| 'Any amount we want': Iran poised to increase uranium enrichment at higher levels Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:37 AM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani says Iran will commence higher-level uranium enrichment from July 7 if the impact of U.S. sanctions is not alleviated.
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| Alaska sees record temperatures in heatwave Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:52 AM PDT  An "all-time high" temperature record has been set in the US state of Alaska, despite much of the country sitting in the Arctic circle.Temperatures peaked at 32.22 Celsius (90F) on 4 July at an airport in Anchorage, the state's largest city.National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Clay said Anchorage's average high temperature for US Independence Day is 23.89C (75F).Other local records were set across southern Alaska and come after five weeks of above average temperatures.Shawn King, who has lived his entire life in Anchorage, said he had never seen a stretch of similar hot weather. > The 4thofjuly2019 was one for the books. Several ALL-TIME high temperature records were set at official observation sites throughout Southern Alaska. But that's not all...there were more daily temperature records set too! AKwx ItsHotInAlaska pic.twitter.com/GxcdUaD9ld> > — NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) > > July 5, 2019The 31-year-old used the occasion to take his daughter, Tessa, fishing for the first time on the dock of Jewel Lake.She insisted on going barefoot."It's too hot for shoes," the four-year-old said.While tourists have been caught out after being told to expect cooler temperatures. Judy Zickmund, who arrived in Anchorage on a cruise, said: "We didn't pack clothes for it".Three other Alaska locations, Kenai, Palmer and King Salmon, set or tied all-time high temperature records. However the statewide record of 37.8C (100F), was set at Fort Yukon in the state's north east region over a century ago.Meteorologists say a "heat dome" over the state is responsible for the latest heatwave, and is set to continue for days as the system moves north.Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the University of Alaska said these exceptionally warm weather events will only become more frequent because of the loss of sea ice and warming in the Arctic Ocean."These kinds of extreme weather events become much more likely in a warming world," Thoman said. "Surface temperatures are above normal everywhere around Alaska. The entire Gulf of Alaska, in the Bering Sea, in the Chukchi Sea south of the ice edge, exceptionally warm waters, warmest on record, and of course record-low sea ice extent for this time of year off the north and northwest coasts of the state."
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| Biden says having a female vice president would be 'great' Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden says it would be "great" to have a female vice president, but he won't say whether he'd pick Sen. Kamala Harris for the No. 2 spot if he receives his party's nomination. In an interview aired Friday on CNN, Biden said, "I think it helps having a woman on the ticket." He was asked whether it might be Harris, who confronted him at last week's Democratic presidential debate over his stance on busing in the 1970s. "I think it'd be great to have a female VP," Biden said.
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| Sneaky: America's F-22 Stealth Fighter Snuck up on an Iranian F-4 Phantom Posted: 06 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT  It was a close call.Back in 2013, Pentagon press secretary George Little said that an Iranian air force F-4 Phantom combat plane attempted to intercept a U.S. MQ-1 Predator drone flying through international airspace near Iran.As we reported back then, one of the two F-4 Phantom jets — in service in Iran since the Shah — came to about 16 miles from the Predator, but broke off pursuit after two American planes escorting the drone broadcast a warning message.It was a close call.The March 2013 episode happened only a few months after a two Sukhoi Su-25 attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (the informal name of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards) attempted to shoot down an American MQ-1 flying a routine surveillance flight in international airspace some 16 miles off Iran.After this attempted interception, the Pentagon decided to escort drones involved in reconnaissance missions with fighter jets: either F-18 Hornets embarked on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, currently in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility, or F-22 Raptors like those deployed to Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates.
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| RNC accused of peddling Trump-themed MAGA merchandise on the 4th of July Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:50 PM PDT  Critics accuse the Republican National Committee on Thursday of attempting to cash in on the Fourth of July celebrations after it hawked President Trump-themed merchandise via Twitter.
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| French lawmakers vote to target online hate speech in draft bill Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:50 AM PDT  Social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter would be required to remove any hateful content within 24 hours under a draft bill approved by France's National Assembly on Friday. President Emmanuel Macron wants to make France a leader in regulating U.S. tech giants and containing the spread of illicit content and false information on the most-used platforms.
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| Mexican authorities rescue 24 kidnapped migrants Posted: 06 Jul 2019 09:22 AM PDT  Mexican authorities on Friday rescued 24 Central American migrants, including nine children, who had been held hostage for nearly three weeks in the crime-ridden state of Guanajuato, officials said. The migrants were held for 20 days in the town of Celaya, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) from Mexico City, said Secretary of State Security Juan Jose Gonzalez. Separately, the security ministry announced the arrest of 59 migrants, including 55 Hondurans, around the northeastern town of Saltillo, near the US border.
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| 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Saturday: $25 true wireless earbuds, $4 Instant Pot cookbook, AirPods 2, more Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:28 AM PDT  The week is finally over and the weekend has arrived, but that won't stop the awesome daily deals from rolling in. Highlights from Saturday's roundup include our readers' favorite true wireless earbuds of 2019 for $25.49 when you clip the on-site coupon and use the code 3DT28K4C at checkout, an early Prime Day sale on the Apple Watch Series 3 that cuts prices as low as $199, the best-selling Bluetooth earbuds on all of Amazon for only $14.99, two unadvertised secret Sonos sales that aren't available anywhere else, SanDisk 128GB microSD cards for just $18.99, 200GB cards for $30, a $40 smart light switch that adds connectivity to every light bulb in a room for $27, an Instant Pot cookbook with 500 delicious recipes for only $3.99, Amazon's lowest price ever on new AirPods 2, and more. Check out all of today's best deals below.
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| Seized North Korean ship sought for American student's death Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:37 PM PDT  The parents of Otto Warmbier have filed a claim for a seized North Korean cargo ship, seeking to collect on a multimillion-dollar judgment awarded in the American college student's death. The Warmbiers filed court papers Wednesday in New York federal court saying they have a right to the assets after North Korea failed to respond to a wrongful death claim that accused it of abducting Warmbier, who had traveled there for a guided tour ahead of a study abroad program in Hong Kong. "The Warmbiers are committed to holding North Korea accountable for the death of their son Otto, and will work tirelessly to seize North Korean assets wherever they may be found," Ben Hatch, an attorney for the family, said in an emailed statement.
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| U.S. Still Puzzled Over How to Add Census Citizenship Query Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:37 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department is still searching for a way to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, with President Donald Trump saying he might issue an executive order after the Supreme Court put his effort on hold.The administration's uncertainty played out in tweets and court filings on Friday as government lawyers scrambled to meet a federal judge's afternoon deadline to explain what it was planning to do."In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the government will immediately notify this court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings," the U.S. told a federal judge in Maryland, noting both departments have been asked "to reevaluate all available options.Government officials worked through the July 4 holiday in search of a way to insert the citizenship question on the census following a Supreme Court ruling that put the administration's plan on hold because its rationale for the query was "contrived." The forms for the once-a-decade headcount must be prepared soon to meet the deadline for 2020.On Tuesday, the administration accepted the Supreme Court's ruling and said it had begun printing forms without the question. But in a tweet, Trump subsequently ordered the government to re-examine the issue, prompting the Justice Department to seek alternative ways to proceed.Read more: Trump's Census Question on Trial: QuickTakeThe path forward is anything but clear.On Friday, Trump told reporters he may issue an executive order to add the question to the census, saying that there are "a number of different avenues" for the administration to pursue. "We're thinking about doing that," Trump said of executive action. "We can start the printing now and maybe do an addendum after we get a positive decision."But in their court filing Friday, Justice Department lawyers recognized that new decrees would be challenged, and indicated there was still uncertainty over whether the administration would offer a new rationale for its citizenship question, issue some new order altogether, or take any action at all."This looks like the government's trying to buy more time," said University of California at Irvine law professor Rick Hasen, an expert on election law who isn't involved in the case. "They haven't figured out a new reason yet."'Tea Leaves'Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing the plaintiffs in the Maryland case, said government lawyers appear flummoxed."It seems to me like they're trying to read the tea leaves from what Donald Trump is tweeting, just like the rest of us are," he said.The administration is also boxed in by various court orders. In New York, the federal judge overseeing the case that went to the Supreme Court told lawyers on Friday that he sees no need for a new hearing because rulings blocking the citizenship question remain in place.And in Maryland, U.S. District Judge George Hazel followed up on the government's filing with a schedule for evidence-gathering that may determine whether a Republican consultant devised the question to give Republicans and white voters more clout.Critics have argued that the citizenship query is an attempt to reduce immigrants' participation in the survey. They say the administration is seeking to dilute the voting power of states -- whose congressional representation and Electoral College votes are determined by the every-10-year constitutionally mandated census -- with more minority voters.'Contrived' ReasonCommerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had said the goal of the question was to help the Justice Department enforce the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters. But in the final opinion of its term, a divided court said last week Ross's stated rationale was "contrived" and couldn't be squared with the evidence about his true motivations. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's liberals in the majority.In comments to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said he respects Roberts but the chief justice "didn't like" the administration's arguments and "essentially, he said, 'Come back."In its filing in Maryland, the Justice Department said it will file a motion in the Supreme Court seeking instructions on how to proceed if the U.S. finds "a viable path forward."To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net;Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump asked to declare state of emergency after 7.1 earthquake strikes southern California Posted: 06 Jul 2019 12:25 AM PDT  A 7.1 magnitude earthquake has struck southern California, cracking roads, triggering building fires and causing a number of injuries. The quake, which followed a 6.4 magnitude foreshock on 4 July, was the biggest the region has suffered in 20 years and was felt as far away as Mexico and Las Vegas after it struck on Friday evening.It was centred about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles near the town of Ridgecrest in the Mojave Desert \- as was the Independence Day tremor - and was followed by a series of aftershocks, which seismologists warned could last for days, or even weeks.The area in and around Ridgecrest, already trying to recover from Thursday's foreshock, took the brunt of damage. Several thousand people were without power, and there were reports of cracked buildings. Mark Ghillarducci, director of the California Office of Emergency Services, said there were "significant reports of structure fires, mostly as a result of gas leaks or gas line breaks throughout the city". He also said there was a report of a building collapse in tiny Trona and that there could be even more serious damage to the region that will not be known until first light on Saturday. There were reports of trailers burning at a mobile home and State Route 178 in Kern County was closed by a rockslide and roadway damage. Kern County fire chief David Witt said there had been a lot of ambulance calls but no reported fatalities. > We're having dinner at the highest building in the Coachella valley... EarthquakeLA Aftershock pic.twitter.com/VDvTQ9XmcK> > — mcgregor (@jeffreymcgregor) > > July 6, 2019For the second time in as many days, Ridgecrest Regional Hospital wheeled patients out of the building, some still hooked to IVs, CNN reported. In downtown Los Angeles, 150 miles away, offices in skyscrapers rolled and rocked for at least 30 seconds. Andrew Lippman, who lives in suburban South Pasadena, was sitting outside and reading the paper when Friday's quake hit and calculated it lasted 45 seconds. "I could see power lines swaying," he said. Disneyland in Orange County and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita closed their rides. An NBA Summer League game in Las Vegas was stopped after the quake. Speakers over the court at the Thomas & Mack Center continued swaying more than 10 minutes after the quake.The quake rattled Dodger Stadium in the fourth inning of the team's game against the San Diego Padres, when Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Enrique Hernandez was batting. It did not appear to affect him or Padres pitcher Eric Lauer. However, it was obvious to viewers of the SportsNet LA broadcast when the TV picture bounced up and down. Some fans in the upper deck appeared to leave their seats and move to a concourse at the top of the stadium. There is about a 1-in-10 chance that another 7.0 magnitude quake could hit within the next week, said Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the US Geological Survey. The chance of a 5.0 magnitude quake "is approaching certainty", she added, with aftershocks from the main quake potentially continuing for years.However, the quake was unlikely to affect fault lines outside of the area, she said, noting that the gigantic San Andreas Fault was far away. "These earthquakes are related," Ms Jones said, adding that the new quake probably ruptured along about 25 miles of fault line and was part of a continuing sequence. Governor Gavin Newsom activated the state Office of Emergency Services operations centre "to its highest level" and announced he had requested president Donald Trump issue an emergency declaration so the state could receive federal aid. The city of Los Angeles is planning to reduce the threshold for public notifications by its earthquake early warning app, but officials say it was in the works before southern California's initial earthquake on Thursday. The ShakeAlert LA app was designed to notify users of magnitudes of 5.0 or greater and when a separate intensity scale predicts potentially damaging shaking. Robert de Groot of the US Geological Survey says lowering the magnitude to 4.5 was already being worked on and had been discussed with LA as recently as Wednesday.Additional reporting by AP
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| Elizabeth Warren Unveils Plan to Boost Wages for Women of Color Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT ![Elizabeth Warren Unveils Plan to Boost Wages for Women of Color]( "Elizabeth Warren Unveils Plan to Boost Wages for Women of Color") (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren proposed a set of executive actions Friday as part of an effort to boost wages for women of color by imposing stricter rules for companies that seek federal contracts and diversifying the senior ranks of the federal government."For decades, the government has helped perpetuate the systemic discrimination that has denied women of color equal opportunities," the Massachusetts senator wrote in a post on Medium announcing the policy. "It's time for the government to try to right those wrongs -- and boost our economy in the process."The plan comes ahead of Warren's appearance at Essence Festival in New Orleans on Saturday where she will make her pitch to an audience of black women, a key constituency in the Democratic primaries. Polls show Warren trails former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris in support from black voters by double digits. A Quinnipiac University poll this week showed Warren with 4% among black voters; Biden leads with 31%, followed by Harris with 27%.Using executive actions, Warren said she would deny contracts to companies with poor records on diversity and equal pay and companies that use forced arbitration and non-compete clauses. She would also bar employers from asking applicants for past salary information and criminal histories.Black or African-American women working full-time in the U.S. have median weekly earnings of $709, while Hispanic or Latino women earn $631, according to Labor Department statistics for the first quarter. That compares with $826 for white women and $1,033 for white men.Federal contractors would be required to pay all workers a $15 minimum wage. She would also seek to diversify the senior ranks of the federal government by focusing on recruitment from minority-serving colleges, creating a fellowship program for minority and low-income applicants and requiring federal agencies to incorporate diversity into their strategic plans.Warren also said she would direct the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to closely monitor sectors, namely the low-wage service industry, that employ women of color and have high rates of discriminatory practices.To contact the reporter on this story: Tyler Pager in Washington at tpager1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Scott LanmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| At least 70 arrested in Hong Kong after storming of parliament Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:56 AM PDT  Police arrested at least 70 people as a crackdown begins against the scores of protesters who turned to the streets over the last month to voice frustrations against city leaders. Charges against those individuals - some as young as 14 - included possession of weapons, unlawful assembly, assaulting police, criminal damage, forcible entry and disorderly conduct in a public place. Thirteen arrests have been linked to demonstrations on July 1, the most aggressive demonstrations to date, that ended with a few hundred people storming the city's parliament. Only one of those individuals arrested, however, is alleged to be directly linked to the seizure of the government building. The arrests kick off a crackdown that could last for years. Activists like Joshua Wong, a key figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement that rocked Hong Kong, have been in and out of prison. Mr Wong, 22, was just freed in a surprise release this June. China has urged Hong Kong authorities to prosecute the "criminals" involved in the protests. But unlike past protests in the city, the recent demonstrations have lacked a central organising force - instead several groups have rallied the masses. That means there aren't specific individuals police can go after and send a symbolic message to quell unrest. Joshua Wong's release from prison has seen him return to the fray Beijing says unrest in Hong Kong as being "hyped by Western forces," issuing yet another direct warning on Thursday to the UK – specifically naming Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and referring to Boris Johnson, both in the race to become the next prime minister – to stop commenting on its former colony. "In the past few days, Mr Hunt has been mistakenly commenting on Hong Kong, and now it seems that a new person has taken over to continue lecturing on the same issues," said Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry. "If some actors in the UK obstinately make the same mistake over and over again, we will have to discuss." "Hunt inflamed Hong Kong's situation, which only ruins his and the UK's image. He sabotaged China-UK relations for his personal political interests," warned an editorial in the Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece. "Hunt is selfish and has poor logic. The UK's diplomacy toward China will pay for his behaviour." Some lawmakers worry that the arrests will lead to more violent demonstrations. "I am terribly worried that a massive kind of round-up of protesters could trigger very negative sentiment on the part of the young, " said Claudia Mo, a pro-democratic member of the Legislative Council. "Things could get worse." Clean-up efforts continued Thursday – rubbish bins were hauled in to clear the debris and city workers brushed over slogans painted by protesters. A small group went on a hunger strike, while others offered free hugs to boost morale after at least three people committed suicide in protest over the last two weeks.
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| Is the United States Ready for a Tech War? Posted: 05 Jul 2019 02:12 PM PDT  A global "technology war" that will likely shape U.S. economic and national security well into the twenty-first century is emerging. Many technologies have become the focus of this war, with winners and losers are already beginning to emerge. At this point, the United States finds itself at a distinct disadvantage.Ironically, the seeds of this emerging conflict were inadvertently sown by the United States. The world has seen the impact of technology—how it has led to the buildup of significant wealth and overwhelming military capacity with global reach. With approximately one-quarter of the global gross domestic product and military spending that exceeds the spending of the next seven nations combined, the United States became what some have labelled the world's "hyperpower." And others want in, which has meant growing competition and now an emerging tech war.Today, important technology development changes are underway that could dramatically affect world order. The continued shift in global research and development spending highlights how far U.S. dominance has eroded. In 1960, when considering federal, industry and academia, the United States accounted for 69 percent of the global R&D.; By 2016, the United States accounted for only 28 percent of the global R&D.; With such a shift, it is no wonder that U.S. technology leadership and superiority can no longer be assured.
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| AD's Favorite Finds For Green Thumbs and Garden Lovers Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| Thousands protest amid outcry over Myanmar child-rape case Posted: 06 Jul 2019 12:06 AM PDT ![Thousands protest amid outcry over Myanmar child-rape case]( "Thousands protest amid outcry over Myanmar child-rape case") Thousands of protesters marched to a police office in the north of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, on Saturday, demanding speedy and transparent justice in a child-rape case that has sparked national outrage. Police said this week they had arrested a suspect in the rape of a toddler - nicknamed Victoria - at a private nursery school in the administrative capital, Naypyitaw, in May. A government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took power after sweeping elections in 2015, but key institutions such as the police remain under military control and efforts to strengthen the rule of law have floundered.
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| Families file suit in bizarre US mistaken identity case Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:16 PM PDT  Alfonso Bennett's sisters agreed to take him off life support after doctors at Mercy Hospital in Chicago told them there was no hope for recovery. Turns out it wasn't their brother Alfonso Bennett who was dying in the hospital but an entirely different man, Elisha Brittman. The Bennett and Brittman families filed a lawsuit this week against the Chicago Police Department and Mercy Hospital in Illinois' Cook County Circuit Court claiming negligence.
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| 14 sailors killed in submarine fire laid to rest in Russia Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:58 AM PDT  The 14 Russian seamen who died in a fire on one of the navy's research submersibles earlier this week were laid to rest in St. Petersburg on Saturday. The Defense Ministry said the sailors were killed by toxic fumes from the fire. Officials didn't name the nuclear-powered vessel, but Russian media reported that it was Russia's most secret submersible, the Losharik.
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| Trump faults rain, teleprompter for flub about 'airports' during American Revolution Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:30 AM PDT  Trump said a teleprompter mishap led to his much-mocked July Fourth flub in which he talked about defending airports during the American Revolution
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| China locks down Xinjiang a decade after deadly ethnic riots Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:43 PM PDT  A decade after deadly riots tore through his hometown, Kamilane Abudushalamu still vividly recalls the violence that left him an exile. On July 5, 2009, Abudushalamu was hiding with his father on the 10th floor of an office tower in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region that is home to the Turkic Uighur ethnic minority. Hours later, when he and his father stepped out to sprint home, he saw crowds of Uighurs stabbing Han Chinese in front of a middle school.
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| Harris's $100 Billion Plan Aims to Help Black Families Buy Homes Posted: 06 Jul 2019 12:44 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Taking aim at the racial wealth gap in the U.S., Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris proposed a $100 billion program to help black families and individuals buy homes.Speaking at the Essence Festival in New Orleans on Saturday, Harris said the program would help with down payments and other costs associated with purchasing homes.The program, she estimated, would help 4 million families who live or rent in historically red-lined areas, or those where loans are often refused because borrowers are seen as poor financial risks."We must right the wrong, and after generations of discrimination give black families a real shot at home-ownership -- historically one of the most powerful drivers of wealth," Harris said.The program, which would be administrated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, would give grants of up to $25,000 to families with incomes of up to $100,000, or as much as $125,000 in high-income communities. Harris said the plan would, over time, reduce the wealth gap between black and white families by one-third.Rising in PollsHer campaign cited research from Demos, a progressive public policy group, showing that less than 50% of black households own their home while 75% of white ones do.Rising in the polls after her breakout debate performance in late June, Harris is seeking to dislodge Democratic front-runner Joe Biden and is especially trying to make inroads with black voters, a crucial constituency for Democrats and a voting bloc where Biden has deep support.Harris' plan comes after Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, another Democratic candidate, announced a plan in March to provide grants to first-time homebuyers in formerly red-lined and low-income neighborhoods.Harris has previously laid out proposals to offer relief for renters and working families.To contact the reporter on this story: Tyler Pager in New Orleans at tpager1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| California shaken by second earthquake: 7.1-magnitude tremor causes rockslides, fires and fresh damage Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:12 AM PDT  A quake with a magnitude of 7.1 jolted much of California, cracked buildings, set fires, broke roads and caused several injuries while seismologists warned that large aftershocks were expected to continue. The quake — preceded by Thursday's 6.4-magnitude temblor in the Mojave Desert — was the largest Southern California quake in at least 20 years and was followed by a series of large and small aftershocks, including a few above magnitude 5.0. There is about a 1-in-10 chance that another 7.0 quake could hit within the next week, said Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the U.S. Geological Survey. The chance of a 5.0-magnitude quake "is approaching certainty," she added. However, the quake was unlikely to affect fault lines outside of the area, Jones said, noting that the gigantic San Andreas Fault was far away. The quake struck at 8:19 p.m. and was centered 11 miles from Ridgecrest in the same areas where the previous quake hit. US Geological Survey 'shake map' Credit: USGS HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX "These earthquakes are related," Jones said, adding that the new quake probably ruptured along about 25 miles of fault line. The quake was felt as far north as Sacramento, as far east as Las Vegas and as far south as Mexico. The area in and around Ridgecrest, already trying to recover from the previous temblor, took the brunt of damage. State Route 178 in Kern County was closed by a rockslide, and video showed a stretch of roadway had sunk. A fire at a mobile home park burnt several trailers. But Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said there had been no immediate reports of building collapses or deaths, although injury reports sent paramedics scrambling. "We know of no fatalities. There have been a lot of ambulance calls for help," Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said at a news conference. "We're launching a lot of people ... I am very confident that we can take care of the situation." San Bernardino County firefighters reported cracked buildings and one minor injury. In downtown Los Angeles, 150 miles away, offices in skyscrapers rolled and rocked for at least 30 seconds. Andrew Lippman, who lives in suburban South Pasadena, was sitting outside and reading the paper when Friday's quake hit. "It just started getting stronger and stronger, and I looked into my house and the lamp started to sway. I could see power lines swaying," he said. "This one seemed 45 (seconds)... I'm still straightening pictures." Gov. Gavin Newsom activated the state Office of Emergency Services operations center "to its highest level." "The state is coordinating mutual aid to local first responders," he said. The aftermath of a rockslide caused by the earthquake in Kern County Credit: LISA WALKER Disneyland in Orange County and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita closed their rides. An NBA Summer League game in Las Vegas was stopped after the quake. Speakers over the court at the Thomas & Mack Center continued swaying more than 10 minutes after the quake. In Los Angeles, the quake rattled Dodger Stadium in the fourth inning of the team's game against the San Diego Padres. "Everyone was jumping over us to leave," said Daniel Earle, 52, of Playa del Rey, who was sitting with his wife in the stadium's reserve level. "People were freaking out," he said. "There was a concession guy, and he actually was really cool because he was really calm. He's like, 'Relax. Tranquilo. Relax. Tranquilo,' and people were looking around." "My wife was holding us, like squeezing. I'm surprised my arm is still here. She was squeezing into it so hard," Earle said. However, the game continued. Waves in a swimming pool are pictured during the earthquake in Ridgecrest Credit: TWITTER @RYLXAN The quake came as communities in the Mojave Desert tallied damage and made emergency repairs to cracked roads and broken pipes from the earlier quake. Hours earlier, seismologists had said that quake had been followed by more than 1,700 aftershocks and that they might continue for years. Jones said aftershocks from the new main quake could occur for three years. Earlier Friday, Los Angeles had revealed plans to lower slightly the threshold for public alerts from its earthquake early warning app. But officials said the change was in the works before the quake, which gave scientists at the California Institute of Technology's seismology lab 48 seconds of warning but did not trigger a public notification. "Our goal is to alert people who might experience potentially damaging shaking, not just feel the shaking," said Robert de Groot, a spokesman for the USGS's ShakeAlert system, which is being developed for California, Oregon and Washington. The West Coast ShakeAlert system has provided non-public earthquake notifications on a daily basis to many test users, including emergency agencies, industries, transportation systems and schools. Late last year, the city of Los Angeles released a mobile app intended to provide ShakeAlert warnings for users within Los Angeles County. The trigger threshold for LA's app required a magnitude 5 or greater and an estimate of level 4 on the separate Modified Mercali Intensity scale, the level at which there is potentially damaging shaking. A vehicle drives over a patched up crack after the first quake Credit: FREDERIC J BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Although Thursday's quake was well above magnitude 5, the expected shaking for the Los Angeles area was level 3, de Groot said. A revision of the magnitude threshold down to 4.5 was already underway, but the shaking intensity level would remain at 4. The rationale is to avoid numerous ShakeAlerts for small earthquakes that do not affect people. "If people get saturated with these messages, it's going to make people not care as much," he said. Construction of a network of seismic-monitoring stations for the West Coast is just over half complete, with most coverage in Southern California, San Francisco Bay Area and the Seattle-Tacoma area. Eventually, the system will send out alerts over the same system used for Amber Alerts to defined areas that are expected to be affected by a quake, de Groot said. California is partnering with the federal government to build the statewide earthquake warning system, with the goal of turning it on by June 2021. The state has already spent at least $25 million building it, including installing hundreds of seismic stations throughout the state. This year, Newsom said the state needed $16.3 million to finish the project, which included money for stations to monitor seismic activity, plus nearly $7 million for "outreach and education." The state Legislature approved the funding last month, and Newsom signed it into law. Later emergency officials said that the damage had not been as bad as initially feared and power was restored to most of the households that had lost it, however there is still no timeline for when gas and water services will be running in the stricken area.
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| Sanders backs AOC after Biden suggests her politics are too far left for the general election Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:07 AM PDT  The former vice president praised the New York representative as "brilliant," but cast doubt on whether her politics could win a national election.
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| The Overreach of LGBTQ Activism Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  In his History of Sexuality, Foucault noted that it was only in the 19th century that we began to define people by their desires. That's when "homosexual became a personage," "a type of life," a "morphology." Foucault -- yes, that Foucault -- thought this reductive and distracting. What would he say now, I wonder?Consider all the additional "personages" that have appeared in the last few decades. By no means an exhaustive list, these include transgender, pansexual, bisexual, asexual, demisexual, neutrois, agender, non-binary, polysexual, polyamorous, genderqueer, and genderfluid. Many have their own flags -- an interesting trend in itself. And all identities, we are told, belong to non-geographical and quasi-mystical "communities."Many Americans, especially young ones, find such frenzied categorization troubling, as recent figures indicate: The annual GLAAD Accelerating Acceptance report shows a noticeable drop in the number of 18- to 34-year-olds who feel comfortable interacting with LGBTQ people, from 63 percent in 2016, to 53 percent in 2017, to 45 percent in 2018. But the genius of "LGBTQ" politics -- and the principal reason for its speedy success -- is that its branding has shielded it from criticism, mainly by convincing critics to stay silent. (Because who would want to die on that hill?) The idea is that challenging the ontological assumptions of LGBTQ etc., -- even à la Foucault -- is to deny the right of millions, not only to live and love as they please, but to exist. The reality is quite different. As James Kirchick in The Atlantic explains, "starved of real enemies," and "guided by a moral absolutism resembling the religious zeal of those they oppose, some gay activists and their progressive allies have taken a zero-sum approach to the issue of antidiscrimination."This is evident in three key areas.LGBTQ history. Without a doubt, sexual minorities in the United States have, collectively, been ill-treated, stigmatized, discriminated against, and denied basic rights (especially during the AIDS crisis). This is shameful, but it does not justify the simplification and falsifying of historical accounts.This year New York City hosted the WorldPride festival, and the 50th anniversary of the 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan was remembered. The revisionist accounts of this event have been telling. As Chadwick Moore at The Spectator wrote recently, "Stonewall is a legend, and the mythology keeps evolving." He recalled that the clubs were owned by the Mafia and that employees trafficked prostitutes. "What is clear is that Stonewall was not targeted simply because gays hung out there," he concluded.Trans activists have been promoting their own revisionist history of the Stonewall riots. A monument honoring Marsah P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender activists, is to be built in New York City. The new thinking holds that they played a "vital role in the Stonewall riots and the gay rights movement it launched." But this account is dubious. First, Johnson and Rivera were transvestites, not transgender (a term that appeared only later). In other words, they were cross-dressing men. In The Spectator, Moore explains another problem with this version of events: "Rivera was blacked out on heroin 30 blocks north in Bryant Park as the riots unfolded, and Johnson admitted in interviews he wasn't there when it started." These differing interpretations have caused major upset within the LGBTQ bracket. "Long-simmering tensions between transgender women of color and white gay men" came to a head last Saturday at Stonewall Inn, when a black trans woman "arrived unannounced and disrupted a drag show, drawing an unfriendly response," Reuters reported.LGBTQ economics. Writing for the New York Times about the general leftward lurch of the Democratic party, David Brooks noted:> American progressives have a story to tell, and they are not afraid to tell it. In this story global capitalism is a war zone. Free trade is a racket. Big business and Big Pharma are rapacious villains that crush the common man.But how do progressives square this with LGBTQ activism? Big Pharma has a significant monetary interest in transgender transition treatments -- especially for children -- that make patients dependent on cross-sex hormones for life. In Buying Gay, the historian David K. Johnson makes a convincing case that the gay political movement was the direct result of consumer capitalism. As for big business, Pride month has seen a whole host of corporate sponsors from Wells Fargo to T-Mobile. Even Google maps and Uber joined in, having rainbow-colored pins and cars on their apps. Indeed, it is difficult to think of a political movement with comparable corporate investment.There has been some resistance on the left to the increasingly corporate nature of the pride movement. For instance, the Queer Liberation March by Reclaim Pride was something of a small sideshow at this year's Pride march. But, overall, the dissent has been minimal. Corporatization of gay rights is not just an American phenomenon, either. In the U.K., "the sponsorships are all corporate or governmental, there are huge amounts of money coming from banks, utilities, and governmental bodies as well as funding bodies right into LGBT organizations," Miranda Yardley, a Marxist transsexual blogger, told me. "And as most of the L and G battle has been fought and won, money for LGBT generally means it goes to the T." (Yardley takes a somewhat old-fashioned view of sex, that it cannot literally be changed.)LGBTQ politics. In October, Democratic presidential candidates will participate in a special debate exclusively focused on LGBT issues. If candidates' comments on LGBTQ issues at the primary debates are anything to go by, they will all be tripping over each other to bolster their woke credentials without any real knowledge or understanding of the complexity of the issues.During the Democratic-primary debates, Tulsi Gabbard reiterated her apology to the "LGBTQ community," stating that "maybe many people in this country can relate to the fact that I grew up in a socially conservative home, held views when I was very young that I no longer hold today." But she is wrong to assume that this is a left–right issue. In fact, many on the left, especially lesbians and feminists, are concerned about the overreach of trans rights. And many more gay people do not place themselves under the LGBTQ umbrella at all.Julian Castro said he believed in "reproductive justice" (i.e., abortion access) for not only women but also trans females (who are male). He is either biologically illiterate or, more likely, not quite au courant with LGBTQ terminology.Kamala Harris went seamlessly from the legacy of civil rights into "that's why we need to pass the Equality Act." This suggests she either hasn't read the bill she's promoting, or she doesn't care about women and girls. Among other things, the Equality Act would devastate women's sports by allowing males to compete and displace them and remove their right to sex-segregated spaces, from prisons to locker rooms, across the country.My prediction is that as LGBTQ overreach continues, it will backfire, and the culture will reorient. My hope, then, is that the obsession with identity will die down. And a day will come when people are finally judged by the content of their character -- not by the object of their desires. I hope. But I don't hold my breath.
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| Cat and Mouse: A U.S. Destroyer Shadowed a Russian Warship in the Caribbean Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:00 AM PDT  The U.S. military said recently that it is monitoring the Russian ship's activities.One of Russia's most advanced warships is sailing around in the Caribbean, but it's not alone: the U.S. Navy has dispatched a destroyer to keep a close eye on it.The Admiral Gorshkov, the first of a new class of Russian frigates built for power projection, arrived in Havana, Cuba on Monday accompanied by the multipurpose logistics vessel Elbrus, the sea tanker Kama, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker, the Associated Press reported.(This first appeared in late June.)The Russian warship made headlines earlier this year when Russia reported that it was arming the vessel with a new weapon — the electro-optic Filin 5P-42 — that emits an oscillating beam of high-intensity light designed to cause temporary blindness, disorientation, and even nausea.The U.S. military said Wednesday that it is monitoring the Russian ship's activities.
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| The 11 Most Scenic Bike Routes in the World Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| Locals Shocked to Learn Mackenzie Lueck`s Remains Found in Utah Canyon Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:10 PM PDT  Investigators say they found the remains of missing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck on Wednesday, but didn`t announce it to the public until Friday.
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| Three sisters who killed abusive father charged with murder in Russia. Outrage ensued Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:07 AM PDT  The Khachaturyan sisters were charged last month with premeditated murder in a case that has shone a light on the Russian justice system.
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| Trump celebrates US might, avoids politics in rousing July 4 speech Posted: 04 Jul 2019 08:46 PM PDT  President Donald Trump sang the praises of the US military and American heroes of the past two and a half centuries Thursday, skirting politics in a rousing Independence Day speech in Washington. "What a great country," Trump exclaimed in an address saturated with patriotism and exceptionalism, after critics accused him of hijacking the annual celebration. Combat aircraft, including the rarely-seen B2 stealth bomber, flew overhead as Trump scrolled through myriad events of US history, from groundbreaking inventions to battlefield victories.
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| Jury to consider death penalty in Chinese scholar killing Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:23 AM PDT  A federal jury that convicted a former University of Illinois doctoral student of kidnapping, torturing and killing a young scholar from China now must decide if Brendt Christensen should be put to death. While the state of Illinois, where she was killed, does not have the death penalty, the case was brought under federal law, which does allow capital punishment. The jury returned a guilty verdict on June 24 after deliberating for less than 90 minutes, in part, because the 30-year-old Christensen's own lawyers told jurors from the outset that he did kill 26-year-old Yingying Zhang, saying their sole objective was to persuade jurors to spare his life.
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| Joe Biden Says He Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris to 'Come After' Him on Civil Rights Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:51 AM PDT  Joe Biden said he wasn't ready for Kamala Harris to go after his civil rights record during the Democratic primary debate.
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| Paris Couture Week: Fendi's homage to Karl Lagerfeld and to the city of Rome Posted: 05 Jul 2019 02:45 AM PDT  Well after Paris Couture Week wrapped up on Wednesday in Paris, Fendi kept the festivities going on Thursday, July 4, with an exceptional runway presentation at the Temple of Venus, on Rome's Palatine Hill. The iconic fashion house took the opportunity to pay tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, who passed away in February, but also to its native city of Rome, hosting its guests in a historical location. The evening was Silvia Venturini Fendi's occasion to pay homage to the late, great German couturier in her way, through a number of elements subtly inserted throughout the Fall-Winter 2019 collection, such as draped dresses and geometric necklines.
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| The Air Force Just Closed The Door on New F-22 Raptors Posted: 04 Jul 2019 11:00 PM PDT  As the Air Force explained in the report, the aging F-22 design will not be competitive against an evolving threat as nations like Russia and China continue to invest in new technologies. "Moving closer to 2030, it is important to acknowledge that threat capabilities have and will continue to evolve at a rapid rate, creating highly contested environments," the report reads.A 2017 Pentagon report to Congress detailing production retail costs for Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor show that reviving the powerful stealth air superiority fighter would be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, it would take so long to reconstitute the production line that it would not be until the mid to late 2020s before the first "new" F-22s would have flown. By that time, the F-22 would be increasingly challenged by enemy—Russian and Chinese—capabilities.(This first appeared last year.)"The timeline associated with pursuing F-22 production restart would see new F-22 deliveries starting in the mid-to-late 2020s," the Air Force report to Congress reads. "While the F-22 continues to remain the premier air superiority solution against the current threat, new production deliveries would start at a point where the F-22' s capabilities will begin to be challenged by the advancing threats in the 2030 and beyond timeframe. F-22 production re-sta1t would also directly compete against the resources necessary to pursue the Chief of Staff of the Air Force-signed Air Superiority 2030 (AS 2030) Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team (ECCT) Flight Plan, which addresses the critical capabilities required to persist, survive, and be lethal in the rapidly evolving-highly-contested Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) threat-environment."
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| Volkswagen, Ford reach outline agreement to share electric, autonomous tech: source Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:59 AM PDT  FRANKFURT/DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford and Volkswagen have reached an outline agreement to share electric and autonomous car technologies, extending their alliance beyond a cooperation on commercial vehicles, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. VW will share its MEB electric vehicle platform with Ford, the source said. Volkswagen's supervisory board is due to discuss deepening the alliance at a meeting on July 11, 2019, a second source told Reuters.
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| New report claims to have uncovered conflicts of interest inside Robert Mueller's Russia investigation Posted: 05 Jul 2019 04:47 PM PDT  The Real Clear Politics report claims Mueller's team relied on a 'private contractor for the Democratic National Committee'; reaction from Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee, and former Watergate prosecutor Jon Sale.
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| These $8 outdoor LED bulbs that turn on at night and off in the morning don’t even need Wi-Fi Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:35 PM PDT  I used to have LED smart bulbs set up in a few spots outside my house that would turn on each evening at sundown and then off again each morning at sunrise. It was a great, albeit pricey setup when it worked, but I found that some bulbs would lose connectivity from time to time and fail to turn on or off. In searching for a solution I cam across a fantastic low-tech bulb that does the same thing but without the need for a hub, Wi-Fi, or anything else. Philips LED Soft White Dusk-Till-Dawn Indoor/Outdoor A19 LED Light Bulbs cost just $8 a piece when you buy them in a 4-pack and they have built-in light sensors that turn them on when it gets dark and off again when it's light out. Pick up a pack and you'll never have to worry about Wi-Fi or timers again!Here are the highlights from the product page: * ENERGY EFFICIENT: Philips LED Dusk to Dawn A19 Light Bulbs use roughly 75% less energy than 60 Watt Incandescent Bulbs while maintaining the look and feel of a classic light bulb. Philips LED light bulbs are Mercury free and Energy Star Certified * LONG LASTING: These Philips LED bulbs last 10x longer than incandescent and 4x longer than halogen bulbs. Each light bulb is expected to deliver a lifetime of up to 22,000 hours and includes a 10-year warranty, saving you the cost of frequent bulb replacement * SOFT WHITE: Philips LED Dusk-to-Dawn A19 light bulbs offer warm and comfortable lighting with high CRI (color rendering index). At 2700-Kelvin these bulbs deliver bright, crisp color ideal indoor and outdoor use * DUSK TO DAWN: Philips LED Dusk-to-Dawn A19 Light Bulbs are equipped with a built in light sensor that turns your light bulbs on automatically when the sun goes down and turns the light off when the sun rises * COMPATIBILITY: These Philips LED light bulbs fit in E26 medium screw bases. Not compatible with Philips HUE products. Philips LED Dusk-to-Dawn A19 light bulbs are for non connected use only * COMFORTABLE LIGHT: Our products meet strict test criteria including flicker, strobe, glare and color rendition to ensure they meet EyeComfort requirements. Switch to Philips LED, light that's designed for the comfort of your eyes
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| Fed Should ‘Take Back’ Rate Hike, White House’s Kudlow Says Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:26 AM PDT ![Fed Should 'Take Back' Rate Hike, White House's Kudlow Says]( "Fed Should 'Take Back' Rate Hike, White House's Kudlow Says") (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve should reduce interest rates even though the economy is strong and the latest payrolls report was positive, said Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser."They should take back the interest rate hike," Kudlow said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Friday. "With a weak global economy, taking out an insurance policy is not a bad thing."U.S. payrolls increased by 224,000 in June, topping all economist estimates. That led traders to scale back their more aggressive bets on Fed rate cuts this month, though a reduction is still expected by the market.The Fed raised interest rates four times last year, with the last increase in December drawing especially heavy criticism from the Trump administration. Fed officials have shifted their outlook since then, and in June they opened the door to a rate cut."I'm not encroaching on Fed independence," said Kudlow. "I'm reading the market tea leaves."To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Haar in New York at rhaar3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Ben HollandFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Latest: US wants meeting with UN nuke agency on Iran Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:28 AM PDT  The U.S. says it is requesting a special meeting of the board of the United Nations' nuclear agency to discuss the latest developments in Iran's atomic program. The IAEA on Monday said its inspectors had confirmed Iran had surpassed the limit set on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium established in the 2015 deal promising the country economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
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| Biden would name a teacher as education secretary, wouldn't appoint his wife Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:31 PM PDT  "So the press doesn't get confused, I promise I'm not going to appoint my wife," Biden said.
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| 'Rushing for the exits': Rival Afghans meet in Doha Posted: 04 Jul 2019 08:14 PM PDT  Rival Afghans will meet Sunday in Doha for a fresh round of talks mediated by Qatar and Germany, as the US eyes peace with the Taliban within three months. The first such encounter in Moscow was heralded as a breakthrough but many sensitive issues including women's rights, foreign military withdrawal, Al-Qaeda and power sharing with the Taliban remain unresolved. Two experts spoke to AFP about their expectations for the talks which follow a week of direct negotiations between the US and the Taliban also in Doha.
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| Why the Navy SEALs Loved the Sig Sauer P226 Gun Posted: 04 Jul 2019 08:30 PM PDT  While the Sig Sauer P226 is used by many militaries and agencies worldwide, one of the most famous users of the pistol is the U.S. Navy SEALs, which used the P226 up until they switched to the Glock 19 around 2015. But the pistol has constantly evolved throughout its service with the Navy SEALs: there are three practical generations of P226s that have been used by the SEALs.The first generation of P226 was adopted by the Navy SEALs following some embarrassing issues that happened during the XM9 pistol trials that resulted in the adoption of the Beretta 92 by all services. A slide on a Beretta failed and hit a Navy SEAL in the face, causing him minor injury. While Beretta would address this flaw in the issued version of the M9, the damage was already done, and the SEALs chose the P226, a runner up design, as their primary service pistol.However, poor experiences with 9mm ball ammunition would lead special units to develop the Mk 23 Offensive Handgun Weapon System, chambered in .45 ACP. These hulking pistols would go on to be used by the Navy SEALs, under the designation Mk 23, but was soon found to be too big and heavy for practical use. So, in the late 1990s, the Navy decided to buy more P226s, but designated them Mk 24, as they were the next pistol adopted after the Mk 23.The Mk 24 differed from earlier P226s as it was purpose built for the SEALs and the demands for their environment, featuring a chrome lined chamber and barrel, a proprietary Sig rail and a new finish on the slide. The characteristic anchor was also present on the slide, indicating that the pistol was purpose-built for Naval Special Operations Forces.
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| On Venezuelan independence day, Maduro calls for dialogue as Guaido slams 'dictatorship' Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:44 AM PDT ![On Venezuelan independence day, Maduro calls for dialogue as Guaido slams 'dictatorship']( "On Venezuelan independence day, Maduro calls for dialogue as Guaido slams 'dictatorship'") Speaking to a gathering of top military officials, Maduro reiterated his support for a negotiation process mediated by Norway between his socialist government and Guaido, the leader of the opposition-held National Assembly who argues Maduro's 2018 re-election was a fraud.
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| The 30 Best Video Games of 2019 (So Far) Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| 7.1-magnitude earthquake felt in Southern California, could be largest in 20 years Posted: 06 Jul 2019 06:03 AM PDT  The epicenter of Friday's powerful quake was 11 miles north-northeast of Ridgecrest, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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| Trump administration admits that the threat of Huawei spying was enough for a ban Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:05 PM PDT  It seems the Trump administration has finally explained the rationale for its actions against Huawei that culminated in a sweeping ban of US companies doing business with the Chinese consumer electronics giant. A ban that also led to a series of newsworthy consequences, including FedEx making headlines several times for its confusion over how to handle Huawei-related packages, Huawei acknowledging that its phone sales this year will be off by millions and Google moving to cut off Huawei from Android updates, forcing the Chinese company to ratchet up plans to make a mobile operating system of its own.Huawei is challenging in federal court here the government's ban of the firm, which Huawei says was groundless and that the US has no proof to support its national security concerns. Meanwhile, the government's position, outlined in a new court filing per The New York Times, basically amounts to: So what? More specifically, that even just the potential for Huawei to act as a proxy for China's state security apparatus is reason enough for the US to ban the company's phones and other technology here.Said another way, that a potential end justifies the actual means.Huawei has filed a lawsuit challenging the legislative implementation of the US' Huawei ban, saying that it amounted to Congress passing a so-called "bill of attainder" against Huawei even though such a bill is prohibited. Congress is not supposed to use its power to single out companies or individuals for punishment.In the court filing this week, though, the US claims that the point of the action was not to punish Huawei but instead to keep US consumers safe. Also, per the NYT, the filing says that Congress enacted the Huawei ban because close ties to the Chinese government made "Huawei's products particularly susceptible to the prospective threat of wrongdoing by the Chinese government."Adding even more complexity to this whole thing, President Trump in recent days met with his Chinese counterpart, president Xi Jinping, at the G20 and reportedly backed off the Huawei ban a little. While everyone is still trying to sort out what that means and where the fault lines still lie in this dispute, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei gave a recent interview to the French publication Le Point, in which he said that notwithstanding any reversal of the actions that led to Google cutting off Huawei, Huawei is still going to press full steam ahead on the mobile operating system it's been working on as an Android replacement.
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| Mob boss John Gotti's brother seeks early prison release Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:01 AM PDT ![Mob boss John Gotti's brother seeks early prison release]( "Mob boss John Gotti's brother seeks early prison release") An aging imprisoned mobster wants to avoid dying in prison like his notorious younger brother, the late Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, according to court papers seeking an early release. Peter Gotti's poor health and his rejection of the gangster life make him a worthy candidate of a so-called compassionate release after serving 17 years behind bars at a North Carolina facility that also houses Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff, the papers say. The 79-year-old Gotti was sentenced to a 25-year term for his conviction in 2003 on racketeering and other charges alleging he took charge of the Gambinos after his brother was locked up.
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| Shiseido unveils intelligent skincare system based on Internet of Things Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:59 AM PDT  Japanese beauty behemoth Shiseido is raising the stakes in skincare technology with the launch of a new pay-monthly app and skincare system named Optune, which promises consumers picture-perfect skin -- for 10,000 yen (about $92) a month. Offering as many as 80,000 combinations, the product's software -- available as an iPhone app -- works by taking photos of the user's face in order to detect skin conditions. The data is then analyzed together with sleep rhythms and menstrual cycles taken into consideration, as well as external factors such as weather and air pollution, in order to concoct the right mix of serums which are then delivered via the accompanying cylindrical device, dispensed as a personalized formula twice a day.
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