| Israel strikes Syria after rockets fired at Golan Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:31 PM PDT  BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military said its aircraft struck Syrian army targets on Sunday after rockets were fired at the Golan Heights, and Syria's state media said three soldiers were killed in the second such flare-up in a week. Syrian television reported big explosions near Damascus before dawn and said air defences had "confronted the enemy". The Israeli military said it struck Syrian artillery and aerial defence batteries in retaliation for Saturday's firing of two rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
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| Rhode Island Bishop Faces Significant Backlash After Advising Catholics Not to Attend LGBTQ Pride Events Posted: 02 Jun 2019 11:57 AM PDT  People were quick to call the tweet ironic, in light of decades of reported clergy abuse
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| President says Iran will not be 'bullied' into US talks Posted: 01 Jun 2019 01:17 PM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani stressed Saturday that Tehran will not be "bullied" into negotiations with the United States and laid down the Islamic republic's conditions. "We are men of reason and negotiation ... if one sits at the negotiating table with total respect and in the framework of international law," Rouhani said, quoted by the government's website. Rouhani has repeatedly ruled out negotiations unless Washington lifts sanctions against the Islamic republic and returns to the 2015 nuclear deal signed by Tehran and world powers.
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| Venice cruise ship collides with river boat and dock in busy canal leaving several injured Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:10 AM PDT  A big cruise ship that was preparing to dock in Venice lost control on Sunday morning, crashing into the wharf and hitting a smaller tourist boat, local authorities said. Four people were wounded in the accident, which happened in Venice's central Giudecca Canal, rescuers and port authorities said. Video footage posted on YouTube and local media showed tourists running away in shock, as the Opera MSC cruise ship scraped along the dockside, before smashing into the River Countess tourist boat. The crash may have happened after a cable used to link the cruise ship to the tugboats that were pulling it into the city's canals broke, a fire fighters' spokesman said. The Opera ship was unable to stop due to its huge weight and the strong currents pulling it towards the dock. "The situation is now under control," the spokesman said. The accident immediately reignited debate over the damages caused by gigantic ship cruises to Venice's historic infrastructure and their huge impact on the fragile lagoon's environment. A cruise ship lost control and crashed against a smaller tourist boat at the San Basilio dock in Venice Credit: REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri Venetians have long dubbed these massive ships "monsters" because they often ruin the lagoon's view, but also because they are held responsible for hurting the foundations of the city's historical buildings with the waves they create. The citizens' biggest complaint is about the traffic of the cruise ships that are currently allowed to pass within a few hundred yards of St Mark's Square and Venice's historic centre on their way to the city's international passenger terminal. A 2017 plan that would force the cruise ships weighing more than 96,000 tons to take a less central route via the industrial area of Marghera is still waiting for the national government's final approval. However, works on the new route -- which would require the dredging of canals and the construction of a new port – could take up to four years. "This is an epochal issue," said Silvio Testa, a member of Venice's activist group Comitato No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships Committee), which has fought against the big ships' traffic for years. "Instead, we are treating the Venetian lagoon like a big potato field, where everything can be done." In an informal referendum organised by the committee in June 2017, nearly 99 per cent of the 18,000 Venetians who took part voted in favour of banning giant cruise ships from the city's lagoon altogether. The high-profile issue has been recently brought into spotlight again by popular street artist Banksy in his "Venice in Oil" installation, showing a large ship floating in the city's Grand Canal, surrounded by the Bridge of Sighs and outraged men steering gondolas.
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| Vice President Mike Pence: I was pleased to see the special counsel announce the investigation is over Posted: 02 Jun 2019 08:17 AM PDT  Maria Bartiromo sits down with Vice President Mike Pence to discuss Robert Mueller's public statement, the humanitarian crisis at the southern border and more.
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| RPT-Twitter apologizes for blocked China accounts ahead of Tiananmen anniversary Posted: 02 Jun 2019 04:54 AM PDT ![RPT-Twitter apologizes for blocked China accounts ahead of Tiananmen anniversary]( "RPT-Twitter apologizes for blocked China accounts ahead of Tiananmen anniversary") Twitter Inc has apologized for suspending accounts critical of Chinese government policy days ahead of the 30th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on protesters at Beijing's Tiananmen Square, after an outcry among users. The approach of the 30th anniversary of the bloody June 4 crackdown on pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square has been accompanied in China by a tightening of censorship.
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| The Latest: UK intercepts 74 migrants crossing the Channel Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:45 PM PDT ![The Latest: UK intercepts 74 migrants crossing the Channel]( "The Latest: UK intercepts 74 migrants crossing the Channel") LONDON (AP) — The Latest on migrants crossing the Channel into Britain (all times local):
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| William Barr Laughs at Homer—but He Doesn’t Get the Joke Posted: 31 May 2019 06:47 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/GettyIt was surprising on Friday to hear Attorney General William Barr use the heroic ethos to explain his decision to spend the twilight of his career obstructing justice. Asked in a CBS interview if he minded very much that a lot of people have come to think a lot less of him, Barr noted philosophically:I am at the end of my career. Everyone dies, and I am not, you know, I don't believe in the Homeric idea that, you know, immortality comes by, you know, having odes sung about you over the centuries.William Barr Delivers Chilling Message to FBI for TrumpBarr was laughing by the time he got to the part about Homer—genuinely mirthful, unselfconscious laughter, the sort you expect other people to join in with because they're in on the joke. Up to that point, though, his demeanor had been somber if not downright grave, sitting there up in Alaska, where he was being filmed before a crackling fire in his plaid dress shirt and fleecy vest (the thinking-person's Christmas catalogue model) and speaking in hushed tones carefully laced with vocal fry. Observing that at his time of life and in this partisan climate he didn't care what people thought, he seemed almost sad, or like a man trying to appear almost sad. The subtext, anyway, was that he was taking one for the team. He said he had known all along that he would be criticized for his stance on the Mueller Report and for what he was doing now in terms of launching a series of investigations into the former investigators and their bad-faith efforts to bring this President down. It sounded, oddly, as though Barr was admitting that all along he'd been following a pre-determined script rather than responding dynamically to an evolving situation as it unfolded.It's not clear to me what Barr finds so uproarious about Homeric values. (I thought right-wingers were supposed to set a great store by "the Western canon.") But the dismissiveness and the laughter are on-brand for him. Barr gave exactly the same sort of patronizing laugh during his Senate testimony following the release of the Mueller Report, when Kamala Harris confronted him over whether or not Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein had ever actually been cleared to supervise the Mueller investigation and make charging decisions, given that he was himself a witness in the obstruction probe owing to his role in the firing of James Comey. Barr hedged and evaded and tried to filibuster, and had finally resorted to laughter, saying that that was the acting AG's job. "To be a witness and make the decision on being a prosecutor," Harris had pressed, and Barr had gone back to being flustered.You might say that dismissive mirth (whether voiced or not) is the ruling ethos of the Trump administration. It informs the logic of everything they do: lie, evade, and speechify until, realizing that you just don't care, you say what you really think in a manner that reveals at once how corrupt and dishonest you are and, at the same time, that there isn't a thing anyone can do about it. Which is the whole point: how powerful you are.But to get back to the code of the Homeric hero, Barr has it a little backward. Starting out with the notion that one does something heroic with a view to being granted everlasting fame, Barr notes that he doesn't care about that sort of fame. Ergo, he has no incentive to do the right thing. Barr's value-system though is purely transactional.It's true that the epic hero's fame, his kleos, is what will make him immortal. But that's not his motivation; that's his consolation prize. You don't do what's right or just or courageous so people will sing about you. You do it—despite the risk, although you might not win or survive, even when you know without doubt that you will fall or fail--because it's the right thing to do and because that's who you are. Because doing that thing defines everything that you or your party or the caucus or agency you represent stands for. It's something that perhaps Nancy Pelosi and Bob Mueller would do well to remember, the Speaker of the House who doesn't want to embark on an impeachment inquiry and the former Special Counsel who doesn't want to testify before Congress. You do the right thing not so that people will sing about you but so they may have something to sing about. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Car blast hits rebel-held north Syria Posted: 02 Jun 2019 01:14 PM PDT ![Car blast hits rebel-held north Syria]( "Car blast hits rebel-held north Syria") A car bomb exploded in a north Syrian town held by Turkey-backed rebels on Sunday, killing at least 10 people, rescue workers and medics said, after a war monitor had reported blasts hitting other insurgent-held areas in the northwest. Turkey-backed Syrian rebels control a strip of territory along the frontier between the countries. It adjoins the enclave in northwest Syria that is the only major territory still held by groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been the target of a government offensive since late April.
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| Jussie Smollett: Over 2,000 documents released, Kim Foxx shifts reason for recusal Posted: 31 May 2019 05:54 PM PDT  On Friday Kim Foxx, Chicago's top prosecutor, released more than 2,000 pages of documents in Jussie Smollett's case and again explained her recusal.
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| DR Congo's Tshisekedi laid to rest as his son looks on Posted: 01 Jun 2019 01:23 PM PDT  Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi was laid to rest Saturday as his son, the president, looked on, following three days of ceremonies honouring his memory. President Felix Tshisekedi was visibly moved as he watched the final ceremony for his father, who died in February 2017 in Brussels at the age of 84. The former prime minister turned opposition leader was buried in a private plot at Nsele, on the outskirts of the capital Kinshasa.
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| Photos of the Cadillac CT5-V and CT4-V Prototypes Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:03 PM PDT |
| Trump 2020: President announces details of re-election campaign Posted: 01 Jun 2019 03:04 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will formally launch his 2020 re-election campaign on 18 June in Orlando, Florida.In a tweet, Trump said he would hold a rally with his wife, Melania, Vice President Mike Pence and Mr Pence's wife Karen at 8 pm at the 20,000-seat Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.Trump has already been raising money for his re-election and holding political rallies for many months.But the official roll-out for his campaign for the 2020 presidential election will take place around the four-year anniversary of the day in 2016 when announced his candidacy at Trump Tower, New York City. Mr Trump, who considers Florida to be something of a second home, won the state in 2016. But as is the case for the president in many battleground states, his victory is not assured there in 2020, and he will likely face a fight to win it again.The Trump campaign has privately expressed concern about Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the trio of upper Midwest swing states that provided his 2016 margin of victory.Since Mr Trump took over as president in early 2017, unemployment has remained low and the US economy has kept growing. Typically, when the economy is vibrant, presidents would be strong bets for re-election.But Mr Trump's polarising presidency has given Democrats hope that one of them can deny him a second term. Republican strategists see Democratic front-runner Joe Biden posing a problem for the president in the Midwestern swing states. Additional reporting by Reuters.
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| Cruise ship collides with Venice tourist boat, injuring four people Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:36 AM PDT  A towering cruise ship collided with a dock and a tourist boat in Venice on Sunday, injuring four people and reigniting calls for large vessels to be banned from the lagoon city. MSC Cruises said the 2,679-passenger Opera, a 54-metre high and 275-metre long liner which dwarfed the Venice skyline, was approaching a passenger terminal on the Giudecca canal when it hit the dock and a nearby ferry after a technical problem. "I thought the ship was going to crash into my house," a resident living nearby told Italy's state television.
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| We Can Tell You All of the Ways to Kill a Hypersonic Missile Posted: 01 Jun 2019 11:00 PM PDT  At a time when existing missile defenses can't guarantee success against the ballistic missiles, a whole new challenge has been posed by hypersonic vehicles. Many people believe that after a certain time period the effectiveness of ballistic missile defenses will grow. In that situation, hypersonic weapons' deployment is important. However, as of now, the Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCMs) are solutions looking for a problem.What's New in Hypersonic WeaponsSpeed, maneuverability, and low-altitude travel are major traits of hypersonic weapons which are not comparable to the existing ballistic or cruise missiles. Cruise missiles lack speed while the ballistic missiles can't maneuver. Hypersonic weapons travel normally at speeds greater than Mach 5 at lower altitudes with maneuverability making them harder to detect and kill than the legacy ballistic and cruise missiles.Major global powers are engaged in building, testing and deploying hypersonic weapons. Among them are the United States, Russia, and China. India and France are also working on hypersonic research and development. Russian's demonstration of "Avangard" in 2018 added urgency to the U.S. plans to expedite hypersonic developments. The United States is also looking at various options to defend against Russian and Chinese hypersonic threats with parallel developments of its own weapons. Russia and China would also be considering options of defensive capabilities after the United States has rushed to develop this capability.
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| How Monsanto manipulates journalists and academics Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:00 PM PDT  Monsanto's own emails and documents reveal a disinformation campaign to hide its weedkiller's possible links to cancer Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup, one of the world's most popular herbicides, may cause cancer. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters Over the past year, evidence of Monsanto's deceptive efforts to defend the safety of its top-selling Roundup herbicide have been laid bare for all to see. Through three civil trials, the public release of internal corporate communications has revealed conduct that all three juries have found so unethical as to warrant punishing punitive damage awards. Much attention has been paid to Monsanto conversations in which company scientists casually discuss ghostwriting scientific papers and suppressing science that conflicts with corporate assertions of Roundup's safety. There has also been public outrage over internal records illustrating cozy relationships with friendly regulators which border on – and possibly cross into – collusion. But these once-confidential Monsanto documents demonstrate that the deception has gone much deeper. In addition to the manipulation of science and of regulators, the company's most insidious deceit may be its strategic manipulation of the media, according to the records. We recently learned that a young woman falsely posing as a freelance BBC reporter at one of the Roundup cancer trials was in fact a "reputation management" consultant for FTI Consulting, whose clients include Monsanto. The woman spent time with journalists who were covering the Hardeman v Monsanto trial in San Francisco, pretending to do reporting while also suggesting to the real reporters certain storylines or points that favored Monsanto. Lawyer Tim Litzenburg, who represents several plaintiffs suing Monsanto over claims Roundup causes cancer, told me that he has traced what he calls a "dark money project" by Monsanto aimed at winning favorable public opinion. The project includes planting helpful news articles in traditional news outlets; discrediting and harassing journalists who refused to parrot the company's propaganda; and secretly funding front groups to amplify pro-Monsanto messaging across social media platforms. "We now know they had pet journalists who pushed Monsanto propaganda under the guise of 'objective reporting,'" Litzenburg, a partner with the firm Kincheloe, Litzenburg & Pendleton, told me. "At the same time, the chemical company sought to amass dossiers to discredit those journalists who were brave enough to speak out against them." According to the internal Monsanto documents Litzenburg has received through discovery, pro-Monsanto narratives are disseminated by individuals and groups that promote the work of journalists who follow Monsanto's desired storylines while seeking to smear and discredit journalists whose work threatens Monsanto. For me, a career journalist who spent 17 years covering Monsanto for the international news agency Reuters, the revelations are not surprising. In 2014, an organization called Academics Review published two scathing articles about my work at Reuters writing about Monsanto's genetically engineered crops and its Roundup herbicide business. Monsanto had been unhappy with some of my stories, complaining that I should not be including the views of company critics. Academics Review amplified those complaints under the guise of being an independent association. Internal Monsanto documents have revealed, however, that Academics Review was and is anything but independent. The organization was the brainchild of Monsanto, designed as a vehicle for responding to "scientific concerns and allegations" while "keeping Monsanto in the background so as not to harm the credibility of the information," as one November 2010 email from Monsanto executive Eric Sachs stated. According to a March 11, 2010 email chain, Academics Review was established with the help of a former director of corporate communications at Monsanto who set up his own public relations shop and a former vice president of a biotech industry trade association of which Monsanto was a member. Other internal documents show Monsanto's money and marching orders behind the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), an organization that purports to be independent of industry while publishing articles attacking journalists and scientists whose work contradicts Monsanto's agenda. Articles written by ACSH associates have appeared in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. ACSH has published several articles aimed at discrediting not just me but also Pulitzer-prize-winning New York Times reporter Eric Lipton, who ACSH calls a "science birther", and former New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom, who ACSH accused of "irresponsible journalism" shortly before she left the paper. Both reporters had written articles exposing concerns about Monsanto. The New York Times' Danny Hakim has also been targeted by ACSH for writing about Monsanto. "Danny Hakim Is Lying To You," reads one of several posts by ACSH about Hakim. Internal Monsanto emails show ACSH seeking and receiving financial commitments from Monsanto. One email string from 2015 between the company and ACSH details the "unrestricted" financial support ACSH desires while laying out the "impacts" across social media ACSH is achieving. "Each and every day we work hard to prove our worth to companies like Monsanto…" the ACSH email states. A separate email chain among Monsanto executives states "You WILL NOT GET A BETTER VALUE FOR YOUR DOLLAR than ACSH." Tom Philpott, a longtime journalist with Mother Jones magazine who has written critically about genetically modified crops for several years, has also felt the sting of industry harassment. "These are vicious and utterly unfounded attacks on a journalist's credibility, well designed to undercut him with his employer," he told me. While harassing reporters whose coverage it deems negative, Monsanto has also found ways to cultivate certain journalists to carry its messaging. Monsanto's internal documents show that when the company wanted to discredit the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) after the group classified Monsanto's glyphosate weed killer as a probable carcinogen, Monsanto turned to a London-based Reuters reporter with specific story suggestions. The emails show that a controversial story published in June 2017 by Reuters, raising questions about the integrity of the IARC's review of glyphosate, was secretly fed to the news agency by Monsanto executive Sam Murphey. Murphey gave the reporter documents that had not yet been filed publicly in court along with a desired story narrative and a slide deck of suggested points to make in the story. The story, which did not disclose Monsanto as the initial source, closely followed Monsanto's suggestions, the emails show. Another newly released email details how Monsanto's fingerprints were on at least two other Reuters stories about the IARC. A 1 March 2016 email speaks of the involvement of Monsanto's "Red Flag" campaign in a Reuters story critical of IARC and Monsanto's desire to influence a second, similar story Reuters was planning. Red Flag is a Dublin-based PR and lobbying firm. According to the email, "following engagement by Red Flag a number of months ago, the first piece was quite critical of IARC." The email goes on: "You may also be aware that Red Flag is in touch with Reuters regarding the second report in the series…" A little over a month later, Reuters published a story headlined "Special Report: How the World Health Organization's cancer agency confuses consumers." The stories in question were shared by ACSH, the American Chemistry Council, Monsanto and others In Europe, French prosecutors are now probing Monsanto's campaign to manipulate journalists and others, including secret files on influential individuals compiled by Monsanto public relations firm FleishmanHillard. Bayer AG, the German company that acquired Monsanto last June, has admitted that FleishmanHillard created lists of people in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom on behalf of Monsanto. The company has apologized for the secret files and said it is hiring an external law firm to investigate the matter. In the United States, Raymond Kerins, Bayer's head of communications, told me that the company "stands for openness and fair dealings, with all of our audiences, including the news media." The comment rings hollow as the character attack pieces on me and other journalists continue to circulate and Monsanto's history of harassment and media manipulation seems to be growing – just as the number of plaintiffs alleging Roundup causes cancer also grows. It's time for the dishonesty to end. Carey Gillam is a journalist and author, and a public interest researcher for US Right to Know, a not-for-profit food industry research group
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| China's defence minister says Tiananmen crackdown was 'correct' ahead of 30th anniversary Posted: 02 Jun 2019 01:56 AM PDT  Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe said Sunday that the deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square 30 years ago was "correct" and that it had ensured years of stability in the country. Mr Wei was responding to questions posed by the Telegraph at an annual security summit in Singapore. It is extremely rare for Chinese officials to acknowledge the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, which ended when soldiers opened fire on thousands. Even three decades later, the crackdown remains one of the most sensitive topics in China, and is subject to extensive government efforts to erase it from history. "Everybody is concerned about Tiananmen after 30 years," Mr Wei said Sunday at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. "China under the Communist Party has experienced many changes in those 30 years – how can we say that China did not handle the Tiananmen incident well? There was a conclusion to the incident. The central government took measures to stop that political turbulence." "Due to that, China has enjoyed stability and development. If you visit China, you can better understand that part of history." In the weeks leading up to the 30th anniversary this Tuesday, Chinese authorities have launched "pre-emptive strikes" by detaining, interrogating, and placing under house arrest former protest leaders and their relatives, according to the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a coalition of human rights groups. Muslims in China have faced a long battle against discrimination Credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images Mr Wei also defended China's policies in Xinjiang as "absolutely right," where US officials estimate three million Uighur Muslims are being held in internment camps. His remarks echoed what the government has said – that the authorities are running "vocational education centres to help these people deradicalise and learn skills to better reintegrate into society." Eight former detainees interviewed by the Telegraph however have said they didn't learn "skills," and were subjected to physical and psychological torture, such as body-cavity searches, electrocution by cattle prods, and solitary confinement. In a strong, sweeping speech, a uniformed Mr Wei spoke regarding China's position, making clear Beijing stood ready to defend its interests on all fronts, from trade to territories to Taiwan. "On the trade friction started by the US: If the US wants to talk, we will have the door open; if they want to fight, we are ready," he said. Chinese Minister of Defence General Wei Fenghe salutes Credit: WALLACE WOON/EPA-EFE/REX He also stressed that Huawei didn't cooperate with the Chinese military, echoing the government's long-held position despite allegations from the US of espionage risks if nations were to continue using the Chinese telecoms firm's equipment in its mobile and data networks. Under Chinese law, even private firms like Huawei are obliged to assist the government. China will also "fight at all costs" if anyone attempted to separate Taiwan, a democratically self-ruled island that Beijing has long regarded as a runaway renegade province. He exercised the same hardline tone on issues in the South China Sea, where China has claimed disputed islands as their own, and intimidating US and UK warships when they sail through the region. Mr Wei is the first defence minister to attend the Shangri-La dialogue since 2011, and met with his counter part, US acting defence secretary Patrick Shanhan on the sidelines Friday.
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| EXPLAINER-The Fed wants ideas on how to target inflation Posted: 02 Jun 2019 03:00 PM PDT ![EXPLAINER-The Fed wants ideas on how to target inflation]( "EXPLAINER-The Fed wants ideas on how to target inflation") The Federal Reserve is convening experts to discuss overhauling how the world's most powerful central bank manages the U.S. economy. Fed policymakers and economists meeting in Chicago for a June 4-5 research conference will weigh options on how to best target inflation, part of a year-long review of the central bank's policy framework. The Fed announced a 2% inflation target in January 2012 but since then inflation has almost always been lower.
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| Europe’s Center Holds, Mueller Speaks, Modi Wins: Weekend Reads Posted: 01 Jun 2019 05:00 AM PDT  Europe proved its resilience again this week. Forecasts that populists would score unprecedented gains in elections to the European Parliament proved unfounded, with the center holding and Greens surging. In the U.K., a conservative drubbing in the vote cast a shadow over the parade of hopefuls vying take the place of Prime Minister Theresa May.
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| U.S. regulators say some Boeing 737 MAX planes may have faulty parts Posted: 02 Jun 2019 12:20 PM PDT  The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday disclosed a new problem involving Boeing Co's grounded 737 MAX, saying that more than 300 of that troubled plane and the prior generation 737 may contain improperly manufactured parts and that the agency will require these parts to be quickly replaced. The FAA said up to 148 of the part known as a leading-edge slat track that were manufactured by a Boeing supplier are affected, covering 179 MAX and 133 NG aircraft worldwide. The 737 MAX, Chicago-based Boeing's best-selling jet, was grounded globally in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash after a similar Lion Air disaster in Indonesia in October.
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| More part-time, small business workers could build retirement savings accounts under bill Posted: 02 Jun 2019 10:45 AM PDT ![More part-time, small business workers could build retirement savings accounts under bill]( "More part-time, small business workers could build retirement savings accounts under bill") The legislation would let more small employers to band together to create collective 401(k)s. Part-timers also would get more access to plans.
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| Gun Owners Are Passionate About Glock: 3 Ways to Make Them Better Posted: 01 Jun 2019 06:00 PM PDT  A better Glock trigger will take a seasoned shooter and do a few things for you. Someone who's mastered the stock Glock trigger knows they are only chasing fractions of an inch and fractions of a second. First it will make you shrink your groups, you'll gain that fraction of an inch through a better trigger.Since then the Glock has gone on to become an insanely popular handgun. Part of that popularity is modularity. Glock pistols in general have three different frame sizes, the standard, the larger, and the single stack. By frame size I don't mean length and width, I mean compatibility.For example, the Glock 26 and Glock 17 are the same standard frame. There are differences in overall size, but they can accept the same magazines and the same internals. This makes it very easy to find upgradeable parts for any Glock.Today, we are looking and talking about the most popular Glock upgrade out there, the trigger. The compatibility we mentioned is important, because you have to be selective about your trigger, and ensure it fits your Glock frame.HOW THE GLOCK TRIGGER WORKS
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| US yanks funds for anti-Iran Twitter feed after complaints Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:27 AM PDT ![US yanks funds for anti-Iran Twitter feed after complaints]( "US yanks funds for anti-Iran Twitter feed after complaints") WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has suspended funding for an online project aimed at fighting Iranian disinformation after it tweeted harsh criticism of individual human rights workers, academics and journalists, some of whom are U.S. citizens.
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| Fears for future of Hong Kong's Tiananmen museum as activists face crackdown ahead of anniversary Posted: 01 Jun 2019 08:33 AM PDT  Tucked away on the tenth floor of a Hong Kong commercial building sits the world's only museum commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations shut down after Chinese soldiers opened fire on thousands. The 100-square-metre room is a time capsule – a pair of glasses broken when its wearer was shot, a spray of bullets plucked from the dead. A wall of historic photographs flanks the entrance; protest banners hang behind glass; two clocks silently count time elapsed since the massacre. Museum staffers mill around in black t-shirts: "The People Will Not Forget." Even three decades later, the crackdown remains one of the most sensitive topics in China, and is still subject to government efforts to erase it from history. Dennis Cheung a visitor to Hong Kong museum pays tribute to Tiananmen massacre ahead of 30th anniversary Credit: Sophia Yan The ruling Communist Party continues to resist calls to acknowledge wrongdoing and the number of deaths. About a hundred visitors swing by daily to the museum in the former British colony, which enjoys rare civil freedoms. Jo Ng, 36, a history teacher, brought two dozen students for a lesson after they asked her - she recounted - "The People's Liberation Army belongs to the people; why would they kill their own people?" References to Tiananmen across the rest of China, however, are banned and routinely scrubbed off the Internet. As the 30th anniversary on June 4 nears, the government has launched "pre-emptive strikes" by detaining, interrogating, and placing under house arrest former protest leaders and their relatives, according to the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a coalition of human rights groups. Last week, the government forced Ding Zilin, 82, whose teenage son was killed in the crackdown by troops, to leave Beijing and travel to her hometown in southern China. "This is a common tactic the authorities use against activists in an effort to silence them during politically sensitive periods and to make it less likely they will speak with foreign media," said Amnesty International, a rights group. A T-shirt seen being exhibited at the museum. The June 4 museum operated by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, is to mark the 30th anniversary of Beijing's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Credit: Photo by Chan Long Hei / SOPA Images In April, the government convicted four people for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" – a charge often levied against critics of the government – for selling bottles of liquor with labels that referred to the crackdown. In previous years, censors have even blocked digital payments in amounts that use the numbers "64" and "89" such as 6.40 yuan (£0.70) as they inadvertently reference the crackdown date. Efforts to squash mentions began in 1989 with propaganda giving the government's version of events. An original propaganda pamphlet at the museum is titled, "Quelling Counter-Revolutionary Rebellion in Beijing." The caption next to a picture of soldiers in Tiananmen praises them for "thoroughly winning the triumph of safeguarding the capital." Over the years, Chinese historians, writers, artists have tried to remember the many deaths the Communist Party would rather the world forget. It's also getting passed on through parents like Dennis Cheung, 32, a NGO worker visiting the museum. "I was just three years old when this event occurred," he said. "I would like to learn more to educate my child." For now, the June 4th Museum is allowed to stay open, though it's been an uphill battle – earlier efforts were snarled by years of lawsuits. Finding space was tough – some owners weren't keen to sell property for such a politically sensitive exhibit. Its location in the congested Mongkok district is easy to get to, though remains unmarked at street level. Shortly before opening last month, the place was vandalised, and occasional protesters still line the curb outside. Amid protests over the erosion of Hong Kong's freedoms by the government in Beijing, whether or not the museum is allowed to stay open will "be a very important symbol" said Richard Tsoi, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance, the non-profit behind the museum. And, he said, it was important to inform people of the "tragedy and crime" the Chinese government was trying to hide. "We will not let this regime escape its responsibility."
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| 8 Portable Camping Kitchens for the Wilderness or the Tailgate Party Posted: 02 Jun 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| This 1994 Toyota Has Been Turned Into Thunderbird 2 Posted: 01 Jun 2019 02:50 PM PDT  It's not often that Thunderbird 2 comes up for sale at £35k ($45k). Well, it's sort of Thunderbird 2...
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| Mueller Screwed Up by Staying Silent So Long Posted: 01 Jun 2019 06:58 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photo Alex Wong/GettyThe United States is experiencing a cognitive dissonance heretofore familiar only to those living under authoritarian regimes. Despite Robert Mueller's catalogue of President Trump's abuses of power that dwarf Richard Nixon's in culpability, the nation remains locked in a debate over whether the Trump did anything wrong. Some claim that Mueller is to partially blame for this allowing this dissonance to develop, because he did not expressly label the president a felon. Mueller did err, but not in that decision; in fact expressly assigning criminal liability to Trump in the absence of an indictment could have subjected Mueller to damning accusations of bias. Rather, Mueller erred in failing to anticipate the sheer willingness of Trump and his minions to brazenly lie about his report. As a consequence, he remained silent for two months after his investigation concluded, allowing the presidential mendacity to fester. It may be the singular mistake of Mueller's otherwise exemplary, indeed historically successful, investigation.Mueller: My Hands Were Tied on Charging TrumpA gap between fact and lived experience has permeated the Trump presidency from the outset, but it reached a crescendo with the release of the Mueller Report. The document details the willing acceptance by Trump and his campaign of criminal assistance from the Russian government during 2016, as well as the president's brazen efforts shut down the investigation of the attack on our democratic system. Even so Trump's culpability remains contested, based not on any substantial challenge to the facts detailed in the report, but by repeated lies. The primary blame for the situation therefore, rests with the president and his minions-associates, most notably Attorney General William Barr who pursued a disinformation campaign to misrepresent Mueller's findings before they were released. Mueller erred, however, because he (like so much of the nation) suffered from a failure of imagination. The lifelong law enforcement officer failed to comprehend that the United States under Trump has actually taken on certain attributes of an authoritarian state, requiring those seeking to uphold democratic principles to respond accordingly.Throughout their investigation, Mueller and his team hewed to a single-minded rule: speak only in court, and in the documents they produced. Mueller's stoicism during the pendency of his investigation was actually remarkably successful. Despite Trump's relentless, defamatory attacks, Mueller and his investigation remained popular, a fact that is all the more remarkable given the polarization that has come to permeate our national public life. Most of the public consistently favored the continuation of Mueller's investigation and rejected Trump's claim it was a "hoax." That public support was likely critical to the failure of Trump's recently disclosed efforts to engineer Mueller's firing and the shuttering of his investigation.Barr Is Wrong: Mueller Was Dead Right on Trump and ObstructionFurthermore, Mueller was also aware of prior examples of investigators whose volubility had undermined them.Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr had a full blown public relations operation. Prosecutors, including Brett Kavanaugh, systematically leaked to the press; and Starr himself served as the primary advocate in favor of Bill Clinton's impeachment before Congress, for which he was relentlessly attacked by the Democrats' outside counsel, Abbe Lowell. Starr's credibility was in left in shambles, even as the effort to remove Clinton from office failed, with the public rejecting any pretense that he was an objective law enforcement officer. More recently, James Comey, unintentionally, but perhaps decisively, contributed to Trump's election, first by gratuitously describing Hillary Clinton as "extremely careless" in her handling of classified information in a news conference he arranged behind the back of the Justice Department; and second by disclosing the reopening of the investigation on the virtual eve of the election, in breach of longstanding DOJ policies. By remaining silent throughout his investigation, Mueller successfully avoided such pitfalls. But perhaps the isolation that Mueller maintained during the course of his investigation contributed to his apparent failure to imagine the consequences of failing to speak at the probe's conclusion. Mueller could well have provided the very same type of public summary of his report and its significance that he gave to the nation last week soon after delivering his report to the attorney general. While Barr might have opposed such a presentation, as a practical matter, he couldn't have prevented it. Furthermore, such statements by prosecutors at the conclusion of investigations are hardly unusual—and need not be as destructive as the actions of Starr and Comey. The last special counsel to investigate White House misconduct was Patrick Fitzgerald (named by then-Deputy Attorney General Comey) to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame. In announcing the indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide "Scooter" Libby (whom Trump recently pardoned) for perjuring himself during grand jury testimony, Fitzgerald sought to preempt expected excuses for Libby's misconduct by stating: "Without the truth, our criminal justice system cannot serve our nation or its citizens. The requirement to tell the truth applies equally to all citizens, including persons who hold high positions in government."Had Mueller similarly delivered his statement of last week soon after delivering his report to Barr, he likely could have blunted, if not preempted entirely, the Trump efforts to misrepresent his office's findings and their significance. For example, Mueller could have made plain that his decision not to make charging decision regarding Trump was grounded in a Justice Department rule against indicting a sitting president, and had nothing to do with Trump's culpability (as Barr later suggested). As a recently released letter to Barr indicates, Mueller simply didn't contemplate that Barr would also embark on a weeks-long campaign to outright lie about the report and its findings, commencing with Barr's own mendacious letter of March 24, 2019, and continuing through a press conference held minutes before the report itself was released.It was only after Barr announced that he taking up the president's demand for a full-blown investigation of the law enforcement officers who successfully uncovered the Russian attack that Mueller belatedly spoke. While all of the facts Mueller recited came straight out of his report, it was only after he appeared before the cameras that the full import of his account of the president's misconduct finally began to hit home.Heaping blame upon Mueller for failing to anticipate the willingness of the president and his associated to lie is not productive. Learning from the experience is, nonetheless, essential. We have clearly learned that institutional norms must sometimes give way when the president himself is embarked upon a challenge to our democratic system of government. Comey actually recognized this following the election, when he insisted upon informing Congress of the then-ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign with regards to the Russian attack and (after he was fired) forced Rosenstein to name a special counsel by leaking memos recounting presidential misconduct. While Comey's volubility, and breaches of institutional norms, likely assisted Trump in winning the election, they were also essential to ensuring that Trump's misconduct was fully investigated. Now that Mueller has provided a detailed account of the president's abuses of power, it falls to the Congress to find a way to indelibly present those facts to the public, thereby counteracting the dissonance that has gripped the nation for months. It's unlikely that following the Starr model by bringing Mueller before Congress (over his objection) to become the face of the next stage of the investigation would be wise. Rather, as Mueller himself indicated, the most effective means of counteracting the lies would likely be through the testimony of the witnesses, and presentation of the other evidence Mueller assembled. Though the White House has set out to deny Congress access to those witnesses and evidence, Congress simply cannot let that stand. As a judge recently stated, the formally opening of an impeachment inquiry should not be required to conduct such an investigation. But if there proves to be no other way to move forward, Congress may ultimately be forced to take that step. The survival of the democratic system that Trump seeks to undermine depends upon it.Mueller Means We're Headed for the ApocalypseRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bartends in Queens to push for higher minimum wage Posted: 01 Jun 2019 04:53 PM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York returned to her roots to push for a higher minimum wage.
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| UPDATE 3-U.S. regulators say some Boeing 737 MAX planes may have faulty parts Posted: 02 Jun 2019 12:42 PM PDT ![UPDATE 3-U.S. regulators say some Boeing 737 MAX planes may have faulty parts]( "UPDATE 3-U.S. regulators say some Boeing 737 MAX planes may have faulty parts") The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday disclosed a new problem involving Boeing Co's grounded 737 MAX, saying that more than 300 of that troubled plane and the prior generation 737 may contain improperly manufactured parts and that the agency will require these parts to be quickly replaced. The FAA said up to 148 of the part known as a leading-edge slat track that were manufactured by a Boeing supplier are affected, covering 179 MAX and 133 NG aircraft worldwide. The 737 MAX, Chicago-based Boeing's best-selling jet, was grounded globally in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash after a similar Lion Air disaster in Indonesia in October.
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| iPhone Killer?: Is Samsung's Galaxy Fold Smartphone the Future? Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Imagine the day when you'll unroll or unfold your smartphone to answer it. If things go to plan, this day may be sooner than you think.And we're not just talking flip-phones here, but smartphones where the actual screens are flexible, not just the handset.Okay, so Samsung's plans to launch its Galaxy Fold phone might be on hold after a few early reviews reported cracks in the screen, but 2019 is said to be a year when many of the major mobile phone manufacturers aim to release their new foldable phones.The promise of technology as intelligent as our smartphones that can simply be folded up like a piece of paper sounds amazing. So what are the challenges in making flexible technology?How flexible?To answer this we need to understand what is meant by flexible.Do we need something that can be deformed without breaking (so it's okay if you sit on your phone, as it will only bend and not break)? Maybe we want to roll it up into a cylinder with the ease of rolling a piece of paper? Or even to fold it like the Galaxy Fold?These are very different scenarios, with each putting a greater performance requirement on the device and the materials within.
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| Ten killed in Israeli attack in Syria following rocket fire Posted: 02 Jun 2019 02:53 AM PDT  Israel carried out air strikes in Syria on Sunday in response to rare rocket fire from the neighbouring country, its military said, with a war monitor reporting 10 killed including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters. In response, the army attacked "two Syrian artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights, and an SA-2 aerial defence battery," its statement said.
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| It just got harder to make the later 2020 Democratic debates Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:32 PM PDT  For debates scheduled for September and October, candidates will have to hit 2% in four qualifying polls and count at least 130,000 individual donors.
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| China vice minister says U.S. overestimates trade deficit Posted: 01 Jun 2019 08:11 PM PDT ![China vice minister says U.S. overestimates trade deficit]( "China vice minister says U.S. overestimates trade deficit") Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said on Sunday the United States overestimates the trade deficit between the two countries and China should not be blamed for job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Wang told a news conference the U.S. goods and services deficit with China is actually closer to $150 billion and not the $410 billion quoted by U.S. officials. China's processing trade with the United States should not be included in trade deficit calculations, he added.
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| NASA spots explosion of X-rays glowing in the universe Posted: 01 Jun 2019 07:37 AM PDT  NASA peers deep into the cosmos at the bright, leftover cinders of exploded stars, called pulsars. Now, the space agency has released a map-like image showing loops and arcs of X-ray energy — invisible to the naked eye — radiating from these dense cores of once massive stars. The most radiant spots are the suspected pulsars, repeatedly blasting X-ray energy into space. These trails of energy, or electromagnetic radiation, reveal the powerful sources of these X-rays. "Even with minimal processing, this image reveals the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant about 90 light-years across and thought to be 5,000 to 8,000 years old," said NASA's Keith Gendreau, who leads the imaging mission called NICER, in a statement. "We're gradually building up a new X-ray image of the whole sky, and it's possible NICER's nighttime sweeps will uncover previously unknown sources." Locations of pulsars. Image: nasa / nicer NICER, short for Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, is a cube-shaped instrument attached to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA focuses on specific pulsar targets, so NICER repeatedly follows similar tracks through the sky, ultimately creating prominent arcs of X-ray radiation on this sky map. In total, this image is an X-ray map showing 22 months of radiation traveling through space. SEE ALSO: The secretive lab that built 'the bomb' now scours Mars for signs of life NICER will continue to scan the cosmos for blasts of X-rays so they can better understand the sources of this energy — pulsars. Astronomers suspect these stars act like lighthouse beacons in the universe, regularly emanating or "pulsing" blasts of X-ray light as they spin. Grasping how different pulsars "pulse" may serve quite useful for future deep space travel through the solar system. NASA plans for a coherent map of pulsars to essentially act like a "GPS system in space." "When mature, this technology will enable spacecraft to navigate themselves throughout the solar system — and beyond," NASA said. WATCH: Meet Katie Bouman, one of the scientists who helped capture the first black hole image
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| Trump tariff threats alarm Mexico growers, economists Posted: 31 May 2019 09:01 PM PDT  CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — Tomato exporter Sergio Esquer Peiro spent much of Friday in hastily called meetings with other stunned growers, trying to evaluate the potential fallout of U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to slap coercive tariffs on all imports from Mexico.
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| Scouted: Take Up to 75% Off Hundreds of Kate Spade Styles and Dive Into Summer With a New Bag Posted: 01 Jun 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Bags, like shoes, are seasonal. There's no need to carry a heavy, black leather bag in the summer the same way that you wouldn't wear a pair of shearling-lined boots to the beach. Sometimes, you just need to change it up. Thankfully, Kate Spade is here to help out with a massive Summer Splash Surprise Sale. Like the previous Surprise Sales, for the next few days, you can get up to 75% off over 400 styles. But wait, there's more. Use the code EXTRAEXTRA and get an additional 10% off any order of $150 or more. That means the Sam Large Pocket Satchel and the Reiley Straw Large Dome Satchel are each down to $143. Want to try something a bit different this time around? The California Dreaming Cloud Dot Midi Dress is $129 and has an adorable collar and a breezy silhouette. Or go for the Down Breezy Floral Laptop Sleeve that will protect a 15" laptop. The Summer Splash Sample Sale from Kate Spade is your accessories oyster.Scouted is internet shopping with a pulse. Follow us on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter for even more recommendations and exclusive content. Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts, The Daily Beast may collect a share of sales.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UPDATE 2-Airlines want joint lifting of 737 MAX ban, but EU cautious Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:28 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Airlines want joint lifting of 737 MAX ban, but EU cautious]( "UPDATE 2-Airlines want joint lifting of 737 MAX ban, but EU cautious") Airlines urged regulators on Sunday to coordinate on software changes to the Boeing 737 MAX in a bid to avoid damaging splits over safety seen when the aircraft was grounded in March. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), whose 290 carriers account for 80 percent of world flying, said trust in the certification system had been damaged by a wave of separate decisions to ground the jet, with the U.S. last to act. Boeing's best-selling jet was grounded after two crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, over five months killed a total of 346 people.
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| WhatsApp Hacked and Bugs in Intel Chips: What You Need to Know Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:32 AM PDT  It's been a day of high-profile security incidents.First there was news the popular WhatsApp messenger app was hacked. Updated versions of WhatsApp have been released, which you should install if you're one of the more than one billion people who use the app.There was also news of several security flaws in the majority of Intel processors, found in many of the world's desktop, laptop and server computers.Software patches to prevent exploitation of these hardware flaws have been released by several vendors, including Microsoft. You should install security updates from vendors promptly, including these.WhatsApp hack revealedThe WhatsApp news was revealed first by the Financial Times, which says the bug was used in an attempt to access content on the phone of a UK-based human rights lawyer.The lawyer reported unusual activity on his phone to the Citizen Lab, an academic research centre that focuses on digital espionage. The centre then contacted WhatsApp, which had independently noted signs of some kind of hack and put in place preliminary preventative measures in its network infrastructure.
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| In a time when life seems to be going off the rails, remember modern life is extraordinary Posted: 02 Jun 2019 04:45 AM PDT  In 2019, the news can be depressing, but the small and ordinary miracles of the modern world should prompt us to pause and be grateful.
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| Virginia Beach officials detail 'long gun battle' with shooter Posted: 02 Jun 2019 09:35 AM PDT  Virginia Beach city officials are still investigating the motive behind Friday's mass shooting at a municipal building that claimed the lives of 12 people.
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| Thirty years after Tiananmen, protesters' goals further away than ever Posted: 01 Jun 2019 05:08 PM PDT  Three decades after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, increased government suppression of rights activism has pushed the demonstrators' original goals further away than ever.
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| Clearing up confusion on payments: If a retailer takes Apple Pay, it also takes Google Pay Posted: 02 Jun 2019 10:04 AM PDT  As New York City's MTA adopts contactless payments on some transit lines, people are still confused about who takes Apple, Google and Samsung Pay.
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| Martian clouds sail above NASA's Curiosity rover Posted: 01 Jun 2019 09:42 AM PDT  While traversing across rocky plains in the shadow of Mount Sharp, the Mars Curiosity rover captured wispy clouds hovering in the sky. The car-sized robot — which landed on Mars in 2012 — captured these lofty clouds on May 17, 2019, which translates to the 2410th sol, or Martian day, of its mission. From millions of miles away, NASA scientists suspect these clouds hovered some 19-miles above the red Martian surface. NASA also notes the clouds are "noctilucent," meaning they're high enough for sunlight to pass through the floating mass of water and ice. Wispy Martian clouds. Image: nasa Earlier in May, the rover captured other high-altitude clouds, too, sailing over the nuclear-powered, six-wheeled rover. High Martian clouds. Image: nasa When the rover isn't gazing up at the Martian atmosphere, it's primarily interested in the ground. In May, the rover spent time drilling into soil of particular interest, because it's rich in clay minerals — and clay forms in water-rich environments. NASA scientists suspect this area (on the lower slope of Mt. Sharp) once supported a watery, Earth-like environment. SEE ALSO: The Trump admin really, really doesn't want you to see this climate science There's still zero evidence that primitive life ever existed on Mars, or anywhere other than Earth. But life — as we know it, anyway — needs water to survive. But Mars certainly has an abundance of Earth-like clouds, sailing high overhead. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| Turkey, Russia face conflicts over Syria's push into Idlib Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:20 PM PDT  ISTANBUL (AP) — Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syria's last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.
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