillary Clinton has released tax returns from 2000 to 2015 .Ms Sanders' comments come as Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released 15 years' worth of tax documents.The records show Ms Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, have paid more than $2.2m (£1.7m) in federal taxes over the past five years, according to her campaign.Ms Harris has followed fellow Democratic candidates Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren by releasing her tax returns.Senator Bernie Sanders has also said he will release his tax filings after he described himself as a millionaire earlier this week.Mr Sanders has dismissed suggestions that his newfound wealth, which is believed to have come from book sales following his 2016 campaign, undermines his political message.
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| View Photos of the I.D. Roomzz Electric SUV Concept Posted: 14 Apr 2019 04:15 AM PDT |
| 'Justice for Palestine' protesters interrupt Cory Booker's campaign kickoff speech Posted: 13 Apr 2019 01:02 PM PDT  NEWARK, N.J. — Cory Booker delivered a message of "love" and unity at his campaign's "hometown kickoff" on Saturday, but the New Jersey senator's speech was interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists shouting "Justice for Palestine."
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| Red Cross appeals for three staff missing in Syria since 2013 Posted: 14 Apr 2019 02:30 PM PDT ![Red Cross appeals for three staff missing in Syria since 2013]( "Red Cross appeals for three staff missing in Syria since 2013") The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appealed on Sunday for information on the whereabouts of three employees abducted in Syria more than five years ago and last known to have been held by Islamic State. Breaking its silence on the case, the independent aid agency identified the three as Louisa Akavi, a nurse from New Zealand, and Syrian drivers Alaa Rajab and Nabil Bakdounes. U.S.-backed forces proclaimed the capture of Islamic State's last territory in Syria last month, eliminating its rule over a caliphate which it had proclaimed in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
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| Storm kills two children in East Texas after tree falls on moving car Posted: 13 Apr 2019 08:12 PM PDT  Authorities in East Texas say two children were killed after a tree fell on a car as it was being driven during a strong storm.
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| Roger Stone tells court he alone is entitled to see the Mueller report Posted: 13 Apr 2019 10:52 AM PDT  In a flurry of legal filings, Roger Stone's defense team argues that he and his defense team should be allowed an exclusive look at the Mueller report.
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| Five years after Boko Haram kidnap, 112 Chibok girls still missing Posted: 13 Apr 2019 06:50 PM PDT  Aisha Musa Maina digs through an old bag looking for memories of her daughter Hauwa, one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped five years ago by Boko Haram jihadists in northeastern Nigeria. The kidnap had caused the family such suffering and sadness it feels as if they were all abducted, Hauwa's mother told AFP. On April 14, 2014, gunmen stormed the Chibok girls' boarding school, kidnapping 276 pupils aged 12-17, 57 of whom managed to escape by jumping from the trucks.
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| UPDATE 1-Multiple people shot outside nightclub in Australia Posted: 13 Apr 2019 04:48 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Multiple people shot outside nightclub in Australia]( "UPDATE 1-Multiple people shot outside nightclub in Australia") Multiple people have been shot outside a nightclub in the Australian city of Melbourne, police said on Sunday. Two men were in hospital in critical condition, police said, while two other men had non-life-threatening injuries. A police spokeswoman said by telephone that there was no suggestion the attack was terror-related at this stage.
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| 'Radicalized' couple behind viral AOC ad launches pro-socialism, Netflix-like service Posted: 14 Apr 2019 12:44 PM PDT  Two filmmakers who gained national attention for making a campaign video for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are launching a pro-socialism media company.
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| Daimler faces probe over 'new cheating software' Posted: 14 Apr 2019 09:10 AM PDT  Daimler confirmed Sunday it was facing a regulatory probe after a report said German authorities have uncovered a previously unknown type of pollution trickery software allegedly installed by the car giant in some of its vehicles. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has initiated a formal hearing procedure, Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported. "We fully cooperate with the Federal Motor Transport Authority and are reviewing the facts," said Daimler in a statement.
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| Democrats set new deadline for release of Trump tax returns Posted: 13 Apr 2019 09:06 AM PDT  House committee chair has authority to demand releaseWhite House has said tax information will not be shared Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters Donald Trump's tax returns must be handed to House Democrats by 23 April, a leading committee chair said on Saturday. Democrats initially set a 10 April deadline for the returns but this week treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said he needed more time to assess issues raised by the request. On Saturday the chairman of the House ways and means committee, Richard Neal of Massachusetts, wrote to Internal Revenue Service commissioner Charles Rettig to say a failure to comply with the new deadline would be "interpreted as a denial of my request". Constitutionally, Neal has the power to demand the IRS release tax returns for any US individual. He has asked for six years of the president's personal and business returns. In his letter, he wrote that his power to make the demand "is unambiguous and raises no complicated legal issues". Trump was at his golf course in Virginia on Saturday but the White House has already said it will refuse to release such information for a president who as a candidate broke with convention but not law by refusing to make his tax returns public. Last week, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday Democrats would "never" see Trump's tax returns. Claiming the request was purely political, Mulvaney added: "That is not going to happen and they know it." Trump's personal attorney, William Consovoy, has called the request a "gross abuse of power". Mnuchin used similar language in a letter to Neal this week. In his letter to Rettig, a Trump appointee, Neal said concerns expressed by the administration "lack merit" and added: "Judicial precedent commands that none of the concerns raised can legitimately be used to deny the committee's request. "It is not the proper function of the IRS, treasury or justice [departments] to question or second guess the motivations of the committee or its reasonable determinations regarding its need for the requested tax returns and return information." Legal experts expect a final denial by the Trump administration to lead to a subpoena from House Democrats and a fight in the courts. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be unable to release his tax returns because he is under audit. Experts have repeatedly pointed out that being under audit does not preclude the release of such information. The president's tax returns have duly become a Holy Grail for his opponents and a source of constant speculation, not least during the Mueller investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump on tax, in September 2016. In September 2016, in his first presidential debate against Hillary Clinton, Trump said not paying federal taxes "makes me smart". In October that year, shortly before the election, the New York Times reported that Trump may not have paid federal income tax in 18 years. In March 2017, the MSNBC host Rachel Maddow obtained and made public a portion of Trump's tax return for 2005, which showed he had paid $35m in federal taxes that year. It was thought Trump himself might have been behind the leak. In October 2018, the New York Times released a major investigative report which said the Trump family engaged in "dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud". A lawyer for Trump said the Times report contained "allegations of fraud and tax evasion [that] are 100% false, and highly defamatory" and said "there was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone". An official inquiry followed. In November 2018, shortly after Democrats took back the House, putting them in position to demand the relevant information, Trump said at a press conference his tax returns were too complicated for the public to understand.
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| Ukraine president holds 1-man 'debate' before runoff vote Posted: 14 Apr 2019 09:05 AM PDT  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stood next to an empty lectern bearing his election rival's name and used a solo appearance at Ukraine's largest sports stadium Sunday to lash out at the race's inexperienced front-runner as a "virtual candidate."
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| Consumer Reports' Guide to Spring Cleaning Posted: 13 Apr 2019 03:00 AM PDT  After feeling cooped up all winter, it's refreshing to finally throw open the windows and spend time outdoors without a snow shovel in your hands. But along with the benefits of extra sunlight co...
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| Marine Who Served on Iwo Jima Recalls the Time a Japanese Soldier Asked for Some of His Hot Chocolate Posted: 13 Apr 2019 11:00 PM PDT  The Battle of Iwo Jima, which began Feb. 19, 1945, was one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history, as former Cpl. Don Graves knows firsthand and will never forget.He'll also never forget the time a Japanese soldier smelled hot chocolate being brewed near him and called out for him to bring him some. The moment, as he recounted in a video posted to the Marine Corps Facebook page Tuesday, was almost like the Christmas truce that wasn't.Sitting in a fox hole with two other Marines on the fifth week of the battle, he said, Graves decided to make himself some hot chocolate. "So my other two buddies, they said, 'make enough for three of us.'"So there he was, slicing up his chocolate ration with a Ka-Bar and chopping it into a powder. Then he cut off a piece of his Composition C2 demolition charge and used it to light a flame."Just a nice little fire going, and we sat there and we watched it," he said. "And then all of sudden I could smell hot chocolate."Of course, so could everyone else, including enemy soldiers.A few minutes later, he heard a Japanese voice calling out to him, "hey Marine, very good chocoletto. You bring chocoletto here.""If you want chocoletto, you come here and get it," he said back. "He says, 'oh no, you bring here,'" Graves said, laughing."There's humor in combat. Every man that's been in combat knows that sometimes funny things happen."
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| 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Sunday: $1 LED light bulbs, $10 wireless charger, Fire TV sale, more Posted: 14 Apr 2019 05:03 AM PDT ![10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: $1 LED light bulbs, $10 wireless charger, Fire TV sale, more]( "10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: $1 LED light bulbs, $10 wireless charger, Fire TV sale, more") Welcome to another special weekend edition of our daily deals roundups, where we dig through hundreds and hundreds of sales to find you the best of the bunch. Highlights from today's list include a killer sale that gets you Sylvania soft white LED light bulbs for just $1 each when you buy a 24 pack, a fast wireless charging pad in four different colors for just $9.99, the best-selling Bluetooth earbuds on Amazon for $16.99, $10 off the Fire TV Stick 4K and the Fire TV Stick, brand new current-generation Apple iPad tablets starting at just $250 instead of $330, a Bose TV sound bar for only $199, and more. Check out all of Sunday's top deals below.
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| Jealous husband accused of killing wife, daughters in Phoenix Posted: 13 Apr 2019 08:22 PM PDT  Austin Smith is in custody accused of killing four people, including his wife and their five-year-old and seven-year-old daughters.
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| China's JD.com boss criticises 'slackers' as company makes cuts Posted: 13 Apr 2019 01:47 AM PDT  Liu, who started the company that would become JD.com in 1998, in the note spoke about how in the firm's earliest days he would set his alarm clock to wake him up every two hours to ensure he could offer his customers 24-hour service - a step he said was crucial to JD's success. "JD in the last four, five years has not made any eliminations, so the number of staff has expanded rapidly, the number of people giving orders has grown and grown, while the those who are working have fallen," Liu wrote. The term he used, which is commonly translated in China as "slackers" can be directly translated as people who drift along aimlessly or waste time.
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| Ilhan Omar has become the target of a dangerous hate campaign Posted: 13 Apr 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Fox News, New York Post and Donald Trump are contributing to a climate of vigilantism that threatens every Muslim in America today Omar's detractors misrepresent her words, accusing her of saying things she didn't say or condemning her for things that have been said before, even by Republicans themselves. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Here's a question for you. Which American politician publicly referred to the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks as "those folks who committed this act," seemingly downplaying its horrors? Was it Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar? No. Try George W Bush. Here's another one. Which American politician publicly called Benjamin Netanyahu "your prime minister" while addressing a crowd of Jewish American supporters. Since the statement assumes Jewish Americans carry a dual loyalty to both Israel and the United States, you might assume it was Ilhan Omar, based on all we've been told about her. In fact, it was Donald Trump. Or how about this. Who said that "the Stephen Miller approach to immigration has no viability", adding that "Mr Miller is well known…for having views that are outside the mainstream," suggesting Miller is in reality a political extremist who doesn't belong in government? Was it Ilhan Omar? Wrong again. It was the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Over and over again, Ilhan Omar's detractors misrepresent her words and intentions, accusing her of saying things she didn't say or condemning her for things that have been said before, even by Republicans themselves. But the attacks continue. That's why you could be forgiven for thinking that Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress, has said these – or even much worse – things. By now, she is accused so often of various speech and thought crimes that she almost seems like a figure in the Two Minutes Hate, the daily ritual used to whip party members into a frenzy in George Orwell's novel 1984. In Orwell's dystopia, the enemy of the people was the very Jewish-sounding Emmanuel Goldstein. If you believe some pundits, today's enemy of the people is the very Muslim-looking Ilhan Omar. Think I'm exaggerating? Consider how Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, recently labeled Omar as "anti-American" on Twitter. Or then there's Fox News's Brian Kilmeade, who questioned Omar's loyalty, saying "You have to wonder if she's an American first." (Kilmeade has since walked back his statement a tad.) A few weeks earlier and also on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, Jeanine Pirro questioned not just Omar's loyalty to her country but really any hijab-observing woman's allegiance to the United States. "Omar wears a hijab," Pirro said, accusingly. "Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States constitution?" The allegations are baseless, but the attacks continue. The latest manufactured outrage derives from a speech Omar gave last month to the Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. As the Washington Post noted, Omar's 23 March speech was broadcast live (including on Fox News Online), but became controversial only days ago. In one phrase of her 20-minute talk, which was focused on Muslim Americans and civil rights, Omar says "some people did something" when referring to the September 11 attacks. It's abundantly clear by the context of the talk that Omar was saying that the actions of a few have distressingly enabled the threat to the civil rights of so many. To allege that Omar was minimizing the horrors of September 11 is to deliberately misconstrue the point of her comments. But that didn't stop the New York Post from accusing Omar of precisely that. The cover of the Murdoch-owned tabloid had a picture of the Twin Towers in flames with the words "Here's your something. 2,977 people dead by terrorism" plastered across the page, as if Omar herself is responsible for those deaths. Appallingly, Donald Trump has now furthered the smear, tweeting a video linking Omar and the 9/11 attacks to his millions of followers. This near daily vilification of Omar and distortion of her positions is not just politically problematic. It's also dangerous. In February, authorities arrested the United States coast guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson, an alleged rightwing extremist who, reports say, had placed Omar (among others) on a hit list. The West Virginia Republican party was criticized last month after a poster was displayed in the capitol rotunda that also linked Omar with 9/11. And just last week, a man from western New York was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill the Minnesota congresswoman. In scoring their cheap political points, Fox News and the New York Post and the president of the United States himself are directly contributing to a perilous climate of vigilantism that threatens not only Omar but really every Muslim in America today. On one level, it's clear why Omar is subject to these attacks. Omar is black, a woman, an immigrant, a refugee and a Muslim. The fact that racism, sexism and bigotry drive a double-standard where Omar faces criticism while others received little to no scrutiny for the same comments is self-evident. But that's also not the full explanation. This double standard that is applied to Omar is meant to keep us from listening to what she is actually saying and doing. To call Stephen Miller a white nationalist, as Omar did, is to state an obvious truth. Omar added that "the fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage." Rather than paying attention to her words, Omar was again caricatured as an anti-Semite. "Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has a well-documented history of antisemitic comments, social media posts and relationships," the White House said, "so it's not surprising that she would wildly attack a Jewish member of the administration." In fact, we should be paying all kinds of attention to Omar's words and actions. She is principled and outspoken against all types of human rights abuses, having criticized Saudi Arabia for its war in Yemen, spoken out against Chinese repression of the Uighur population, stood with the Sudanese people in their uprising, opposed American intervention in Venezuela, grilled Elliott Abrams about his atrocious human rights record, and more. She is a cosponsor of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and has already introduced the Protect Against Unlawful Lobbying Act of 2019, and the Federal Worker Childcare Protection Act of 2019. Most recently, she cosponsored a bi-cameral bill to end Donald Trump's Muslim ban. And she only began her job in January. It's no wonder that so many people, some from her own party, want to shut Ilhan Omar up. She has a lot to say and she says it. I for one will be listening closely. Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America
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| Nigeria President Says Election Rival Was Not a Citizen Posted: 14 Apr 2019 01:50 AM PDT ![Nigeria President Says Election Rival Was Not a Citizen]( "Nigeria President Says Election Rival Was Not a Citizen") The allegation against Atiku Abubakar, the opposition candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, was made in a petition filed by Buhari's All Progressives Congress to the panel in Abuja, according to a spokesman of that party. Abubakar's party filed a petition at the Presidential Elections Tribunal last month to nullify Buhari's victory on allegations that voting was rigged in favor of the incumbent. Buhari, 76, was declared the winner for his second term, with 56 percent of the vote, while Abubakar garnered 41 percent.
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| From the C/D Archives: How Has the Volkswagen Jetta GLI Changed from 1988 to 2019? Posted: 13 Apr 2019 11:30 AM PDT  It's remarkable how similar our 1988 model test is to the one we published last week.
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| World War II Facts: Lend-Lease Saved Countless Lives — But Probably Didn’t Win the Eastern Front Posted: 14 Apr 2019 12:00 AM PDT  Around 80 percent of the more than five million German military deaths in World War II occurred on the Eastern Front. This terrible conflict with the Red Army consumed great quantities of men and material until the Soviets decisively ended the war by capturing Berlin in May 1945.During that time, the Red Army underwent a radical transformation, having been decimated by Joseph Stalin's purges before Hitler's armies invaded on June 22, 1941, inflicting horrendous losses.But as the war progressed, the two sides effectively traded places, with the Red Army honing a mechanized "deep battle" doctrine that more closely resembled earlier German tactics — just as the German army fell into disarray as war-time casualties took their toll.All the while, the Western Allies provided enormous quantities of supplies and other aid under the Lend-Lease policy. The United States and the United Kingdom supplied more than 21 million tons of aid to the Soviet Union during the war, including thousands of tanks and warplanes.But the question of how much this aid affected the outcome of the war would become important not only for historians, but as a matter of national pride, as the Soviet Union went on to diminish Lend-Lease's role in helping turn the tide of battle. Western historians would, perhaps for similar reasons, overstate the role of the aid in Soviet success.
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| Syria says Israeli airstrike on military position wounds 6 Posted: 13 Apr 2019 01:23 AM PDT ![Syria says Israeli airstrike on military position wounds 6]( "Syria says Israeli airstrike on military position wounds 6") DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on a military position in central Syria early Saturday wounded six soldiers and destroyed several buildings, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
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| Where and how to mail your federal tax return Posted: 13 Apr 2019 04:02 AM PDT  There's no one IRS address. The one you use depends on where you're filing from. Here's where to send yours.
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| Mall of America incident: Man charged after child possibly pushed from 3rd floor Posted: 13 Apr 2019 07:49 AM PDT  A man has been charged after police allege he critically injured a child at the Mall of America on Friday.
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| Senator Kamala Harris releases 15 years of tax returns Posted: 14 Apr 2019 05:55 AM PDT  Democratic U.S. Senator Kamala Harris released 15 years of tax returns through 2018, the most complete look to date at a presidential candidate's finances
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| ‘They Call Me Mayor Pete’: Buttigieg Launches 2020 Campaign Posted: 14 Apr 2019 12:57 PM PDT  Scott Olson/GettyWhen he first announced his exploratory committee in January, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was the relatively little-known mayor of Indiana's fourth-largest city, with a sterling résumé, an unpronounceable name, and, as a gay millennial in the most crowded primary field in history, the longest of long shots at the Democratic presidential nomination.Now, Buttigieg's name—pronounced BOOT-edge-edge—is everywhere. After exploding out of the gate with a CNN town hall appearance in which he derided fellow Hoosier and Vice President Mike Pence as "cheerleader for the porn-star presidency," the candidate has expertly ridden a tsunami of press coverage, surging from barely registering in polls of early-voting states to third place in both Iowa and New Hampshire.The accompanying flood of donor dollars, massive crowds, and the first hints of concern from the Trump administration that the vice president's harshest critic wasn't just a flash in the pan, have turned a former near-impossibility into a reality: Buttigieg is officially running for president.On Sunday, in a kickoff event in South Bend winkingly teased by the campaign as a "special announcement," Buttigieg launched his historic campaign for the White House, becoming the 19th Democrat to join the race, the youngest candidate in the field, and the first out gay person to seek the party's nomination in history."My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me Mayor Pete. I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana. And I am running for president of the United States." Buttigieg said to an assembled crowd of some 4,500 inside Studebaker Building 84, a former car assembly plant. An additional 1,500 plus were out in the rain, according to the campaign. "I recognize the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor," he said. "More than a little bold—at age 37—to seek the highest office in the land. Up until recently, this was not exactly what I had in mind either, for how to spend my eighth year as mayor and my thirty-eighth year in this world. But the moment we live in compels us to act."In the address, given in his trademark-to-the-point-of-parody rolled-up sleeves, Buttigieg recounted some of the impressive biography that precedes nearly every profile of the 37-year-old mayor: son of two Notre Dame professors, with a Harvard degree and a Rhodes scholarship to his name, who left the lucrative world of corporate consulting to run for mayor of his hometown, then left his hometown to serve his country in Afghanistan.He also confronted the "Make America Great Again" promise that helped earn Donald Trump key victories in the Midwest which propelled him to the White House, arguing that the posturing was based on fantasy. "There's a long way for us to go," he said of South Bend. "Life here is far from perfect. But we've changed our trajectory, and shown a path forward for communities like ours. And that's why I'm here today. To tell a different story than "Make America Great Again." Because there is a myth being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and turn it back."Although Buttigieg's event was light on policy, he did mention issues that have begun to form the core of his stump speech: generational justice, fighting economic inequality, and bringing small-town solutions to some of America's greatest problems.He also spoke candidly about his marriage to his husband Chasten, saying: "Our marriage exists by the grace of a single vote on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nine men and women sat down in a room and took a vote and they brought me the most important freedom in my life." The intensity of the crowd indicated that the Buttigieg campaign's decision to wait longer than any other Democrat to announce his campaign—well, almost—paid off."We set up the committee in January trying to find out the answers to questions that you can only answer by getting out there: how's the fundraising going to look, how's it going to land in the early states, how're people gonna feel about it, what kind of team can we build, and all of the indicators that we've seen are pointing in the same direction," Buttigieg told The Daily Beast at a Chelsea fundraiser in late March. "You only get to launch once, though, and so we want to make sure that we do it right."Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Volkswagen Says This I.D. Roomzz Electric SUV Concept Will Be Out in 2021 Posted: 14 Apr 2019 04:15 AM PDT  The mid-size SUV is the sixth all-electric concept from the German automaker and will be part of a rollout of VW EVs that starts next year.
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| Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, others blast Trump for 9/11 video coupled with Rep. Omar's comments Posted: 13 Apr 2019 03:49 PM PDT  President Donald Trump posted a video criticizing freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, using footage of the Twin Towers burning on 9/11 to denounce her recent comments about the attacks.
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| Game of Thrones Meets International Relations: A Match Made In Heaven? Posted: 13 Apr 2019 12:57 PM PDT  George R. R. Martin, author of the acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire book series which has been brilliantly adapted for television as HBO's Game of Thrones, is fond of invoking a quote by William Faulkner that, "The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself." While both Thrones and its literary inspiration have done a masterful job portraying such conflict, fans of the series have been equally if not more transfixed by the external conflicts erupting around Martin's characters. Game of Thrones' depiction of a sprawling and intricate multiparty struggle for political and military control of the continent of Westeros has produced a depiction of war, diplomacy, and political intrigue that is as compelling as it is brutal.While Thrones' violence, sex, witty banter, and ice zombies have proven more than sufficient to capture the imagination of the casual television viewer, it is the show's rich portrayal of complex political questions that has helped attract many students and practitioners of foreign policy to the series. Despite its fictional medieval setting, Game of Thrones has provided an excellent lens through which to examine theoretical debates and global problems facing contemporary international relations scholars. With Thrones about to begin its eighth and final season this Sunday, it seems fitting to look back and appreciate the series' deft handling of the very debates that regularly play out in the pages of publications like the National Interest.
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| UN says 120 killed since fighting broke out in Libya Posted: 14 Apr 2019 06:41 AM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — More than 120 people have been killed since a Libyan military commander launched an assault on the capital 10 days ago, igniting clashes with rival militias, the U.N. health agency said Sunday.
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| Is Charlotte Russe already making a comeback? New company hints it will re-open 100 stores Posted: 13 Apr 2019 03:44 PM PDT  Less than two weeks after hundreds of Charlotte Russe stores closed, the retailer's website and social media accounts are promoting a comeback.
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| The Marines Are Eyeing A Speedboat That Transforms Into A Spy Sub Posted: 13 Apr 2019 07:00 AM PDT  There's nothing more fearsome than the sight of battle-hardened Marines storming an enemy beach, but even the service's tried-and-true ship-to-shore maneuvers need for 21st-century warfare. Thanks to some engineering ingenuity, the Marine Corps may have found a new vehicle of choice for amphibious assaults.(This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter. This article first appeared in 2017.)As part of the Ship-To-Shore Maneuver Exploration and Experimentation (S2ME2) Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2017, the joint rapid-prototyping demonstration intended to augment existing amphibious assault tactics with 21st-century emerging technologies, Navy and Marine officials are observing more than 100 high-tech prototypes in action. But the crown jewel of the exercises is likely a militarized version ofthe Hyper-Submersible Powerboat, or HyperSub, a sleek speedboat that converts to a submarine:
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| UN envoy holds 'substantial' talks with Syria FM in Damascus Posted: 13 Apr 2019 05:53 PM PDT  The UN envoy for Syria held "substantial" talks Sunday in Damascus with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on efforts to find a political settlement to the country's eight-year-long war. "We have had very detailed substantial discussions," Norwegian diplomat Geir Pedersen told reporters after the meeting. State news agency SANA said Pedersen and Muallem discussed ongoing efforts to advance Syria's political process, including moves to form a committee tasked with drawing up a post-war constitution.
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