| Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro says any US invasion would be worse than 'Vietnam' Posted: 31 Jan 2019 05:04 AM PST  Venezuela's disputed President Nicolas Maduro warns the United States is in danger of turning his country into another conflict like the Vietnam War.
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| El Chapo's wife says drug kingpin is 'excellent' husband, father Posted: 01 Feb 2019 04:25 PM PST  Accused Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is an "excellent father, friend, brother, son and partner," his young wife said as his landmark trial in New York wound up. "Everything that has been said in court about Joaquin, the good and the bad, has done nothing to change how I think about him after years of knowing him," Emma Coronel, 29, said in a message on her Instagram account late Thursday. In his almost three-month-long trial, Guzman, the 69-year-old former head of the Sinaloa drugs cartel known widely as El Chapo, or Shorty, was accused of smuggling hundreds of tons of drugs into the United States over the past quarter-century.
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| Polar vortex blamed for at least eight deaths as deep freeze grips US Midwest Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:25 AM PST  A blast of icy polar air brought dangerously low temperatures to the US Midwest on Wednesday, causing at least three more deaths while halting mail deliveries and forcing residents who pride themselves on their winter hardiness to huddle indoors. Classes were cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday for students across the Midwest, including Chicago, home of the nation's third-largest school system, and police warned of the risk of accidents on icy highways. Michigan said all state offices would remain closed through Thursday. In a rare move, the US Postal Service appeared to set aside its credo that "neither snow nor rain ... nor gloom of night" would stop its work as it halted deliveries from parts of the Dakotas through Ohio. At least eight deaths related to extreme cold weather have been reported since Saturday in Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to officials and media reports. Illinois State Police officers rescued 21 people who were stranded in a charter bus that broke down in sub-zero temperatures along Interstate 55 near Auburn after the vehicle's diesel fuel turned to gel in its engine, according to the agency. Cold front: Temperatures held at below -20C in Chicago, Illinois. The city's record low, -33C, was registered in 1985 Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images In Detroit, a 70-year-old man was found dead on Wednesday on a residential street, a Detroit police spokeswoman said. About 15 miles (24 km) south in the community of Ecorse, a former city councilman in his 70s and dressed only in sleepwear was also found dead on Wednesday, police there said. A University of Iowa student was found dead outside a building at the campus early on Wednesday, the school said in a statement. The death of Gerald Belz, a pre-med student, was believed to be weather-related. Streets in Chicago were nearly empty, with few people walking outside in the painfully cold air as temperatures hovered around minus 28 Celsius. "It's terrible!" Pasquale Cappellano, a 68-year-old waiter, said as he smoked a cigarette while waiting outside for a bus on Chicago's North Side. "I gotta pick up my medication at Walgreens or else I wouldn't be out the door." US weather: Polar vortex threatens record low temperatures, in pictures In Minneapolis, chilled to minus 26 Celsius, Brian Pierce ventured out to "embrace the elements" and found himself watching cars slipping on the roads. "The roads sound really weird, it seems there's a lack of grip," he said. "And my teeth hurt." Wind-chill temperatures in parts of the Northern Plains and Great Lakes plunged as low as minus 41 Celsius in Park Rapids, Minnesota, and minus 35 Celsius in Fargo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The frigid winds were headed for the US East Coast later on Wednesday. Normally, the #PolarVortex �� swirls around the Arctic, trapping cold air near the Pole. Recently, this pressure system has been less stable, spilling colder air south & bringing record-low temperatures �� to parts of the continental U.S. https://t.co/PS83gEo5u0pic.twitter.com/zQP4sYS2Kh— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) January 30, 2019 More than a thousand flights, close to two-thirds of those scheduled, were canceled on Wednesday into or out of Chicago O'Hare and Chicago Midway international airports, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. Amtrak canceled all trains in and out of Chicago on Wednesday. At the Morning Joy Farm in Mercer, North Dakota, Annie Carlson said her horses and sheep were doing fine. "They can go into the barn if they wish," she said. "They're snuggled in, warm and toasty." Her chickens, ducks and guinea hens were enjoying the 21 Celsius climate inside their greenhouse-like hoop house, she said. Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the NWS, said some of the coldest wind chills were recorded in International Falls, Minnesota, at minus 48 Celsius. Even the South Pole in Antarctica was warmer, with an expected low of minus 31 Celsius with wind chill. Out in the cold: goggles weather for Minneapolis residents Jen and Aaron Brackman Credit: STEPHEN MATUREN/AFP/Getty Images Temperatures in Chicago will drop again "quite precipitously" on Wednesday night, Orrison said, potentially breaking the record low of minus 33 Celsius on January 21, 1985, the day of Ronald Reagan's second presidential inauguration. Banks and stores closed for business. Waste Management Inc , a major trash collection company, said it cancelled pickups in counties across the Midwest on Wednesday and Thursday. The bitter cold was caused by a displacement of the polar vortex, a stream of air that normally spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole, but whose current was disrupted and was now pushing south. Officials opened warming centres across the Midwest, and in Chicago, police stations were open to anyone seeking refuge. Five city buses were also deployed to serve as mobile warming centres for homeless people, while city police handed out hats, jackets and blankets. In Ontario, Canada, steam rises from the frozen Niagara Falls Credit: LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images The Chicago Police Department said it could encourage people to get out of the cold. "But we will never force someone," police officer Michael Carroll said. US homes and businesses will likely use record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday, according to energy analysts. Some residents just to the north and northwest of the Twin Cities in Minnesota were asked by Xcel Energy to dial down their thermostats 16C because of the strains on its natural gas supply system. The Michigan Agency for Energy said the state's utility companies had agreed not to shut off gas or electric supplies to delinquent customers for the rest of the week.
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| A Wealth Tax Is Better Than Some of the Alternatives Posted: 31 Jan 2019 04:30 AM PST  Additionally, wealth taxes will probably seem fairer to many people than income taxes. Americans are unlikely to shed a tear for heirs and heiresses forced to give up a larger slice of their unearned fortunes. Finally, many Americans already pay wealth taxes, in the form of property taxes on their homes.
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| Factbox: Tesla executive departures since 2016 Posted: 31 Jan 2019 04:31 AM PST  (Reuters) - Tesla Inc on Wednesday announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja, the latest senior executive to leave the company as it strives to ramp up electric car production and reach long-term profitability.
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| How Trump Is Changing the State of the Union Address Posted: 31 Jan 2019 11:14 AM PST  How President Trump is changing the State of the Union address.
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| Kamala Harris, Running Scared Posted: 31 Jan 2019 02:07 PM PST  Announcing a run for the presidency should have been enough for Kamala Harris. In a bid for a party that sees itself as the vanguard of a more racially diverse and progressive future, she comes from the vanguard state leading America there – California. It may seem silly in retrospect, but in 2007 and 2008, liberals and conservatives both questioned whether Barack Obama's white mother and his upbringing in Hawaii so removed him from the experience of most African-American voters that they would not accept him.
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| Last-minute Super Bowl 53 gear you can score through Walmart for under $45 Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:26 AM PST  Football fans and non-football fans alike can all bond over one thing — the
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| Trump accused of ‘not working hard enough’ as schedule reveals he averaged one event a day in January Posted: 31 Jan 2019 06:03 AM PST  Donald Trump participated in just one event per day on average throughout January, according to his public schedule, amid mounting accusations he is not working hard enough as president. Overall, Mr Trump's public schedule showed a total of 32 events in the 31 days throughout January – not including his daily intelligence briefings, personal fundraisers or private White House lunches.
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| Top US cardinal let priest accused of sexual abuse lead Mass Posted: 01 Feb 2019 03:18 PM PST  HOUSTON (AP) — The cardinal who leads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops allowed a priest to celebrate Mass the same day his name was among those released on a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse.
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| Why utility customers were told to turn down the heat during cold polar vortex Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:01 AM PST  Consumers Energy and DTE Energy in Michigan are asking customers to voluntarily reduce their natural gas and electricity use during the polar vortex.
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| Merkel: We'll use six-month withdrawal period to talk if U.S. quits INF treaty Posted: 01 Feb 2019 05:00 AM PST  If the United States announces it will suspend compliance with the INF nuclear missile pact with Russia, Germany will use the six-month period that the formal withdrawal period lasts to hold further discussions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. "It is clear to us that Russia has violated this treaty... The important thing is to keep the window for dialogue open." U.S. officials said on Thursday that the United States will soon announce plans to suspend compliance with a landmark nuclear missile pact with Russia, responding to an alleged violation of the treaty by Moscow.
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| Snopes pulls out of fact-checking partnership with Facebook Posted: 01 Feb 2019 02:22 PM PST  The statement did not elaborate but Snopes vice president Vinny Green told the media education group Poynter the partnership was excessively labor intensive, requiring manual updates to fact checks by its staff of 16. Snopes said it agreed to partner with Facebook "without financial benefit to ourselves," but added that it faces increasing financial difficulties. Snopes partnered with Facebook in 2016 on fact-checking and has been one of many global organizations that have agreements with the social network to help it fight misinformation.
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| The Polar Vortex Looks Absolutely Chilling From Space Posted: 01 Feb 2019 02:06 PM PST  The purple is below 40.
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| Kamala Harris and the Implausibility of ‘Medicare-for-All’ Posted: 01 Feb 2019 03:30 AM PST  Senator Kamala Harris committed a most unusual gaffe at her CNN town hall the other night — not by misspeaking about one of her central policy proposals, but by describing it accurately. Asked on Monday night if the "Medicare-for-all" plan that she's co-sponsoring with Senator Bernie Sanders eliminates private health insurance, she said that it most certainly does.
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| Southwest Airlines is selling tickets for as low as $66 today Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:16 PM PST  After what felt like potentially the longest collective month of all of our
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| The Congressional Assault On Trump’s War Powers Posted: 31 Jan 2019 08:10 AM PST  McConnell's amendment rebuking Trump is approved by the Senate.
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| Vatican magazine denounces sexual abuse of nuns by priests Posted: 01 Feb 2019 11:27 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's women's magazine is denouncing the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and the resulting scandal of religious sisters having abortions or giving birth to children who are not recognized by their fathers.
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| Zebra dies on Indiana farm after being left out in extreme cold Posted: 31 Jan 2019 11:28 AM PST  A zebra died at a farm in northern Indiana due to exposure to the extreme cold
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| At least 12 dead as arctic freeze spreads into U.S. Northeast Posted: 31 Jan 2019 10:43 AM PST  The prospect of a weekend break offered little comfort to those enduring icy conditions, brutal winds and temperatures as low as minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 Celsius) in the Midwest and 3F (-16C) on the East Coast, according to the National Weather Service. In Minnesota and Upper Michigan, people battled temperatures as low as minus 25F (minus 31C), said Andrew Orrison, a weather service forecaster. Central and northern Wisconsin had weather of minus 20F (-29C) and parts of northern Illinois, including parts of the Chicago area, saw temperatures between minus 15F (minus 26C) and minus 10F (minus 23C), he said.
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| Nike Faces Demand to Recall Sneakers as Muslims Object to Design Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:30 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Nike Inc. is facing pressure to recall one of its leading brands of sneakers after a customer launched an online petition alleging the design on its sole resembles the Arabic word for "Allah."
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| JetBlue flight makes emergency landing after being struck by lightning Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:24 PM PST ![JetBlue flight makes emergency landing after being struck by lightning]( "JetBlue flight makes emergency landing after being struck by lightning") A JetBlue flight headed to New York needed to make an emergency landing Thursday morning after the flight crew reported a lightning strike.
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| The Curious Case of Jussie Smollett Posted: 31 Jan 2019 10:40 AM PST  On Tuesday, in response to a Joe Biden tweet expressing outrage over the alleged hate-crime assault on Smollett, longtime Chicago TV reporter Rafer Weigel of Fox 32 wrote: "Might be best to tone down the outrage on the #JussieSmollett story until more evidence comes in to suggest it actually happened." Later the reporter added: "To be clear. On Wednesday, police revealed that they have looked at hundreds of hours of surveillance video recorded around the area (near 300 E. North Lower Water Street) where Smollett says the attack took place. Police called it a "very high density" area for surveillance cameras, but they still have found no evidence that any assault took place.
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| Trump tweets himself into a corner on wall funding Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:29 AM PST  Judging by Trump's tweets — his main public forum on the issue — it's difficult to know what's he's after.
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| 3 students killed in South Africa school walkway collapse Posted: 01 Feb 2019 06:30 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least three students are dead and 23 injured after a walkway collapsed at a school outside Johannesburg, South African officials said Friday.
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| New e-commerce rules jolt Amazon.com in India as products vanish Posted: 01 Feb 2019 01:34 AM PST ![New e-commerce rules jolt Amazon.com in India as products vanish]( "New e-commerce rules jolt Amazon.com in India as products vanish") NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's revised e-commerce rules caused widespread disruption on Amazon's India website when they kicked in on Friday, forcing the company to take down its key grocery service and remove a wide range of products such as sunglasses and floor cleaners. The products began to disappear from Amazon India late on Thursday as it began complying with the regulations before a midnight deadline, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. In December, India modified foreign direct investment rules for its burgeoning e-commerce sector, which has drawn major bets from not only Amazon.com but also the likes of Walmart Inc, which last year bought a majority stake in homegrown e-commerce player Flipkart.
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| US weather forecast: Northern states to be colder than Antarctica as temperatures drop to -40C Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:19 PM PST  Parts of America are enduring temperatures colder than Antarctica this week as a blast of Arctic air from the polar vortex has caused the mercury to plunge as low as -40C (-40F). US officials are urging residents from northern states to stay inside as the deep freeze sets in across the country, bringing with it life-threatening conditions that have forced rail workers in Chicago to start track fires to keep them warm enough to function, and led to warnings not to breathe too deeply when outside. Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's weather prediction centre in Maryland, said: "The heart of this cold ... is hitting us now.
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| Netanyahu challenger leaps in polls after maiden speech Posted: 31 Jan 2019 03:27 AM PST  Retired Israeli general Benny Gantz's new party has surged in opinion polls since his maiden speech, positing him as the most significant political threat to incumbent premier Benjamin Netanyahu. Gantz's party, which he formed just last month, could win between 21 and 24 seats in the 120-member parliament, according to opinion polls published by Israel's three main television stations, compared to the 12-15 seats predicted prior to Tuesday's official campaign launch. Netanyahu's ruling right-wing Likud, which currently holds a quarter of the Knesset seats, was expected to win 30 or 31.
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| Progressive Democrats push 'Medicare for all' platform Posted: 31 Jan 2019 03:40 PM PST  Critics say to provide Medicare for all, taxes would have to go up while quality, choice and access to care would go down; chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel reports.
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| See the New 2020 BMW 7-Series Plug-In Hybrids Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:00 PM PST |
| Does Howard Schultz Have a Real Shot at Defeating Trump? Posted: 01 Feb 2019 05:30 AM PST  American politics is a parade of surprises, including developments that seem inconceivable before they happen but afterward take on a coloration of being commonplace.
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| USW union, Shell agree to raise refinery worker pay by 11 percent: sources Posted: 31 Jan 2019 06:30 PM PST  The United Steelworkers union (USW) and Shell Oil Co reached a tentative agreement on Thursday that sources familiar with the deal said would boost pay by 11 percent over three years for 30,000 U.S. refinery, chemical plant and pipeline workers. Workers represented by the USW will receive a 3.5 percent pay raise in each of the first two years of the deal and a 4 percent raise in the final year, the sources said. The agreement between the union and Shell came about nine hours before the current contract was to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Friday.
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| The Latest: Valero stops importing Venezuela crude oil Posted: 31 Jan 2019 10:39 AM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):
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| The Polar Vortex Might Be Causing 'Frost Quakes' in Chicago Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:56 PM PST  It might be cold enough in Chicago right now to make the ground shake. Local news station WGN reported today (Jan. 30) that its viewers had heard "frost quakes" in the city overnight. And though the reports in Chicago are still unconfirmed, frost quakes are indeed a real thing. Frost quakes, or "cryoseisms," occur when water trapped underground freezes suddenly as the temperature drops, causing it to expand. (Water expands as it freezes.) All that rapidly expanding water underground can split rocks and put stress on the soil, causing loud booms. Frost quakes are fairly rare events and difficult to positively identify. A huge blast that shook northwest Calgary, Canada, in 2014 was widely attributed to a loud cryoseism, but researchers never confirmed that as the cause. [9 Tips for Exercising in Winter Weather] Charles Mott, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) office serving Chicago, told Live Science he hasn't personally heard any frost quakes in recent days, but added "that has to do with being inside all day." But Mott said that there's been some chatter about the possibility of them around the office, and that he has no reason to doubt WGN's report. For a frost quake to occur, at least three conditions are required, according to "Frost Quakes: Forecasting the Unanticipated Clatter," published online in 2015 in the meteorology journal Weatherwise. First, rain or snowmelt saturates the ground with water. Second, there's little to no snow on the ground, which otherwise blankets the soil and protects it from sudden temperature changes. Third, the temperature rapidly drops, freezing the earth. There's some evidence that frost quakes have become more common recently, at least in the Toronto area. The authors of "Forecasting the Unanticipated Clatter" published a different paper online in June 2016 suggesting that this increase might be the result of the changing climate. Warmer, wetter air masses have become more common in the area over the winter, leaving the ground wet and free of snow. When those air masses do turn frigid, frost quakes can result. It's unclear if frost quakes are occurring elsewhere in areas impacted by the current polar vortex event. But meteorologists in the Grand Forks, North Dakota, NWS office laughed when contacted by Live Science with the question and said they'd never heard the term "frost quake" before. ("Cryoseisms" rang a bell, one forecaster said, but he was unsure of the details and would "have to google it, just like you.") Brent Hewett, a meteorologist at the NWS office in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, said that there had been no reports of cryoseisms in that area, probably because there's snow on the ground. * The 9 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics * The Large Numbers That Define the Universe * Twisted Physics: 7 Mind-Blowing Findings Originally published on Live Science.
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| Man accused of faking slip and fall at New Jersey business Posted: 01 Feb 2019 01:28 AM PST  NICE TRY: A New Jersey man was arrested and charged after he purposely threw ice on a business's floor and faked a slip and fall.
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| IAG boss says 'very confident' of Brexit aviation deal Posted: 01 Feb 2019 07:13 AM PST  Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways owner IAG, said Friday that he was "very confident" that London and Brussels would reach a "comprehensive agreement" on post-Brexit aviation. Walsh, speaking at a relaunch of global airline alliance Oneworld, added that a chaotic no-deal Brexit would not deter passengers from flying. "I remain very confident that we will see a comprehensive agreement between the UK and the EU on aviation," Walsh told journalists at the event in central London.
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| Touring One of the Best Classic Ford Collections I've Ever Seen Posted: 01 Feb 2019 08:22 AM PST  He bought his 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 in 1972 and it is untouched apart from oil, a battery, and tires. One of these sold in 2015 for $465,000.
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| Who pays if the cold weather from the polar vortex damages your home or car? Posted: 31 Jan 2019 11:48 AM PST  Most cold weather damage to your home and car from the polar vortex is covered by insurance, as long as you have the right type.
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| Trump to Call on Democrats to ‘Heal,’ and Bashes Pelosi Over Wall Posted: 01 Feb 2019 05:31 PM PST  "I think she's very bad for our country," Trump said in an interview with CBS, referring to the recent standoff over his demand for a border wall that resulted in a 35-day partial government shutdown. According to an excerpt of his planned remarks, Trump will implore Congress to compromise on issues including immigration and infrastructure.
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| Brazilian anger unabated by Vale vows after dam disaster Posted: 31 Jan 2019 01:26 PM PST  "Too Late" read newspaper Estado de Minas in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, after Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner, said it would take up to 10 percent of its production offline and spend 5 billion reais ($1.36 billion) to decommission 10 dams like the one that collapsed at its Corrego do Feijao mine last Friday. With 110 people confirmed dead and another 238 missing, according to firefighters' count on Thursday evening, the tailings dam collapse in the town of Brumadinho may be Brazil's deadliest-ever mine disaster. In recent days, Vale has vowed to keep paying taxes on the paralyzed mine and donate 100,000 reais to the family of each victim.
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| Stephen King announces 'good vs. evil' novel 'The Institute' Posted: 01 Feb 2019 06:50 AM PST  According to the book flap synopsis, the story will focus on a boy named Luke Ellis, who is kidnapped from his quiet house in suburban Minneapolis and taken to The Institute, where he meets many kids with special talents who got there the same way. No one, he learns, has ever escaped from The Institute. "The Institute" will go on sale on September 10.
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| Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó Tells TIME How He Hopes to Win Over the Military and Remove Nicolas Maduro Posted: 01 Feb 2019 09:39 AM PST  "No one is willing to take up arms for Maduro"
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| Iowa student dies after being found unconscious outside in minus 51 degree wind chills Posted: 31 Jan 2019 07:35 AM PST  An 18-year-old University of Iowa student died after he was found unresponsive outside a building on campus in wind chills as frigid as 51 below zero.
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