| How UN scrutinises Iran's nuclear programme Posted: 08 May 2019 03:05 AM PDT  Iran's announcement on Wednesday that it would no longer respect limits on nuclear activities under a landmark 2015 deal have raised fresh fears over whether the painstakingly negotiated accord can survive. Tehran's move comes a year to the day since US President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew from the agreement and proceeded to re-introduce sanctions which have hit the Iranian economy hard. The UN's Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has had the delicate task of verifying the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through regular inspections of Iranian facilities.
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| Pompeo briefs Iraqi leaders on U.S. security concerns over Iran Posted: 07 May 2019 04:12 PM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Tuesday and met with Iraq's prime minister and other top officials to discuss the safety of Americans in Iraq and explain U.S. security concerns amid rising Iranian activity. The visit came two days after U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said the United States was deploying the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and a bomber task force to the region because of a "credible threat by Iranian regime forces." The concern about a threat from Iranian forces comes after Washington has ramped up sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program in recent months and designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. "We talked to them about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it's able to adequately protect Americans in their country," Pompeo told reporters after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
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| Pelosi’s Dangerous Battle Against Trump Posted: 07 May 2019 03:00 PM PDT  All of which is another way of saying that a corrupt executive is the problem of Congress, not of prosecutors. Republican complicity in protecting Trump undermines Congress, and leaves Pelosi fighting an epic institutional battle alone.
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| Apple’s new iPhone 11R design just leaked for the first time Posted: 08 May 2019 06:26 AM PDT  Apple's next-generation iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max smartphones have been leaking like crazy lately. We've gotten all sorts of detail from TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the most accurate Apple insider in the world, and it's obviously safe to say that the info he shared is accurate. Then we saw the actual designs leak courtesy of CAD files that were stolen from the Foxconn factory where Apple's new iPhone models will be manufactured. These new renders basically confirmed everything we had heard, that the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max will look just like the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, but they'll have a new triple-lens camera arrays on the back of each phone.The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max are Apple's flagship smartphones for 2019, so they're obviously the most talked about models right now. When it comes to popularity and sales, however, it's practically guaranteed that the third new 2019 iPhone model will top both of the flagships. The iPhone 11R, or whatever Apple ends up calling it, is expected to be priced in line with the current iPhone XR, just as Apple's iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max are seen carrying the same price tags as the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max do now. With pricing that soars as high as $1,500, it's no wonder that the iPhone XR outsells its flagship counterparts.Just like the iPhone 11 and 11 Max, the iPhone 11R will apparently also get a minor design refresh in 2019. And now, a new leak seemingly shows us Apple's final iPhone 11R design for the first time.Twitter user OnLeaks is the often the source of unreleased smartphone renders based on CAD files that have been stolen from computers at Foxconn's factory. Since they're based on files that come straight from the entity tasked with building all of these smartphones, these renders almost always end up being accurate depictions of unreleased handsets. OnLeaks is once again the source of these new renders, and they were shared in partnership with an Indian gadget blog called Pricebaba.As you can see in the render above, the front of the iPhone 11R appears completely unchanged as compared to the iPhone XR. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, of course, since the exact same thing can be said of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max. And as is the case with the iPhone 11 and 11 Max, the back of the iPhone 11R is also the same aside from one huge difference.Apple's mid-range iPhone 11R is not expected to have the same triple-lens rear camera as its pricier counterparts, but it seemingly will have a similar square camera bump. This is in line with earlier rumors we've heard. Rather than housing three lenses, an LED flash, and a rear-facing microphone, the camera bump on the iPhone 11R will hold two lenses along with the flash and mic.A video showcasing the leaked iPhone 11R design is embedded below, and more renders can be found on Pricebaba.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xetWpPkPmLA
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| Jake Paul: Woman suspects she was drugged at party hosted by YouTube star Posted: 07 May 2019 07:14 AM PDT  The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating a complaint from a woman who suspects that she was drugged at a party at YouTube star Jake Paul's home.Police received a report from the woman Sunday night, following a birthday party Mr Paul hosted for rapper Desiigner's on Saturday. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said that detectives were looking into the alleged incident. "On Sunday, May 5, 2019, the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff's Station was made aware of a possible single occurrence of unwillful impairment related to a party attended on May 4, 2019," the spokesperson said. "Detectives are in the beginning stages of information gathering for the incident. The Sheriff's Department treats allegations such as these seriously, and will use all known resources to investigate."A police official said that Police Station 68 responded to three separate calls regarding Mr Paul's home on Saturday night.He confirmed that at least two calls were for a "sick person" and that two people were transported to a local hospital in the early hours of the morning.A third visit to the house was in response to a noise complaint after a guest "jumped onto another person's property and scared an elderly woman, who fell down."The Daily Mail reports that a mother in a private Facebook group warned other parents that her daughter had been "drugged" at the same party."The house was a mansion filled with young people," the parent wrote in a post shared on social media. "She ended up in the hospital with eight other girls who had been drugged and ended up at West Hills Hospital incoherent. Something was put in their drinks."Mr Paul, 22, posted several snippets of the party on Instagram, as did his guests. The Independent has reached out to representatives for Mr Paul for comment.
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| Sri Lanka's post-attacks nightlife loses fizz Posted: 07 May 2019 04:09 AM PDT  Before jihadi bombers targeted Sri Lanka in deadly Easter attacks, Rangana Wijesuriya used to party until the small hours in the pulsating restaurants, bars and clubs of downtown Colombo. Sri Lanka remains on high alert after bombers targeted three hotels and churches in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group. The pedestrianised Park Street Mews used to be heaving, its many bars and chic restaurants the place to be seen for Sri Lanka's party set, plus a few tourists.
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| Kamala Harris' bill seeks to ease burden on public defenders Posted: 08 May 2019 02:13 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California is introducing legislation, including a $250 million grant program, to ease the burden on public defenders around the country.
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| The Next-Gen Honda Fit Debuts This October—but Will It Come to the U.S.? Posted: 08 May 2019 11:36 AM PDT  The new Fit will offer a new hybrid drivetrain, but what we still don't know is when-or if-it will come to America.
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| B-52 bombers to be part of U.S. forces sent to Middle East over Iran concerns Posted: 07 May 2019 03:04 PM PDT  The U.S. military said on Tuesday that B-52 bombers will be part of additional forces being sent to the Middle East to counter what the Trump administration says are "clear indications" of threats from Iran to U.S. forces there. White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday that the United States was deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East. Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said that the bomber task force would consist of B-52 bombers.
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| McConnell: End ‘Groundhog Day’ of Trump Investigations, ‘Unhinged Partisanship’ Posted: 07 May 2019 07:41 AM PDT  REUTERS/Aaron BernsteinFrom the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday morning called to an end of the "Groundhog Day spectacle" of the investigation into President Trump."This investigation went on for two years. It's finally over," said McConnell of the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who looked into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election. "Many Americans were waiting to see how their elected officials would respond," McConnell told the chamber. "With an exhaustive investigation complete, would the country finally unify to confront the real challenges before us? Would we finally be able to move on from partisan paralysis and breathless conspiracy theorizing?""Would we remain consumed by unhinged partisanship, and keep dividing ourselves to the point that Putin and his agents need only stand on the sidelines and watch as their job is done for them?" he asked. "Regrettably, I think the answer is obvious."McConnell declined to mention that, by refusing to sign a bipartisan statement of condemnation before the election, he reportedly prevented President Obama from publicly addressing Russian interference before the 2016 election. Mueller's 448-page report, which was released by Barr in a redacted version last month, included several instances of possible obstruction of justice. Mueller noted that "while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."Barr has repeatedly said that, according to the report, there is insufficient evidence to support obstruction charges against Trump. On Monday, a letter signed by more than 450 former federal prosecutors from both parties said Mueller's report would have produced obstruction charges against Trump had he not held the office of the president.Back on the Senate floor, McConnell derided Democrats who he believes have refused to accept Mueller's findings, saying: "The American people actually elected President Trump" and that his colleagues across the aisle "appear to be working through the five stages of grief.""The facts disappointed them," McConnell continued. "Our legal system will not magically undo the 2016 election for them.""Case closed," he added, despite this week's chaotic back-and-forth between the White House and House Democrats, who are considering contempt proceedings against Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday. Trump, meanwhile, has refused to hand over his tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, leading to a formal denial from the Treasury Department on Monday afternoon.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), on the floor, accused McConnell and his speech of "whitewashing" the investigation."It's sort of like Richard Nixon saying 'let's move on' at the height of the investigation of his wrongdoing. Of course he wants to move on," said Schumer. "It is not done. This is very serious stuff."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Google bucks soaring smartphone prices with new Pixel Posted: 07 May 2019 07:46 PM PDT  Google bucked the soaring smartphone price trend Tuesday, unveiling a high-performance Pixel handset aimed at the middle of the market as part of a wide-ranging pitch to developers of its new hardware, software and privacy efforts. The Pixel 3a phone, which includes many of the artificial intelligence features of its flagship devices, is priced from $399, executives said as Google opened its annual I/O developers conference near its headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View. "There has been a troubling trend of high-end phones getting more expensive," Google head of hardware Rick Osterloh said.
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| Southwest Airlines updates family boarding policy after same-sex couple claims discrimination Posted: 08 May 2019 09:39 AM PDT ![Southwest Airlines updates family boarding policy after same-sex couple claims discrimination]( "Southwest Airlines updates family boarding policy after same-sex couple claims discrimination") Two men said they were stopped with their three young children and the children's grandmother during family boarding on a flight to Fort Lauderdale.
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| Mueller’s Preposterous Rationale for Tainting the President with ‘Obstruction’ Allegations Posted: 08 May 2019 07:51 AM PDT  In gross violation of Justice Department policy and constitutional norms, a prosecutor neither charges nor recommends charges against a suspect, but proceeds to smear him by publishing 200 pages of obstruction allegations. Asked to explain why he did it, the prosecutor says he was just trying to protect the suspect from being smeared.This is the upshot of the Mueller report's Volume II. It might be thought campy if the suspect weren't the president of the United States and the stakes weren't so high.The smear-but-don't-charge outcome is the result of two wrongs: (1) Mueller's dizzying application of Justice Department guidance, written by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), holding that a president may not be indicted while he is in office; and (2) the media-Democrat complex's demand that only laws they like -- those that serve their anti-Trump political purposes -- be enforced.On the matter of the OLC guidance, the Mueller report exhibits the same sleight-of-hand that I detailed in Monday's column regarding its account of the George Papadopoulos saga -- in which Mueller obscures the fact that the FBI's counterintelligence investigation ("Crossfire Hurricane") was opened on the false pretense that a Russian agent named Joseph Mifsud confided to Trump adviser Papadopoulos that Russia had thousands of Clinton emails, which Papadopoulos told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer the Kremlin planned to publish in a manner timed to damage Clinton for Trump's benefit. To the contrary, if you wade through the fine print of Mueller's report, you learn that Mifsud was not a Russian agent; there's a good chance he did not tell Papadopoulos anything about emails; in relating to Downer that Russia might have damaging information on Clinton, Papadopoulos said nothing about emails or about Russia trying to help Trump; but, two months after they spoke and the hacked DNC emails were published, Downer (in consultation with the Obama State Department) leapt to the overwrought conclusions that Papadopoulos must have been referring to those emails (he wasn't) and that Russia and the Trump campaign must be collaborating to undermine the election (they weren't).The narrative head fakes and legal mumbo-jumbo make you wonder what's going on here. Who is running this show, Mueller -- or some of his notoriously aggressive staffers, recruited from the Obama Justice Department and private practice stints representing the Clintons?On the matter of the OLC guidance, if you can follow his reasoning, the special counsel twists himself into the position that it would have been unfairly prejudicial to Trump to recommend charges when the president would not have been able to defend himself in a judicial proceeding -- but, somehow, it was perfectly fair to Trump for Mueller to publish his evidence in a document manifestly written for exploitation by congressional Democrats and the media.Flaws in the OLC Guidance For what it's worth, I have always thought the OLC guidance is wrong. I do not believe the Framers intended to insulate a sitting president from indictment.The Constitution presumes that the check on a rogue president will be impeachment. It elaborates, however, that impeachment is no impediment to indictment. Further, the Constitution does not say that indictment must await either impeachment or other departure from office. (Article I, Section 3, says a "party convicted" of impeachment is liable to court prosecution, but this does not necessarily mean prosecution may occur only after a president either has been convicted in a Senate impeachment trial, or his term otherwise ends.)While there was significant discussion of impeachment when the Constitution was being drafted in 1787 (I outlined much of it in Faithless Execution), I doubt the Framers gave much thought to the timing of a president's indictment. There were no federal prosecutors to speak of at the time (there was no Justice Department until 1870 and no FBI until 1908), and the federal Constitution would not have barred action by state prosecutors. The Constitution presumes it is Congress's job to check a wayward president -- and not a job to be delegated to a prosecutor.More to the point, it makes no sense that a president should be spared indictment under seal. This is how the Justice Department routinely deals with cases in which (a) a crime must be charged to prevent the statute of limitations from lapsing, but (b) the indictment should not be publicized for some good policy reason (usually, because the accused is at large and, if put on notice, could flee and destroy evidence). The OLC guidance's objective is simply to delay prosecution in deference to the chief executive's weighty responsibilities; it is not supposed to put the president above the law by giving him a statute-of-limitations defense that would not be available to the rest of us.Consequently, if there is a truly serious offense and enough evidence to support prosecution, a president should be indicted under seal (i.e., under court-supervised secrecy). Then the indictment could be unsealed once a president is out of office, and the criminal case could proceed in the normal course.Whether I am right or wrong about this, it is indisputable that we are talking only about timing. The OLC guidance does not say a president may never be indicted; just that he can't be indicted while serving.Indefensible Decision Not to Decide That means the OLC guidance should be irrelevant to the prosecutor investigating the case. Even if we stipulate, for argument's sake, that a president may not be indicted in the here and now, he may still be prosecuted for any indictable offense at some future point. Therefore, someone must decide if there is a crime worth charging. That someone, obviously, is the prosecutor assigned to investigate the case. Since there is no bar on investigating a sitting president, it makes no sense to refrain from making the prosecution judgment -- to charge or not to charge -- until later (potentially, years later) when witnesses' memories have faded and evidence has gone stale or missing.If there is sufficient evidence, then it is the prosecutor's job to recommend indictment. The question of whether the OLC guidance should then be invoked to delay indictment should then be up to the attorney general. The guidance should not burden the prosecutor's analysis of whether there is an indictable case.Yet Mueller chose not to see it that way. His thinking on the matter, it appears, was muddled, evolving over a few weeks' time as he groped for a way to rationalize his failure to make a decision about whether obstruction should be charged.In recent Senate testimony, Attorney General Bill Barr related that he and his staff met with the Mueller team a couple of weeks before the report was completed. Mueller surprised them with the news that he would not be resolving the obstruction question. When asked to explain, Mueller said his rationale for this non-decision was not yet fully developed -- such temporizing, of course, is often the sign of handwringing as one tries to rationalize a determination one knows is wrong. Nevertheless, Barr reports that Mueller was emphatic that the OLC guidance was not what drove his decision to abdicate.Yet when we finally saw the Mueller report, we found that the obstruction volume begins with a discussion of the OLC guidance. It is, by turns, vaporous and preposterous. It is no wonder Barr has said he does not know exactly what Mueller was thinking.Here's my take.Mueller deduces that the guidance (a) prohibits indictment in order to avoid a public charge that would undermine the capacity of a president to govern, but (b) permits investigation with an eye toward post-presidency prosecution. The special counsel pretends that this gives him "fairness concerns" over the president's due-process rights: If, after a thorough investigation, a prosecutor made a judgment that the president had committed a crime but did not charge him, Mueller reasons that the poor president would bear all the stigma of a criminal accusation but would have no opportunity to clear his name in formal court proceedings. That is, the OLC guidance denies him his day in court.Mind you: Mueller says this as a précis to pouring out over 200 pages' worth of obstruction evidence -- and, implying that this evidence is quite serious indeed, he is at pains to tell you he will not "exonerate" the president, even though he hasn't charged him. That is, Mueller's report is designed to taint the president when he does not have the constitutional protections of a criminal defendant -- exactly the thing Mueller claimed to be avoiding by not making a decision on obstruction.Of course, there would be no such danger if the report had been kept confidential, as federal regulations require. There would be no such danger if Mueller had simply done his job, made the required binary decision about whether or not the evidence supported indictment, and left the application of the OLC guidance to the attorney general. And there would be no such danger if the OLC guidance provided for a sealed indictment, such that the question of whether prosecution is warranted could be resolved now, and the timing of prosecution could be tabled -- for the president sake, and the country's -- until the end of Trump's term (or terms).This would have had no bearing on Congress's ability to consider impeachment.It would also have allowed for internal Justice Department deliberation over the law of obstruction. Right now, the report has been publicized when it should not have been. Moreover, Attorney General Barr had to know that if he had tinkered with the report's legal analysis, this would have resulted in cries that he was protecting the president, so he had to stay his hand. As a result, the Mueller report's construction of federal obstruction law appears to stand as a definitive Justice Department position, even though Mueller's interpretation is controversial -- the attorney general has indicated that he and the deputy attorney general have disagreements with it; I suspect OLC would have qualms, too.A live debate over the correct construction of unsettled law, or its novel application, is something the Justice Department is supposed to sort out internally before publicizing a voluminous set of allegations. Here, the special counsel's legal argument almost surely does not reflect the Justice Department's position.But the politics have landed us in the place, not the law. Democrats and their echo chamber have insisted that Mueller must write a report because the special-counsel regulations require one. Yet the same regulations require the report to be confidential: just between the special counsel and the attorney general, to resemble how charging decisions are always made in the Justice Department -- non-publicly, by prosecutors and their supervisors. If Barr had followed those supposedly binding federal regulations, House Democrats would already have impeached him -- just as they now ridiculously propose to hold him in contempt for redacting from Mueller's report grand-jury information he is legally obligated by congressional statute to withhold.The closer you look at this fiasco, the worse it seems.
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| US to send hospital ship to help with Venezuelan refugees Posted: 07 May 2019 05:00 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy hospital ship will embark on another humanitarian mission to help countries cope with an influx of Venezuelans fleeing a deep economic and political crisis, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.
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| The 2021 Ford F-150, Spied Testing, Looks Pretty Evolutionary Posted: 08 May 2019 01:20 PM PDT  The new F-150 looks pretty much like the old F-150-a wildly popular traditional pickup truck, just like God and Henry Ford intended.
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| Google's AI Assistant aims to transcend the smart speaker Posted: 06 May 2019 06:28 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When Google launched its now distinctive digital assistant in 2016, it was already in danger of being an also-ran.
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| How UN keeps Iran's nuclear programme in check Posted: 06 May 2019 08:35 PM PDT Wednesday marks a year to the day since US President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew from the 2015 agreement between Tehran and world powers on Iran's nuclear programme. In each of its quarterly reports on Iran, the IAEA has so far said Tehran is adhering to the terms of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, under which Iran agreed to halt its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of biting sanctions.
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| China's Luckin Coffee Is More 7-11 Than Starbucks — And That Could Be a Big Problem Posted: 08 May 2019 07:51 AM PDT  The high-tech Chinese coffee company is brewing up an IPO — but can it compete?
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| France suggests sanctions could be reimposed if Iran reneges on nuke deal Posted: 07 May 2019 03:00 PM PDT  International sanctions could be reimposed on Iran if it reneges on commitments under its nuclear deal, sources at the French presidency said on Tuesday, after Tehran said it would scale back its compliance a year after Washington pulled out.
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| Early F-150 Lightning Up For Auction With GT40 Cylinder Heads Posted: 08 May 2019 11:40 AM PDT  This 1993 Lightning comes in black and looks ready for both the builders merchant and the drag strip. Out of all the names seen on special production vehicles over the years, Lightning has to be one of the coolest. In 1993, Ford decided to drop their first performance orientated truck, the F-150 Lightning, like the one featured here by GAA Classic Cars.
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| Beware: This new robocall scam could cost you big time Posted: 07 May 2019 06:03 PM PDT  It seems that robocallers have have begun to evolve a bit, as media coverage brings increased scrutiny and potential regulatory action in response to their practices. Now that consumers are starting to get wise to the barrage of robocalls and the myriad spam calls that flood their phones on the daily, robocallers have increasingly found themselves less able to trick unsuspecting consumers into actually answering their phones and engaging with them. Which is why they've moved on to a new strategy -- the one-ring call.It's a significant enough move on their part that the Federal Communications Commission has already decided to issue a warning to consumers about this new tactic, hoping you'll be able to avoid it. So what is it, exactly?Just like the name implies, the idea is for the robocaller to let the phone ring just once. Hoping that you'll have heard it, and your curiosity will overtake you enough to want to call back and ask whether someone just called you from this number. (Narrator: Don't do it.)Anecdotally, many people have started reporting this scam as seeming to originate from Sierra Leone, given the frequency of calls that include Sierra Leone's 232 country code in their number. The FCC's warning specifically mentions other calls coming from Mauritania, in Africa."These calls are likely trying to prompt consumers to call the number back, often resulting in per minute toll charges similar to a 900 number," the FCC's warning explains. It goes on to note that "News reports have indicated widespread overnight calling in New York State and Arizona."Generally, the One Ring scam takes place when a robocaller calls a number and hangs up after a ring or two. They may call repeatedly, hoping the consumer calls back and runs up a toll that is largely paid to the scammer."In order to help fight back, the FCC is recommending consumers file a complaint with the FCC (by visiting www.fcc.gov/complaints) if you get one of these calls. Another thing you can do, if you never make international calls, is to consider talking to your phone company about blocking outbound international calls to prevent accidental toll calls. All of this is, of course, in addition to not returning these calls in the first place if you get them.The fact that robocallers are evolving is certainly worth keeping an eye on, because the problem remains a particularly acute one across the US. One that regulatory action has so far seemed completely ineffective in making a dent in. A recent estimate from YouMail, for example, estimated that US consumers were hit with about 4.9 billion robocalls just in April alone.
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| Mueller tried to keep Comey memos secret to stop Trump allies faking their stories Posted: 08 May 2019 02:07 AM PDT  The special counsel's office sought to keep secret the memos written by former FBI director James Comey in an attempt to stop those under investigation — such as Donald Trump — from tailoring their stories to line up with Mr Comey's accounts, according to a court transcript made public on Tuesday.Lawyers for the special counsel, Robert Mueller, made their arguments in a closed-door hearing in January 2018 before a federal judge, who was overseeing a lawsuit to have memos Mr Comey wrote about his interactions with the president released to the public.News organisations had sued the Justice Department over access to the memos, but the case became moot when Congress made them public three months later. The judge ordered a transcript of the hearing to be released on Tuesday.The transcript provides a window into the status of the special counsel's investigation eight months after Mr Mueller began examining whether Mr Trump obstructed justice, among other issues. At the hearing, one of Mr Mueller's top lawyers, Michael Dreeben, tried to illustrate the severity of the investigation, the questions over the president's conduct and the potential benefits for witnesses who had read Mr Comey's memos."An individual who is seeking to shape or mould his own statements around those of others thereby acquires an advantage in doing so that he would not otherwise have," Mr Dreeben said, according to the transcript.Mr Dreeben acknowledged to the judge, James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, that Mr Trump was being investigated for obstructing justice and that the FBI had opened that inquiry before Mr Mueller's appointment in May 2017."That investigation entailed matters that were covered in the Comey memoranda, which explored and recorded Mr Comey's recollections of meetings, including one-on-one meetings with the president of the United States," Mr Dreeben said, referring to the initial FBI inquiry. "In those meetings, events occurred that led the FBI to conclude that an investigation was appropriate under its authority to consider matters such as obstruction of justice."Mr Dreeben added, "In this instance, a person whose conduct is within the scope of the investigation is the president of the United States."Details of the transcript were first reported on Tuesday by CNN.Many details from Mr Comey's memos had already been made public at the time of the hearing. The New York Times reported in May 2017 that Mr Trump had asked Mr Comey for his loyalty and for an end to the investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The day after The Times reported on the Flynn encounter, Mr Mueller was appointed.The next month, Mr Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his interactions with the president.Mr Dreeben said that although many parts of the memos had been previously revealed, it was still important to keep them away from those whose conduct was being scrutinised."Those memoranda are also far more detailed in many instances than the matters that Mr Comey revealed either in his statement for the record or in his oral testimony before the Senate," Mr Dreeben said.He said that because Mr Comey's memos were written contemporaneously, witnesses would want their accounts to line up with the memos.Things like Mr Comey's memos "are typically held in confidence through the course of the investigation and any ensuing proceedings to ensure that all witnesses provide truthful evidence based on their own recollections and not on any inadvertent or advertent tailoring or influence from other witness statements."Mr Mueller's office ultimately lost the battle — but not in the courtroom. In April 2018, the Justice Department provided copies to members of Congress, which immediately released them to the public.A year after the memos became public, Mr Mueller finished his investigation and declined to decide whether the president obstructed justice. The attorney general, William Barr, cleared the president of wrongdoing.But in his report, Mr Mueller detailed more than a dozen episodes that legal experts believe show how Mr Trump sought to interfere with the investigation. Among them were several of the encounters Mr Comey detailed in his memos.The New York Times
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| Two Reuters reporters freed in Myanmar after more than 500 days in jail Posted: 07 May 2019 07:37 AM PDT  Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail in a case that raised questions about Myanmar's progress towards democracy and sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates. It is customary in Myanmar for authorities to free prisoners across the country around the time of the traditional New Year, which began on April 17. Swamped by media and well-wishers as they walked through the gates of Insein Prison, on the outskirts of Yangon, a grinning Wa Lone gave a thumbs up and said he was grateful for the international efforts to secure their freedom.
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| Tempur-Pedic introduces bed-in-a-box mattress: Tempur-Cloud debuts Posted: 07 May 2019 06:30 AM PDT ![Tempur-Pedic introduces bed-in-a-box mattress: Tempur-Cloud debuts]( "Tempur-Pedic introduces bed-in-a-box mattress: Tempur-Cloud debuts") Tempur Pedic is entering the battle for the best bed bed-in-a-box introducing mattresses that will compete with brands like Casper and Leesa.
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| Key parties in South Africa's elections Posted: 08 May 2019 04:45 AM PDT  A potpourri of 48 political parties contested South Africa's general election Wednesday -- a record number. The African National Congress rose from a liberation movement to govern Africa's most industrialised country, but its once-glorious image has been tainted by its record in office. It was founded in Bloemfontein in 1912 to fight against the white minority government's restrictions on free movement and land ownership by blacks.
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| Here's the Story Behind Ezra Miller's Insanely Eye-Popping 2019 Met Gala Optical Illusion Look Posted: 07 May 2019 08:23 AM PDT  Bow to the king of "Camp"
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| Ford plans to take medical transport venture nationwide Posted: 07 May 2019 11:30 AM PDT ![Ford plans to take medical transport venture nationwide]( "Ford plans to take medical transport venture nationwide") Ford Motor Co plans to expand its GoRide medical transportation service to 40 cities nationwide over the next four years, moving into Ohio and Florida this year and other large states by 2020, the company said on Tuesday. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker has been testing various ways to grow beyond its traditional business of building and selling cars and trucks, aiming to compete with technology industry startups such as Uber Technologies Inc for a share of money spent on transportation as a service. GoRide uses Ford Transit and Transit Connect vans to give rides to people who need medical care but do not need an ambulance.
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| Mike Pompeo rejects Canada's claims to Northwest Passage as 'illegitimate' Posted: 07 May 2019 10:04 AM PDT  Speech to Arctic Council delegates prompted frustration and surprise among experts and government officials Secretary of state Mike Pompeo giving a speech to delegates from the Arctic nations in Rovaniemi in northern Finland on Monday. Photograph: Vesa Moilanen/Rex/ShutterstockMike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has rejected Canada's claims to the Northwest Passage as "illegitimate", in a high-profile foreign policy speech that prompted frustration and surprise among experts and government officials.Delegates from Arctic nations – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US – had gathered in Finland to discuss balancing climate change with resource development in the region."No one denies Russia has significant Arctic interests," Pompeo told delegates of the Arctic Council on Monday. "We recognize that Russia is not the only nation making illegitimate claims: the US has a long contested feud with Canada over sovereign claims through the Northwest Passage."The Arctic route linking the Atlantic and the Pacific offers a potential shortcut between Europe and China. Although the passage remains ice-bound for much of the year, it has become increasingly usable because of global warming and the retreat of Arctic sea ice.While the United States has long maintained that the route, often blocked by sea ice, lies in international waters, Canada has argued the waters pass through sovereign territory.Foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland dismissed Pompeo's remarks after a meeting with her American counterpart."Canada is very clear about the Northwest Passage being Canadian. There is both a very strong and geographic connection with Canada," Freeland told reporters.EmbedMichael Byers, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia and author of International Law and the Arctic, said Pompeo's remarks were consistent with US policy. But he said the "belligerent" speech contained numerous,"factual mistakes and logical inconsistencies".Byers said: "He talked about Chinese investments in infrastructure in the Canadian Arctic, [but] there are none. That was a straight-out factual misstatement."Pompeo also came in for criticism for enthusing about the "abundance" of resources available for extracting in the Arctic as climate change causing ice to retreat. "Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade, that can potentially slashing the time it takes for ships to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days," he said.The council meeting ended without a joint final statement from council members, after the US delegation balked at the inclusion of the phrase "climate change".It marked the first time the Arctic Council had failed to produce a declaration since 1996."I actually celebrate the fact that the seven other countries stood up to the Trump administration" said Byers. "We're talking about about six close allies of the United States – four of them Nato partners – drawing a line in the snow saying you cannot have a declaration without acknowledging the crisis of climate change."
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| Australian republicans send cheeky congrats to Harry and Meghan Posted: 06 May 2019 06:44 PM PDT  Australians campaigning to end the former colony's allegiance to the British monarchy "warmly" congratulated Harry and Meghan on Tuesday on the birth of their son. Australians voted to keep the British monarch as their head of state in a 1999 referendum, but the opposition Labor party has vowed to hold a new plebiscite on the issue if they win national elections on May 18, as opinion polls predict. Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a supporter of the monarchy, tweeted "huge congratulations" to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their baby son was born overnight.
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| Crazy sale slashes the Alexa enabled Roomba 671 to its lowest price ever, today only Posted: 07 May 2019 04:54 AM PDT ![Crazy sale slashes the Alexa enabled Roomba 671 to its lowest price ever, today only]( "Crazy sale slashes the Alexa enabled Roomba 671 to its lowest price ever, today only") You probably didn't wake up this morning thinking to yourself, "today is the day I'm finally going to buy a robot vacuum!" You should be thinking that to yourself right now though, because Amazon is running a one-day sale that is definitely too good to pass up. The iRobot Roomba 671 Robot Vacuum is a well-reviewed model with all the bells and whistles you want in a Roomba, and it also has Wi-Fi connectivity and Alexa support. It's a bargain at its full retail price of $350, but Amazon's Gold Box deal on Tuesday slashes the price all the way down to just $229.99. That's a crazy deal for this model, so grab one while you can!Here are the highlights from the product page: * 3-Stage Cleaning System and Dual Multi-Surface Brushes pick up everything from small particles to large debris * Patented Dirt Detect sensors alert Roomba to work harder on concentrated areas of dirt, such as high-traffic zones of your home * Full suite of intelligent sensors guide the robot under and around furniture to help thoroughly clean your floors * Edge-Sweeping Brush is specially designed at a 27-degree angle to sweep debris away from edges and corners * Clean and schedule from anywhere with the iRobot HOME App; compatible with Alexa and the Google Assistant * Runs for up to 90 minutes before automatically docking and recharging * Featuring these other Roomba robot essentials - Wi-Fi Connectivity, Auto-Adjust Cleaning Head, Works on Carpets and Hard Floors * Box Content: 1 Home Base Charging Station, 1 North American Line Cord * iRobot does not the quality or authenticity of products purchased from non-authorized resellers on , and they are not eligible for or replacement from iRobot
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| Military Force Will Not Achieve U.S. Objectives in Venezuela Posted: 08 May 2019 03:46 AM PDT  The Trump administration says it is determined to alleviate the plight of the Venezuelan people. And they are suffering. The Hugo Chavez-Nicolas Maduro regime has proved to be a horror show: undemocratic and brutal, ostentatiously destroying the nation's economy in the name of socialism.But President Donald Trump cares little for those suffering even more elsewhere. For instance, he backs Saudi Arabia in an aggressive war which has killed tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians. He bestows symbolic hugs on Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who slaughtered hundreds of protestors and jailed tens of thousands of critics, demonstrators, and stray Egyptians caught up in ubiquitous dragnets. For the Trump administration, Venezuela is only about politics. Votes in Florida, specifically.Yet the administration can't even get the public relations right. A few weeks ago, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, to strike a Reagan-esque pose in calling on the Maduro government to open a bridge into Venezuela to allow entry of humanitarian aid. Alas, few observers saw much comparison to President Ronald Reagan's memorable trip to Berlin when he urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall."
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Clinton blast Georgia's 'heartbeat bill' Posted: 08 May 2019 09:16 AM PDT  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Clinton heavily criticized the signing of Georgia's 'heartbeat bill,' one of the most restrictive abortion bills
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| Post-apartheid South Africa is world's most unequal country Posted: 07 May 2019 09:01 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Perhaps nowhere in today's South Africa is the country's inequality on more dramatic display than in the neighboring Johannesburg suburbs of Sandton and Alexandra.
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| Anadarko calls Occidental takeover offer 'superior' to Chevron's Posted: 06 May 2019 07:39 PM PDT  US oil group Anadarko said Monday that Occidental Petroleum's takeover bid is "superior" to Chevron's, amid a fierce battle over the company's assets in the shale-rich Permian Basin in Texas. After initially siding with Chevron, Anadarko reopened talks when Occidental raised its share price. Last week, Occidental also upped its cash offer to $38 billion.
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| Royal baby Archie: Prince Harry and Meghan name their 'bundle of joy' Posted: 08 May 2019 09:15 AM PDT  Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced on Wednesday they had named their newborn son Archie as they showed him off to the world, saying their "little bundle of joy" was magic. In a post on their Instagram account accompanying a picture of the parents with Queen Elizabeth, her husband Prince Philip and Meghan's mother Doria Ragland, the couple said the seventh-in-line to the British throne would be known as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The announcement came hours after the new royal got his first taste of life in the limelight as Meghan and Harry appeared with him before a small group of media at St George's Hall in Windsor castle where they held their wedding reception just under a year ago.
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| Contempt goes beyond Congress: Today's Toon Posted: 08 May 2019 03:29 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| Older Americans are relying too much on Social Security as a main source of income Posted: 08 May 2019 06:03 AM PDT ![Older Americans are relying too much on Social Security as a main source of income]( "Older Americans are relying too much on Social Security as a main source of income") Older Americans are relying too heavily on Social Security as their main income source. Many are claiming benefits at age 62, lowering monthly payouts
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| California Police Release Body Camera Footage of Officer Body Slamming Woman Posted: 07 May 2019 08:31 PM PDT  Eight videos were released by the Rio Vista Police Department from a traffic stop that resulted in an officer body slamming a woman over the weekend.
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| Cinnabun Cake, Mimosa Fruit Salad, and More Breakfast-In-Bed Recipes Your Mom Will Love Posted: 07 May 2019 02:48 PM PDT |
| Cuba Says Maduro Must Be at Negotiating Table to Fix Venezuela Posted: 07 May 2019 06:49 AM PDT  The so-called Lima Group of nations sought to enlist the communist-run Caribbean island in brokering a solution to the standoff last week after opposition leader Juan Guaido's attempt to overthrow the embattled president failed. Any role Cuba plays will be scrutinized by Maduro's foes due to the country's close ties with Chavismo over the past two decades. "We are ready to help," Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, head of the U.S. section at Cuba's Foreign Ministry, said during an interview at Bloomberg's headquarters in New York.
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