| Some women of color frustrated by Biden's presidential bid Posted: 25 Apr 2019 04:14 PM PDT  HOUSTON (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden's decision to enter the Democratic presidential race is causing consternation among some Democrats, particularly women of color, who have been hoping for a nominee who better reflects the nation's diversity.
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| Parents of 5-year-old boy found in shallow grave allegedly beat him after long, cold shower Posted: 25 Apr 2019 03:18 PM PDT  The body of AJ Freund, who was reported missing last week, was found covered in plastic and buried in the grave in Woodstock, Illinois, police said
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| Death toll from Sri Lanka bombing attacks rises to 359: police Posted: 23 Apr 2019 09:14 PM PDT  The death toll from the Easter Sunday suicide bombing attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka rose to 359, police said on Wednesday without providing any further details. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera released the toll but did not give a breakdown of casualties from the three churches and four hotels hit by suicide bombers. The attacks were claimed on Tuesday by the Islamic State militant group, which said they were carried out by seven attackers but gave no evidence to support the claim.
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| Iranians brace for harder times as US oil sanctions close in Posted: 23 Apr 2019 09:02 PM PDT  Iranians, already hard hit by punishing US economic sanctions, are bracing for more pain after Washington abolished waivers for some countries which had allowed them to buy oil from Iran. "In the end the pressure (America) is putting out is on the people," said a 28-year-old technical instructor in Iran. In 2015 when Iran struck a landmark nuclear deal with world powers, hopes were high that it would end the country's years of crippling economic isolation.
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| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins Bernie in backing voting rights for prisoners Posted: 25 Apr 2019 10:52 AM PDT  Stepping into the debate over whether imprisoned felons should be allowed to vote, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed the idea and advised opponents they risked "looking completely + utterly out of touch with the reality [of] our prison system."
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| Three-year-old boy found alone near US border with name and number written on his shoes Posted: 24 Apr 2019 12:39 PM PDT  Border Patrol agents found a three-year-old boy alone in a field in Texas after likely being abandoned by smugglers at the southern border, authorities said. US Customs and Border Protection said that the boy's name and a phone number were written on his shoes when agents found him on Tuesday morning. The agency said it is trying to reach the boy's family and that the boy "does not speak well enough to communicate." The boy was crying and in distress when the agents found him near Brownsville, according to NBC. Brownsville is at the eastern edge of the US-Mexico border in South Texas.The child will likely be sent to a facility for unaccompanied minors operated by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 9,000 unaccompanied minors in March and more than 20,000 since January, as border crossings surged compared to recent levels. Most minors are usually teenagers from Central America who travel north on their own, but some are young children who arrived with an adult relative or a human smuggler. And parents carrying infants or holding the hands of young children arrive daily . That surge of families has put pressure on the Border Patrol, which says it doesn't have the staff or facilities to care for hundreds of children at a time. While US authorities have ended the large-scale family separations that spurred outrage last year, the Border Patrol says it still must take children from adults who are not biological parents or legal guardians or when it suspects fraud or neglect.Agency officials said this month that from April 2018 through most of March, the Border Patrol identified more than 3,100 parents and children whom it accused of making "fraudulent claims." During a March visit to the Border Patrol's main processing centre in McAllen, reporters from The Associated Press saw a 4-year-old boy sitting with adult staff watching cartoons. Authorities said the adult who brought the boy wasn't his parent and had a criminal record.AP
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| 13-year-old Houston girl dies after fight at middle school Posted: 24 Apr 2019 11:14 AM PDT  A 13-year-old girl who was placed on life support after being attacked bythree other girls has died, according to ABC 13
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| AP EXCLUSIVE: At Walmart, using AI to watch the store Posted: 24 Apr 2019 11:58 PM PDT  LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Inside one of Walmart's busiest Neighborhood Market grocery stores, high resolution cameras suspended from the ceiling point to a table of bananas. They can tell how ripe the bananas are from their color.
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| Why Biden? Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:29 AM PDT  Joe Biden has been ahead in the early polling for a long time. But, I wonder: Why?The argument for Joe Biden's nomination seems to be the one least likely to excite Democratic voters: he's old and white, and his nomination is a decent enough accommodation to Republican political enemies who are backward looking. That is a problem because two different large cohorts of Democrats want to move forward in different ways. An upwardly mobile section of "woke" white progressives wants to triumph in the cultural arena, not accommodate. And a more socialist-influenced core wants to move on from the Clinton and Obama policies they detest as half measures.Biden is now so aged in politics that he partially belongs to history. And of course, having been around long enough, he was frequently on the wrong side of it. At least by progressive sensibilities. He sponsored the 1994 crime bill, which is deplored as a sop to racist suburbanites and cops rather than a reaction to horrific crime rates. Earlier than that he opposed mandated school busing to create racially integrated schools. Some progressives are thrilled to see Mayor Pete Buttigieg fight the supposedly homophobic Vice President Mike Pence (Pence's great offense is that he previously called Buttigieg a "patriot"). But back in 1973, Biden was asked by gay-rights activists about security clearances for homosexuals. Biden responded that his "gut reaction" was that homosexuals were "security risks." All of these things could be excused in the way Obama's opposition to gay marriage was, as mere concessions to the regnant taboos and politics of the day. But Democrats want to vote for a leader who inspires them, not one who requires contextualization.The Biden campaign's implicit promise is a return to normalcy. But that is a rebuke to the liberal imagination of history, in which Obama was a welcome rupture with the tradition of 42 white men as U.S. president. And in which the arc of history destines Democrats to make another startling break from the norm. There are qualified women in the Democratic race, aren't there? And women of color. And a gay man. Wouldn't electing one of them do more, symbolically, than electing another handsy old man on the premise that he is adept at coddling a politically fickle white working class? Biden's candidacy is an attempt by Democrats to bargain with Trump's America. Other candidates are promising to cleanse America from what Democrats see as the disgrace or even the sacrilege of Trump's presidency. Democrats don't want to bargain with the devil, they want an exorcist.If anything, recent presidential elections have taught the two major parties not to settle for someone who seems electable and unthreatening to swing voters, but to go with the candidate who excites them in the hope that excitement itself will be contagious. John Kerry as war veteran flopped. So did Romney. It was the candidates who drew impassioned crowds, Obama and Trump, who prevailed.But what about his accomplishments? Biden has historically positioned himself as a foreign-policy expert. But his record of judgment includes the very thing that disqualified Hillary Clinton for Democratic voters in 2008: a vote in support of the Iraq War. And despite Biden's experience and insight on foreign policy, his proposed solution for Iraq was in some ways the one later attempted by ISIS, cleaving it into pieces along religious lines. What this would have meant for Syria, for Saudi Arabia, and for the resultant states, which would not all have equal access to Iraq's resource wealth, he never quite speculated at the time.Some say that Biden is a reminder of the Obama years, and a counter-conventional wisdom is developing that nostalgia for the Obama years is precisely what the left wing of the party discounts at their peril. Biden's campaign logo, as a design proposition, tries to steal Obama's halo and place it on ol' Joe himself. But, Obama was a history-making candidate, allowing voters to be aspirational about their country and themselves by voting for him. And Biden isn't. Biden is the white guy who got in trouble for calling Obama "clean" and "articulate."For the voter set that is looking for a break with the mostly centrist economic orthodoxy of the Clintons and Obamas, Biden is a step backward as well. Biden helped write the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which made it harder for consumers to escape their debts through bankruptcy, a gift for lenders such as JP Morgan, Chase, and Wells Fargo. Biden has always been a favorite of Delaware-based financial and credit firms. His son even worked for MBNA, both as an employee and as a consultant.Biden's great poll numbers are the result of his great name recognition and his association with a popular ex-president. But Biden's debut did not give voters a reason to be more excited about him than any of the other candidates, the ones who promise real, substantial, and symbolic breaks from the past.
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| #FeelingCute challenge: Texas prison guards fired after probe into 'inappropriate' posts Posted: 24 Apr 2019 06:55 PM PDT ![#FeelingCute challenge: Texas prison guards fired after probe into 'inappropriate' posts]( "#FeelingCute challenge: Texas prison guards fired after probe into 'inappropriate' posts") The trend often involves uniformed workers posting selfies coupled with captions joking about what their work day may entail.
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| Why Did Manafort Share Trump Polling? Mueller Leaves Clues Posted: 25 Apr 2019 08:06 AM PDT  Manafort was seeking to end a long-running business dispute with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. The associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, was peddling a peace plan that would give Moscow more influence in eastern Ukraine.
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| Sri Lanka troops join hunt for bomb attack suspects Posted: 24 Apr 2019 08:44 PM PDT  Sri Lanka deployed thousands of additional troops countrywide overnight to help police hunt for suspects in the Easter Sunday suicide blasts that killed nearly 360 people, a spokesman said Thursday. Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said the army increased its deployment by 1,300 to 6,300, with the navy and airforce also deploying 2,000 more personnel. "We are armed with powers to search, seize, arrest and detain under emergency regulations," Atapattu told AFP.
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| Royal baby name odds: what will Meghan and Harry call their first child? Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:46 AM PDT  Last year was one of the most eventful for the Royal family, with the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank, and the birth of Prince Louis. And while 2019 won't be as jam-packed for the Windsors, there's a whole new reason to celebrate on the horizon - the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's first child this spring. As royal watchers in the UK and abroad wait for the latest arrival, speculation is mounting as to what he or she could be called - and whether the Queen will allow the child to become a Prince or Princess. Latest predictions on what the Royal baby will be called The duke and duchess may decide to go with a traditional name like Alice, Grace or Victoria for a girl or James, Edward or Arthur for a boy. However, the pair are forward-thinking royals and may decide to surprise everyone when naming their first child. Canadian-born Autumn Phillips, and husband Peter Phillips, opted for a non-traditional name for their daughter Savannah - the Queen's first great-grandchild - in 2010. Princess Charlotte stands next to Savannah Phillips and Prince George at Trooping The Colour 2018 Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage The Duchess may also seek inspiration from her friends. Her confidante and stylist Jessica Mulroney has twin boys Brian and John, and a daughter Isabel Veronica, who is known as Ivy - who were pageboys and bridesmaid at the royal wedding. In the US, the most popular name for a baby girl is Emma and Liam for a baby boy. In the UK, the most popular name for a girl born in 2017 was Olivia, and for a boy Oliver. Harry and Meghan's child, who will be seventh in line to the throne, is extremely unlikely ever to be king or queen, meaning the couple have more freedom with their choices. In comparison, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chose to give their children traditional names, picking George for their firstborn, who is likely to one day be king. One option - considered a favourite for a girl - is Diana, in honour of Harry's mother. William and Kate paid tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales in 2015 by choosing it as one of Charlotte's middle names. Prince Harry was just 12 when the Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Meghan's mother, to whom she is close, is called Doria, and the ex-Suits star may want to pay tribute to her as well. Royal christenings through the years, in pictures What are the Royal baby name odds? These odds from William Hill were last updated on April 25, 2019. Girls names Diana 4/1 Victoria 7/1 Alice 12/1 Grace 12/1 Isabella/Isobella 12/1 Elizabeth 14/1 Alexandra 20/1 Harriett 20/1 Rose 20/1 April 25/1 Boys names Arthur 16/1 James 16/1 Edward 25/1 Albert 33/1 Alexander 33/1 Christopher 33/1 Daniel 33/1 Henry 33/1 Phillip 33/1 Joseph 40/1 Royal baby | Meghan and Harry expecting their first child What title will the Royal baby have (and why the baby won't necessarily be a Prince or Princess) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby will not be a prince or a princess unless the Queen steps in. King George V - Harry's great-great-grandfather - limited titles within the royal family in 1917. If the child is a boy, he could instead become Earl of Dumbarton - one of the subsidiary titles the prince received from the Queen on the morning of his wedding. The eldest son and heir apparent of a duke can use one of his father's lesser grade peerage titles by courtesy, according to Debrett's. A daughter could be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor, and any subsequent sons Lord (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. The 1st Earl of Dumbarton, George Douglas, was a Scottish nobleman and soldier. He was badly injured in a duel with the duc de Normandie in 1669 and papers reported him dead due to the severity of his injuries. History behind the favourite baby names The nation has put its money on the baby being called Diana (presumably after Prince Harry and William's mother). While Diana Spencer was the only member of the royal family with that name, the moniker has regal connotations. In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of hunting and chastity, and daughter of Jupiter, king of the gods. Victoria, the second-favourite name, has a more clear royal history. The most iconic royal who springs to mind is, of course, Queen Victoria - although (as fans of the ITV show will know), this was not her real name. She was born Alexandrina Victoria, but changed her name when she became queen. If the baby is a boy, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may call him Arthur - a name with a similarly impressive heritage. The most recent royal Arthur was Queen Victoria's son, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. Before him, there was Henry VIII's younger brother, Arthur, who tragically died at the age of just 15. The most famous Arthur, of course, is the one we aren't sure existed: romantic hero King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Edward and James have been popular names for kings in the past, but Philip is more of a rogue contender. The first royal Philip was James VII's brother-in-law Prince Philippe I, Duke of Orleans. Since then, there has not been another royal Philip - until Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Naming their child Philip may be a way for the Duke of Sussex to pay tribute to his grandfather. A look back at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby photos Keep up to date with the Royal family by signing up to our weekly newsletter, Your Royal Appointment.
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| UPDATE 3-Visa profit jumps, lower cross-border volume weighs on shares Posted: 24 Apr 2019 01:22 PM PDT ![UPDATE 3-Visa profit jumps, lower cross-border volume weighs on shares]( "UPDATE 3-Visa profit jumps, lower cross-border volume weighs on shares") Visa Inc reported higher expenses and lower spending by people using its cards abroad on Wednesday even as increased overall consumer spending drove quarterly profit 14 percent higher. Shares of the company were trading lower after the bell as investors worried over a slide in cross-border volume growth, which measures the value of transactions made on a Visa card outside a customer's home country. The company and its rival Mastercard had recently come under fire for charging high fees on tourist cards in the European Union.
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| Check Out This Picture: You Are Looking at the Greatest Aircraft Carrier Ever Posted: 23 Apr 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Shortly before USS Enterprise went to the breakers, a new ship bearing the name was laid down; CVN-65, the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier. The latter USS Enterprise served for fifty years, before decommissioning in 2012. Another USS Enterprise, CVN-80, is scheduled for completion by 2025.In May 1938, the U.S. Navy commissioned the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the seventh ship to bear the name in American service. The second of three sisters, Enterprise made a central—perhaps the central—contribution to the war effort in 1942. The U.S. Navy began 1942 with six fleet carriers (excluding the small Ranger, which served in the Atlantic). Over the course of the year, Japanese aircraft and submarines would sink four of those carriers and put a fifth (USS Saratoga) out of action for long periods of time. Enterprise fought with distinction in most of the major battles of 1942, and survived to contribute for the rest of the war.(This first appeared several years ago.)In short, USS Enterprise (CV-6) was the finest ship ever to serve in the U.S. Navy.Construction
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| Glenn Close, Hasan Minhaj and Naomi Campbell Reveal Their Most Positive Influences at the TIME 100 Gala Posted: 23 Apr 2019 07:46 PM PDT  Glenn Close, Naomi Campbell and Trevor Noah talk about who influences them most at the 2019 TIME 100 Gala in a moving video.
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| Searches by FBI, IRS add to Baltimore mayor's mounting woes Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:34 PM PDT  BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal agents raided the homes and City Hall offices of Baltimore's embattled mayor on Thursday amid dramatically widening investigations to determine whether she used bulk sales of her self-published children's books to disguise kickbacks.
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| Former Texas tennis coach pleads guilty in court in college admissions scandal Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:44 AM PDT  Michael Center, a former tennis coach at the University of Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the college admissions scandal.
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| Trump news: President vows to ‘fight all subpoenas’ as Democrats increasingly call for impeachment Posted: 24 Apr 2019 08:54 AM PDT  The Trump administration is being accused of "stonewalling" Congress by ignoring a deadline for the Treasury to hand over Donald Trump's tax returns and defying a subpoena requesting ex-personal security director Carl Kline appear before a House investigative committee."It appears that the president believes that the Constitution does not apply to his White House, that he may order officials at will to violate their legal obligations, and that he may obstruct attempts by Congress to conduct oversight," said Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.President Trump made his feelings on Democrat-led investigations in the wake of the Mueller report perfectly clear in an interview on Tuesday, stating: "There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it's very partisan - obviously very partisan. I don't want people testifying to a party, because that is what they're doing if they do this."He continued to attack the special counsel and ongoing congressional investigations Wednesday, telling reporters before departing the White House his administration is "fighting all the subpoenas." "We have been – I have been – the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far," Mr Trump said."We're fighting all the subpoenas. These aren't, like, impartial people. The Democrats are trying to win 2020," he added.He added that he "thought after two years we'd be finished with it," referring to the investigations surrounding his campaign. Meanwhile, Democrats have stepped up their enquiries in the aftermath of the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference.One congressional subpoena the administration is expected to challenge has gone out to Don McGahn, former White House counsel who cooperated with Mr Mueller.And the White House is pushing back on other fronts, including House Democratic efforts to obtain Mr Trump's tax returns and his business' financial records.Additional reporting by AP. Check out The Independent's live coverage from Washington below.
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| Air Canada says its 737 MAX jets grounded until at least August Posted: 25 Apr 2019 01:21 PM PDT  Air Canada said Thursday that its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX jets will remain grounded until at least August 1, pushing back a previous estimate for their return to service. Two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft -- one operated by Ethiopian Airlines and another by Lion Air -- have crashed in recent months, killing nearly 350 people. Air Canada's 24 MAX jetliners were grounded in March following the second crash.
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| Russia offers passports to east Ukraine, president-elect decries 'aggressor state' Posted: 24 Apr 2019 05:26 PM PDT ![Russia offers passports to east Ukraine, president-elect decries 'aggressor state']( "Russia offers passports to east Ukraine, president-elect decries 'aggressor state'") Russia's move is an early test for the Ukrainian president-elect, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election and has pledged to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. Zelenskiy said Putin's action showed Russia was waging war in Ukraine and brought the two sides no closer to peace. Outgoing President Petro Poroshenko said Russia might try to annex the Donbass region.
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| See this Aircraft Carrier? It Was One of the Worst To Ever Set Sail. Posted: 24 Apr 2019 06:33 AM PDT  On September 15th, 1942 USS Wasp was struck by three torpedoes from the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-19. Wasp at first though survivable and was even able to remain under her own power, but gasoline fires swept through the ship and made her recovery impossible. After five hours the order was given to abandon ship, and Wasp was scuttled by three torpedoes fired by the destroyer USS Lansdowne. Of the ship's 2,247 crew, 193 were killed and 366 wounded.(This first appeared last month.)The U.S. Navy rose to prominence during World War II from just one of many major naval powers to the undisputed greatest in just four short years. This was in large part due to the expansion and effective use of its aircraft carrier fleet. Although most American flattops that fought in the war were highly successful designs one, USS Wasp, was fatally compromised by the need to conform to international treaty obligations. The result was a carrier that was quickly sunk early on in the war, making only a modest contribution to the overall effort.A Treaty Like No Other: One of the most ambitious conventional arms control treaties ever signed was the Washington Naval Treaty. The multinational treaty was negotiated between 1921 and 1922 and resulted in limits in the size of individual warships and the overall tonnage of the navies of the United Kingdom, United States, Italy, and France.
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| Royal baby name: print off the Telegraph's sweepstake and play Posted: 24 Apr 2019 04:36 AM PDT  All eyes have been on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex throughout their royal romance - from the courtship, right through to their beautiful Windsor wedding. Now, with their first child on the way in late April or early May, we are eager for any news on the new royal arrival. A royal baby's birth is a time for celebration and fun. That's why we have created a sweepstake on the name of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's first child for you and your colleagues to enjoy. Simply click on the image below to create a printable pdf file, then all you need is a pair of scissors, a pen and up to 40 willing colleagues. Royal Baby Sweepstake download We don't yet know the gender of the baby, although most of us are putting our money on it being a girl, according to bookmaker William Hill. There were rumours that the baby would be raised as gender neutral, but those rumours have since been denied. A look back at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby photos If the baby is a girl, she will likely be named Diana - at least, that's what the punters have been betting (with odds of 4-1). The most prominent Diana in royal history was, of course, the Princess of Wales. In May 2015, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid tribute to Prince William and Harry's mother by naming their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Alternatively, Meghan and Harry may opt for Victoria, a name with a long connection with the monarchy (and odds of 7-1). Queen Victoria is the most iconic monarch that springs to mind, and it's nice to think the royal couple could have been inspired by Jenna Coleman's portrayal in the returning show. However, Victoria was not, in fact, the queen's real name, as she was born Alexandrina and her middle name was Victoria. She changed this after she ascended the throne in 1837. Could the Duke and Duchess of Sussex name their first child after Queen Victoria? Credit: PA Bookmaker William Hill have also included the following as probable girls' names for the new royal baby: Alice (12-1), Isobella/Isabella (12-1), Grace (12-1) and Elizabeth (14-1). If the baby is a boy, however, the bets are on him being called Arthur, at 16-1. According to the Office for National Statistics, this was one of the top 20 most popular boys' names in England and Wales for 2017. Royal baby 2019 | Meghan and Harry are expecting their first child The name has a long and regal history. The most recent member of the royal family with this name was Queen Victoria's son, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. Before him, there was Prince Arthur, the brother of Henry VIII, who died at the age of 15. The most famous regal Arthur, however, is the British romantic hero, King Arthur, who, with his Knights of the Round Table, protected the land from Saxon invaders. Other possible boys' names include James, Edward and Albert.
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| Chevrolet Prepares for C8 Corvette Production by Adding Workers at Bowling Green Factory Posted: 25 Apr 2019 12:42 PM PDT  GM is adding more than 400 jobs and a second shift in preparation for the next-gen Corvette.
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| 'Its Always About Mom.' Nancy Pelosi Praises Her Mother at the TIME 100 Gala Posted: 23 Apr 2019 06:58 PM PDT  "Its always about mom"
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| Police: Man killed baby after learning he wasn't the dad Posted: 24 Apr 2019 03:22 PM PDT ![Police: Man killed baby after learning he wasn't the dad]( "Police: Man killed baby after learning he wasn't the dad") MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man beat an infant to death after discovering that he wasn't the child's father, police said.
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| Schools curb students' appetites for Grubhub, Uber Eats deliveries during school day Posted: 25 Apr 2019 11:04 AM PDT  Kids like food delivered via apps such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats, but schools worry about safety concerns and class disruptions.
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| Trump Wants More ‘Armed Soldiers’ on Border After Mexico Mix-Up Posted: 24 Apr 2019 12:27 PM PDT  "Mexico's Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border," he wrote in a Wednesday morning tweet. The April 13 incident actually involved Mexican soldiers briefly confronting U.S. counterparts in Texas, with the Mexican soldiers believing that they were on their own soil, according to accounts from the Pentagon and Mexico's Foreign Ministry.
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| Texas woman who suffered third-degree burns after falling on curling iron stays positive Posted: 25 Apr 2019 08:32 AM PDT  Texas woman who suffered third-degree burns, had multiple operations after falling on curling iron stays positive and is inspiring others.
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| How Joe Biden fared in two previous White House bids Posted: 25 Apr 2019 03:37 PM PDT  Joe Biden, the former vice president and Democratic heavyweight who launched his 2020 White House campaign Thursday, has sought the office twice before, in 1988 and 2008. Here is a look at Biden's previous two presidential bids. While on the campaign trail he sought to promote his family's humble origins, and began borrowing the eloquent phrasings and syntax of British politician Neil Kinnock.
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| George H.W. Bush grandson considering run for his grandfather's former Congress seat Posted: 25 Apr 2019 01:06 PM PDT ![George H.W. Bush grandson considering run for his grandfather's former Congress seat]( "George H.W. Bush grandson considering run for his grandfather's former Congress seat") Pierce Bush, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, says he is "seriously considering running" for the 7th Congressional District in Texas.
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| Samsung’s Galaxy Fold might already have a new release date – and that’s awful news Posted: 24 Apr 2019 05:17 AM PDT  Samsung's Galaxy Fold launch is now nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. Who could have seen this coming... 7 months ago? The last thing a company wants to do when it's about to release a first-of-its-kind product is give consumers any doubt that it's a high-quality product. Well, Samsung went far beyond giving consumers a bit of doubt -- it showed us in the clearest possible light that the Galaxy Fold is a piece of junk. We have now lost count of how many Galaxy Fold review units broke shortly after being sent to bloggers to review, but suffice it to say the figure is painfully high. It was so high, in fact, that Samsung decided to cancel the phone's release this Friday so it can investigate the issues that have been causing the Galaxy Fold's display to break. That's right, we said "issues," as in plural. It's not just one problem that has been causing the screens to malfunction, it's several.The biggest problem appears to be the fact that the phone's foldable OLED screen has a thin plastic layer on top with exposed edges, so it looks like a screen protector you would find pre-applied on many Android phones. It's not a screen protector though, and if you pull it off the display will break. You read that correctly: this is a $2,000 phone with an exposed display layer that peels right off. But the displays on some review units broke even with that top layer intact, so Samsung clearly has some work to do before the Galaxy Fold can see the light of day again. As it turns out, however, the Galaxy Fold might already have a new release date... and that could be very bad news for anyone who plans to buy one.With the Galaxy Fold release date having been scheduled for this Friday, April 26th, Samsung has undoubtedly manufactured quite a few handsets at this point. Our guess is the figure is well into the hundreds of thousands. On top of that, many of those phones have likely already been shipped to Samsung's various partners in launch markets around the world. Now, we know that all those phones are junk, but we still don't know exactly why. Neither does Samsung, since the company is still in the process of collecting all the broken review units and investigating potential causes of the various different failures we saw.And yet despite the fact that Samsung doesn't yet know why its Galaxy Fold phones were breaking, the company may already have shared an updated release date with partners. If true, Samsung is putting the cart ahead of the horse and we have little to no confidence that the company is truly doing everything in its power to fix the phone's problems ahead of release.https://twitter.com/mighty_droid/status/1120820338965630976As you can see in the tweet embedded above, AT&T has been sending emails to customers who had pre-ordered the Galaxy Fold to let them know it will not ship on time. That is obviously a good thing. What's not so good, however, is the fact that there is already a revised ship date in that email: June 13th. How can AT&T tell customers when their orders will ship if Samsung doesn't even know what it has to do in order to fix all the Galaxy Fold units that have already been built?Either AT&T pulled a random date out of thin air and decided to share that fake ship date with its customers, or Samsung as already supplied an updated release date (which appears to be Friday, June 14th) with its partners. If the latter is the case, it will have done this without knowing for certain that it can fix the Galaxy Fold's problems and have the modified units shipped back to partners in time for the phone's new release.It's crazy to think that Samsung rushed out a product that it has been working on for many years at this point, but that's exactly what happened -- and now it looks like it might be happening again. The company already has a horrible track record with first-generation products, as we've said time and time again. This is doubly true when it doesn't have a similar product from Apple that it can copy. Just look at how terrible the company's smartphones were before Samsung decided to copy the iPhone pixel by pixel. In fact, rumor has it that Samsung rushed out the Galaxy Fold before it was ready in an effort to prove that it can innovate and release exciting new products without copying Apple. Oops.The Galaxy Fold is a brand new device in a brand new category. It's poised to be the first widely available smartphone in the world with a foldable display. If this AT&T email is legitimate and Samsung already has a new release date despite not yet knowing what it'll have to do to fix the phone's poor design and shoddy construction, the Galaxy Fold is also poised to still be a piece of junk when it hits store shelves in June.
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| How armed vigilante groups are detaining migrants on US-Mexico border Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:07 AM PDT  The camera panned across dozens of faces, exhausted migrants crouched in the New Mexico night, fenced in by armed civilians. The woman filming issued a stern warning."Don't aim the gun," she called out to a member of the group off-screen, before she commented about how many children were in the group being "detained". The 16 April video of armed civilians holding migrants tore across social media and news outlets amid concerns by the American Civil Liberties Union that the actions of the United Constitutional Patriots amounted to armed kidnapping and coercion. The video and the stories that followed prompted stern denunciation from the state's governor and rights groups.The elements of that video and others are fuelling inquiry over the legal grey areas in which self-described militias can operate.That activity has placed armed civilians within feet of federal immigration agents at night in wild shrub land, with migrants caught in the middle, confused about who has actual authority on the border and what their rights are on US soil.[[gallery-0]] "Menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease," New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said after the ACLU brought the video to light, calling the group's activities "completely unacceptable".The men in these videos wear military-style uniforms, surround migrants with rifles and issue commands to stop and sit. One member can be seen walking in front of the camera with an AR-15 rifle.In at least one video that has since been restricted, the group yells "Policia, alto!" – Police, stop! – at migrants, BuzzFeed News reported. In another, "a member of the militia is heard yelling in Spanish, 'Pistola, pistola' – gun, gun – at a group of people moments after they crossed the border at night," Buzzfeed wrote.Photos show the men wearing police-style star badges.In the April 16 video, Customs and Border Protection agents arrive and collect migrants but do not ask the group with guns to disperse or take their weapons elsewhere."Border Patrol has never asked us to stand down," Jim Benvie, a group spokesman, told the New York Times in a story published on 18 April.Benvie did not reply to multiple requests for an interview for this story, but he has been active on Facebook, and described his group's motivation for their actions in two videos on Tuesday night."We are simply there because President [Donald] Trump declared a national emergency on the border we came down to find out what that emergency is," Benvie says. "We are sitting here right now and we're doing what we need to do."Experts say the legal world these groups exist in is murky. What is the status of this group? Is it a militia? Is its actions protected by the constitution, or does the conduct rise to the level of kidnapping or impersonating law enforcement?"Militia is a term used in a rather fluid manner," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. "It's loosely defined as an armed group engaged in some paramilitary operation."The Supreme Court has ruled it is an individual right to bear arms, Turley said, and if the members lawfully assemble without trespassing, they can exist in the ways neighbourhood patrols do – albeit armed with AR-15 rifles."In some ways these groups are George Zimmerman on steroids," Turley said, referring to the man who followed and killed Trayvon Martin and was exonerated on Florida's stand-your-ground, self-defence law.According to the group's Facebook page, its objective is to "uphold the Constitution of the United States of America" and to protect citizens' rights "against all enemies both foreign and domestic" – phrasing that mimics the oath taken by US service members.Dave Kopel, an adjunct professor constitutional law at Denver University, explained that in the American Revolution, militias were auxiliary forces that supplemented Continental troops across swaths of territory where an army presence was not always possible. Militias were crucial in raids and harassment campaigns against British soldiers.Now, organised militias are National Guard units and some state guard groups, he said. All able-bodied men between 17 and 45 years old are members of an organised militia subject to mobilisation, according to US law.The difference between those groups and the organisation at the border, Kopel explained, is a matter of oversight. Governors command National Guard troops. Presidents can activate them for federal service.It is legal to carry firearms openly in New Mexico, and there is not a law banning the use of military-style uniforms, although Turley said some behaviour could catch the eye of prosecutors.Most attorneys rely on explicit statements of misrepresenting oneself as law enforcement, but wearing police-style badges may get group members "dangerously close to the line of impersonating an officer."The group has sought to distance itself from the appearance of coercion, with Benvie calling their activities "a verbal citizen's arrest" and suggesting that their activity is not actual detainment."We can't make them stay if they don't want to," Benvie told the New York Times.Still, Turley said, confusion may reign on the border when militiamen emerge from the dark with weapons drawn. "It's very likely they view these militia members to be law enforcement," he said.Benvie told the paper the members were instructed not to point weapons and that military-style rifles were no longer permitted on patrols, though handguns were permissible. The 16 April video shows rifles in the hands of group members.New Mexico has no statute on citizen's arrest, Alan Malott, a since-retired judge of the 2nd Judicial District Court in New Mexico, wrote in 2011, saying people can arrest private citizens who they believe "committed a felony-level crime or a breach of the peace in his presence".In a statement on Twitter, CBP said it "does not endorse or condone private groups or organisations taking enforcement matters into their own hands. Interference by civilians in law enforcement matters could have public safety and legal consequences for all parties involved." It followed that tweet with phone numbers to call "if a member of the community witnesses or suspects illegal activity".Carlos Diaz, CBP spokesman, declined to comment on what was shown in the videos, which appear to have shown armed civilians alongside Border Patrol agents.Benvie did not respond to multiple requests for an interview, but he has shared several videos on his Facebook page over the past week, explaining the group's actions and their motivations."We have repeated time and time and time again this is not a militia," Benvie said onTuesday. "This is not an armed vigilante group. This is not the KKK. This is not a terrorist organisation."If we did anything wrong, if there had ever been anything wrong, not only would those videos have not been done live but the Border Patrol would have immediately acted," Benvie said. "They don't want civilians to enforce the law.""However," he continues, "if you read the second part of their statement they do encourage citizens to observe and report illegal activity relating to immigration, and they do welcome that they they've even posted the phone number, OK? So the point I'm trying to tell you is, is that 'observing and reporting' more or less is what we've been doing."The United Constitutional Patriots' leader, Larry Mitchell Hopkins, appeared in court Monday on charges from 2017 of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. The FBI also contends his group was training for assassinations against liberal politicians and donors.Hopkins, who goes by the pseudonym Johnny Horton and is referred to within the group as "Striker," was arrested and accused of impersonating a law enforcement officer in 2006."This is a dangerous felon who should not have weapons around children and families," Hector Balderas, the state attorney general, said in a statement after Hopkins's arrest. Balderas said the arrest "indicates clearly that the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not vigilantes."A letter sent by the New Mexico chapter of the ACLU asked Balderas to investigate the group. "We cannot allow racist and armed vigilantes to kidnap and detain people seeking asylum," it said.Benvie has said his group was welcomed by local law enforcement and said police were "happy we were there." However, the group's outpost in New Mexico was abandoned amid pressure from law enforcement, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.Sunland Police Chief Javier Guerra said it would take action if group members pointed weapons at migrants."We can arrest them for assault," Guerra said, AP reported.But in the 16 April video, the woman narrating the incident sought more a more influential audience."Donald Trump needs to see this," she said.Washington Post
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| 'Do Hard Things.' Fred Swaniker Gives Inspirational Toast at 2019 TIME 100 Gala Posted: 23 Apr 2019 08:20 PM PDT  'The most difficult thing is to keep going'
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| Iran minister: Trump's aim is talks, Bolton wants conflict Posted: 24 Apr 2019 03:11 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — Iran's top diplomat said Wednesday President Donald Trump's aim "is to bring us to our knees to talk" — but national security adviser John Bolton and key U.S. allies in the Mideast want "regime change at the very least" and the "disintegration of Iran."
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| NASA's Insight lander detects first "marsquake" Posted: 24 Apr 2019 02:00 PM PDT  For the first time, NASA has confirmed the first "marsquake" detected by the Insight lander on the Red Planet on April 6. Marsquakes differ from earthquakes back home, let's find out how
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| The Best-Selling Car the Year You Graduated High School, from 1978 to Today Posted: 24 Apr 2019 02:24 PM PDT |
| Scared Muslim refugees flee Sri Lankan homes over attack fears Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:27 AM PDT  Hundreds of Muslim refugees in western Sri Lanka have taken refuge in mosques and a police station after facing intimidation following the deadly Easter bombings, activists said Thursday. At least 359 people died in Sunday's coordinated suicide blasts, including more than 100 Christians attending mass at St Sebastian's church in Negombo on the island's west coast. The attacks have been condemned by leaders of the country's Muslim minority who have said mosques will not bury the bombers, and the community has been left in fear of a backlash.
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| A widow was eating alone when 3 young men invited her to their table in a now-viral act of kindness Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:02 AM PDT ![A widow was eating alone when 3 young men invited her to their table in a now-viral act of kindness]( "A widow was eating alone when 3 young men invited her to their table in a now-viral act of kindness") The woman had lost her husband and that the next day would have been their 60th anniversary.
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| Social Security Will Be Doomed in 2035 Posted: 24 Apr 2019 03:54 AM PDT  Workers and retirees have long been warned that Social Security's trust fund will run out of funds sometime in the future, and that the program has many trillions of dollars in unfunded obligations.But what does this year's 2019 Trustees Report, revealing $16.8 trillion in unfunded obligations over the next 75 years and insolvency in 2035, mean for current workers and retirees? (The $16.8 trillion figure includes the $13.9 trillion 75-year unfunded obligation, plus $2.9 trillion in trust fund IOUs that represent additional debt.)Well, for starters, 2035 is only 16 years away. That means that anyone below the age of 52 today is on track to receive only 75% to 80% of their scheduled benefits.But it's not just younger workers who will receive benefit cuts. Consider people who are retiring in 2019 at age 62: Benefit cuts will kick in for them at age 78.Social Security's insolvency is not some far-off event. It will affect virtually all current and future workers and many of today's current retirees.
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| Apple’s iPhone XS beats every top Android phone in ‘portrait mode’ shootout Posted: 25 Apr 2019 11:02 AM PDT  If we forget about the utter disaster that was the Galaxy Fold, Samsung over the past few years has done an impressive job of churning out premium smartphones that can stand toe-to-toe with the iPhone in many ways. Sure, the face unlock and fingerprint sensor features on Samsung's S10 line is far less secure than what Apple offers with Face ID, but the reality is that it's getting harder and harder to differentiate the iPhone from premium Android models.One of the more interesting areas where handset manufacturers are attempting to differentiate themselves involves mobile photography. While Apple for a period of a few years routinely set new standards of excellence for camera quality with new iPhone releases, rival devices from the likes of Google and Huawei have managed to give Apple a true challenge in some areas. With respect to low-light photography, for example, the Pixel 3 and the recently unveiled P30 Pro from Huawei easily trounce what Apple's iPhone XS brings to the table.The reality, though, is that shooting photos in low light environments is far from ideal and is generally something most people tend to avoid doing in the first place. With that said, it's probably more helpful to evaluate rival smartphone cameras by looking at a more commonly used feature like portrait mode shots.Apple first introduced portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus back in 2016. Equipped with a dual-camera scheme, the iPhone 7 Plus offered users the ability to produce photos with a bokeh effect, essentially focusing on the foreground object or person while blurring out the background.Since then, many Android manufacturers have implemented similar features. This naturally begs the question: who does portrait mode best? Is the iPhone still at the top of the heap or has it been passed by rival handsets from the likes of Google, LG, and Samsung?Well, to get to the bottom of it, PhoneArena recently put together an extensive series of tests designed to figure that out. The tested devices included Apple's iPhone XS, a Google Pixel 3, a Huawei P30 Pro, LG's G8, the OnePlus 6T, and last but not least, the Galaxy S10+ from Samsung.The testing touched on a number of factors, including background separation and, of course, overall photo quality.As a quick comparison, check out the difference between the first shot taken with an iPhone XS and the next shot taken with an LG G8.The full sampling of photo comparisons is well worth checking out, but you may not be surprised to learn that the iPhone XS emerged victorious when all was said and done.> The iPhone XS is the only phone in our 2019 round-up that still uses the 2x telephoto lens for portraits and this alone gives it a huge advantage: at 52mm focal distance, faces get the most flattering proportions that you simply cannot get on the wide-angle camera that the rest of the phones use for portraits. For this reason alone, the iPhone should be at the top of the list for anyone that takes portrait photos of people and cares deeply about the look.Meanwhile, Google's Pixel 3 came in second despite only having a single-lens rear camera.
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| Tesla Model S and X get new drivetrains, longer range Posted: 24 Apr 2019 06:11 AM PDT  Without changing or upgrading the battery, Tesla has updated the Model S and Model X to increase each vehicle's driving range to 370 miles and 325 miles respectively. On Tuesday, Tesla announced that it has upgraded the powertrains of the Model S liftback and Model X SUV to increase the range by 10 percent for each, and significantly improve the power and torque for all model variants. The new drive unit technology increases the drivetrain efficiency by 93 percent, according to Tesla.
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| House Democrats wrestle with White House over investigations Posted: 24 Apr 2019 05:15 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The struggle between House Democrats and the Trump administration over investigations intensified as a former White House official defied a subpoena and the Treasury Department ignored a deadline for providing President Donald Trump's tax returns.
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| Marvel Studios president has an extremely hilarious reaction to reporter's question Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:56 AM PDT  We're down to the wire, counting the final hours until everyone collectively lose their minds over Avengers: Endgame. Tensions are high, and there's a lot to worry about -- rogue spoilers, reviews, the entire legacy of the MCU. Needless to say, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige probably has a lot on his plate right now, which makes his reaction to a reporter's question even more nerve wracking. SEE ALSO: 'Avengers: Endgame' stars make emotional speeches at premiereWhat was this reporter asking Feige? "Who will remain alive after Endgame?" Maybe they asked, "Will Groot finally get a love interest?" Or possibly, "Can Ant-Man really defeat Thanos by shrinking down and going up...you know where??" Or better yet, "Is Steve Rogers a virgin?"While we're unsure exactly what was asked, Twitter was quick to roast Feige's exaggerated display of -- some kind of emotion.> That's Kevin's reaction when introduced to the Ant Man butt theory.> > -- Jeremy Conrad (@ManaByte) April 24, 2019> pic.twitter.com/lGsVqHMiva> > -- Dan Foley (@fraudulentfoley) April 24, 2019> This the exact gif that's matches his reaction pic.twitter.com/TXreeuL9qs> > -- Spring snowmew (@MonoyashaDvC) April 24, 2019> The reporter found out that he is a skrull.> > -- ItsYaBo93 (@PetsyPetsyPetsy) April 24, 2019> pic.twitter.com/uNcJhSurAp> > -- Joey Polanco (@_BrooklynBear) April 25, 2019> Same energy pic.twitter.com/bUfli4thiD> > -- TheGreenPrince (@TheGreenPrince_) April 24, 2019> Got a history of making this face, I think pic.twitter.com/bbvIoovn1N> > -- Pone Tony (@BoomBizzle) April 24, 2019While we may not know what context made Feige react like that, but nevertheless, that's the face we'll all have whenever anyone tries to spoil Endgame. WATCH: 'Avengers: Endgame' stars make emotional speeches at premiere
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