| Iran's top diplomat warns US is 'playing with fire' Posted: 15 Jul 2019 07:49 PM PDT  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Monday that the United States is "playing with fire," echoing remarks by President Donald Trump as the two sides are locked in a standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. The United States quit an international deal aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program last year, hitting Tehran with crippling sanctions.
|
| At least 1 dead, 15 injured — including 3 firefighters — in California house explosion Posted: 16 Jul 2019 09:05 AM PDT  A California gas company reports one of its employees died in an explosion Monday afternoon in Murietta, California.
|
| Serial killer linked to Arkansas woman's 1994 slaying Posted: 15 Jul 2019 11:52 AM PDT  Authorities are investigating whether possibly the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history is behind the death of an Arkansas woman in 1994. Police in Pine Bluff are reviewing the case of Jolanda Jones's death after Samuel Little confessed to her killing, which had been determined to be drug-related. According to a police memo, when Little was in custody in Dallas, Texas, in October 2018, he indicated that he killed Jones, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported .
|
| Michael Flynn’s Ex-Business Partner Points the Finger at Him in Court Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:07 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/GettyIf there is a question of who worked on behalf of the Turkish government to influence the 2016 Donald Trump campaign, then the court should look no further than former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, lawyers for Bijan Kian, the Iranian-American businessman and former Flynn partner, told jurors in the Eastern District of Virginia Monday. Kian is charged with two felonies—illegally lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government and conspiring covertly to influence U.S. politics about Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who is now living in Pennsylvania. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted. But Kian's team of attorneys said in their opening statements Monday that their client "did not conspire with anyone" to work on behalf of the Turkish government in the U.S. When questioning the Turkish government's influence operations in the U.S., the jury should look at the newly announced cache of evidence the government has on Flynn, said attorney Bob Trout. Kian isn't referenced in any of it, Trout said. Michael Flynn Putting Mueller Deal at Risk in 'Dangerous' New TrialIn the opening statements Monday the Kian legal team spent the majority of their time arguing that their client did not work on behalf of the Turkish government when he attempted to influence public opinion in the U.S. about Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen currently lives in Pennsylvania and is wanted by the Turkish government for allegedly planning a military coup in the country in 2016. Kian instead worked on behalf of a Turkish-Dutch businessman named Ekim Alptekin, Trout said. (Alptekin is named as a defendant in the Kian case but will likely avoid appearance because he is living in Istanbul.) Toward the end of his statements, Trout tried to create a degree of separation between Kian and Flynn who is currently awaiting sentencing in Washington for crimes carried out during his time working with the Trump team. He pointed to the government's evidence, which was mentioned in a hearing last week, and said that prosecutors had all but conceded that Kian was not involved. The jurors have not seen the evidence yet and the details of what the government currently has in its position is unclear.According to a government indictment filed last year, Flynn and Kian worked together throughout the fall of 2016, when Flynn was an advisor to then candidate Trump, on a project to try and extradite Gulen back to Turkey. Prosecutors said the two took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Turkish government to execute the plan. Flynn was also at the time accused of lying about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. He entered into a cooperation deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and admitted to lying about the communications and about his consulting firm's business with the Turkish government. He said that the registration he filed for the Turkey-focused project in 2017 contained several inaccuracies, though his lawyers maintain that Flynn did not intentionally lie on the documents. As part of his deal with the government, Flynn was supposed to testify against Kian and his sentencing in Washington was postponed so he could appear as a witness in Virginia.That all changed last week when the government removed Flynn from the witness list and instead named him as a co-conspirator in the case. The government also said it had extensive information that the Turkish government attempted to influence the Trump campaign through Flynn. It was the first mention of an additional set of materials that show how Flynn was being extensively involved in the Turkish lobbying.It's that evidence that lies at the heart of who really committed the crime of illegally lobbying for Turkey, Kian's lawyers said Monday. Kian "didn't know" about the alleged separate communications between Alptekin and Flynn that are in the government's possession, Trout said.For its part, the government in its opening statement barely mentioned the former national security adviser, instead referring several times to Kian's business team members as "associates." The government focused on Kian's email correspondences, including with Flynn, about the Gulen project and attempted to lay out for the jury how the money that flowed into Kian's account for services rendered connected back to the Turkish government.After nearly an hour and a half of opening statements, both of which were at times tangled and difficult to follow, the jury seemed to fade by 5:30 p.m. Several individuals closed their eyes and appeared to be sleeping.They're due back in court Tuesday morning for testimony, including evidence to be entered into the record and for witness examinations.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| The B-2 Stealth Bomber Is Now 30 Years Old. Take a Look Inside. Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:37 AM PDT  (Washington, D.C.) Slicing through the sky with bat-like wings, eluding enemy radar with stealth technology, quietly destroying enemy air defenses from 50,000 ft and using computers to merge sensor data with targeting information -- the Air Force's B-2 bomber … has been in the air attacking targets for "30-Years.""You pull up the weapons suite screen, align the right weapon with the target and provide input into the DEP - Digital Entry Panel. Then, you enter text into the computer," Lt. Col. Nicola Polidar, Commander of Detachment 5 of the 29th Training Systems Squadron, told Warrior in an interview.As this happens….the air attack begins.The B-2 took its first flight July 17, 1989 -- so now is the "30-Year Anniversary." B-2 pilots have operated the sleek, curved air-defense-defying platform for sensitive, highly-dangerous missions many times in recent decades. After blasting onto the scene in the early 90s, the B-2s combat debut came in the late 90s when the aircraft destroyed Serbian targets over Kosovo. Three decades ago, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman thought to massively advance the paradigm for stealth attack, and create a first-of-its kind leap ahead bomber. It was conceived of as a Cold War weapon, engineered to knock out Soviet advanced air defenses. The intent was to build upon and surpass the F-117 Night Hawk's stealth technology used in the Gulf War.The B-2s stealth configuration, buried engine, low heat signature and "radar absorbent" coating, is meant to not only avoid being hit by enemy weapons, but complete missions without enemies ever knowing it is there. Its core mission: launch secret, quiet, undetected attacks over heavily defended enemy territory to create a safer "air corridor" for less stealthy planes to operate within extremely lethal,otherwise uninhabitable airspace.
|
| Italy seizes 'combat-ready' missile and automatic weapon stash in raids on far-Right figures Posted: 15 Jul 2019 01:08 PM PDT  Italian police have seized a large arsenal of weapons, including an air-to-air missile, in raids on neo-Nazi sympathisers, they said on Monday. Elite police forces searched properties across northern Italy following an investigation into Italians who had fought alongside Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, a police statement said. Three men were arrested, including a customs officer who has previously stood for parliament for an extreme right party. During their raids, police discovered a French-made Matra air-to-air missile that appeared to have once belonged to the Qatar armed forces. Subsequent checks showed the weapon was in working condition but lacked an explosive charge. A big cache of guns and ammunition was seized by the Turin special police force Credit: FRANCESCO AMMENDOLA,HO/AFP/Getty Images Police said the suspects had tried to sell the missile in conversations with contacts on the WhatsApp messaging network. Among other weapons uncovered were 26 guns, 20 bayonets, 306 gun parts, including silencers and rifle scopes, and more than 800 bullets of various calibres. The arms were primarily from Austria, Germany and the United States. Police also seized Nazi memorabilia from the properties. "The police investigation ... came into being because of the activities of some Italian fighters with extremist backgrounds who had taken part in the armed conflict in the Ukrainian region of Donbass," the police statement said. More than 10,000 people have been killed since 2014 in fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine.
|
| Lightening Deal Alert: MasterChef's 13-In-1 Pressure Cooker Is 47 Off Right Now Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:38 PM PDT |
| Man Accused of Murdering MacKenzie Lueck to Make First Court Appearance Posted: 15 Jul 2019 09:47 AM PDT  The man accused of kidnapping and murdering MacKenzie Lueck will make his first court appearance Monday.
|
| 'The Squad' — Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib — hit back at Trump and call for his impeachment Posted: 15 Jul 2019 03:32 PM PDT  The freshmen Democrats targeted by President Trump hold a news conference of their own.
|
| Founder of neo-Nazi website should pay Jewish woman $14m for unleashing antisemitic 'troll storm' on her, judge rules Posted: 16 Jul 2019 03:57 AM PDT  The founder and editor of the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer should be forced to pay more than $14m (£11.2m) to a Jewish woman targeted by a "troll storm" of abusive messages for months on end, a judge has said.The US magistrate called the campaign, launched by the website's publisher Andrew Anglin, as "egregious and reprehensible" with Tanya Gersh, her husband and her 12-year-old son being flooded with vile phone calls, text messages, emails and social media posts that included death threats and antisemitic slurs.Ms Gersh, from Whitefish, Montana, said that she was told she should have perished in the Holocaust and that voicemails she received contained the sounds of guns firing again and again. The mother was left suffering from panic attacks that left her short of breath and vomiting."I was frightened to the point that we couldn't think straight," Ms Gersh – a real estate agent – said after a recent court hearing. "We talked about waking our children in the middle of the night — to run from Nazis."The abuse began in December 2016 after The Daily Stormer published, under Mr Anglin's byline, a call to arms to readers. "Are y'all ready for an old fashioned Troll Storm?" the post said. "Because AYO — it's that time, fam." Ms Gersh's contact details were posted online and followers were urged to "tell them you are sicked by the Jewish agenda". There were also photographs of Ms Gersh and her son, photoshopped against an image of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The Daily Stormer claimed the posts were protected by free speech laws.Judge Jeremiah Lynch said that Mr Anglin had "acted with actual malice" in posting the contact details.The source of the abuse followed accusations from Mr Anglin and others that Ms Gersh had tried to extort the mother of prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer. Spencer has been widely denounced for telling supporters to "party like its 1933" – the year Adolf Hitler came to power – after the election of Donald Trump. Mr Spencer was also a featured speaker at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a civil rights activist was killed and 19 other people were injured in August 2017.Sherry Spencer, who owned a commercial property in Ms Gersh's town of Whitefish, had faced scrutiny over her son's extreme views and residents had discussed protesting outside the building.According to her lawsuit, Ms Gersh said that Ms Spencer had phoned her for advice after Ms Gersh had contacted friends in the building to tell them protests may be coming.Ms Gersh suggested that Ms Spencer sell the building and disavow her son's views, with the lawsuit saying Ms Spencer had appeared receptive, but that changed.More than 30 articles naming Ms Gersh were then said to have appeared on The Daily Caller, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The suit claims that Ms Gersh and her family received more than 700 hate-filled messages.With Mr Anglin having not appeared at a deposition in April, Judge Lynch recommended a default judgement against the publisher – but he went further. He recommended that Mr Anglin, who is in his mid-30s, be ordered to pay $4,042,438 in compensatory damages and $10 million, the maximum under Montana state law, in punitive damages for "the particularly egregious and reprehensible nature of Anglin's conduct." Judge Lynch's findings and recommendations must be approved by US District Judge Dana Christensen to take effect.Ms Gersh said that she may not receive the money, but Monday's judgement has sent a message to others."A clear message has been sent to Anglin and other extremists: No one should be terrorised for simply being who they are, and no one should ever be afraid for being who they are," she said in a statement."This lawsuit has always been about stopping others from enduring the terror I continue to live through at the hands of a neo-Nazi and his followers, and I wanted to make sure that this never happens to anyone else," she added.Last month, Mr Anglin was ordered to pay $4.1 million after he failed to respond to a defamation lawsuit filed by the Muslim radio host and comedian Dean Obeidallah after The Daily Stormer falsely labelled him a terrorist.
|
| What first-hand government reports say about conditions at migrant detention centers Posted: 16 Jul 2019 11:38 AM PDT  USA TODAY assembled accounts from government officials as well as pediatricians who have toured border facilities. Here's what they said.
|
| Iran Says Missing Tanker Had Problems and Was Towed for Repairs Posted: 16 Jul 2019 01:09 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A small oil tanker that had gone missing in the Persian Gulf had technical difficulties and was towed into Iranian waters for repairs, an Iranian foreign ministry official said, according to the ISNA news agency.Further details on the ship, the Panamanian-flagged Riah, will be announced later, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, according to the semi-offficial ISNA. Iran responded after a request for assistance from the tanker, the report said.The Iranian comments did little to clarify exactly what happened to the Riah. The vessel was passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Gulf, before it went silent more than two days ago in unexplained circumstances, according to the Associated Press. The news agency said the U.S. "has suspicions" that Iran took control of the tanker, citing an unidentified defense official.The disappearance was first reported by CNN, which said U.S. intelligence increasingly believed the tanker had been forced into Iranian waters by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps but that some Gulf sources suggested the ship simply broke down and was towed by Iran.Earlier, a United Arab Emirates official said the ship isn't owned or operated by the U.A.E. and hadn't sent out a distress call.While details are unclear, if the Riah was seized, it would seem an unusual target for Iran. The vessel is 30 years old and tiny. Its capacity is 2,000 dead weight tons, according to the MarineTraffic website. That's only a fraction of the almost 160,000-ton capacity of the British Heritage, the U.K. oil tanker harassed by Iranian ships last week while exiting the Persian Gulf.Why Tanker Attacks Raise Fears Over Strait of Hormuz: QuickTakeWhile Iran has been blamed for attacks on merchant shipping in recent months, it has denied responsibility. The main threats it has made in the past few weeks have been against the U.K. after British Royal Marines helped authorities in Gibraltar seize the supertanker as it carried Iranian crude in the Mediterranean Sea seemingly bound for Syria.In May and June, six tankers were attacked just outside the Gulf. A British Navy frigate intervened this month to stop Iranian boats from blocking the BP Plc-operated British Heritage as it was exiting the waters.U.K. Navy Intervenes After Iran Tries to Stop British Oil TankerThe U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.\--With assistance from Anthony DiPaola and Golnar Motevalli.To contact the reporters on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai at zfattah@bloomberg.net;Verity Ratcliffe in Dubai at vratcliffe1@bloomberg.net;Zoya Khan in New York at zkhan79@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Bill Faries, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| 'One giant leap': US marks Apollo mission 50 years on Posted: 16 Jul 2019 01:25 PM PDT  Fifty years after a mighty rocket set off from Florida carrying the first humans to the Moon, a veteran of the Apollo 11 crew returned to its fabled launch pad Tuesday to commemorate "one giant leap" that became a defining moment in human history. "We crew felt the weight of the world on our shoulders, we knew that everyone would be looking at us, friend or foe," command module pilot Michael Collins said from the Kennedy Space Center.
|
| Afghanistan Isn't Worth Dying For Posted: 16 Jul 2019 10:13 AM PDT  Army Sgt. Maj. James Sartor was killed in action in Afghanistan's Faryab Province on Saturday. He was "only" the twelfth soldier to die there this year. That makes his death no less inexcusable, no less an unacceptable sacrifice for Washington's failed foreign policy.What do we tell Sartor's family? That he heroically "gave the last full measure" for the defense of our nation? In some conflicts in American history, that might have been true. But in Afghanistan, it is a trite and insulting bromide.This man, like the eleven that preceded him this year, sacrificed his life in an operation that provided no benefit to our country. America is not safer because of this supreme, excruciatingly painful sacrifice. The truth is that hardly any Americans pay any attention to our war in Afghanistan and fewer still genuinely care that another trooper has tragically been killed.Instead, the entire burden of the grief—the unquenchable, searing pain of loss—falls to a tiny number of family members and close friends of those who died. My blood boils in anger when I hear—as I have many times—some callously claim, "Hey man, nobody forced them to sign up. They volunteered and knew what they were getting themselves into." This implies that we service members forfeit the value of our life once we raise our right hand.
|
| Boxy and Beautiful: 2004 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG Posted: 16 Jul 2019 12:45 PM PDT  Tear up the urban jungle in this high-powered SUV!The Mercedes-Benz G-Class was born from a rugged, off-road military truck, but today's versions of this legendary SUV are more likely to terrify unsuspecting sports cars than to traverse rugged terrain. That's especially the case when it comes to the AMG-tuned G-Class SUVs, which is what Dallas Motor Collection is offering up for sale with this lovely 2004 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG.Although the G-Wagen dates back to 1979 and the second-gen model went into production in 1990, the U.S. market didn't get the G-Class until 2002. At the time, the G55 AMG represented the pinnacle for this SUV's performance with a 354-horsepower, 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 under the hood allowing for acceleration times of 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds. The G-Class may have had a throwback design, but it was ahead of its time when it came to performance. And those side-mounted quadruple exhaust outlets leave no guesswork that this was the ultimate performance SUV of its time.The best part about AMGs is opening the hood and seeing the small plaque on the engine cover, which was signed by the craftsman who hand built the engine. Mercedes-AMG continues this impressive trend today. As the G-Class continues to age, it's getting more difficult to find these in such great shape with low mileage. This particular G55 AMG shows just under 100,000 miles on the odometer, and the interior looks as clean as it did back in 2004.This is a super-clean example of a 15-year-old G-Class, and it's hard to beat that classic look, luxurious interior and powerful engine. This G55 even comes with all of the original documentation and two key fobs. Don't miss your chance to own one of the fastest off-road SUVs ever created!Read more about Mercedes-Benz:\- Mercedes-Benz G-Class At 40: Off-Roading the German Way\- All-Terrain Benz: 1965 Mercedes-Benz Unimog
|
| A NASA official says the explosion of SpaceX's ship during a test 'was a huge gift' for making the vehicle safe to fly Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:02 PM PDT  A lead SpaceX engineer said an anomaly that destroyed its Crew Dragon capsule, designed to fly NASA astronauts, was caused by a small valve.
|
| The Latest: 2 accusers speak at Epstein bail hearing Posted: 15 Jul 2019 09:38 AM PDT  Two of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers have spoken at his bail hearing. Annie Farmer says she was 16 when she "had the misfortune" of meeting Epstein and later went to spend time with him in New Mexico. Epstein's lawyers want him released on house arrest.
|
| Texas fossil uncovers new species of duckbilled dinosaur Posted: 16 Jul 2019 01:23 PM PDT  The fossil discovered at the Big Bend National Park in Texas led to the classification of the Aquilarhinus palilmentus.
|
| No More Social Media for You, Irked Judge Tells Roger Stone Posted: 16 Jul 2019 03:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge who has warned Roger Stone to stop criticizing the criminal case against him on social media finally banned him from the platforms outright.Prosecutors had complained to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson that the longtime Republican party operative and former adviser to President Donald Trump has been using social media to assail the government's case, in violation of her February directive that he limit his comments to professing his innocence.Jackson read her new ruling from the bench, following a 45-minute recess from a contentious two-hour hearing."I've twice given you the benefit of the doubt," she told Stone, alluding to prior infractions, then added that he'd now forced his lawyers into contortions to contend he was in compliance with her prior order.Reprising a theme she raised in the case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Jackson said Stone's behavior "had more to do with middle school than with a court of law" and banned him from posting on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and even from reposting or liking other people's content on the platforms.Read More: Who Framed Roger Stone? His Instagram Account Demands an AnswerStone is accused of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks over its publication of material damaging to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. He is also charged with obstruction and witness tampering.Stone's was the last indictment brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The case is now being prosecuted by the office of Washington U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu and is set for trial in November.Before issuing her final order, Jackson engaged in a prolonged sparring session with Stone counsel Bruce Rogow, who denied that his client had run afoul of the judge's prior ruling, even as she peppered him with Instagram posts and other examples of Stone's behavior she found questionable."I don't think any of these things pose a threat to a fair trial," Rogow told her.Stopping short of asking the court to send the political provocateur to jail, prosecutor Jonathan Kravis raised the idea of Jackson barring him from using social media. "What we are most concerned about is protecting the integrity of the jury pool," he said.Ultimately the judge did just that, scolding the defense for its effort to "ignore the exponential power" of social media and particularly what it means for Stone to take an item published by someone else and spread it "with his imprimatur."'Asking You Now'During an earlier portion of the Tuesday court hearing, Stone's lawyers argued that the government can't prove Russian agents hacked Democratic Party computers during the election, rendering 18 FBI search warrants based on that premise invalid and the evidence collected under them subject to exclusion.Defense attorney Robert Buschel told the judge the warrants weren't obtained in good faith. He said they were based only on reports by a private cybersecurity firm and the U.S. intelligence community's "high confidence" that the Russians were behind the theft of materials later published by WikiLeaks, not on factual certainty.Buschel called it "government doublespeak," suggesting the theft was just as likely to have been carried out by agents of China or the U.K.That line of argument drew a pointed response from Jackson, who repeatedly asked Buschel to identify a single statement in any of the filings that he saw as knowingly false or reckless -- and what that had to do with the charges against Stone."I'm asking you now," Jackson said after a series of exchanges with the attorney. "I want you to read me a false sentence."Russia ConnectionStone's lawyers have sought to discredit the Russia connection by suggesting that metadata on the WikiLeaks documents came from a portable memory device connected to a computer from which they were downloaded and not through a trans-Atlantic computer connection.Even accepting that premise, Jackson asked, how would that invalidate the warrants?Buschel replied that lack of conclusive proof of Russian hacking rendered Stone's allegedly false statements to the congressional committee probing the incursion "irrelevant."Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky defended the warrants, telling Jackson that Stone's lawyers were "trying to backdoor a debunked conspiracy theory" about other potential hackers, relieving the Russians of culpability."There is voluminous evidence that the Russians were responsible for hacking" the Democratic Party computers, Zelinsky told the judge. In any event, he said, Stone was charged with lying to Congress and other offenses, not with being involved in the hacking.The case is U.S. v. Stone, 19-cr-18, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).(Updates with exchange about social media starting in eighth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit unveiled at Smithsonian Posted: 16 Jul 2019 12:26 PM PDT  The spacesuit astronaut Neil Armstrong wore during his mission to the moon went on public display for the first time in 13 years on Tuesday, at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum exactly 50 years to the day when Apollo 11 launched into space. Armstrong's son Rick unveiled the suit along with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who recalled how the country was deeply divided in the late 1960s but came together in pride when Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. "On top of the contributions to science and human understanding, for that brief moment, the man who wore this suit, brought together our nation and the world," Pence said.
|
| Geraldo Rivera on Trump's controversial tweets: It pains me to watch Trump take the low road Posted: 15 Jul 2019 04:32 PM PDT  Trump embroiled in feud with progressive Democrats following tweet about congresswomen of color; reaction from Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera and Fox News contributor David Webb.
|
| India Says Russia's Missiles Don't Work (And Wants to Buy Israeli Ones Instead) Posted: 16 Jul 2019 01:00 AM PDT  India is now looking to Israel, from whom it has purchased numerous weapons, such as the Heron drone and the Derby, a radar-guided, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile with a range of 50 kilometers (31 miles).After losing one of its fighters to Pakistani jets armed with American-made missiles, India is not happy with its Russian-made missiles.In fact, it wants to replace its Russian air-to-air missiles with Israeli weapons, according to Indian news site NDTV."In two years from now, the Indian Air Force's frontline Sukhoi-30 fighters may be re-armed with Israeli Derby air-to-air missiles after the jet's Russian-made R-77 missiles were found wanting in air combat operations over the Line of Control on February 27 this year," NDTV said.During air battles along the Kashmir border on February 26 and 27, an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-21 was shot down, apparently by a U.S.-made AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) fired by one of Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) American-built F-16 fighters. India claims to have downed a Pakistani fighter – which Pakistan denies – but India was still embarrassed by the capture of its MiG-21 pilot, who was shown on Pakistani television and later returned.
|
| Thousands call for Puerto Rico governor to resign after chat leak Posted: 15 Jul 2019 11:54 PM PDT  Thousands of people demonstrated Monday demanding the resignation of Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello following the leak of a group text chat in which he and other officials made obscene, sexist and homophobic remarks about political opponents and others including pop star Ricky Martin, local media reports said. At nightfall police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the capital San Juan who shouted: "Ricky corrupto!" in a third day of protests which also questioned Rossello's handling of the Hurricane Maria emergency and the island's financial crisis. "We want him arrested, him and his wife jailed for stealing money from the people of Puerto Rico," protestor Tatiana Gomez told the local newspaper Primera Hora.
|
| Prosecco Grapes, Kiwi Pops, and More Easy Fruit Desserts Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:31 PM PDT |
| The Latest: Democrats plan vote on resolution against Trump Posted: 15 Jul 2019 05:35 PM PDT  House Democrats plan for a vote this week on a resolution that "strongly condemns President Donald Trump's racist comments" that four congresswomen of color should return to their native countries. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy says Democrats are playing politics. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says President Donald Trump is not a racist.
|
| ICE raids: Top immigration official admits he ‘does not know details’ of controversial arrests Posted: 15 Jul 2019 08:46 AM PDT  The acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services has said he does not have details about the ICE raids targeting undocumented immigrants, even though he has spoken about the operation in recent days.Ken Cuccinelli said during a CNN appearance on Monday he did "not have operational details", including how many arrests were made during the operation that began on Sunday.Last week, Mr Cuccinelli discussed the operation and said there were approximately one million people in the US with removal orders."I told you, I don't have details about any arrests that have taken place so far with respect to that operation," Mr Cuccinelli said, explaining his lack of knowledge about specifics by saying "operational details are kept contained within the agency".The raids were expected in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.But, there were no reports of the raids in several cities, according to immigrant advocacy groups that are monitoring the situation.Mr Cucinelli's agency is in charge of legal immigration, and it is left to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants for deportation.The US has conducted raids previously, including raids on workplaces where undocumented immigrants have allegedly been hired.Donald Trump's administration has overseen a spike in the number of those kinds of raids, compared to during the Obama administration.
|
| An Air Force officer reported his wife missing. Now he's charged with her murder Posted: 15 Jul 2019 10:18 AM PDT  Air Force Major Andre McDonald, based out of San Antonio, was arrested after officials found the body of his wife Andreen on Thursday.
|
| Landlords Sue NYC Over New Rent Caps on a Million Apartments Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:13 PM PDT ![Landlords Sue NYC Over New Rent Caps on a Million Apartments]( "Landlords Sue NYC Over New Rent Caps on a Million Apartments") (Bloomberg) -- New York City's rent-stabilization law is under attack after a group of real-estate trade groups and landlords sued to overturn regulations that cover more than 1 million apartments.The decades-old law that limits rent increases violates the U.S. Constitution by placing an unfair burden on property owners, particularly those who own pre-1974 buildings with six or more units, according to the suit, filed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn.The state legislature, now under full Democratic control, adopted sweeping tenant protections in June that further cap rent increases and restrict landlords' ability to evict residents. The massive rewrite of the rent rules, which cover about 2.4 million residents, aimed to preserve affordable housing by eliminating tools landlords used to remove units from regulation. The package also abolished a "vacancy bonus" that allowed property owners to raise rents 20% when a tenant left.The plaintiffs say the update further eroded their rights and that the law's "irrationality and arbitrariness" and "web of restrictions override core rights of property owners."Read More: NYC Tenants Get a Rent-Law Blessing That Landlords See as CurseThe landlords claim the rules have morphed over the years so that they benefit too many higher earners, while renters who make less than $35,000 a year account for just 38% of rent-stabilized renters. The breakdown is about the same for unregulated apartments, the groups claim, suggesting the law isn't much different from the unregulated market.The trade groups claim that 22% of rent-stabilized tenants make more than $100,000 a year and that married couples without children are over-represented in rent-stabilized apartments despite being less likely to suffer rental hardship than couples with children.The city said the suit threatens ordinary New Yorkers."Dismantling rent stabilization would be a devastating blow to everyday New Yorkers who are working hard to call this great city home," Jane Meyer, the mayor's deputy press secretary, said in a statement. She said the city would review the suit and continue to "fight to protect affordability, prevent harassment and keep this a city for everyone."Supreme Court SnubTenants-rights groups argued the changes were needed to counter decades of abuse by some landlords and a shrinking supply of affordable housing. Tens of thousands of apartments have been removed from rent-stabilized status, sending rents higher as neighborhoods are gentrified. The effort won support from Governor Andrew Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, as well as New York City mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Bill de Blasio.The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the city's rent-stabilization system in 2012, turning away an appeal from landlords who said the city had violated their constitutional rights by limiting rents on three one-bedroom apartments in their Upper West Side brownstone. The state of New York defended the statute, citing previous Supreme Court decisions that judges "should not sit as super-legislatures reviewing matters of economic policy, but should ask only whether a legislature's policy judgments are rational."Among the plaintiffs is the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords. When the law was amended, the landlords said it would cause buildings to fall into disrepair because owners wouldn't be able to afford to maintain them.The case is Community Housing Improvement Program v. City of New York, 19-cv-4087, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).(Updates with second paragraph under Supreme Court Snub)\--With assistance from Gerald Porter Jr..To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net;Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| U.S. Justice Department asks appeals court to pause antitrust ruling against Qualcomm Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:10 PM PDT  "For DoD, Qualcomm is a key player both in terms of its trusted supply chain and as a leader in innovation, and it would be impossible to replace Qualcomm's critical role in 5G technology in the short term," Ellen M. Lord, Under Secretary for Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, wrote in a filing made in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Qualcomm, the largest supplier of modem chips that connect smartphones to wireless data networks, on May 21 lost in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year.
|
| June was the warmest June ever recorded, but there's a bigger problem Posted: 16 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  In 139 years of record-keeping, this June was the warmest June ever recorded. But June 2019 also revealed a deeper warming reality. The first half of 2019, January through June, finished up as the second warmest half-year on record, newly released NASA data shows. On top of that, each of the last five January through Junes are now the five warmest such spans on record. Only 2016 started off hotter than 2019. "At this point, the inexorable increase in global temperatures is entirely predictable," said Sarah Green, an environmental chemist at Michigan Technological University. She noted that NASA's updated data is added proof that climate models have accurately predicted Earth's continued warming as heat-trapping gasses amass in the atmosphere."As we have shown in recent work, the record warm streaks we've seen in recent years simply cannot be explained without accounting for the profound impact we are having on the planet through the burning of fossil fuels and the resulting increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations," added climate scientist Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University.Indeed, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, already at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years, are now accelerating at rates that are unprecedented in both the historic and geologic record."The latest numbers are just another reminder that the impacts of human-caused warming are no longer subtle," said Mann. "We're seeing them play out in terms of both unprecedented extreme weather events and the sorts of planetary-scale temperature extremes betrayed by these latest numbers."The warmest January through Junes on record.Image: nasa gissThe well-predicted consequences of this heating are now unfolding. Here are some, of many, examples: * Warming climes have doubled the amount of land burned by wildfires in the U.S. over the last 30 years, as plants and trees, notably in California, get baked dry. * Greenland -- home to the second largest ice sheet on Earth -- is melting at unprecedented rates. * The last 12 months have been the wettest 12 months in U.S. history, leading to widespread flooding around the nation (For every 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, of warming, the air can hold 7 percent more water.) * The Arctic is on fire. * Ocean temperatures are going up, and up, and up. * Since 1961, Earth's glaciers lost 9 trillion tons of ice. That's the weight of 27 billion 747s. * Heat waves are increasing in duration and frequency, while smashing records. * Daily high record temperatures are dominating daily low records. Overall, the atmosphere is experiencing an accelerated upward temperature climb, though there are some ups and downs within the greater warming trend. This is due to natural climatic influences, particularly from events like El Niño, which can give global temperatures an added kick. > NASA global mean June temperature is out! Guess what - it's been the hottest June on record. Definitely felt like that in Germany... climatecrisis FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/vkOFP22NNM> > -- Stefan Rahmstorf (@rahmstorf) July 15, 2019"The year-to-year variations of the global temperature may be affected by El Niño, etc., but in the long-term [global temperature] keeps increasing steadily," said NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies scientist Makiko Sato, who helped prepare the June climate observations. SEE ALSO: This scientist keeps winning money from people who bet against climate changeThis June was "easily" the warmest June on record, NASA noted, and overall, this year's January through June temperatures were 1.4 degrees Celsius (or 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above average temperatures in the late 1800s. Seasonal temperature trends.Image: nasa Giss2019 will almost certainly end up being one of the hottest years on record. This is in line with another stark trend. Eighteen of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 -- and the five hottest years have occurred in each of the last five years. (It's not just the first half of each year setting records.)"This is further evidence that temperatures will keep rising until government policies that decrease greenhouse gas emissions are actually implemented," emphasized Green. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
|
| Odd Man Out: How the Independent Justin Amash Could Shake Up the 2020 Presidential Election Posted: 16 Jul 2019 10:24 AM PDT  Washington circles are abuzz with the suggestion that Justin Amash, the ex-Republican congressman from Michigan, may mount a third-party presidential campaign in 2020. In the few days since leaving the GOP, he's talked about "room for a third party" and refused to rule out running for president. But sources close to Amash and the Libertarian Party deny that a presidential run is in the works—although the door is still open. For the time being, the Libertarian-leaning representative is looking to build a fiscally conservative, pro-restraint coalition across party lines.Michigan representative Justin Amash has made waves in recent weeks with his challenges to the Republican establishment. He first suggested that President Donald Trump should be impeached, then he contested the president's authority to attack Iran without congressional approval, and finally left the party.Amash seemed to send mixed signals about his next move, telling CNN that he's planning to run for re-election to the House of Representatives, but confirming that he still "wouldn't rule anything like [a Libertarian presidential run] out."
|
| Southwest and Boeing had a 'reckless, greedy conspiracy' to keep the 737 Max flying despite knowing about its flaws, a new lawsuit alleges Posted: 16 Jul 2019 04:20 AM PDT  The lawsuit alleges Southwest has a unique relationship with Boeing, and that both companies knew about a fatal defect in 737 Max planes.
|
| Fed's Powell doubles down on rate cut signal Posted: 16 Jul 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell added more weight to expectations the central bank will cut interest rates later this month, stressing Tuesday that the US inflation outlook is near historic lows. Economists and investors see it as a certainty that the Fed will lower the key borrowing rate at the policy meeting July 30-31, and Powell in recent statements has moved to solidify those predictions by pointing to some concerns about economic growth and persistent weak inflation. Central bankers have "raised concerns about a more prolonged shortfall in inflation below our 2 percent target," Powell said in a prepared speech at a Bank of France event.
|
| Johnson, Hunt raise Brexit stakes with Irish border views Posted: 16 Jul 2019 05:43 AM PDT  The two contenders to become Britain's next prime minister raised the Brexit stakes by saying they will discard a contentious part of the European Union divorce deal agreed by outgoing leader Theresa May. The pound fell to a 27-month low of $1.2408 Tuesday after Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt appeared to make it more likely that the U.K. will leave the EU without an agreement on the terms to smooth the way. Britain's Parliament has repeatedly rejected May's deal with the bloc, in large part because of a measure designed to keep goods and people flowing freely across the border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
|
| Trump’s Cabinet has become severe headache for his White House Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:04 AM PDT  The president who promised an all-star cast instead faces the highest Cabinet turnover in recent history.
|
| Australian model sentenced for airline flight disturbance Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:30 PM PDT  An Australian model was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to community service and probation for slapping a flight attendant and going on an obscene tirade during a flight, with a federal judge saying he believed she was deeply remorseful and did not deserve fines or prison time. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney sentenced Adau Mornyang to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service. Prosecutors had sought a month in jail for Mornyang.
|
| The U.S. Army Is Building a Smarter Land Mine Posted: 16 Jul 2019 07:06 AM PDT  The mines must take commands from long ranges, threaten "peer threats" such as the Russian Army, but minimize harm against civilians.
|
| Babysitter charged with homicide over death of two-year-old at unlicensed day care Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:14 PM PDT  A man has been charged with homicide after a toddler died at an unlicensed day care in Wisconsin.Hunter Jones was charged earlier this month with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of 2-year-old Matthew Bolinski.A criminal complaint said Mr Jones called 911 on 27 March to say the child had jumped out of his playpen and hit his head. The complaint also said Mr Jones was on the phone with a dispatcher for four minutes before he revealed the child wasn't breathing.Katherine Bolinski, the little boy's mother, told local news outlets she feels like she is living in an "ongoing nightmare". "I still pretend like he's sleeping in the other room," Ms Bolinski told WITI."Now it's just like an ongoing nightmare of waking up and there are moments where I just wish he could be with me still." Mr Jones' wife, an in-home day care provider, told investigators she left the child and others in her husband's care while she went out to pick up dinner.An autopsy listed the cause of the child's death as undetermined, but also said the toddler had 18 contusions on his head and likely died of asphyxia. "That day I dropped him off, he threw a fit like no other fit and I obviously regret having to do that now because of the outcome, but that's my last memory of him alive," Ms Bolinski told the local news outlet.The mother said she was "confused," "hurt" and "angry" after her son was found to have multiple injuries to his neck and head.Mr Jones did not have a defence attorney listed in court records. Additional reporting by AP
|
| Mom wants health industry to focus on protein-packed diet after daughter’s unexpected death Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:17 PM PDT  A heartbroken Australian mother is speaking out about the potential dangers of protein shakes and supplements after she says her 25-year-old daughter's diet triggered an undiagnosed condition which ultimately contributed to her death two years ago.
|
| Iran Loves This: The Royal Navy Doesn’t Have Enough Ships to Patrol Persian Gulf Posted: 15 Jul 2019 01:56 PM PDT  The Royal Navy plans briefly to double its number of warships in the Persian Gulf following an attempted attack by Iranian forces on a British oil tanker on June 20, 2019.But the temporary increase in British warships in the region, from one to two, underscores just how few ships the Royal Navy can deploy even in an emergency.Iranian boats tried to "impede" the British oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC reported. HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, "was forced to move between the three boats and the tanker," according to the BBC.The British government claimed the attacking boats belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps militia. The IRGC also allegedly was behind several recent bomb attacks targeting oil tankers in the Gulf and surrounding waters.Tensions have escalated in the Middle East following U.S. president Donald Trump decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the 2015 deal limiting Iran's nuclear program. After Trump restored economic sanctions, Tehran resumed stockpiling uranium.The July 2019 tanker incident compelled the Royal Navy to accelerate by several weeks a planned deployment to the Gulf by the Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan. Montrose and Duncan together will patrol the Persian Gulf before Montrose returns to U.K. waters for maintenance.Duncan sailed south through the Bosphorus on July 13, 2019. The destroyer had been in the Black Sea region for NATO exercises.
|
| Lyft broke the law when it failed to tell Chicago about a driver it kicked off its app. A month later he was accused of killing a taxi driver while working for Uber. (LYFT, UBER) Posted: 15 Jul 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Lyft could be fined up to $10,000 for failing to report the driver, who has since been charged with murder.
|
| There’s a huge iPhone bug in the latest iOS 13 beta that you really need to know about Posted: 16 Jul 2019 07:35 AM PDT  The latest iOS 13 beta has a serious security bug that will allow access to your stored passwords by anyone with access to your device. For someone to get to your passwords, they need to know how the bug works, and they need to get their hands on your iPhone or iPad. The good news, however, is that this bug will almost certainly be fixed in the coming weeks, maybe as soon as the next iOS 13 beta release.As you'll see in the video at the end of this post, all you have to do is go to the Settings app of an iPhone and then tap on the Website & App Passwords menu inside the Passwords & Accounts section repeatedly until the passwords show up. Ignoring the Touch ID or Face ID authentication prompts that appear should prevent you from seeing the passwords. In the latest iOS 13 beta, however, that doesn't happen and access is granted.Apple will fix whatever is causing the bug soon since the company has been notified about the issue according to a Reddit thread. Even if the upcoming iOS 13 beta update doesn't deal with the matter, you can rest assured that the final release, due in mid-September, will not have this serious security issue.iOS 13 is currently on beta 3 (developers) and its equivalent beta 2 (public), but both releases offer the same set of features and they obviously both have the same bugs. Apple should release iOS 13 beta 4 soon, followed by the iOS 13 public beta 3 with more fixes and improvements.The iOS 13 beta rollout hasn't been as smooth as was the case with the iOS 12 beta last year. The current beta release delivers a far less stable experience, riddled with app crashes and performance issues. But beta releases aren't supposed to be as stable as the final product, and that's what testers sign up for. If you want to roll back your iPhone or iPad to iOS 12.3, that will continue to be possible until Apple releases the final version of iOS 13.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_rlN2IIbyM
|
| U.S., Iran send conflicting signals on their disputes Posted: 16 Jul 2019 07:11 AM PDT  Tensions have risen since U.S. President Donald Trump last year abandoned the major powers' nuclear deal with Iran under which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for the lifting of global sanctions crippling its economy. Washington has since reimposed draconian sanctions to throttle Iran's oil trade in a "maximum pressure" policy to force Tehran to agree stricter limits on its nuclear capacity, curb its ballistic missile program and end support for proxy forces in a regional power struggle with U.S.-backed Gulf Arabs.
|
