| Joe Biden: Who is the 2020 Democratic candidate and what are his key policies? Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:33 AM PDT  When he announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination to run for US President, Joe Biden appealed to ideals."We are in the battle for the soul of this nation," he said in his campaign video, released on Thursday morning. "If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation – who we are – and I cannot stand by and watch that happen."Best-known for serving as vice president during Barack Obama's presidency, Mr Biden became an immediate frontrunner for the Democratic candidacy.Amid the Trump presidency, a flurry of fresh faces and an increasingly progressive Democratic Party, Mr Biden's campaign will try to convince voters that the US needs an experienced, calm figure that can make the US take a deep breath and pull its act together again, according to analysts of US politics. And Mr Biden has experience – he's been on the political scene for decades. Born in 1942, he was first elected to the US Senate in 1972 for the state of Delaware – becoming the sixth-youngest senator in American history.He was re-elected six times and only resigned to become vice president in 2009.This is Mr Biden's third attempt to run for the presidency, after his 1988 and 2008 presidential campaigns.His life has been notoriously scarred by tragedies. In December 1972, just a few weeks after his first election, his wife and one-year-old daughter died in a car accident in Delaware. In 2015, one of his two sons who survived the accident died at 46 after a two-year battle with brain cancer – and as a consequence, Mr Biden decided not to run for president in 2016.He is widely perceived as relatable, empathetic and authentic. Mr Biden has occasionally emphasised his blue-collar roots and the fact that he consistently ranked as one of the least wealthy members of the Senate – although he has recently earned millions of dollars through a lucrative book deal and selected paid speaking.In a 2009 interview, Mr Obama compared Mr Biden's efforts to a basketball player "who does a bunch of things that don't show up in the stat sheet".He is popular in some places Democrats have lost, such as working-class swing states Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, as well as with minorities and older voters, according to a recent poll.But his campaign faces many challenges. Politically, Mr Biden is a centrist in an increasingly progressive Democratic Party. "I'm an Obama-Biden Democrat, man," Mr Biden told reporters earlier in April. "And I'm proud of it."He is likely to face scrutiny for being in favour of capital punishment and for supporting a 1994 crime bill that experts say contributed to an era of mass incarceration. He voted in favour of the Iraq War in 2002 but opposed the surge of US troops in 2007.During his time as vice president, he supported deficit spending for fiscal stimulus in 2009, increased infrastructure spending, and reduced military spending in 2014.Recently, some women have claimed that he touched them in an overly familiar manner without their consent. Mr Biden has struggled to respond, saying that inappropriate behaviour "was never my intention", and pledging to be "much more mindful" of respecting personal space.His age and experience are also potential challenges. If elected, Mr Biden would become the oldest president in US history. And as an increasingly progressive Democratic Party craves new faces, it's unclear whether its base will support an older white man who has spent half a century in Washington.
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| 25 years in prison for ex-Florida policeman who shot black motorist Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:58 PM PDT  A former Florida police officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for fatally shooting a black man whose car had broken down on the highway. Nouman Raja, 41, was convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder last month for the October 2015 shooting of Corey Jones, a 31-year-old musician. Raja, a former member of the Palm Beach Gardens police force, is the first police officer to be convicted in Florida for the on-duty shooting death of a black man in three decades.
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| Trump won't make immigration adviser available to Congress Posted: 25 Apr 2019 01:52 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House blocked adviser Stephen Miller from testifying before congressional committees on immigration and a staff shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security, prompting lawmakers on Thursday to demand internal communications on the topic from Homeland Security officials.
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| Never ending Mueller report: Today's Toon Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:29 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| A widow was eating alone when 3 young men invited her to their table in a now-viral act of kindness Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:02 AM PDT ![A widow was eating alone when 3 young men invited her to their table in a now-viral act of kindness]( "A widow was eating alone when 3 young men invited her to their table in a now-viral act of kindness") The woman had lost her husband and that the next day would have been their 60th anniversary.
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| Kill a 'Raptor': How to Shoot Down an F-22 Stealth Fighter Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:00 PM PDT  The Chinese—like the Russians—have formidable electronic attack capabilities including DRFM jammers.The U.S. Air Force has as a tiny fleet of 186 Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. That's all that survived out of 187 production aircraft (195 jets if developmental airframes are included) that were built out of the 750 that were originally planned. Of those 186 remaining Raptors, only 123 are "combat-coded" aircraft with another twenty that are classified as backup aircraft inventory machines. The rest are test and training assets.But even if 186 aircraft remain in the Air Force's inventory—not all of those fighters are operational. At least two—possibly more—jets are not currently flyable. One test aircraft—tail 91-4006—at Edward Air Force Base (AFB) in California has avionics that are so old; it's not worth bothering to fly it anymore. Another aircraft—02-4037—was badly damaged in a belly landing at Tyndall AFB, Fla. It's going to take at least four years and $98 million to repair the damage. The Air Force has also had trouble with repairing other F-22s due to snafus with retrieving improperly stored production tooling for the jet.This first appeared in October 2015.
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| 'I smiled in the face of bigotry': A woman's response to anti-Islam protesters goes viral Posted: 26 Apr 2019 03:24 PM PDT  A group of anti-Islam protesters gathered at a conference in Washington, D.C. One woman's reaction: 'I smiled in the face of bigotry.'
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| Sri Lankan President Asks Security Chiefs to Resign Posted: 26 Apr 2019 03:45 AM PDT  In a speech on Friday morning, Sirisena said the country's security forces has arrested about 70 people and are still looking for as many as 140 suspects. Sri Lanka's minister for Muslim religious affairs Abdul Haleem urged the community not to gather for Friday prayers at local mosques but to pray inside their homes.
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| AP EXCLUSIVE: At Walmart, using AI to watch the store Posted: 24 Apr 2019 11:58 PM PDT  LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Inside one of Walmart's busiest Neighborhood Market grocery stores, high resolution cameras suspended from the ceiling point to a table of bananas. They can tell how ripe the bananas are from their color.
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| Economy Grows 3.2 Percent During First Quarter, Outpacing Expectations Posted: 26 Apr 2019 11:11 AM PDT  The economy grew 3.2 percent during the first quarter of this year, beating analysts' and investors' expectations, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).Economists had expected a first-quarter showing of 2.5 percent GDP growth, only slightly higher than the 2.2 percent growth in the last quarter of 2018. Instead, GDP grew 3.2 percent, marking the economy's best first-quarter performance since 2015.The BEA attributed the favorable growth rate to exports as well as better state- and local-government spending. Disposable personal income increased by 3 percent in the first quarter, while prices rose 0.8 percent. Imports sank by 3.7 percent and exports increased by the same amount. At the same time, some potential warning signs also appeared in the report, including a 50 percent drop in the business-investment rate despite 2017's tax cuts.The growth rate also defied expectations that the economy would suffer more seriously from the record-breaking 35-day partial government shutdown earlier this year, as well as fears that global growth was sputtering. President Trump's tariffs on China had particularly worried investors, with even the White House saying that American companies may see their earnings projections take a hit because of them."It's not going to be just Apple," top White House economist Kevin Hassett said in January. "I think that there are a heck of a lot of U.S. companies that have a lot of sales in China that are basically going to be watching their earnings be downgraded next year until we get a deal with China."
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| Iraq on track to be third oil supplier in 2030: IEA Posted: 25 Apr 2019 04:25 AM PDT  Iraq is on track to produce nearly six million barrels of crude daily by 2030, the International Energy Agency said Thursday, which would make it the world's third biggest oil supplier. The IEA's wide-ranging report found that Iraq's production in the next decade could increase by an impressive 1.3 million barrels per day to a total of 5.9 million bpd. "Iraq is and will remain one of the key pillars of the oil market in the years to come," IEA head Fatih Birol told reporters on Thursday.
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| The Best Affordable Performance Cars, Trucks, and SUVs Posted: 26 Apr 2019 06:56 AM PDT |
| Trump fired his way to fame on TV, but shrinks from it in real life Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:29 PM PDT  The president says he didn't tell White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller.
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| Russian DNA: How the F-35 Was Partly Inspired By This Old Russian Fighter Posted: 25 Apr 2019 05:30 PM PDT  The Yak-141 Freestyle may not technically count as a predecessor to the F-35, but the JSF does seem to have at least some Russian DNA floating around its engine design — and as the F-35 came to fruition in the United States, the Yak-141 Freestyle died a quiet death in Russia. However, if a resurgent Russian defense industry chooses to move forward with a carrier-based VTOL aircraft, at least one Russian legislator has called for the Yak-141 to be revived, most likely with a stealthier new look for a new Cold War.For all the yelling and shouting over the Department of Defense's much-maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, there's an unusual, often overlooked footnote in the trillion-dollar project's history: its origins as an experimental Soviet fighter that only fell into Lockheed Martin's lap because a desperate Russian aerospace company needed some cold, hard cash.Before the F-35, there was the Yak-141 'Freestyle' multi-role vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter born during a tumultuous period in Russian military history. Though the Yak-141's first flight in 1987 was a revolutionary contribution to the development of VTOL systems, the hovering death bird was largely developed as the Soviet Union came apart at the seams, and the newly-broke Russian military was in no position to continue development of the new aircraft after the Berlin Wall.(This first appeared in 2018.)
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| Tesla's Elon Musk, SEC again ask for more time to reach deal over CEO's Twitter use Posted: 25 Apr 2019 05:34 PM PDT  Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday sought a second delay and requested to provide the court another joint submission on or before April 30, indicating whether they have reached an agreement to settle a dispute over Musk's use of Twitter, both parties said in a court filing. The SEC in February sought to have Musk found in contempt of a fraud settlement last year after the CEO tweeted details about Tesla production numbers that were not vetted by the electric vehicle company's attorneys. Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan ordered Musk and the SEC to try to resolve the dispute on their own.
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| Sri Lankan military in gun battle with Easter bombing suspects as huge cache of explosives found Posted: 26 Apr 2019 09:12 AM PDT  Sri Lankan soldiers on Friday night fought a gun battle with suspected militants and found a large cache of bomb materials as they hunted survivors of Easter Sunday's terrorist bombing ring. Soldiers exchanged gunfire raiding a building in Sennal Kiramam, Sainthamaruthu, in eastern Sri Lanka, with residents hearing several explosions. Earlier, detectives had found nearby a cache of explosives, drones and an Islamic State group banner and robes used in a propaganda video recorded before the bombers detonated in crowded hotels and restaurants. The bombers filmed themselves swearing allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil) before they killed 253 Christians, hotels guests and staff. The clashes on Friday came as the country remained on high alert and thousands of extra security forces had been drafted onto the streets. Sri Lankan authorities also said the extremist preacher suspected of masterminding and leading the bombings died in the blast at the Shangri La hotel, where British victims died. The interior of St Anthony's Shrine five days after a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday Credit: AFP Mohamed Zahran, the leader of the local jihadi group National Thawheed Jamath, known for his incendiary speeches on social media, was one of the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on three hotels and three churches, the police said on an official Twitter account. Detectives had also arrested the group's second-in-command and that the militants' military training was provided by "Army Mohideen" and weapons training had taken place overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka's Eastern province. Maithripala Sirisena, the president, said the group was driven by "religious fanaticism," suggesting its leader had killed himself to "set an example" and gain more followers. However, Chula Senaviratne, the national security chief, said there was "still ambiguity whether he is dead or not" while DNA tests are being carried out. Members of the public join in an interfaith candlelight vigil during a Mass of Remembrance Credit: BIANCA DEMARCHI/REX "There is strong likelihood that the decapitated head of the suicide bomber at Shangri La was the same person we identified in the photographs..." he added. "However, we cannot be absolutely certain." Sri Lankan officials have made claims and counterclaims in the chaotic aftermath of Sunday's atrocities as security forces rush to detain suspects and the government reels from failures to act on warnings that bombings were imminent. Security agencies are also trying to track down hauls of explosives, some of which may have been left over from Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war. President Sirisena told reporters in Colombo that some 140 people had been been identified as having links to the Islamic State group, although he reassured the public that the Sri Lankan government has "the capability to completely control ISIS activities". The government has apologised for its failure to act on precise and repeated alerts from India named that suspects who were planning to attack local churches. Sri Lanka's Catholic leader said he felt "betrayed" by the failure to act on warnings that could have prevented the bloodshed. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, said he had asked for an explanation, but not received an answer. olice officers patrol the area around Dawatagaha Jumma Masjid ahead of Friday prayers Credit: Carl Court/Getty As fears of retaliation or follow-up attacks continued, Muslims were asked to stay at home to pray rather than attend Friday prayers in mosques that could also be targeted by extremists. The Sri Lankan authorities have confirmed that seven suicide bombers carried out the attacks, including Adbul Lathief Jameel Mohammed who studied engineering for a year in the UK. They said all the bombers came from a middle-class, educated background. In new details that emerged on Friday, the police said that the attackers had worked out at a local gym and by playing soccer using their authentic national identity cards. They added that the vehicles used in the attack were purchased from a car dealership in Kadawatha, a suburb of the capital. They said that the operator of a copper factory who was arrested in connection with the bombings had helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices and purchase empty cartridges sold by the Sri Lankan military as scrap copper. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister, has said investigators are still working to determine the extent of the bombers' foreign links.
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| Brother of slain Border Patrol agent shares his message to Congress Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:31 AM PDT  Kent Terry speaks out about the border crisis and the dangers migrants illegally crossing the border face.
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| Australia leader plays down terror threat at Gallipoli event Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:43 AM PDT  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister played down Thursday any potential link between the arrest of a suspected Islamic State group member in Turkey and a World War I battle commemoration in Gallipoli attended by hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders.
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| Goldman Says How to Avoid Policy-Risk Woes in Health Stocks Posted: 25 Apr 2019 05:18 AM PDT  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has a few ideas about how to navigate such a tricky environment. Investors who had been putting concerns about policy risk on the back burner, thinking election season was too far in the future to matter yet, all of a sudden had to focus on it again as of last week. Health-care stocks in the S&P 500 tumbled 4.4 percent last week versus a drop of 0.1 percent for the broader index, fueled by comments from insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s CEO about the "Medicare for All" idea advocated by some progressive Democratic presidential candidates.
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| Officer fled civil war as a child, resettled in Minneapolis Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:18 PM PDT  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mohamed Noor fled Somalia's civil war as a child, following a well-worn path with his family to a refugee camp in Kenya, the U.S. and eventually Minnesota. After a difficult start, he "fell in love" with his new city, Minneapolis, and carved out a life in business.
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| Jeff Sessions Urges Congress to ‘Accept the Results’ of Mueller Report And Move On Posted: 25 Apr 2019 05:40 AM PDT  Former attorney general Sessions urged Congress, and the country at large, to "accept the results" of special counsel Robert Mueller's recently-released report and move on to other matters of governance during a speech at Amherst College on Wednesday."I think it's about time to accept the results, and let's get on with the business of America," Sessions said during a speech to the college Republicans, according to the New York Times.While Mueller failed to prove the underlying crime of coordination with the Kremllin, he did detail a number of instances in which Trump tried to curtail or otherwise affect the probe. Sessions cautioned Congress against pursuing their current agenda of further investigating whether the behavior attributed to President Trump in the Mueller report constitutes obstruction of justice."The process was followed and a decision has now been rendered," he said, adding that he had "the greatest confidence in the integrity of our system."Sessions recused himself from the Mueller probe after it was revealed that he failed to report his meeting with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak, a decision that soured his relationship with President Trump, who repeatedly castigated him in public and private for failing to "protect" him from the investigation.The former Alabama senator's appearance on campus was met with vigorous protest: some 50 students and faculty stood up and walked out of the chapel where he was speaking as soon as he began to deliver his remarks, according to the Times. They then gathered outside the venue, holding and signs and chanting in opposition to the immigration policies Sessions pursued while serving in the Trump administration.Sessions, meanwhile, lamented the state of free speech on college campuses, where, he argued, conservatives are under siege.
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| Militia group 'commander' Larry Mitchell Hopkins attacked in New Mexico jail Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:46 AM PDT  Officials said they're investigating an assault on Larry Mitchell Hopkins that occurred Monday at the Doña Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces.
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| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins Bernie in backing voting rights for prisoners Posted: 25 Apr 2019 10:52 AM PDT  Stepping into the debate over whether imprisoned felons should be allowed to vote, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed the idea and advised opponents they risked "looking completely + utterly out of touch with the reality [of] our prison system."
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| UPDATE 2-Intel puts modem business up for sale, held talks with Apple - WSJ Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:24 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Intel puts modem business up for sale, held talks with Apple - WSJ]( "UPDATE 2-Intel puts modem business up for sale, held talks with Apple - WSJ") Intel Corp is exploring strategic options for its modem chip business, including a possible sale to Apple or another acquirer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Intel decided to exit the 5G modem chip business last week, hours after Apple settled a longstanding legal dispute with Qualcomm Inc, a key supplier of iPhone modem chips. Apple had held talks with Intel around last summer and continued to do so for months until halting recently around the time of its settlment with Qualcomm, the WSJ report https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-discussed-acquiring-intels-smartphone-modem-chip-business-11556303497 said.
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| Suicide bomb leader cast shadow of fear over Sri Lanka town Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:10 AM PDT  Zahran Hashim's sword-wielding zealotry fuelled fears in the sleepy east coast town of Kattankudy long before the cleric became Sri Lanka's most wanted man over the horrific Easter Sunday suicide attacks. Heavy security surrounded the main mosque in the Muslim-majority town of Kattankudy, where religious leaders say they sounded the alarm about Hashim years ago, beginning with his expulsion from a seminary during his teens. "It was the first time a student has been expelled for being a hardliner," said Mohammed Buhary Mohammed Fahim, a senior official at the Jamiathul Falah seminary who was a younger contemporary of Hashim's at the school.
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| Iranian Foreign Minister Proposes a Prisoner Swap With the U.S. Posted: 25 Apr 2019 12:30 AM PDT  "Let's have an exchange. I'm ready to do it," he said.
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| Sony Just Unveiled a 98-Inch 8K TV That Costs $70,000 Posted: 25 Apr 2019 12:23 PM PDT  The television, which costs more than a 2019 Audi A7, is optimized to handle the 33 million pixels the 8K outputs
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| Putin Confronts New Ukraine Leader With Rebel Zone Passports Posted: 24 Apr 2019 06:26 PM PDT  "This is yet more proof of Russia's real role as an aggressor state that's waging a war against Ukraine," President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said on Facebook after the order was posted on the Kremlin website Wednesday. Ukraine "is counting on increasing diplomatic and sanction pressure" by the international community against Russia, it added.
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| Southwest CEO 'not happy' about Max crisis but backs Boeing Posted: 25 Apr 2019 02:14 PM PDT  DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines executives acknowledge they are upset with Boeing over the grounding of its 737 Max jetliner, a move that has caused the airline to cancel thousands of flights.
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| Why can't Twitter stop Trump's hateful tweets about Ilhan Omar? Posted: 26 Apr 2019 09:24 AM PDT  Congresswoman received death threats following video Trump posted – but he didn't technically violate the rules The rules just aren't the same for Donald Trump as they are for the rest of us. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apparently admitted as much this week on a phone call with Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar.As reported by the Washington Post, Dorsey, often criticized for his inaction when it comes removing hateful and threatening content from the platform, was asked by Omar why he hadn't taken down a video posted by Trump earlier in the month. The video, which spliced together misleading and out of context comments from Omar about the issue of Islamophobia with footage of the 9/11 attacks, was clearly targeted harassment to anyone who saw it.Indeed Omar said she saw a sharp uptick in death threats after it was posted. But since it came from Trump, and not an average Twitter user, there was nothing Dorsey could do, he said. The tweet didn't technically violate the rules in any case, he added. (Anyone who has used Twitter will understand the frustration at trying to parse what exactly those rules are.)The call with Omar came the same day Dorsey met with Trump in the White House, a meeting in which the president is said to have largely complained about his follower count."During their conversation, [Dorsey] emphasized that death threats, incitement to violence and hateful conduct are not allowed on Twitter," the social media platform said in a statement to the Post. "We've significantly invested in technology to proactively surface this type of content and will continue to focus on reducing the burden on the individual being targeted."Dorsey has said in the past that the public interest value of Trump's tweets outweigh the harm of his occasional calls for violence or threats against foreign governments or members of the media"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the company explained in statement last year. "It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions."More recently Dorsey declined to say whether a hypothetical direct call from Trump to murder a journalist would be grounds for his banishment.The permissive double standard applied to Trump on Twitter hasn't stopped him from regularly suggesting that he is himself being treated unfairly. This week Trump tweeted that Twitter doesn't "treat me well as a Republican. Very discriminatory…" In fact it seems more probable that Republicans such as Trump are given much more leeway than others. A recent story from Motherboard reported that one of the reasons Twitter has had trouble removing white supremacist content from the platform, as they have largely done with the Islamic State, is that the algorithms they use might end up affecting Republican politicians."When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything," Trump once said in a prescient boast.When it comes to his behavior as reported in the Mueller report, as well as his social media habits, it seems like Trump behaves like he can get away with anything. So far he's right.
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| Schools curb students' appetites for Grubhub, Uber Eats deliveries during school day Posted: 25 Apr 2019 11:04 AM PDT  Kids like food delivered via apps such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats, but schools worry about safety concerns and class disruptions.
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| Grassed up: Facebook leads Myanmar police to weed-growing Americans Posted: 24 Apr 2019 11:57 PM PDT  Myanmar police have arrested one American and two locals after photos on Facebook led them to a huge plantation of towering marijuana plants near Mandalay. Pictures of the fields of weed started circulating on the platform last week -- a rare sight online in a country where police photos of seized heroin and methamphetamine are far more common. Police raided the 20-acre site in Ngunzun township Monday to find nearly 350,000 marijuana plants -- some up to two metres tall -- 380 kilograms of seeds and 270 kilograms of marijuana, the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) announced Wednesday.
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| How did Crystal Lake police crack the case of AJ Freund? Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:01 AM PDT  Law enforcement officials used cellphone data to get the break they needed to find the body of 5-year old AJ Freund.
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| AOC joins Bernie in backing voting rights for prisoners Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders's support for prison voting rights.
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| Trump pulling U.S. out of U.N. arms treaty, heeding NRA Posted: 26 Apr 2019 04:23 PM PDT  Trump told members of the gun lobby at an annual meeting he intends to revoke the status of the United States as a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty, which was never ratified by the U.S. Senate. "We're taking our signature back," Trump said to thousands of cheering attendees, many wearing red hats emblazoned with the Republican president's "Make America Great Again" slogan. On Twitter, Trump called the decision a defense of "American sovereignty." In reversing the U.S. position on the pact, he wrote, "We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedoms." The NRA has long opposed the treaty, which regulates the $70 billion business in conventional arms and seeks to keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.
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| Nokia sees tough competition in market for 5G networks Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:33 AM PDT ![Nokia sees tough competition in market for 5G networks]( "Nokia sees tough competition in market for 5G networks") HELSINKI (AP) — Telecoms gear maker Nokia reported Thursday a surprise first-quarter loss amid tougher competition for the new, superfast wireless 5G networks that are expected to increase in business this year.
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| Trump to Hannity: Russia Investigation ‘Was a Coup’ and ‘Attempted Overthrow’ of Government Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:57 PM PDT  In his first television interview since the release of the redacted version of the Mueller report, President Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night that the investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election was a "coup" and an "attempted overthrow of the United States government."Trump, who has largely avoided reporters since last week's release of the special counsel's report revealed at least 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice, called his good friend Hannity to discuss the findings. Or, more accurately, to rant to a pro-Trump audience about how there was "no collusion" and it's time for some payback.Having begun his broadcast by hyping a new Fox News story about texts previously released last year between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the conservative primetime star said he disagreed with the president when he said at the beginning of his presidency that he wanted to move past investigating 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton."Do you regret saying that?" Hannity asked, expressing an urgent need to get to the bottom of Clinton's private email server, something Hannity described last week as a current threat to national security."No, I don't regret saying it," Trump replied. "When I won, they were all saying lock her up. Lock her up. I said no, no. Let's get on with life. That was different."Trump went on to claim that he felt differently now because shortly after the election, "they started coming at us with the insurance policy," referring to the Russia probe. After railing against the investigation into Clinton's email server and claiming Clinton "destroyed" lives, the president called former FBI officials James Comey and Andrew McCabe "dirty cops.""This was a coup," Trump exclaimed. "This was an attempted overthrow of the United States government... This was an overthrow and it's a disgraceful thing."The president also revisited his unsubstantiated March 2017 claim that President Obama had wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the election, boasting to Hannity that his assertion had received attention "like you've never seen" while admitting that it was based only on a "little bit of a hunch."Trump said the claim "blew up because they thought maybe I was wise to them."During his congressional testimony earlier this month, Attorney General William Barr prompted Democratic backlash when he said he believed "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign during 2016, remarks he would somewhat walk back later.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Mom discovers vomit on daughter's Frontier Airlines seat, gets into altercation with flight attendant Posted: 26 Apr 2019 09:12 AM PDT  A 53-year-old North Carolina woman and her teenage daughter discovered vomit in their seating area on a recent Frontier Airlines flight.
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| Warren’s College-Loan Plan Is a Decent Start Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:30 AM PDT  The proposal has three basic components — making public universities free, providing more funding for historically black colleges and universities, and cancelling large amounts of student debt. The idea of free public universities is something I've argued against in the past. Warren's plan would use government funding to replace the lost tuition, but this system might not allow universities to increase their expenditures in the future to meet the needs of research or educational-quality improvements.
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| This Petty’s Garage Ford Mustang Is The Perfect Summer Muscle Car Posted: 26 Apr 2019 06:24 AM PDT  Some people mock those who decide to buy a convertible Mustang, making jibes about how it's a 'girl's car' and how it isn't a manly Mustang. Well, prepare to have such shortsighted comments shutdown by this seriously potent pony car. This 2018 Ford Mustang Petty's Garage King Edition packs some power, all while its occupants enjoy the sunshine.
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| The Latest: Defense rests in trial of Minneapolis officer Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:36 PM PDT  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime (all times local):
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| Scared Muslim refugees flee Sri Lankan homes over attack fears Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:27 AM PDT  Hundreds of Muslim refugees in western Sri Lanka have taken refuge in mosques and a police station after facing intimidation following the deadly Easter bombings, activists said Thursday. At least 359 people died in Sunday's coordinated suicide blasts, including more than 100 Christians attending mass at St Sebastian's church in Negombo on the island's west coast. The attacks have been condemned by leaders of the country's Muslim minority who have said mosques will not bury the bombers, and the community has been left in fear of a backlash.
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| US STOCKS-Nasdaq eyes record high after strong tech earnings; 3M results hit Dow Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:07 AM PDT ![US STOCKS-Nasdaq eyes record high after strong tech earnings; 3M results hit Dow]( "US STOCKS-Nasdaq eyes record high after strong tech earnings; 3M results hit Dow") The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was on course to open at a record high on Thursday after strong results from Facebook and Microsoft, while a slump in shares of industrial conglomerate 3M weighed on Dow futures. 3M Co shares tumbled 8% in premarket trading after the company reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, cut its 2019 earnings forecast and said it would lay off 2,000 workers globally.
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| Video leak shows Apple’s iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max designs side by side Posted: 25 Apr 2019 07:12 AM PDT  Just a few short months ago, Apple's next-generation iPhone 11 lineup was shaping up to be one of the most boring iPhone updates in recent history. It couldn't be the most boring iPhone update, since there's no way Apple will be able to top the iPhone XS in that department. Thankfully, a few new reports from well-placed sources over the past few weeks have painted a much more compelling picture of the iPhone 11. While the overall design of Apple's upcoming new iPhone lineup will remain largely unchanged, we've seen more and more news of big upgrades lately. Most recently, the world's top Apple insider reported that Apple's iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max will both feature triple-lens rear cameras that pack all sorts of new tricks, while the iPhone 11R (or whatever Apple ends up calling it) will sport an upgraded dual-lens camera. On top of all that, Apple has big things planned for iOS 13 and some of the details surrounding the company's upcoming new mobile software update have already leaked.Long story short, 2019 is looking a bit brighter for Apple fans than it was a couple of months ago. iPhone owners who don't plan to upgrade to a new phone will still have a pretty huge software update to look forward to in September (or in June, if they're brave enough to install the early beta versions following WWDC 2019). Meanwhile, people who do upgrade will apparently get an updated design, plenty more power, and a massive camera upgrade that's much-needed, considering how far Apple has fallen behind the likes of Google and Huawei in this crucial area. If you're wondering what all that will look like when it comes together, a new leak that just hit the web this morning is just what the doctor ordered. The video in question shows Apple's final iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max designs side by side, and it shows what they'll look like in real life as opposed to just pictures.Remember back in 2016 when Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus? They used the exact same designs as the iPhone 6s series that came before them, and the iPhone 6 series that came before that. In order to make up for that, Apple introduced some sleek new finishes, a bunch of new features, and an upgraded dual-lens camera on the larger iPhone 7 Plus. It worked quite will for the company -- Apple sold a record 78.29 million iPhones in the holiday quarter following the iPhone 7's release. That's a record that still stands to this day.It appears as though Apple's 2019 iPhone lineup is going to follow the same pattern as far as design and features are concerned. From afar, the iPhone 11 will look just like the iPhone X that was released two years before it. The iPhone 7 from 2016 looked just like the iPhone 6 from 2014. But leaks have shown us that Apple is planning a huge upgrade for the iPhone 11's camera, and reports from insiders suggest a few important design changes such as a new finish and new frosted glass on the back.It will still be a while before we know exactly what Apple has in store for us in 2019, but a new leak gives us a very good idea of what to expect. Using schematics that had previously leaked from a factory set to manufacture Apple's upcoming iPhone 11 series phones, 3D printed dummy models of the upcoming iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max have made their way to Alibaba. Japanese Apple news blog Mac Otakara recently purchased a pair, and on Thursday the blog posted a video of them in action.Again, these are not actually Apple's upcoming new iPhones. That said, they are models that were built to scale using schematics that are believed to be accurate, so they're almost certainly a very good representation of what we can expect from the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max when they're announced in September. The video showing the mockups is embedded below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1witX6DzJQ
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| Trump news: President says US is ‘taking our signature back' from UN Arms Trade Treaty, claiming guns 'make our communities safer' Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:11 PM PDT  Donald Trump railed against "radical left-wing" 2020 hopefuls and praised members of the National Rifle Association during a speech hosted by the guns right's group Friday."Far-left radicals in Congress want to take away your voice, your jobs, your rights," the president said. "And they especially want to take away your guns." He went on to slam the press as "fake news" and vowed to protect the Second Amendment in the US.Mr Trump also called in to Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Thursday evening to accuse the Democrats and Obama-era Justice Department of orchestrating a "coup" against him and Hillary Clinton of allowing thousands of private messages to be leaked and "destroying the lives" of his campaign staff. The chairmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Homeland Security committees have meanwhile launched a joint investigation into the departures of Kirstjen Nielsen, Randolph Alles and other officials earlier this month as a potential threat to national security.With pro-gun legislation largely stalled in Congress, Mr Trump also revealed Friday he was withdrawing the US from an international agreement on the arms trade, calling it "badly misguided."He made the announcement as he vowed to fight for gun rights and implored members of the nation's largest pro-gun group — struggling to maintain its influence — to rally behind his re-election bid."It's under assault," he said of the constitutional right to bear arms. "But not while we're here."Mr Trump said he would be revoking the United States' status as a signatory of the UN Arms Trade Treaty, which regulates international trade in conventional weapons, from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. Former President Barack Obama signed the pact in 2013 but it has never been ratified by US lawmakers."Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone," Mr Trump said, before signing a document on stage asking the Senate to halt the ratification process. "We will never allow foreign diplomats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom."Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
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| 10 Free Public Art Installations on Our Summer Bucket List Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:43 PM PDT |
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