| Trump on Omar: 'She's got a way about her that is very, very bad' Posted: 16 Apr 2019 07:03 AM PDT  President Trump continued to criticize Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a day after the congresswoman said a video the president posted had led to an increase in death threats against her.
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| Parents of Swedish coder held by Ecuador say he is innocent Posted: 16 Apr 2019 12:43 PM PDT  QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The parents of a Swedish programmer suspected of plotting to blackmail Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno over his abandonment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made an anxious plea Tuesday for authorities to release their son.
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| Jussie Smollett purposely misled police by saying assailants were white, lawsuit alleges Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:16 AM PDT  "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett purposely attempted to mislead police by falsely describing the men who he said attacked him on a cold January night as white men, the city of Chicago claimed in a civil lawsuit filed Thursday.
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| Notre-Dame blaze: Emmanuel Macron vows to rebuild Paris cathedral as scale of damage emerges Posted: 15 Apr 2019 11:49 PM PDT  Macron launches fundraising drive to restore landmark Billionaire pledges 100 million euros (£86 million) towards effort 'Our lady of tears': How the world reacted to the Notre-Dame fire Notre-Dame blaze: Everything we know about the fire 'No words can describe the pain': how Paris was left stunned by tragedy In pictures: Notre-Dame in flames Emmanuel Macron is launching a fund-raising campaign to rebuild Paris's Notre-Dame cathedral as the national landmark continued to smoulder on Tuesday morning after being devastated by an inferno. The catastrophic blaze left a nation mourning the devastation of its cultural and historic "epicentre" and sent shockwaves around the world. Hundreds of firefighters tackled the historic blaze through the night, battling to stop it wreaking complete destruction of the treasured facade after flames torched the roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of horrified Parisians. Meanwhile, teams raced to recover what treasures they could from the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece, which housed priceless artefacts and relics of huge religious and international significance. Read more | Notre-Dame fire The blaze, which broke out as the last crowds of tourists ended visits at around 6pm BST (7pm local time), was finally declared to be "completely under control" nearly nine hours later. "The fire is under control but not totally extinguished," French junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said early on Tuesday. Attention is beginning to turn to what may have caused the landmark, part of which was being restored, to fall victim to such a disaster. The cause of the fire was still not known and authorities were continuing their probe into how it started, Mr Nunez said. The Paris prosecutors' office said police would carry out an investigation into "involuntary destruction caused by fire", indicating authorities are treating the blaze as a tragic accident for now. Arson, including possible terror-related motives, was earlier ruled out. Visiting the scene on Monday night, Mr Macron said a national subscription would be launched to rebuild the national monument. It was reported by AFP that billionaire French fashion mogul Francois-Henri Pinault had pledged €100 million (£86 million) towards the effort. notre dame gallery "Notre-Dame is our history, our imagination, where we've lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives," Mr Macron said. The first harrowing images from within the fire-ravaged cathedral began to emerge as firefighters brought the blaze under control. A smouldering pile of what appeared to be the charred remains of the roof and spire lay smoking in front of the altar, while a cross that had escaped destruction glowed from within the gloom. 7:24AM Telegraph View: Notre-Dame can and must rise again here are few more iconic buildings in the world than the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. The fire that has ripped through the great building is not just a tragedy for France but for the whole of Europe. The church, with its familiar double towers and spire, now sadly destroyed, is a masterpiece of European medieval Gothic architecture, though modified on many occasions down the centuries. It is also a centre for worship for the Catholic faith filled with priceless artefacts, paintings and holy relics, including a piece of the true cross. These past few years have been difficult for France. The spate of terror attacks two years ago in Paris, Nice and other cities left scores dead and plunged the country into a state of emergency. In recent weeks, the centre of the French capital has been ravaged by street protests staged by the so-called gilets jaunes movement. Each weekend they have smashed up the centre of the city around the Champs Elysee, wrecking cars and shops. President Emmanuel Macron was due last night to address the French people on the outcome of the national debate he launched to address voters' concerns. Instead, he was on his way to witness his country's most cherished building engulfed in flames. Here in the UK we have seen Windsor Castle gutted by fire and parts of Hampton Court and York Minster badly damaged. As with Notre-Dame they happened while repair work was under way. Mercifully, those buildings were rebuilt though the damage to Notre-Dame may be more extensive. This is a dreadful moment for France and its people. We share their pain. Notre-Dame can and must rise again 6:38AM Christians sing prayers for burning Notre Dame
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| Mercedes 'very sorry' after China consumer gripe goes viral Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:58 AM PDT  German auto giant Mercedes-Benz apologised Tuesday over the ordeal of a Chinese car buyer who alleged mistreatment by an authorised dealership in a viral video that triggered consumer outrage. The woman, whose name has not been revealed, has said she purchased a new Mercedes from an authorised dealer in the northern city of Xi'an only to discover afterwards that it was leaking oil on the showroom floor. "We're very sorry for whatever happened," said Hubertus Troskas, a board member and head of China operations for Daimler, Mercedes' parent group.
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| Mueller Report ‘Is Pure Mischief,’ Trump’s Former Lawyer Says Posted: 17 Apr 2019 02:10 AM PDT  Saul Loeb/GettySpecial Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation may not have turned up courtroom-ready evidence that Trumpworld cooperated with the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign. But Mueller's forthcoming report on that probe still has one of the president's top outside allies vexed and worried. John Dowd, who represented Trump for nearly a year of the 21-month investigation, told The Daily Beast he believes the report may cause trouble for Trump. "I haven't read it, but it's just wholly unnecessary," he said. "You just don't need it. It's pure mischief."The report, expected to run nearly 400 pages, will detail Mueller's findings, but likely with heavy redactions. It's one of the most anticipated documents in recent memory, and it already has its critics. Dowd, who called for Mueller's probe to be ended long before that became Trumpian orthodoxy, is first among them. He said the report doesn't need to be more than "five pages," just a description of what Mueller did and whom he formally declined to prosecute. "The trouble is, these special counsels inflate themselves, think they're more important—and they're not, in the scheme of things, and it ruptures the system of justice and it's not fair," Dowd said. Dowd also criticized Mueller's decision not to make a ruling about whether to charge Trump with obstruction of justice—a decision Attorney General Bill Barr revealed when he released a four-page letter about the report's conclusions. (According to Barr, Mueller opted not to conclude whether to charge Trump, handing off the decision to others.) "To me, it's a probe that's tainted by politics and by hate, and I don't like it," Dowd said. With the report's release growing closer by the hour, Mueller watchers beyond Dowd are bracing for impact—or lack thereof. For almost two years now, the special counsel's probe has generated every emotion known to humanity: Fox News' opinion hosts have excoriated Mueller as an emissary from the Deep State; liberal activists have hailed him as a white knight; and those in the conspiratorial corners of the internet have even cooked up theories to argue that he was secretly in cahoots with Trump to hunt down pedophiles (or something of that nature). "Mueller time" T-shirts became a hot item online. Publishing houses are preparing to frantically print hard-copy versions of the report. Legal experts have scored media contracts. The special counsel's face even found its way onto devotional candles. But despite the buildup and hype, some now predict that Mueller's final product will contain mostly black rectangles and old news. Ty Cobb, the lawyer who helmed the White House's response to Mueller for a time, told The Daily Beast he doesn't expect to be surprised by any of the findings. "I'm interested in the lawyering. I'm interested to see how they handle the redactions, and I'm interested to see whether there's anything that I didn't already know," he said. "I don't anticipate any great revelations, given my familiarity with the events and the law, but I'll be looking for them."Cobb hinted that the report may provide fodder for the president's political foes. "It will not surprise me if people seize on otherwise inconsequential things to perpetuate whatever conspiracy theory they're attached to," he said. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told The Daily Beast he also has zero concerns about the report—adding, however, that he suspects Mueller's prosecutors may pepper it with "snide comments." Two other defense lawyers who dealt with Mueller's team shared that expectation, with one predicting that the report will be a "non-event" because of redacted grand jury material, and another saying the report wouldn't have any major bombshells or revelations. "I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that when the report is out, cable news and the Democrats will act like they are hearing for the first time things that have been public for 15 months associated with the Comey firing, the Flynn issue, and the recusal," said the second attorney, who requested anonymity because of client sensitivities. "And they will somehow try to make Barr look like he was less than candid when in fact he previewed this in his first letter that Sunday night."A Republican congressional staffer whose boss has been a vocal critic of the Mueller probe agreed. The staffer told The Daily Beast that their office has its fridges "stocked with Red Bull for a marathon speed-reading session." "I think it's probably not going to be a good day for Republicans because any kind of color that the report on Thursday sheds onto this is only going to be upside for Democrats," the staffer added. "Four hundred pages is a lot of ink to say no collusion and no obstruction. I'm sure the Democrats will find things to pick out and try to sensationalize."Overall, anticipation for the Mueller report on the Hill was muted, in large part because Congress was out of session. Among Democrats, the expectation was that redactions would be so thorough that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) would have to issue a subpoena for the unredacted material within 24 hours. On the Republican side, there was a feeling of near nonchalance. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a longtime Trump defender, said he would be visiting the border when the special counsel's findings were released, texting a selfie of himself wearing shades before a metal-slatted wall, in the Arizona sun.Russia-gate obsessives critical to the president, meanwhile, were telegraphing a different kind of stoicism. Ben Wittes, a longtime friend of ex-FBI director James Comey and the editor in chief of the Lawfare blog, who became internet-famous for tweeting "tick tick tick" before major stories about Russian interference broke, said he has tried to steel himself for the report's release. "I think it is a mistake to get emotionally involved, and I try not to do it," he said. "And I think we all need to be emotionally prepared for answers that don't validate our premises and also for answers that are orthogonal to our premises."Max Bergmann, who helmed a project on Russia's 2016 election interference for the liberal Center for American Progress, noted that because explosive revelations, such as the meeting between Trump campaign and Russian officials at Trump Tower, had already been made public, people had likely grown desensitized to the gravity of the investigative findings. "I've read the Mueller indictments and the information out in the public, and that info, in and of itself, is extremely damning," he said. "I do think if there is nothing built off of that, then Mueller has a lot of questions to answer."But beyond the concession that the Mueller's final report may just reaffirm prior opinions, Bergmann had another fear. Barr, he said, could redact so much as to make Mueller's final verdict unrecognizable. "Look," said Bergmann, "sometimes cover-ups work." —With additional reporting by Asawin SuebsaengRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Young woman obsessed with Columbine found dead after frantic manhunt Posted: 17 Apr 2019 02:43 PM PDT  The body of Sol Pais, a student from Surfside, Florida, was found by authorities about 40 miles (64 km) west of Columbine High School, at about 10:30 a.m. local time, said Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the Denver office of the FBI. Pais was found alone in a wooded area of Clear Creek County and appeared to have shot herself with the pump-action shotgun she had purchased after arriving in Colorado from Miami earlier this week, Phillips said at a news conference hours later.
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| GoFundMe campaign raises more than $700,000 for boy thrown off mall balcony Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:41 AM PDT  A GoFundMe campaign for a 5-year-old boy who was tossed over a third-floorbalcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota has raised over $700,000
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| Porsche Collection Destroyed in Explosion Posted: 17 Apr 2019 05:56 AM PDT  A large explosion rocked Durham, North Carolina on 10 April 2019, something that sadly claimed the life of one individual and injured 15. The building itself also contained one of America's largest Porsche collections according to the Charlotte Observer. The rather unassuming red brick building didn't boast about the treasures within, but video from the Charlotte Observer revealed a huge hole in the roof and the charred remains of what appears to be a 550 Spyder amongst other less identifiable wreckage.
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| View Photos of the Electric 2020 Aston Martin Rapide E Posted: 15 Apr 2019 07:00 PM PDT |
| Trump news: President 'doesn't regret' tweeting 9/11 video about Ilhan Omar, as first 2020 Republican challenger emerges Posted: 16 Apr 2019 08:09 AM PDT  President Trump has pledged his support to the people of France after the iconic Notre Dame cathedral suffered a devastating fire last night. On Twitter, the president noted it was "horrible" to watch the scenes from Paris, and suggested "flying water tankers could be used to put it out." It was confirmed this morning that the fire had been entirely extinguished.The White House said it will offer France "assistance in the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable symbol of Western civilization.""The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris, and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.Closer to home, Trump is also facing his first Republican challenger for the 2020 presidential election in the form of Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, although is it deemed unlikely that anyone will seize the party's nomination from the incumbent."I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff we've had out of the White House the last two years that would be a political tragedy, and I would fear for the Republic," Mr Weld told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday. "I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't raise my hand and run.It was also announced late yesterday that the Mueller report into Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election, and any links to the Trump campaign, would be released in a redacted form to the public this Thursday.The president also defended his attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar despite an onslaught of death threats the Muslim congresswoman received recently.In an interview with a local news station in Minnesota, Mr Trump continued to disparage Ms Omar. "It's unfortunate," he said. "She's got a way about her that's very, very bad, I think, for our country. I think she's extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country."Read The Independent's updates as they happened below.Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load
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| Why closing the U.S.-Mexico border would be 'catastrophic' for this Texas city Posted: 17 Apr 2019 10:38 AM PDT  Trump's threat to seal the border has sent jolts of alarm across the U.S.-Mexico border, but few places feel it more acutely than Laredo, Texas.
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| Hackers unleashed 40 million cyberattacks on Ecuador after Julian Assange’s arrest Posted: 16 Apr 2019 05:08 PM PDT  Julian Assange's arrest at the end of last week by British officials who finally snatched him at the London embassy in Ecuador where he'd been living for years did not, in turns out, put the matter to rest for Ecuadorian officials.Patricio Real, the county's deputy minister for information and communication technologies, told Agence France Presse in an interview that Assange's controversial arrest prompted a massive wave of cyberattacks against the country. They added up to a whopping 40 million attacks and "principally come from the United States, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Romania, France, Austria and the United Kingdom," as well as from South America.Javier Jara, Ecuador's undersecretary of the electronic government department of the telecommunications ministry, added a little more context, telling the news service the attacks were "volumetric" and seemingly focused on overwhelming servers with traffic to render them useless. Those attacks hit the country's foreign ministry, central bank, office of the president, internal revenue service and a number of ministries and universities particularly hard.For the moment, Assange is being housed at London's Belmarsh Prison. The US has requested his extradition to the country to answer for a single charge of hacking a government computer, while Assange supporters fear it could be only a pretext to get him stateside where his legal woes would then quickly mount.On Monday, a federal judge in Virginia unsealed previously secret government documents that are part of the US' case against the Wikileaks founder, with the documents shedding new light on the government's allegations against him.Per a report from The Hill, the original affidavit and criminal complaint against Assange were made public in Virginia federal court for the first time since their filing in 2017. Among other things, those documents include chat logs between Assange and former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.US authorities contend that Assange worked with Manning to crack a password that would provide access to a classified Defense Department network where secret information could then be obtained by the hackers.
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| Lou Dobbs: ‘Political Decision’ to Rule Out Arson in Notre Dame Fire Posted: 16 Apr 2019 06:40 PM PDT  Fox BusinessFox Business Network host Lou Dobbs suggested Tuesday evening that French officials made a "political decision" to quickly rule out arson as the cause of the fire that destroyed much of the historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.While French authorities are currently treating the blaze as an accident and have ruled out—for the moment—arson and terrorism, baseless speculation and wild conspiracy theories have run rampant, especially on the right. Conservative host Glenn Beck, for instance, said: "If this was started by Islamists, I don't think you'll find out about it, because I think it would set the entire country on fire."Noting that French prosecutors are investigating the cause of the blaze, Dobbs said that "within just a matter of hours," authorities had ruled out arson.Citing an International Business Times article on recent church vandalism, the Lou Dobbs Tonight host stated that it was "perhaps overlooked" that 875 Catholic churches had been vandalized in 2018, adding that a church had been deliberately set on fire in Paris last month."This is context, this is not speculation, this is the situation right now in France and the recent history of what has happened to Catholic churches throughout the nation," Dobbs declared. "Ignored too often by some covering the tragedy, some who have ruled out speculation about the cause of the Notre Dame fire as they speculate—taking it as gospel that, well, arson was not the cause."He added: "That was a decision made within hours. It sounds like a different kind of decision. Perhaps a political decision, rather than one based on careful investigation of the facts. That would amount to speculation, wouldn't it?"Interestingly, Dobbs' questioning the cause of the fire and suggesting French officials are purposely dismissing the possibility it was maliciously set comes on the heels of two Fox News anchors cutting off interviews with guests for pushing conspiracy theories on the air.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Driver of car and 6 victims hit in North Philadelphia all being investigated, police say Posted: 17 Apr 2019 09:56 AM PDT  Philadelphia police are saying arrests could potentially be on the way for some of the 6 people who were hit by a speeding Buick in North Philadelphia Tuesday.
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| India acts against Tiktok app over pornography concerns Posted: 16 Apr 2019 08:54 AM PDT  The Indian government on Tuesday ordered tech giants Google and Apple to take down the Chinese-owned Tiktok video app after a court expressed concerns over the spread of pornographic material, sources told AFP. Tiktok has already been banned in neighbouring Bangladesh and hit with an enormous fine in the United States for illegally collecting information from children. The app, which claims to have 500 million users worldwide with more than 120 million in India, has been fighting the effort to shut it down after a high court in Chennai called for the ban on April 3.
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| UPDATE 4-U.S. Justice Department tells T-Mobile, Sprint it has concerns about merger deal -sources Posted: 16 Apr 2019 01:59 PM PDT ![UPDATE 4-U.S. Justice Department tells T-Mobile, Sprint it has concerns about merger deal -sources]( "UPDATE 4-U.S. Justice Department tells T-Mobile, Sprint it has concerns about merger deal -sources") The U.S. Justice Department has told T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp it has concerns about their proposed $26 billion merger in its current structure, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, although no final decision has been made. Sprint shares fell about 9 percent after the bell as investors increased bets the deal would not be completed following a Wall Street Journal report the merger is unlikely to be approved as currently structured. Shares of T-Mobile fell 4 percent.
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| 20-year-old college student falls 100 feet off cliff to her death Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:21 AM PDT  Andrea Norton, a 20-year-old Briar Cliff University student, plummeted 100 feet to her death off a cliff during a school trip last weekend.
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| See 2020 Toyota Highlander Photos Posted: 16 Apr 2019 09:01 PM PDT |
| Ocasio-Cortez backs boycott of New York Post over cover attacking Ilhan Omar Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:48 PM PDT  The freshman Democrat voices her support for a boycott of one of her hometown newspapers.
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| Cory Booker talks new tax credit plan during Iowa visit Posted: 15 Apr 2019 06:09 PM PDT  SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker on Monday proposed a significant expansion of the earned income tax credit that he said would lower the annual tax bill for almost half of American taxpayers.
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| Trump offers condolences, assistance to France's Macron after Notre-Dame fire: White House Posted: 16 Apr 2019 01:22 PM PDT  President Donald Trump during a phone call on Tuesday expressed condolences to French President Emmanuel Macron over the Notre-Dame fire that devastated the Parisian landmark and offered U.S. assistance in rehabilitating the cathedral, the White House said. "Notre Dame will continue to serve as a symbol of France, including its freedom of religion and democracy," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
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| Man who threw child from Mall of America balcony was 'looking to kill': Police Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:04 PM PDT  Emmanuel Aranda, 24, grabbed the child and tossed him down nearly 40 feet on Friday, leaving the boy with life-threatening injuries, according to charging documents.
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| Bernie Sanders leads Joe Biden in Emerson national poll of 2020 contenders Posted: 16 Apr 2019 12:42 PM PDT  "Biden has seen his support drop. In February, he led Sanders 27% to 17%, and in March, the two were tied," said Emerson Polling's director.
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| Instagram accounts of Iran Guards commanders blocked Posted: 16 Apr 2019 01:37 PM PDT  The Instagram accounts of several Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders have been blocked, the Tabnak news website reported Tuesday, with the photo-sharing website saying it was complying with US sanctions. The United States announced on April 8 that it has placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic republic, on their list of "foreign terrorist organisations". Tabnak, a site close to Iranian conservatives, said Instagram blocked the accounts of Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Major General Mohammad Bagheri and Major General Ghassem Soleimani.
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| Air France-KLM offering free flights to those helping rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:33 AM PDT  Air France-KLM is donating travel to assist with the reconstruction of Notre Dame.
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| Peru's ex-president Garcia kills himself to avoid arrest in Odebrecht probe Posted: 17 Apr 2019 04:02 PM PDT  Garcia, a towering and charismatic figure who played a central role in Peruvian politics for more than three decades, died in a hospital at age 69 after shooting himself at his house in Lima when police arrived with a warrant for his arrest. Garcia's death shocked the Andean country that had watched his transition from a fiery leftist who was elected president at age 36 to a free-market crusader who won a second term in 2006. A pugnacious politician considered one of Latin America's best orators, Garcia had long been dogged by graft allegations that he brushed off as baseless political smears.
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| 2020 Nissan GT-R Adds Track-Ready Upgrades and 50th Anniversary Edition Posted: 16 Apr 2019 04:00 PM PDT  Godzilla loses weight, learns new tricks, and turns 50.
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| First Stealth: Could the Legendary F-117 Still Go To War for America's Air Force? Posted: 16 Apr 2019 06:00 PM PDT  But that's the real advantage of the F-22 and F-35 over not only the F-117, but also the Russian PAK-FA and Chinese J-20 and J-31. The F-117 was entirely dependent on an autorouter to map out its course to avoid threats before each mission. Both the F-22 and the F-35 have the ability to map out threats in real time and are equipped with pilot vehicle interfaces that can make sense of that information for the pilot. In that respect, the Joint Strike Fighter is head and shoulders above the Raptor thanks to years of technological advancements.With the U.S. Air Force considering the future makeup of its force structure, it is a good time to look at the evolution of stealth starting with the Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk. That aircraft was retired in 2008, but would the F-117 still be useful today?The answer is that against most mid-range threats like Iran, absolutely. But against higher-end threats like Russia or China, not so much. Technology has advanced since engineers first dreamed up the F-117 "stealth fighter" concept.(This first appeared several years ago.)
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| Pelosi warns US will not strike Brexit trade deal with UK if Good Friday Agreement is undermined Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:50 AM PDT  Nancy Pelosi has said there will be no chance of a US trade deal with the UK if the Good Friday Agreement is undermined by Brexit.Speaking at the London School of Economics, the speaker of the US House of Representatives warned a future trading arrangement between the two countries is not guaranteed, and said it would not happen if the UK's exit from the European Union violates the terms of the 1998 peace accord.Ms Pelosi said: "First of all it is very hard to pass a trade bill in the Congress of the United States, so there's no given anyway. But if there were any weakening of the Good Friday accords there would be no chance whatsoever, a non-starter for a US-UK trade agreement."The Good Friday accords ended 700 years of conflict. This is not a treaty only, it's an ideal, it's a value, it's something that's a model to the world, something that we all take pride in."It was a model and other people have used it as a model and we don't want that model to be something that can be bargained away in another agreement."The US played an influential role in the Northern Ireland peace process, and former senator George Mitchell served as a peace envoy to the region for then-president Bill Clinton, eventually overseeing the signing of the agreement between the UK and Irish governments and all political parties in Northern Ireland.Yesterday, the former prime ministers of the UK and Ireland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, called for a second referendum on Brexit to protect the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement.One of the most influential democrats in Washington, Ms Pelosi is currently on a visit to the UK and Ireland, and met with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday, when the pair discussed the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement.Ms Pelosi is due to address the Irish parliament on Wednesday, and will meet with leaders from across the island during her visit.A post-Brexit trade deal with the US has long been an aspiration of Brexiteers, and has been advocated by President Trump himself. The proposed deal has also proved controversial in the UK because of perceived lower standards of food and other goods from the US. Speaking in Davos in January, Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar also pointed out that the UK could struggle to negotiate free trade deals elsewhere around the world if the Irish border question remained unresolved.
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| White House, Justice Department officials discussed Mueller report: media Posted: 17 Apr 2019 03:13 PM PDT ![White House, Justice Department officials discussed Mueller report: media]( "White House, Justice Department officials discussed Mueller report: media") U.S. Justice Department officials had numerous conversations in recent days with White House lawyers about the conclusions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the New York Times and ABC News reported on Wednesday. Mueller on March 22 submitted his report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr on his investigation into whether the campaign of Republican Donald Trump worked with Moscow to sway the election in his favor, and whether President Trump committed obstruction of justice with actions to impede the inquiry.
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| Why Isn't American Express Accepted Everywhere? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:35 AM PDT ![Why Isn't American Express Accepted Everywhere?]( "Why Isn't American Express Accepted Everywhere?") It has a lot to do with the fees credit card companies charge merchants when you make a purchase. Some merchants choose to not accept cards that charge higher swipe fees than others, like American Express. While the notion that American Express swipe fees are significantly higher than other credit card companies' swipe fees may be a bit of a myth, the fact is American Express has a lower acceptance rate than other card networks.
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| Construction fire also destroyed Fall River's Notre Dame Posted: 16 Apr 2019 01:25 PM PDT  BOSTON (AP) — For Fall River resident Roland Masse, the images of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burning Monday brought immediate flashbacks to an eerily similar church inferno he escaped decades ago.
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| LAPD: Nipsey Hussle shooting was result of personal dispute, not gang violence Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:38 PM PDT  Police chief Michel Moore urged suspect Eric Holder to surrender peacefully to "stop this (violence) from continuing."
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| The Mazda 6 Is Officially Getting a Diesel and All-Wheel Drive Posted: 17 Apr 2019 12:56 PM PDT  Like the CX-5 crossover, Mazda's mid-size sedan is getting a 2.2-liter turbo-diesel-finally.
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| Redesigned 2020 Ford Escape Adds Tech, Loses Weight Posted: 17 Apr 2019 10:47 AM PDT   The 2020 Ford Escape was revealed ahead of the New York International Auto Show. We have since seen it in person at the major new-car event in the Big Apple. The totally redesigned compact SUV ge...
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| This heirloom tomato and beet salad is almost too pretty to eat Posted: 16 Apr 2019 08:16 AM PDT  Welcome to Best Bites, a twice-weekly video series that aims to satisfy yournever-ending craving for food content through quick, beautiful videos for theat-home foodie
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| UPDATE 6-Qualcomm shares soar on surprise settlement with Apple of long legal dispute Posted: 16 Apr 2019 12:11 PM PDT ![UPDATE 6-Qualcomm shares soar on surprise settlement with Apple of long legal dispute]( "UPDATE 6-Qualcomm shares soar on surprise settlement with Apple of long legal dispute") Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday won a major victory with a surprise settlement of its wide-ranging legal dispute with Apple Inc that includes a supply agreement paving the way for the iPhone to once again use Qualcomm modem chips. The settlement also incorporates a six-year patent license and a payment from Apple to Qualcomm, but the companies did not disclose the amount. Because Qualcomm is already shipping 5G chips while Apple supplier Intel Corp is still developing them, the deal gives Apple an opportunity to catch the iPhone up to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other manufacturers whose phones already work on the faster networks.
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| 7 High-Risk, High-Reward Stocks to Buy Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:49 AM PDT ![7 High-Risk, High-Reward Stocks to Buy]( "7 High-Risk, High-Reward Stocks to Buy") The biggest investing winners are the ones that aren't afraid to take a risk on companies with huge long-term growth potential. Here are seven high-risk stocks to buy that could generate big returns, as rated by Bank of America analysts. Since the beginning of 2018, the stock of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices rallied from $9 to a high of more than $34, then fell back to $16 and shot up to about $30.
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| Mueller report: What will it say about the Trump campaign and Russia's efforts to sway the 2016 election? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 04:35 PM PDT  Until special counsel Robert Mueller's report is revealed, the charges he filed - and didn't – offer the only detail of the Russia probe's findings.
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| Historic Moment: U.S. Air Force F-35 Stealth Fighters Just Went Off to War Posted: 16 Apr 2019 12:32 AM PDT  U.S. Air Force F-35 stealth fighters for the first time have deployed for combat.At least six F-35s from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings on April 12, 2019 traveled from their home station at Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates to participate in coalition air operations targeting Islamic State militants in the Middle East."We are adding a cutting-edge weapons system to our arsenal that significantly enhances the capability of the coalition," said Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command. "The sensor fusion and survivability this aircraft provides to the joint force will enhance security and stability across the theater and deter aggressors."Air Force F-35As in April 2017 deployed to Royal Air Force base Lakenheath. USAF F-35As that fall also deployed to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. The Middle East deployment is the USAF stealth fighter's first to a war zone.
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| Macron Presides Over Rare Unity as Nation Grieves Notre Dame Posted: 16 Apr 2019 11:59 AM PDT  Macron urged haste Tuesday evening as he reiterated a vow to rebuild the 850-year-old Gothic monument, an issue that's united the French population across the political spectrum, with national parties suspending their European election campaigns and leaders from around the globe lending their support. "We will rebuild the Notre-Dame cathedral even more beautiful than it was," Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
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| Actress Loughlin pleads not guilty in college bribery scam Posted: 15 Apr 2019 07:32 PM PDT  American actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, accused of paying a $500,000 bribe to secure their daughters' entry into a prestigious California university, on Monday pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges. "Full House" star Loughlin and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, were among the 50 people -- including "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman -- indicted in the wide-ranging college bribery scandal. Huffman pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to boost her daughter's SAT college entrance exam score.
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| SpaceX booster accidentally falls into ocean after rough conditions Posted: 16 Apr 2019 06:27 AM PDT  On Thursday, SpaceX landed three of its booster rockets in one very impressive feat.While the two side boosters landed safely on the ground at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the center core landed out in the Atlantic Ocean on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship.SEE ALSO: SpaceX landed three of its boosters for the first time, and yep, it was impressiveThat meant SpaceX had to go and retrieve the booster, but sadly, rough conditions on the seas resulted in the booster accidentally falling into the ocean, as reported by The Verge.> Falcon Heavy's center core has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship! pic.twitter.com/pNqwMWr50d> > -- SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 11, 2019"Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX's recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral," SpaceX said in a statement to the outlet."As conditions worsened with eight to ten foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright. While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence. We do not expect future missions to be impacted."SpaceX has a robot which is used to secure the boosters after they've landed on the droneship, but it isn't compatible with the Falcon Heavy center core, as reported by Florida Today.The company is expected to upgrade both the robot and the center core for future missions, so hopefully there won't be a repeat of the transit issues which transpired this time.
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| Kim Foxx texts show she thought number of Jussie Smollett charges 'excessive' Posted: 17 Apr 2019 01:44 PM PDT  Text messages obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx thought the number of charges filed against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett were excessive.
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| The 2020 Subaru Outback Adds a Turbo Engine and New Features Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:30 AM PDT  The lifted AWD wagon is a proven formula for success, and Subaru is sticking to it.
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