| Iran challenges Europe and China to stand up to US over nuclear deal Posted: 08 May 2019 11:15 AM PDT  Iran is now giving them 60 days to take significant strides or face a potentially severe new crisis in the Middle EastThe initial two steps the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has announced are at the very low end of the scale of available measures. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesBy taking a couple of small, carefully calibrated steps towards the exit from the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran has given Europe and China a two-month ultimatum to stand up to the US on the world stage, or risk a slide towards a new Middle East conflict.The erosion of that multilateral agreement and the return to military posturing in the Persian Gulf, has been driven by a small number of radical players in the Trump administration, the Israeli government, and the Saudi and Emirati monarchies. In the US and Israel, this has happened in the face of resistance from the defence establishment.In the year since Donald Trump abrogated the multilateral agreement with Iran – by which Tehran accepted stringent limits on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief – the European, Russian and Chinese parties to the deal swore to uphold it. But they have failed so far to shield Iran from redoubled US sanctions.Corporations feared being blacklisted in the US more than they feared losing a share in the Iranian market. European efforts to insulate its companies from sanctions have so far proved flimsy.Tehran's initial response to Trump's effort to destroy the deal was strategic patience, relying on the rest of the world to keep its economy afloat.Iran hoped that Beijing at least would defy the US and continue to buy its oil when the US ended sanctions exemptions for the last handful of Iran's remaining customers on 2 May. So far, that has not happened. Now, Beijing is nervous about derailing delicate trade talks with Washington, and Chinese imports have dipped.Russia has voiced support for Iran – but is not an oil customer and carries little weight in the global economy."For the Europeans, the Chinese and Russians, the nuclear deal has been a priority but it has not been in the top three priorities. It has been the sacrificial lamb," said Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.By raising the stakes, Iran has challenged Europe and China to wean themselves off dependence on the dollar – for both a long-term aspiration. Iran is now giving them 60 days to take significant strides or face a potentially severe new crisis in the Middle East.The initial two steps announced by President Hassan Rouhani are at the very low end of the scale of available measures. Iran will stop exporting low enriched uranium (LEU) and heavy water – a trade which had kept its stockpiles of both under the levels set by the 2015 deal.For the time being, these steps will have a negligible impact on the central purpose of the agreement: keeping Iran at least a year away from the capability to make a nuclear warhead.The actual LEU stockpile had settled below the agreed 660lb limit and heavy water has no immediate use, as Iran currently has no functioning heavy water reactor or reprocessing plant necessary to make plutonium.The US announced last week that it would begin sanctioning trade in both materials making it harder for the Iran to keep to the agreed limits. By limiting its initial steps to these two measures, Tehran has insured that the blame resides almost entirely in Washington.Much more serious are the steps Iran is threatening to take after the 60-day deadline. Rouhani has it will lift the agreed 3.67% limit on the level of purity to which it enriches uranium. For every percentage point that figure is allowed to creep up, Iran gets exponentially closer to the capacity to produce weapons-grade uranium.Rouhani said that if the ultimatum is not met, Iran will also end a Chinese-led initiative to redesign its heavy water reactor in Arak. If that happened, the route to producing plutonium would be open once more.Such steps, which could bring Iran's breakout time to below a year, would almost certainly trigger the reimposition of UN and EU sanctions, and an accelerated round of escalation. Iran has even threatened to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), signalling an intention to make nuclear weapons.An NPT withdrawal, or any Iranian move to hinder the oil trade passing through the Strait of Hormuz – another Iranian threat – would bring a military confrontation significantly closer.It is now China and Europe's move. As a huge oil importer and party to the 2015 deal, Beijing is uniquely placed to demonstrate the agreement's benefits to the Iranian people.Germany, the UK and France have launched a euro-based payment system, known as Instex, intended to insulate Iranian transactions from US sanctions. It is expected to accommodate non-oil transactions, including food and humanitarian aid, but it has taken a long time to establish and is not yet online.Although accelerating work on Instex would not do much for Iran's economy in real terms, it would be a sign of political will to defy Trump and uphold the deal."The Europeans thought they would be appease Trump and ease the 'maximum pressure' policy on Iran. Clearly that is not working out," said Dina Esfandiary, an Iran expert at the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.Meanwhile, China is rethinking its policy, Esfandiary added. "For them it will be a trade-off between highlighting their economic and political sovereignty or safeguarding trade with the US and economic growth."
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| The Latest: Colorado school closes for week after shooting Posted: 07 May 2019 09:55 PM PDT  HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on a school shooting in suburban Denver (all times local):
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| Donald Trump Jr subpoenaed by Congressional committee in Russia probe Posted: 08 May 2019 04:02 PM PDT  Donald Trump Jr was subpoenaed on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its probe into Russian election meddling, US media reported. It was the first known legal summons issued by Congress to a member of the president's family to force testimony in the ongoing investigation, and comes after special counsel Robert Mueller declined to accuse Mr Trump's 2016 campaign of criminal conspiracy to collude with the Russians. The surprise subpoena was issued by a Republican-led committee, opening a new source of strain between Congress and a White House battling the legislature's pressure on multiple points. It came one day after Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared "case closed" for the Russia investigation. Donald Trump Jr, 41, has testified voluntarily in private once to the committee, and was peppered with questions about a June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in New York that he and other senior Trump campaign officials had with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He was also quizzed about direct communications he had with Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, which leaked damaging documents and communications stolen by Russians from Mrs Clinton's campaign. Committee sources would not confirm the subpoena or what they want to discuss with the president's eldest son, who currently helps run the Trump Organisation, the family's real estate empire, and helps his father's re-election campaign. Citing a person close to Donald Jr, the Wall Street Journal said he had offered to answer questions in writing from the committee, and planned to fight the subpoena which demands that he testify in person.
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| Best Gas Grills to Buy at Walmart Posted: 09 May 2019 12:50 PM PDT  You can find some terrific gas grills at your local hardware store and a dizzying array of options at home centers like Home Depot and Lowe's. Then there's Walmart and other discount stores, whic...
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| Health funding gap means 1,700 in Gaza may face amputations: U.N. Posted: 08 May 2019 04:22 PM PDT  A lack of health funding in Gaza means 1,700 people shot by Israeli security forces may have to have amputations in the next two years, Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for occupied Palestinian territory, told reporters on Wednesday. McGoldrick said 29,000 Palestinians had been wounded in protests in the past year, and 7,000 of them had gunshot wounds, mostly in the lower legs. "You've got 1,700 people who are in need of serious, complicated surgeries for them to be able to walk again," McGoldrick said.
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| Sean Spicer: Democrats should accept the conclusions of the Mueller report Posted: 09 May 2019 04:53 PM PDT  On Donald Trump's presidency, stop trying to breathe life into a scandal that simply doesn't exist, writes former White House spokesman Sean M. Spicer
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| Twitter suspended 166,153 accounts for terrorism content in second half 2018 Posted: 09 May 2019 06:36 AM PDT  Twitter is making headway in tackling online terrorism content on its platform as it suspended over 166,000 accounts in the second half of last year, about a fifth less than in the previous period, the social media company said on Thursday. Together with Facebook and Google, Twitter is under pressure from regulators and governments worldwide to remove extremist content more rapidly or face more heavy-handed legislation. Announcing its latest transparency report, the company said its technical tools were producing results, with 91 percent of accounts promoting terrorism content proactively suspended by its internal technology, the majority of which happened before their first tweet because the data used to set them up raised red flags.
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| Prankster poses as Walmart manager and fires employees Posted: 09 May 2019 10:31 AM PDT  "YOU'RE FIRED": A Richmond Walmart employee was brought to tears after a prankster posed as an executive and fired her.
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| House Democrats Favor Lawsuit Over Subpoena in Trump Tax Quest Posted: 08 May 2019 08:22 AM PDT  "They don't seem to be responding to a lot of subpoenas around here," House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal told reporters late Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday refused to hand over six years of Trump's personal and business returns saying Democrats didn't need the documents for legitimate legislative work. Neal, under a 1924 law, has the authority to request any taxpayer's return, including the president.
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| Kendrick Castillo, student killed in Colorado high school shooting, was just 3 days from graduating Posted: 08 May 2019 10:37 AM PDT  An 18-year-old student who died in Tuesday's mass shooting at a Denver charter school was just three days away from his graduation.
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| Trump Admin Inflated Iran Intel, U.S. Officials Say Posted: 07 May 2019 05:30 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Photos from GettyOn Sunday, the National Security Council announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf in response to "troubling and escalatory" warnings from Iran—an eye-popping move that raised fears of a potential military confrontation with Tehran. Justifying the move, anonymous government officials cited intelligence indicating Iran had crafted plans to use proxies to strike U.S. forces, both off the coast of Yemen and stationed in Iraq. National Security Adviser John Bolton also discussed the intelligence on the record. A consensus appeared to be emerging: that Iran was gearing up for war.But multiple sources close to the situation told The Daily Beast that the administration blew it out of proportion, characterizing the threat as more significant than it actually was. "It's not that the administration is mischaracterizing the intelligence, so much as overreacting to it," said one U.S. government official briefed on it. Another source familiar with the situation agreed that the Trump administration's response was an "overreaction" but didn't dispute that a threat exists. Gen. Qasem Soleimani—the head of the Quds Force, Iran's covert action arm—has told proxy forces in Iraq that a conflict with the U.S. will come soon, this source noted. "I would characterize the current situation as shaping operations on both sides to tilt the field in preparation for a possible coming conflict," continued the second source, who is also a U.S. government official. "The risk is a low-level proxy unit miscalculating and escalating things. We're sending a message with this reaction to the intelligence, even though the threat might not be as imminent as portrayed." The source added that the administration's steps are a way to tell the Iranian government that the U.S. will hold them responsible for their surrogates' actions. A third U.S. government official close to the situation described the administration's response this way: "It is meant to send a clear message and remove any ambiguity from a tense situation. We're demonstrating the overwhelming capability we can bring to the region."Iran's specific intentions may be a subject of debate, but there's little doubt that it has the capability to hit U.S. forces through proxy groups, as the Quds Force demonstrated with lethal efficiency during the Iraq war. According to the State Department, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq killed an estimated 603 U.S. troops between 2003 and 2011, many of them the result of armor-piercing explosively formed projectiles supplied by the Quds Force. The Daily Beast has not reviewed the intelligence itself, which is all but certain to be classified. That means that the characterization of the intel—both on the record and anonymously—is crucial. And in this case, there is not a consensus in intelligence and military circles on whether the administration's interpretation, used to justify the deployment of an addition U.S. aircraft carrier and Air Force bomber task force to the Gulf, was accurate. The interpretation of intelligence, particularly on Iran, can often provoke disagreements within the national security bureaucracy. In 2007, a National Intelligence Estimate concluded with "high confidence" that "Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program" in 2003, prompting a controversy over the language used in its top line judgments and fury from those who saw Iran's public enrichment of nuclear weapons fuel and development of ballistic missiles as a key part of its program. A senior administration official insisted the Iranian threat intelligence in this case was strong, and said officials in the office of Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, drafted the statement and sent it to NSC specifically asking for Bolton to approve it and that it go out from the White House, rather than the Department of Defense, to highlight the threat's significance.President Trump signaled a harsher line on Iran even before he took office. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to "totally dismantle Iran's global terror network" and once in office his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, used his inaugural press briefing to declare that Tehran was "on notice." Flynn's successor, H.R. McMaster, broke with the president on his uncompromising attitude towards the Islamic Republic, but with the appointment of John Bolton has come a more hawkish return to form.When militants fired mortars at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Baghdad in September 2018, the White House released a statement saying that it would "hold the regime in Tehran accountable" for any attack that injured U.S. personnel, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited an "increasing and specific threats and incitement to attack our personnel and facilities in Iraq" while announcing the relocation of diplomats in Iraq. Behind the scenes, the Wall Street Journal reported, Bolton alarmed Defense Department officials by asking military planners to present options for a possible strike on Iran in response to the incident. A strike never came but tension between the Trump administration and Iran, already strained after the U.S. walked away from the U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement, has only increased. In recent weeks, the administration has ratcheted up sanctions on the Islamic Republic even further, announcing that it will no longer grant waivers to countries allowing them to buy Iranian crude oil without risk of U.S. sanctions and designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization. Sources told The Daily Beast that the administration's decision to designate the Iranian IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization in April likely escalated the tensions that precipitated the showdown that unfurled over the weekend. In response, Iranian officials have recently hinted that they would walk away from commitments made under the nuclear deal to limit enrichment of uranium fuel—a key component necessary in the production of nuclear weapons. Despite the apparent intelligence indicating an increased risk to U.S. interests in Iraq, Secretary of State Pompeo made a surprise visit to the country on Tuesday. Pompeo would not offer details on the intelligence about an Iranian threat but said, "This would be an effort to take American forces out that continue our campaign against ISIS, something that's incredibly important to the Iraqi Government."Afshon Ostovar, an assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School who studies Iran and the IRGC, said that Iranian leaders have focused on trying to wait out the Trump administration, but that pressure campaign waged by the White House has led to some internal tension over the policy."I suspect that there are some in Iran, particularly some among the IRGC, that would like to push back now. However, it seems that Iran's leaders are continuing to stress patience," Ostovar said. "Yet every time pressure on Iran increases through additional sanctions, rhetoric, or posturing, I suspect the patience of Iran's leaders, and their ability to hold back those that advocate retribution against the US, grows thinner."When Bolton took the unusual step of announcing that the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and an Air Force bomber task force were headed to the Gulf, he said that the movement was in response to "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings." But one congressional aide cast doubt on the claim that intelligence alone had driven the deployments. The administration, the source told The Daily Beast, was "pivoting off posture moves already underway to respond to what they interpret as real risk in the intelligence reporting."Still, the aggressive messaging, meant to dissuade Iran from unleashing its proxies on the U.S., could end up backfiring, the aide told The Daily Beast. "Even if you view it as non-escalatory or in the 'escalate to de-escalate' school (where a tough message is essential to walk things back) it's taking place in an environment of increased pressure, including the IRGC designation. That context matters."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| 5 Takes on Porsche's 911 Speedster, Designed by Our Staff Posted: 09 May 2019 08:31 AM PDT |
| China holds appeal hearing for Canadian sentenced to death Posted: 09 May 2019 12:18 AM PDT  BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court held an appeal hearing Thursday for a Canadian who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling in a case that has deepened a diplomatic rift between the two countries.
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| Venezuela to prosecute lawmakers who backed failed uprising Posted: 07 May 2019 09:57 PM PDT  Venezuela will prosecute seven lawmakers who backed last week's failed uprising orchestrated by opposition leader Juan Guaido, the country's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, as Washington removed sanctions against Caracas' sacked spy chief for backing the revolt. Soon after the announcement, the Constituent Assembly -- which effectively acts as a regime rubber stamp -- stripped the seven lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity.
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| Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse Posted: 09 May 2019 02:37 PM PDT ![Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse]( "Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse") Protests were sparsely attended in London, New York and California, and rides appeared easily available in some cities where strikes were called. Drivers and regulators around the world have long criticized the business tactics of Uber Technologies Inc . The Uber app indicated fares were higher in London during a rainy morning rush hour due to increased demand.
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| Lawsuit: Ford hid Focus, Fiesta transmission problems — then blamed customers Posted: 09 May 2019 04:49 AM PDT ![Lawsuit: Ford hid Focus, Fiesta transmission problems — then blamed customers]( "Lawsuit: Ford hid Focus, Fiesta transmission problems — then blamed customers") A class-action lawsuit representing 1.9 million Ford Fiesta and Focus owners has Ford on the hook for tens of millions if not billions in penalties.
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| T-Mobile is the exclusive carrier of the OnePlus 7 Pro in the US Posted: 09 May 2019 12:34 PM PDT  Now that the Pixel 3a announcement has come and gone, OnePlus is next up to the plate with a phone reveal. But before the Chinese company takes the stage next week in New York City to formally unveil the OnePlus 7 series, T-Mobile has jumped the gun with an announcement of its own. According to a press release on Thursday, the OnePlus 7 Pro will be exclusive to T-Mobile in the United States. Launch events will be held in NYC on May 14th, with general availability set to follow at T-Mobile stores and on T-Mobile's website on May 17th.T-Mobile's launch events will begin on May 14th at the T-Mobile Signature Store in Times Square, beginning right after the OnePlus reveal event at Pier 94. On May 15th, OnePlus 7 Pro sales will open at all the Signature Stores in Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco and Santa Monica. The first 200 customers at all of these launch events will receive a OnePlus gift with purchase, as well as drinks, snacks, and limited-edition swag.Here's the full schedule for T-Mobile's OnePlus 7 Pro launch events next week in cities all across the US:> May 14th from 2pm-10pm ET> > * NYC T-Mobile Signature Store: 1535 Broadway St. Ste 161A New York, NY, 10036> > > May 15th, starting at 2pm local time> > * Chicago T-Mobile Signature Store: 700 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, 60611> * Las Vegas T-Mobile Signature Store: 3791 S Las Vegas Blvd S. Ste 1300, Las Vegas, NV 89109> * Miami T-Mobile Signature Store: 738 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139> * San Francisco T-Mobile Signature Store: 1 Stockton St. San Francisco, CA 94108> * Santa Monica T-Mobile Signature Store: 1410 3rd St Promenade. Santa Monica, CA 90401> > > May 17th> > * OnePlus 7 Pro is available to pick up at any T-Mobile store and on T-Mobile.com> OnePlus will reveal the full details and pricing of its OnePlus 7 lineup at 11 a.m. ET on May 14th. You can head to this link on OnePlus's website to follow along live, and we'll have all the information here as well.
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| The Gloves Are Off in Democrats’ Battle With Trump Posted: 09 May 2019 03:03 AM PDT  The House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena to provide the unredacted report of Robert Mueller's investigation into election meddling by Russia. Democrats – from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to high-profile presidential contenders – are increasingly casting their battle with the administration as one between democracy and tyranny. The president, acting on Barr's advice, formally asserted executive privilege yesterday to block the release of more information on Mueller's findings.
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| What we know about the Highlands Ranch STEM school shooting in Colorado Posted: 07 May 2019 09:00 PM PDT  The Douglas County Sheriff's Department said two people are in custody after a school shooting left one dead and eight injured in a Denver suburb.
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| Russia planned to influence South African elections in favour of the ruling ANC, report suggests Posted: 08 May 2019 12:27 PM PDT  A Kremlin-linked Russian misinformation outfit attempted to sway Wednesday's general election in South Africa in favour of the ruling African National Congress, according to documents obtained by investigators. An organisation with ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, allegedly drew up plans to discredit South African opposition parties, including the pro-western Democratic Alliance. The claims, which emerged as voting was underway in South Africa, are the latest to link Mr Prigozhin to a growing network of Russian influence over the continent's politics. Known as "Putin's chef" because his company provided catering services to the Kremlin, the businessman may have deployed as many as 200 political strategists across the continent to help sitting presidents win elections, Russian newspapers have reported. Mr Prigozhin, who is also linked to the paramilitary Wagner Group, is under US sanctions after he was accused of running an online "troll factory" to bolster Donald Trump in the 2016 election. People queue in the early morning cold to cast their votes in the mining settlement of Bekkersdal Credit: AP Photo/Ben Curtis Attempts to influence South Africa's election were coordinated by Peter Bychkov, a political strategist working for Mr Prigozhin, according to documents obtained by the Daily Maverick, a respected South African newspaper, and the Dossier Centre, a London-based investigative unit. Funded by Mikhail Khordovkosky, a Russian oligarch and Putin critic, the Dossier Centre says it "investigates the criminal activities of various people associated with the Kremlin." Mr Bychkov's team purportedly created a think tank to act as a vehicle to tarnish Mmusi Maimane, the DA leader, and Julius Malema, the populist leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters. The team drew up documents, obtained by the investigators, that listed its proposed tactics, ranging from "generating and disseminating video content" and "coordinating with a loyal pool of journalists" to find ways "to discredit" the opposition. While it is not unusual for political parties to engage foreign political strategists, most spin doctors act on a commercial basis rather than for shadowy outfits linked to foreign governments. Inside Russia's 'troll factory': The agency accused of interfering in the US election There is no evidence to suggest that Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president and the leader of the ANC, was aware of the plans or whether they were ever implemented. Given that opinion polls show the ANC winning an overall majority, it is unclear what the Russian group hoped to achieve. However, the documents show it predicted, disingenuously, that the party would fall short of 50 percent, raising the possibility of Mr Ramaphosa having to rule in coalition with Mr Malema - an attempt, perhaps, to show its indispensability should the ANC achieve a clear win. Other documents suggest that Mr Prighozin also hoped to secure lucrative assets in South Africa's mining sector and to sign a deal to sell the government arms. The allegations may cast a shadow over Mr Ramaphosa's predicted victory. Profile | Cyril Ramaphosa But, despite growing political disillusionment, election day in South Africa still evinces an atmosphere rarely seen elsewhere, with older black voters still revelling in an experience that was denied them so long under apartheid. Emily Sefelane, a 62-year-old domestic worker voting in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, remembered how tough life used to be before white rule ended. "It was so hard here in those days," she said, recalling how she and her friends were often detained by police because they did not have permission to work in Johannesburg. But if voting remains an exciting and moving experience for older black South Africans, the country's younger generation are turning away from politics amid anger over corruption and the government's failure to lower unemployment, lift the economy and reduce inequality. Some six million people, most of them thought to be young, failed to register to vote and although the ANC will win, enthusiasm for the party that Nelson Mandela led to triumph a quarter of a century ago on Friday is arguably more tepid than it has ever been.
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| Get Ready, Iran: B-52 Bombers Are Headed to the Middle East Posted: 08 May 2019 03:11 AM PDT  Here come the bombers. Four US B-52 bombers have been deployed to the Middle East in response to threats of a possible attack by Iran against local American troops in the region, according to U.S. officials.The bombers, which made up the bulk of the aerial nuclear response fleet during the Cold War and have been serving ever since were deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Tuesday.In addition to the bombers, the U.S. deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which will be heading into the US Central Command region in case immediate strikes are needed.According to CBS News, White House national security adviser John Bolton insisted that while the US isn't looking for a war, it is more than willing to finish one."The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces," he said.It is unknown what kind of payload the bombers were carrying.This first appeared in WarISBoring here.
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| Best Gas Grills to Buy at Lowe's Posted: 09 May 2019 12:55 PM PDT  Walk into any home improvement center and you'll see an armada of grills—a sure sign of spring. Home Depot and Lowe's alone account for more than 50 percent of gas grills sold in the U.S. Consume...
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| Berkshire takes $377 million charge tied to solar company that U.S. linked to fraud Posted: 08 May 2019 07:07 PM PDT  Berkshire said in its first-quarter report on Saturday it had invested $340 million in various tax equity investment funds from 2015 to 2018, before learning that federal authorities had alleged "fraudulent income conduct" by the funds' sponsor. "We now believe that it is more likely than not that the income tax benefits that we recognized are not valid," and took the charge for "uncertain tax positions" related to its investments, Berkshire said. Buffett's assistant Debbie Bosanek confirmed that the charge related to DC Solar.
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| Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail Posted: 08 May 2019 04:35 PM PDT ![Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail]( "Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail") Dear reader: Our top story today looks at how some of the Democratic presidential candidates are trying to reclaim religion from the far right, by openly discussing their faith on the campaign trail. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been at the forefront of this trend. At a forum last month, the openly gay mayor took on the religious right's opposition to gay marriage, saying he wishes the "Mike Pences of the world" would understand "that if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me – your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Yet some of Mr. ...
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| Solar Drones Are Filling the Skies, But There's Still No Clear Winner Posted: 09 May 2019 10:32 AM PDT |
| Don't send a 'bishop to the crime scene': Church sex abuse survivors blast Pope Francis' new law on reporting Posted: 09 May 2019 10:56 AM PDT  Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking law on reporting of clergy sex abuse. Survivors say the church still doesn't get it.
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| Clinton: GOP must choose 'rule of law' or 'rule of Trump' Posted: 08 May 2019 06:05 PM PDT  HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the struggles between President Donald Trump's administration and the U.S. House will show "whether it's the rule of law or the rule of Trump" that the courts and Republicans obey.
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| Today’s top deals: $25 true wireless earbuds, $20 Wi-Fi cameras, $79 sous vide, SanDisk microSD sale, more Posted: 09 May 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Thursday's roundup of the best daily deals we can find is a good one, and includes very popular true wireless earbuds for just $25.49 when you use the coupon code FSOVHC7U at checkout on Amazon. Among the other highlights from today's list, you'll find $50 off half a dozen different Apple Watch Series 4 models, the lowest price of 2019 on the most popular Instant Pot in the world, a Wi-Fi home security camera that's somehow on sale for $19.99, Anova's newest sous vide cooker for just $79, $29.99 for the Roku Premiere with 4K and HDR support, all-time low prices on SanDisk microSD cards starting at just $7, a free Echo Dot when you buy a Ring Video Doorbell 2 for $80 off or a Ring Video Doorbell Pro for $100 off, Bose's excellent compact sound bar for just $199, and more. See all of today's best bargains below.
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| South Korea: North Korea fires 2 suspected missiles in possible new warning Posted: 09 May 2019 05:50 AM PDT  North Korea fired at least one unidentified projectile from the country's western area, South Korea's military said, the second launch in the last five days.
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| Venezuela Supreme Court chief rebuffs Pence's threats of sanctions Posted: 08 May 2019 04:27 PM PDT  Venezuela's Supreme Court head, Maikel Moreno, on Wednesday rebuffed the U.S. government's threats to sanction members of his court if they did not reject President Nicolas Maduro's government and back opposition leader Juan Guaido. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions in 2017 on Moreno and the seven principal members of the court's constitutional chamber for rulings that "usurped the authority" of the opposition-controlled legislature, the National Assembly, now headed by Guaido.
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| The 2020 BMW M8 Will Have Adjustable Brake-Pedal Feel Posted: 09 May 2019 10:20 AM PDT  The brakes are just one of the M8's long list of configurable settings and features.
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| Russia's Su-35 Fighter: So Good No Stealth Fighter Needed? Posted: 08 May 2019 06:30 PM PDT  As it currently stands, there is even a chance that the two fighters may use the same AL-41F1 engine.(This first appeared earlier this year.)"A unique machine, a deadly aerial fist," is how the official television channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense introduced the Su-35S superiority fighter earlier this week.TV Zvezda's three-minute clip of a recent Su-35S training sortie over Syria provides close-up shots of the fighter jet being prepped for flight, taking off, cruising over the Syrian coast, and firing flares. On their youtube account, they published slightly extended footage of the same exercise.The first Su-35S fighters arrived at Russia's Khmeimim Air Base in 2016, relatively late into the Syrian Civil War. They performed well in their role of covering for Russian ground-strike aircraft during bombing missions against Syrian opposition targets, but then again-- there were no immediate airspace threats facing the Russia's Syrian forces in early 2016. The Su-35S was therefore limited to an air deterrence role amid an ongoing diplomatic row between Moscow and Ankara that wound down only in the latter half of 2016.
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| New York prosecutors allege sex cult leader was 'predator' Posted: 07 May 2019 07:06 PM PDT  "The defendant took advantage of them emotionally and sexually," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar said in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. ... He compared himself to Einstein and to Gandhi." But defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told jurors that all the women joined Nxivm voluntarily and that Raniere was merely a tough taskmaster, not an abusive criminal mastermind. Control can make gold medal winners." Raniere, 58, is accused of recruiting women to join his group, Nxivm, and then exercising total dominion over them - forcing them to have sex with him, restricting their diets and branding them with his initials.
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| The Latest: US ready to shift military assets in Middle East Posted: 08 May 2019 04:06 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the United States and Iran (all times local):
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| UPDATE 1-Pompeo calls support in Britain for Venezuela's Maduro 'disgusting' Posted: 08 May 2019 11:34 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Pompeo calls support in Britain for Venezuela's Maduro 'disgusting']( "UPDATE 1-Pompeo calls support in Britain for Venezuela's Maduro 'disgusting'") U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday he was disgusted to see politicians in Britain, as well as in the United States, continue to support Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Responding to a reporter who asked about support for Venezuela's government by Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Pompeo was blunt in his criticism.
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| Volkswagen's New EVs Will Officially Wear ID Names, Starting with the ID.3 Posted: 08 May 2019 07:16 AM PDT  This ID.3 electric hatch will launch in Europe first, while other ID models are coming to the U.S. starting next year.
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| This Pool Float Looks Like A Giant Bag Of Chips, And You Need It This Summer Posted: 08 May 2019 08:55 AM PDT |
| Nine-Year-Old Boy in Michigan Accused of Killing His Mother Posted: 08 May 2019 07:32 PM PDT  A nine-year-old boy in St. Joseph County is facing murder charges, accused of killing his mother.
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| Chinese MiG Fighter Jets vs. F-86 Sabers: Who Wins the Korean (Air) War? Posted: 08 May 2019 09:30 PM PDT  The Korean War was not only a landmark conflict under the guidance of the United Nations, but it was also the first serious testing ground for jet-to-jet combat. The North Korean military capacity had barely progressed past ox carts and prop planes, forcing the Communist Chinese Air Force (CCAF) to augment much of their air defense. This led to Soviet equipment, training, and personal participating in the air war, and fast-evolving jet fighters quickly complicated air combat tactics.American-lead UN air power was largely unrivaled in the early stages of the war. North Korean air presence mainly consisted of Soviet built PO-2s, which were prop plain relics from the 1930s. North Korean pilots were largely inexperienced, often "flying by the seat of their pants" and using their limited expertise to harass UN forces under cover of darkness. Due to its inability to field tactically competent pilots and its lack of advanced fighter jets, the Communist Chinese Air Force was a prime candidate to fight a proxy air war.The Proxy Air War in MiG Alley
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| Trump news: Don Jr ordered to testify to Senate over Russia contacts, as president laughs about shooting migrants at Florida rally Posted: 09 May 2019 05:11 AM PDT  Donald Trump's eldest son, Don Jr, has been subpoenaed to testify before the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee over his contacts with Russia, sparking the latest drama in Washington surrounding that investigation.The subpoena comes as the White House remains at odds with Congress after the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to hold attorney general William Barr in contempt of Congress over his failure to release the full, unredacted Mueller report into alleged ties between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.Democrats have demanded the unredacted version of that report, but also the underlying evidence so they can weigh whether charges are warrant further legal action.That action may one day mean impeachment for Mr Trump — as some Democrats like presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren have demanded — but House speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she does not believe the time has come for that effort. Ms Pelosi said that she plans on waiting for House committees to finish their investigations, and then she would be open to considering further actions.The president himself meanwhile addressed a rowdy rally in Panama City Beach, Florida, on Wednesday evening, where he pledged to deliver $448m (£344m) in disaster relief funding seven months after the Panhandle was devastated by Hurricane Michael. While delivering that good news, the president also laughed and joked when a member of the crowd yelled about shooting Central American migrants, who he said constituted an "invasion".Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
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| Google’s new accessibility features might be the most exciting highlight of I/O 2019 Posted: 08 May 2019 10:21 AM PDT  The main I/O 2019 keynote was filled with announcements and demos, but it was pretty dull. Google unveiled Android Q's main features as well as the mid-range Pixel 3a phone and the Nest hardware rebrand, and it explained the various innovations it's packing into Google Assistant. The company also talked at length about machine learning and artificial intelligence, giving practical examples of what it all means. On top of all that, Google made clear to everyone in the audience that privacy is now a core focus at Google HQ. One other theme that was pretty clear during the conference was Google's renewed focus on making technology accessible to everyone, and the related announcement from the keynote might be the most exciting stuff we saw at I/O 2019.Google came up with a few new accessibility features that should make smartphones and Google services even easier to use -- so here they are: Google Lens text-to-speechWhile demoing Google Lens for Google Go, the search app for entry-level devices, Google revealed that the app will be able to read any text aloud and even translate it into the user's native language. The code needed for the feature supposedly measures 100KB, so the feature can be included in very cheap smartphones. Google gave a practical example of what that might mean for people who struggle to read:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePwKgKp69GE* * * Live TranscribeLive Transcribe is easily one of the greatest features Google, or anyone else could spend money developing. The feature will help people who are deaf "hear" what someone else is saying in real time. The app will transcribe everything it hears, so anyone hard of hearing can follow the conversation and reply. Live Transcribe is coming soon in beta version, first on Pixel 3 and then on other devices.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLCwjIaPXwA* * * Sound AmplifierSound Amplifier is also meant to help people with hearing disabilities. The feature lets you adjust the sound settings of the phone to make it easier to hear. The feature only works on devices running Android 9 Pie or higher.* * * Live Caption and Live RelayLive Caption is like Live Transcribe, but for videos -- any video -- and phone calls. With Live Caption enabled, anyone will be able to understand what's happening in a video, from the web or a phone, without turning on the sound. That's because subtitles will appear in real-time on top of the video that's currently playing. The feature is meant to help people who are hard of hearing first and foremost. Similarly, Live Relay will work during calls, if that's something you want to do, turning the whole conversation into a chat-like experience. Live Caption doesn't need the internet to work, but you'll need an Android Q device.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL-8Xfx6S5o* * * Project EuphoniaMaybe one of the boldest accessibility announcements from Google I/O, Project Euphonia is meant to help people suffering from ALS, people who had a stroke, and people with other speech impediments speak. Google is using machine learning to turn hard-to-understand speech and facial expressions into text so that people can have conversations.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAdegPmkK-
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| Hate paying for internet service at 35,000 feet? Delta to test free in-flight Wi-Fi Posted: 09 May 2019 07:25 AM PDT ![Hate paying for internet service at 35,000 feet? Delta to test free in-flight Wi-Fi]( "Hate paying for internet service at 35,000 feet? Delta to test free in-flight Wi-Fi") Delta passengers on select flights beginning May 13 will receive free high-speed Wi-Fi. The initial test will last two weeks.
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